What I Did On My Autumn Vacation...

...by A.J.

-Family Time. Spent mucho time in the presence of my Family and Friends, road-tripping around Canada to visit various and sundry Important Peeps, some valuable time spent engaged in the annual Autumn Rituals, including the infamous "Hockey Night in Canada!" half-a-beer.

-Hunting for The People. This also qualifies as Family Time, but it's more in the way of community service and preserving Culture and Society. We hunt to provide for folks who can't hunt for themselves and may not have enough in their freezer to get through the season. It's COLD in Canada, and often REMOTE and the Safeway isn't necessarily an option. And not always the most healthy option anywayz....

-Hockey. Got to a fair number of games this year, both Majors and Minors. And local pick-ups at the rink. Found out that my skates still fit.

- *Being OUT and AWAY and STILL. Sat in places where one could not sense the existence of other humans, not in ANY way, for as long as I could sit there. No engine noises, no physical sense of the "civilization" hum....saw no planes for literally DAYS. Could see the stars at night, ALL OF THEM, the Aurora.... with none of that ugly urban glow that tarnishes the night and kills the stars to us here. Couldn't SMELL anything of the other humans....nothing but the Earth and the Wild and the tang of Autumn's decaying leaves... the sense of Root seated beneath the yellowredgreenbrown light filtering through, and in the rattle-clatter of the wind through the forest, and the roaring thunder of the pines that I could feel in my own bones where I lay against the woodland floor. A taste of clear water, cold and pure as the rock it sprang from. .....Far enough North along the ocean that most people don't even WANT to be there.... so no worries about being bothered by them. A different kind of roaring and a different kind of tang... but still Wild and the Rhythm un-invaded and pure without the presence of Us in any number.*

All-in-All........ Beauty Vaycay.

Next year seems so far away now.............

*When is the last time you experienced this for yourself? Think about the last time you experienced a sky that was void of an airplane for more than 10 minutes,(and I mean ENTIRELY- no engine droning away, no sight of one or more overhead, no contrails criss-crossing above you), or the last time you DIDN'T hear a car engine or a lawn mower, or when you last saw the stars CLEARLY, without a glowing rim to your sky from city lights? Can you see some searchlight from a car dealership in your distance? Can you hear a chain saw or a lawn mower or a leaf blower every evening? What do you smell when you step outside each day?

Do you KNOW this Earth that I know? It's worth saving and protecting and getting more of it by Lessening Our Invasiveness, REALLY.