Tuesday, October 22, 2024

View From the Shore


A perfect morning, quiet waters, nebulous sky and silvery morning light, drifting fog and reeds almost invisible in the day's embrace, maples reddening and aspens turning gold on the far shore of Dalhousie lake in the eastern Ontario highlands.

The rocks and hills away in the distance were merely indistinct smudges on the horizon, and I didn't need to see them or capture them with my lens. I remembered them from other autumns, and I could see them in my mind's eye. For all that, I thought I would capture an image or two anyway.

What more does one need on the trailing edge of a day in late October than this? A heron in the shallows would be grand, a loon or two calling from the center, a paddling of quackers or a skein of geese? Perhaps an eagle or an osprey describing circles in the sky overhead? No, everything that matters is already here.

Foggy October mornings are wonders, complete within themselves, and they have no need of embellishments. It would be an insult to Herself to squander such gifts, to waste time pining for things one wishes were present, but are not. To do such a thing would be rude and thoughtless. It smacks of arrogance and ingratitude. 

1 comment:

Kate said...

So right! Appreciate what we have instead of wishing it was polished up. Such an important attitude for contentment.

You live in one gorgeous place, Cate. Thank goodness for your photos that show it off.