SITTING BY THE WINDOW, WATCHING, ENJOYING, BUT WRITING LITTLE

I have just enjoyed a wonderful week’s vacation at home. While many of my contemporaries were hustling all over the planet for the March Break holiday, Suzanne and I stayed home. Well, it’s not as boring as it may read initially. Afterall, we live in Ontario’s beautiful lakeland, and there are thousands of people every year, who endure long drives and heavy traffic to get here.....and well, we don’t have to travel far to enjoy the hinterland benefits.

The only things that got in the way of a thoroughly relaxing week, was world news of earthquakes, tsunamis, radiation leaks, unrest in the Middle East and rumours of a pending federal election here in Canada. Suzanne has always been somewhat burdened by my “need to know” stuff. Not that she’s void of interest in world events, or in upgrading her knowledge, but being married to an old reporter who still thinks he’s working the front-lines, means a constant din and clutter of news related sounds and publications here at the otherwise calm Birch Hollow.

It has been quite difficult to come up with blog entries recently, because the news has been so tragic and depressing. Even watching out over The Bog, our neighborhood wetland, has been less invigorating some days. Calming yes. Just not the kind of motivation this place provides the hungry writer. I have found myself sitting at this desk, for more than an hour at a time, just watching the birds and squirrels around the feeder on the deck, and studying the traffic down our lane. The world events, the devastation in Japan, particularly the escalation of radiation issues, have certainly made me appreciate more astutely, how precarious our survival is, much of it due to our own handiwork.

I love this view from here, and I know that in short order, I will find more to be optimistic about, and feel more compelled to write these blogs. In the meantime, I will just follow the news and hope for the best. And sit with the cats and old dog here at Birch Hollow, looking out at a fascinating lakeland, in the spectacular early days of spring.