Solitude For Saturday. #2

Good morning on this chilly Saturday! It is a beautiful morning, some clouds, some blue sky, but the sun is not shining at the moment. There is a bit of wind from the south which will be bringing some milder air with it, mainly for tomorrow. Even today should not be too bad, except the wind will make it feel colder. Even now it feels like -31F (-35C) with that wind blowing. Wind truly does make a big difference in that temperature.

There are dozens of birds out here this morning. It is hard to count those little redpolls, but I think there is around 40 of them now. There is more than 30 each for the pine and evening grosbeaks. I mentioned walking down to the river the other day and showed a couple pictures from that walk. It was absolutely beautiful. There was really no wind on my walk to the river. It was cloudy, calm and quiet. Not a sound as I walked through the trees.

At one spot I stopped because there was a flock of chickadees and nuthatches. So I listened to them and watched as they passed overhead in the trees, constantly looking for food in the bark as they went. And they were talking to each other the whole time. This was a true country pleasure. I kept walking along into more silence with only me making a sound. I stopped again. It was totally quiet. Surrounded by tall pines it was like walking through a tunnel. It was darker here, like it would be in late afternoon after the sun has set.

I keep walking. It is downhill now, winding through the trees, the last section of the path before arriving at the river. The sun comes out now with thin streaks of light making their way through the trees. There it is. The river has more ice than last year, but still mainly open water along the part where I sit. Hmm, no bench. Someone obviously decided to take it. That was too bad. I like to sit on that bench and rest for awhile, enjoying the beauty, the quietude of the river. The river was fairly calm when I first arrived. Fortunately there is an old stump there, so I brushed off the snow and sat down. Beautiful.

I watched as 2 goldeneye ducks swam around, diving now and then looking for a meal. They do not mind the cold water, and it is cold. The only reason it does not freeze is because of the current in the river. It is a dangerous current, able to pull a strong swimmer underwater very quickly. It does not bother these ducks though. They just swim lazily along. I can hear them each time they dive under. That is the only sound out here.

Beautiful solitude. Watching the water. Listening to the ducks. The beautiful snow covered trees surrounding me. This is a great place to come. Stress, problems, disappear in a place like this. The wind comes up. Not real strong, but blowing off the cold river it makes it feel much colder. I decide it is time to come back home. Well, more about my walk home another time. Thank you for joining me on my walk to the river today. Enjoy your coffee, have a wonderful day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2022 Steve McLeod.