Dinner and a show (The Wind in the Willows)

“Beyond the Wild Wood comes the Wild World," said the Rat. "And that's something that doesn't matter, either to you or to me. I've never been there, and I'm never going, nor you either, if you've got any sense at all.”

Helen sent me the link below to a pizza eating groundhog today, which I absolutely loved.

https://twitter.com/abc7/status/1250492458686771200?s=11

The video reminded me of the menagerie of small mammals (and some that are not so small)  that creep, crawl and hop thru the grass in front of the porch of our cabin. Unlike some, I'm looking at you Justin, we are going to follow the Federal and Provincial guidelines about unnecessary travel. Which means we will miss spring at the cabin, and I suspect the little critters will miss the bird feeders. However since everyone in our circle has been spared the virus, knock on wood, we have nothing to complain about. 

Okay the moose and bear were photographed from the cabin 

bur across the slough. Which is just as well. 

“He saw clearly how plain and simple - how narrow, even - it all was; but clearly, too, how much it all meant to him, and the special value of some such anchorage in one's existence. He did not at all want to abandon the new life and its splendid spaces, to turn his back on sun and air and all they offered him and creep home and stay there; the upper world was all too strong, it called to him still, even down there, and he knew he must return to the larger stage. But it was good to think he had this to come back to, this place which was all his own, these things which were so glad to see him again and could always be counted upon for the same simple welcome.”

Moose and Calf

"in the natural world there are no kings.
I will also leave office and return, an old farmhand, plowing the fields."

from Seeing Off Prefect Ji Mu as He Leaves Office and Goes East of the River
by Wang Wei

Moose Family

The moose family continues to appear almost daily at one of the nearby sloughs. It makes me wonder if the resident bear has moved on.

"When he tried his eyes on the lake, ospreys 

would fall like valkyries 

choosing the cut-throat 

He took then to waiting 

till the night smoke rose from the boil of the sunset 

But the moon carved unknown totems 

out of the lakeshore 

owls in the beardusky woods derided him 

moosehorned cedars circled his swamps and tossed 

their antlers up to the stars 

Then he knew though the mountain slept, the winds 

were shaping its peak to an arrowhead 

poised 

But by now he could only 

bar himself in and wait 

for the great flint to come singing into his heart"

from Bushed

by Earle Birney

Moose and Smoke

Special Air Quality Statement

Issued at 10:47 Wednesday 15 August 2018

Smoke is causing poor air quality and reducing visibility. Smoke is expected or occurring.

A westerly flow in the upper levels of the atmosphere is once again spreading smoke from forest fires over western Canada across Saskatchewan. Poor air quality and diminished visibility will be widespread across the advisory area while the smoke remains in place.

from The Weather Network

I have been working on a post concerning some lovely first edition Canadian poetry books I purchased on a trip to Saskatoon. But today has been such an odd day I thought it should take precedence. Last night we entertained company, on the way across the hay field to the cabin, they saw a large bull moose near the back slough. Then as they were leaving we noticed the beavers had brought down one of the few remaining Balsam Poplars along the lane. In theory they do not eat them, preferring instead the Trembling Aspen. So despite the fact that it was fairly smoky this morning I went out and put wire around the four largest trees on the lane. At one point I returned to the cabin for a saw and Helen pointed out the female moose and her calves in the slough. They stayed quite some time and I was able to get some photos, although the rusty colour of the smoke in the air, precluded a lot of detail. This was before 12:00.

Conditions have worsened until now at 2:30 in the afternoon we are submerged in aa eerie breathless orange void. The smell is not to bad but we need lights insider the cabin. These photos were taken then.

Moose and Calves

"A moose has come out of 

 the impenetrable wood 

and stands there, looms, rather, 

in the middle of the road. 

It approaches; it sniffs at 

the bus’s hot hood. 

Towering, antlerless, 

high as a church, 

homely as a house 

(or, safe as houses). 

A man’s voice assures us 

“Perfectly harmless. . . .” 

 Some of the passengers 

exclaim in whispers, 

childishly, softly, 

“Sure are big creatures.” 

“It’s awful plain.” 

“Look! It’s a she!”"

from The Moose

by Elizabeth Bishop

I have not been updating the site much. Maybe a month ago my wife pointed out a cow moose and two calves swimming across the near slough and I was able to get some photos from the porch.

The Bull

"Up there far enough you might hear the world, not 

what people say."

from The Prof 

by William Stafford

Last week we saw  a young bear on the point that juts out into the slough to the left of the cabin, the second bear we have seen there this summer. I did not get a good photo. Last night my wife pointed out that there was a moose on the right side of the slough. The ability to see these animals for our porch is one of the glories of this location.

"Cocked in that land tactile as leaves

wild things wait crouched in those valleys

west of your city outside your lives"

from Midwest 

by William Stafford

Good morning starshine The earth says hello

"And up on the hills against the sky,

A fir tree rocking its lullaby,

Swings, swings,

Its emerald wings,

Swelling the song that my paddle sings."

from The Song My Paddle Sings

by Emily Pauline Johnson

Today we paddled across the Banana Slough and dragged

the canoe a short distance to the much larger slough next to it.

This will be the first of several posts as it was a productive

trip. We have canoed for hours in the larger slough several 

times but this was the first time we have seen moose. We first

encountered a female then a male both reclining in the water

probably to escape bugs. Both my wife and I initially thought 

the females ears were the wings of some bird trapped in 

the branches, odd but we both first interpreted the movement 

as wings.

The female stayed in place regarding us for some time, the

male we encountered later, moved off before I could get a

good photo. We were very pleased to have been so close to 

female. And seeing two moose was a real treat.

"Nor dares complete the sweet embrace.

Into the hollow hearts of brakes,

Yet warm from sides of does and stags,

Pass'd to the crisp dark river flags;

Sinuous, red as copper snakes,

Sharp-headed serpents, made of light,

Glided and hid themselves in night."

from Said the Canoe

by Isabella Valancy Crawford 

Good morning starshine the earth says hello

“He was thinking what a long and wide thing time is, to have so many happenings in it

from Soonchild

by Russell Hoban

This morning another visitor in front of the cabin.

"There are mornings when everything brims with promise, 

even my empty cup."

Ted Kooser

"A moose has come out of

the impenetrable wood

and stands there, looms, rather, 

in the middle of the road.

It approaches; it sniffs at

the bus’s hot hood.

Towering, antlerless, 

high as a church,

homely as a house

(or, safe as houses)."

from The Moose

by Elizabeth Bishop

Each year at the cabin is different. Some birds are common one year, scare the next. This year spring was a month early and we missed a great deal of it. Last year we stayed three months at the cabin and did not see a moose on the entire trip, we saw no deer on our 80 acres and only a handful on the trip. This year I was able to photograph a moose and calf from the front porch on Monday night, the night of the Solstice. The next night I was able to photograph a deer that had come up the lane and stopped because the SUV was moved to in front of the cabin because the beavers are falling trees by the parking spot. I photographed it through the kitchen window so the screen did not help. But we have great hopes for critter watching this year.

"When for too long I don't go deep enough 

into the woods to see them, they begin to 

enter my dreams. Yes, there they are, in the 

pinewoods of my inner life."

from The Faces of Deer

By Mary Oliver

"not half a mile from the nearest road,

a spot so hard to reach that no one comes–

a hiding place, a shrine for dragonflies

and nesting jays, a sign that there is still

one piece of property that won't be owned."

from Rough Country

by Dana Gioia 

I have been out of touch for some time. a lost internet connection

some work travel etc. I had hoped to share some photos of our big

Sept. snowstorm but they seem to be misplaced somewhere on the 

computer. So I  will start offering some thoughts and photos from 

our trip to  the cabin in Mid August. A trip across the prairie took 

use past some old farm buildings and a beautiful slough. 

When we finally left the grid road it was a steamy 30 plus Celsius and a
moose came out of the tiny slough next to our lane. 

"A moose has come out of

the impenetrable wood

and stands there, looms, rather,

in the middle of the road.

It approaches; it sniffs at

the bus's hot hood.

Towering, antlerless,

high as a church,

homely as a house

(or, safe as houses).

A man's voice assures us

"Perfectly harmless. . . ."

Some of the passengers

exclaim in whispers,

childishly, softly,

"Sure are big creatures."

"It's awful plain."

"Look! It's a she!"

Taking her time,

she looks the bus over,

grand, otherworldly.

Why, why do we feel

(we all feel) this sweet

sensation of joy?

"Curious creatures,"

says our quiet driver,

rolling his r's.

"Look at that, would you."

Then he shifts gears.

For a moment longer,

by craning backward,

the moose can be seen

on the moonlit macadam;

then there's a dim

smell of moose, an acrid

smell of gasoline. "

from The Moose

Elizabeth Bishop