Distant Shores

In honour of Saturn's second appearance, my slow and meandering (but nevertheless traumatic) journey into elder status and the fine adventures awaiting me somewhere up ahead on the trail, here is a photo of one of my favourite places on the planet, Old Woman Bay on the far northern shore of Lake Superior.

I have spent many happy weeks on this bay at one time or another in my life, splashing about for polished stones in the shallows, watching moose drinking on the shoreline, watching loons and mergansers navigate the deeper waters beyond the point and eagles glide into the big trees on the islands beyond.

On my library table is a set of runes painstakingly etched by me a few years ago, but polished first for several thousand years by the Old Wild Mother and her tempestuous lake in northern Ontario. Lake Superior is a geologist's dream, and there are treasures to be found all along her shores, but her waters are icy, even at the height of summer, and one does not enter them for more than a few minutes at a time.

After several years without dreaming at all, my dreams have just returned to me, and I am delighted. In my newfound crone dreams are fond memories of gliding eagles, the plangent music of northern loons and white capped waves striking a rocky shore. Am I a wild thing? Yes, I suppose I am...............