To the Sane and Free

To the sane and free it will hardly seem necessary to cross the continent in search of wild beauty, however easy the way, for they find it in abundance wherever they chance to be.

Like Thoreau they see forests in orchards and patches of huckleberry bush, and oceans in ponds and drops of dew.

Few in these hot, dim, strenuous times are quite sane or free; choked with care like clocks full of dust, laboriously doing so much good and making so much money- or so little- they are no longer good for themselves.

When, like a merchant taking a list of his goods, we take stock of our wilderness, we are glad to see how much of even the most destructable kind is still unspoiled.

-John Muir

Many thanks to those who left me comments and emailed me to welcome me back to the blogosphere! It means very much to me.

As you may have guessed, I managed to save up for a snazzy new camera! I haven’t had much time to figure it all out quite yet, so bear with me in the days ahead. I can tell you this, though, my next big purchase will be a snazzy telephoto lens so I can finally capture those elusive crows that visit me each morning. (cough, cough… Want to help me out with that? There’s a tip jar in the sidebar… Just click donate...)

To be quite frank, I have felt neither sane nor free these last few months, and it is an immeasurable relief to be back behind the lens and enjoying my self-imposed solitude, seeking out and taking comfort in the wilderness that perseveres in spite of our carelessness and industry. To focus on the little things and have no sense of time. To sit eye-to-eye with a toad.

“O brave new world,
That has such creatures in’t!”

Another beautiful July day outside, so I am unplugging for the afternoon, taking stock of our wilderness- the most destructable kind- the sort that we carry within.

Hope that you are doing the same!