Pleasure in the pathless woods
Our yard and lot in Yorktown, somewhere around 2007
“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more…” —Lord Byron
There’s something very calming about nature that neutralizes the toxic overload of a cold-hearted, techno-crazy world. I love the serenity of the mountains, the hypnotic motion of the sea, the dazzling colors of a flower garden. But just as well, or even more, I love my own backyard and the wooded lot we own behind it. I cannot go back there even briefly without feeling closer to God, as if He is telling me “I am still here, with you.”
This post was first published eight years ago today. The original post, comments and photo are linked, along with two other related posts, below. These links to related posts, and their thumbnail photos, do not appear in the blog feed; they are only visible when viewing the individual posts by clicking on each one. I have no idea why, nor do I know how they choose the related posts. That’s just the way WordPress does things.
Defeat Despair 
Yesterday we hiked a bit near Rope Mill Park in Woodstock. There were signs up everywhere that said, “Beware of snakes.” The camoflauge ability of the Copperheads is pretty amazing.
Later Lois Weitzes had a program on Wabe NPR with the UGA librarian staff with Toby GRaham, on Atlanta authors. They include Ralph Eubanks- he was interviewed, Alice Walker and someone Tewsberry?. It is on the UGA webiste i think. Anyway i though you might have liked it. I think Lois is an Atlanta institution? It is Wabe.org/city lights. His book -Eubanks- was “House at the End of the Road.” He was interviewed.
Have you ever read any of Umberto Eco’s works- recently recommend to me.
Very nice here right now around 70 degrees and little wind.
Mike, yes, those copperheads are treacherous, and the woods adjacent to both my homes are filled with them. Neighbors are always posting photos of them that they discovered in their own yards or patios. They love to hide under leaves and other piles of things (including garden paraphernalia). So watch out! I’m not familiar with the authors you describe, but perhaps I can find them someday. Just lately (inspired by my current online poetry workshop at Oxford) I have been re-reading the great Georgia poet Sidney Lanier, for whom the lake is named. The lovely rhythms of Song of the Chattahoochee have stayed with me since we first studied this poem in high school. Re: Umberto Eco, I have never read any of his longer works, but I have quite enjoyed some of his essays. This very brief work is perhaps my favorite among them. I discovered it shortly after it was published, while I was in library school (where it understandably was very popular). To this day, I think it’s the best summary of the differences between Mac and DOS– and why I am a confirmed DOS/Windows adherent! 😀
Good morning, Julia!
Ah, sweater weather!
I even take my crafts or a book outside and sit in the grass or on my deck to catch the sun while we can. The time between mosquitos and ice is so precious and fleeting.
YES, so fleeting and therefore all the more precious! More fleeting where you live than where I live, since we don’t get much ice, but we are accustomed to think of 40 degrees or so as WAY too cold to be outside! 😀
That’s so funny – when I used to ride my motorcycle, 40 degrees was my “too cold to be fun riding” cut-off, below which I’d take the car for any necessary travel.
But 40 degrees is really pretty cold for riding, and requires lots of additional protective gear, just to keep one’s hands warm enough, for example.