nature

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The Great Good

Good Day, you awesome human

Praises, to you and to yet another wonderful day.

The great planet has intrigued us yet again.  Fishes that look like elephants, white lions, new butterflies, imagination, creativity, brilliance.  Oh to be you, great mother Earth, with all of the gifts of creation.  The milleneums roll past with their constant changes, destruction and war, pestilence and strife, pollution and pesticides, garbage and waste, plunder and greed.  Still the Earth rolls on,with her magnificence and power.  Oh, great awesome one, with skills so immense, it’s unthinkable!  Power and might, life belongs to you.

Praises, fabulous creator, the life blood belongs to you.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthpicturegalleries/9753208/New-species-found-walking-catfish-Beelzebub-bat-and-two-legged-lizard.html

Hurling through space to seek your place in the universe.  Tiny by comparison, but with a mission that must be fulfilled.  Life forms on all of your surfaces.  The new, the unusual, something superb.   A new life, the unknown again, awakening our eyes to the new adventure.  So, great human, you’ve been everywhere, done it all, there’s nothing new now.  The oceans explored, space travel accomplished, the pinnacles of mountains reached.  Where to now, for the mind and body of man?  Where now, for the spirit to call us?  All feats accomplished, all stones have been turned.  All quests fulfilled.  The power of the human, so mighty and intelligent.  Technology, engineering, development and creativity.  A unique and special mind, controlling the planet, bending and twisting, changing and developing.  A constant pursuit of knowledge that intrigue and curiosity propels.  What is that?  How does it work?  How do we make that brilliant, special interest our own creation.  How to control the planet and make it’s mysteries our own.

The fabulous planet spins it’s own wonderful web of mystery and intrigue.  Do we know it all?  Have we found and conquered it all?  Rest in peace oh great creator, you are the most blessed.  Times change, the weather hurls it impact at us,  driving blizzards, scorching sun.  The heat is warming the surface and the snow melts from our yards.  Global warming encroaches and trees start to bud.  The awe of creation is still your magic.  Creatures rise and creatures fall. The age of the dinosaur and the age of man.  The unknown belongs to you.  Where will you take us, in the magic ride? New environments?  New creatures to discover?  New landscapes to present themselves and to challenge our bodies and our minds.  As the surface is blasted with war torn madness and the oceans fill with plastics and waste, we scramble to stop the doom of the planet.  Whose doom is it anyway?

The sun rises and sets in regular motion, the moon follows it’s path across the sky, the waves pound and crash as the tides roll in and out.  Regular, like clockwork the natural process continues.  We take it for granted, it’s always been there.   Oh, and praises, human for making a garbage can, somewhere to put the constant refuse.  Garbage dumps and pile high, rotting stench,  another kind of pollution.  So much destruction for the great mother to bear.  All of her children, her marvelous creation, secumbing to the blast of wanton wastefulness and recklessness.

So this is us, the human, so awesome and brilliant.  Will you save us great planet?  Or do you other designs.

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

March 12, 2016

 

The Great White Mountains
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The Great White Mountains

Hail Bravehearts

It is with great pleasure that this winter is warm and snowy, and that it brings us sport.  Fabulous pleasure, a great day for a ski.  Downhill skiing is the easiest sport in the world.

The balmy mountain weather hovers above -10.  A warm, sunny February, brings us out of our snug homes, to smile and greet yet another sunny day.  Stay home this winter, no need to travel south.  As the snow birds fly away each year, to sunny summer climates, in the warm tropics, those hearty winter lovers, stay home, for the delightful winters time.  Peace to us all.  This is a great one.

The drive to find snow, this year, has made this an easy, more carefree year.  The pussy willows are out, a sapling in a warm spot has started to bud,  the snow melts on the sidewalks, energy bills plummet.  Global warming is a nuisance. It brings too much cold in the East and fabulous, warm, sunny skies in the West.

A day on the slopes, warm enough to stay out all day!  Our weekly snowshoe day has taken us on excursions to find that soft fluffy snow. We lather on sunscreen and snowshoe in our shirts.  Too warm for winter coats.  The birds sing to us as we pass and flocks gather in the trees.

It’s beautiful and warm and a day on the ski hill is just so easy.  No frostbite, no frozen cheeks, no frost beards, or icicle eyelashes.  No chalet skiing, from days too cold to stay outside.  No complaints of frozen toes and frozen fingers, too long in food lines and too long drinking hot chocolate.  The warm winter weather gives us a boost of excitement. We can play outside in the snow!

I push off from my spot at the top of the mountain and fly down my usual terrain.  Easy, easy, it’s just so exhilarating. After thirty years of this, skiing is easier than walking.  The mountain is so familiar, I know these runs well. Perfectly groomed, all the holes have been patched and we compliment the groomers on yet another year of snow moving, that makes the mountain more enjoyable and less dangerous.  No slipping over rocks and crashing down the hill.  No entanglements with saplings as they catch your skis.  No snow monsters or snow snakes, tripping you on your way.  No, this is just perfect.  It’s a perfect day for a ski.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilRI4zKoBPo  extreme skiing

Global warming has it’s drawbacks, we gloat to one another, as the snow is starting to fall.  Our winter wonderland of fluffy white stuff is now a drive away.  Smiles and nods as the weather is co-operative.  The roads are open. Tourists flock to us and fill our town.  Trapped.

I know that the joy of today, is the doom of tomorrow, as our glaciers are slipping away.  As yet another natural wonder crashes off the mountain, and our water supply is threatened. That harsh reality will rear it’s head again this summer.  But for now, push off that mountain and glide your way along those dreamy snow covered slopes.  Fill your mind with winter.  Winter fun and winter play and how much we still adore it.

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

March 2, 2016

Those Special Wolves
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Those Special Wolves

Hail Bravehearts

Howl!  Howl!  We hear your call.  The great wild sings to us in the distance.  Howl, you essential masters, call to us with all of your voices.  Call with all of your hearts, your souls and your being.  Call us into the wild, where your lives live in the bountiful beauty of the great planet.  Sing to us, the songs of your lives, stories to tell of hunts and capture, of danger and courage.  Songs of triumph, songs of sorrow, songs of fortune.  Sing, you great masters of the wild, sing the songs that we love to hear, the wild that makes us unique and proud.

Great stories, of taking the weak from the herd, of preventing overgrazing and of population control. Songs that we listen for, as we camp in the wilderness.  Do you hear it?  Listen, do you hear it?  The howl of the great wolf as he calls to his pack.  Eerie and exciting, the mystery revealed.  A great hunter, with his family, teaching and learning the life lessons of survival.

Oh essential hunter, your numbers decline.  Save us!  you call and we hear your plea. The bounty hunter slays you and murder increases.  Not us in Canada, this is not our cultural history, the fur trade wasn’t this.  The negotiated peace was cemented by the great peace of the union of a European and a Canadian aboriginal.  The tie between them was the Metis child. Not murder, not poaching, not extermination.  The balance between the hunter and the hunted was for trade and peaceful relations among the people, not for the extermination of a species.

The great wild calls us, it is a teacher to us.  So many species of plants and animals, so much natural wonder and so much sound to hear.  Varieties of rock to cling to and different soils beneath the surface.  The Earth puts those species in the places they belong.  Hail, great planet, we hear your call, as the wolf cull in British Columbia defies the sensibilities of environmentalists , and is regarded as inhumane and a disaster.  This is not Canadian culture, or our history.  This is not the fur traders, or the aboriginals. This is over hunting, over killing. We need these animals, we need wolves.

http://pacificwild.org/take-action/campaigns/save-bc-wolves  Save BC Wolves

A wolf is a beautiful thing.  A fine hunter, an adept and agile predator, with his necessary presence in reducing overpopulating species.  The small ones like rats and rabbits, or large ones like elk and deer.  They prevent  overgrazing from overpopulation, that diminishes plants and destroys ecosystems.  There must be a predator-prey balance for proper bio diversity, not just for one species, but for the entire ecosystem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb11TtPwBxo  lady reunites with wolves

Predators are not a bad thing, they are an essential part of the great wild.  Listen to the great planet as it sings to you.  The wonderful mystery of integrated life forms, sharing a space especially adapted to them.  Spaces of rock and granite, of wind and rain, of sand and sun, coral and sea, forest and dale.  Spaces of uniqueness with unusual creatures to inhabit these landscapes.  No coincidences, just planned environments with creatures, plants, water and rock, all fascinating and wonderful. A journey for our senses, our minds and bodies.  A journey of life, of discovery, of adventure.  Fresh and wholesome, protect it all.  A magnificent species, a majestic great wild, adventure in, for the joy of their being, it is  into their home, that we roam.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

February 22, 2016

 

Happy BioDiversity
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Happy BioDiversity

Hail, you almighty ones

Welcome to this day.  The world sings in praises of a great marine mammal.  Hail, to you, for the acknowledgement.

Wonderful world for the brilliance of diversity, of bio diversity, of the protection of ecologically sensitive species and areas.  Wonderful world for its rare and special places, for species adapted to unusual survival, to survival skills of unique and unusual specifications.  To the awesome great planet for its creativity and power.

Lucky you, you awesome human, to inherit such a wonderful world.

Your duty surrounds you, nurture and care.  Be it the small, tiny grain of wheat, that nourishes you, the flour of sustenance, the bread of sustainability.  Your crops from fertile soil, your harvest,  your life support, your energy.

Relax into the cool, tranquil waters that sooth  your body and your mind.  Relax into the sweet sunshine, where daydreams emerge and freedom promises it’s escape.  Relax into the heavenly sounds and aromas of the great planet, fill your ears, your eyes and your minds with wonder.  Awesome planet, it’s ours for the saving.

There are many blessed days, many blessed times and moments.  The wonder of creation captures us and holds us spellbound in it’s splendor.  The unusual, the rare, that special exclusive place, worry free and divine.

Rest your weary souls, your weary minds, your hearts and your bodies, in this captivating world of the great divine.  Listen to the heartbeat of the planet as it beats its rhythm of joy to you.  Joy of living, joy of purpose, joy of creativity and knowledge.  Hear us, calls the mighty planet, as it sings it’s songs of joy to you.  Almighty human, tread with care, these are my offspring too.

https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/world-whale-day/  Happy Whale Day

The mightiness of adoration, as the world turns and challenges us.  Another species, rare and fine, protect us.  Find joy and comfort, peace and harmony, share the goodwill.  Your mind and spirit relax in the oasis of comfort.  A lounge chair by the water.

Water and lakes, pools and oceans, sleep and relax in your dreamy time.

Tiny crustaceans come out to play.  Shells sparkle in the sunshine, the winter’s cold rushes away and the sun warms you and keeps you well.

It’s a national day.  A day for reflection and action, a day to notice and to fight.  This great planet belongs to us, not to plunder, but to enjoy, not to pillage, but to sing about.

Fabulous earth sounds echo in our ears.  Winds of winter with warm escapes.  Oceans of wonder with species galore.  Hail to the almighty planet, wherever in the world you come from.

The richness of biodiversity greets us at our doorsteps.  Creatures of magnitude, great and small, all playing their necessary part in the ever evolving world of change.  Speak to us, oh great masters of the universe, speak to us, as the Earth creates again.  The evolution of millenia.  The tides roll in, the snow falls, change and change again.

Reach out your hand and touch it.  Don’t let it pass you by.  Hold onto that dream, of relief from the storm, of days of paradise, where the world is peaceful.  Hold on to those species as unique and special as those places are.  The great divine, the fabulous world , the magical planet, for you, for me and for eternity.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

February 13, 2016

 

Still it Snows
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Still it Snows

Hail Bravehearts!

Awesome!  The wonder of life in a new land.  Brilliant and courageous, the spirit soars.  Life in a new land.  All unchartered, all unknown, all mysterious with secrets to reveal.

The sound of the wind as a storm blows in.  Batten down the hatches, close the shutters, stock up the wood supply, fill the larder.  The soft quiet  of winter is blowing in with the storm.  Swirling, dainty flakes of white, fill the air and the temperatures have plunged to zero. ” Let it snow!”  we sing.  “Let it snow!”  For us the first snowfall fills our lives with the changing season and brings joy to our world.  Joy to the world, the winter has come!

Mother Earth sends her children off to a deep winters sleep in hibernation.  The migrating birds have called to each other to flee the snowbound north and fly to warm destinations in the south.   The rest seek shelter in the depths of the forest, where thickets protect them and the shelter of the trees hide them from the elements and the cold.

Winter.  The Earth wraps it’s sleepy head in a soft blanket of snow and sleeps.

The snow falls, it’s quiet intrusion freezes the ground and the lakes and now the water sleeps.  Deep change with the deep freeze and winter storms and icy blasts greet us for the next few months.  Snow!  It piles high.  Higher and higher.  A few inches, a few feet, higher and higher.  While those snug in their warm homes watch in anticipation of the changing season, the snow comes.  Beautiful and white,  dazzling in the sun.  The spectacular change is a gorgeous site.  Still it snows!  It snows relentlessly.  It snows, and snows and snows.

http://www.currentresults.com/Weather-Extremes/Canada/snowiest.php  Snowiest places in Canada

The animals vanish and the world is changed.  Higher and higher the snow piles in deep feet of snow.  The weather persists.  Winter storms rage in.  A tiny colony of stalwart humans, set in for the long winters’ sleep.  The larder is full, the woodpile stocked high, prepared for the winter and ready for anything, the tiny colony waits out the deep chill.  And it snows!

Our greatest passions are winter fun, winter play and winter sports, but for us, survival is expected.  We are secure now, in our grand and special place.   A place of sport and hospitality, of snowmen and snow angels.  We learn at an early age to enjoy the spectacular change in season and the joy and privilege that it brings.  A breed of sportsmen, playing and laughing, thrilled for the joy that winter brings.

But a small colony of people, out in the lonely wild, of eastern Canada, did not enjoy the snowbound world so much. In the early 1600’s our great joy of winter, was their peril.  The sleepy, quiet snow, lulled the great planet to sleep.  It nodded it’s great head in slumber and the world slept.  In darkness and cold, the colony sank into slumber as well. The tragedy of the cold, snowy, winter, taking its toll of human life, as temperatures plunged, as the snow fell, as food rations were depleated and disease set in and many lives were lost.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

November 23, 2015

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The Wild Heroes

Hail Bravehearts

Can you hear it?  Can you see them?  The chorus is rising, the melody harmonious, the trumpets are blaring and the song is persistent.  The sound draws our curiosity and the clack and crack of the percussion, fills the fall air.

The song is a challenge, a call to a duel, a call of a champion who dominates the land.  Rushes of fierce aggression, power and might.  The will to be victorious, the need to win.  At the peak  of their health, at the peak of their musculature, at the peak of their minds.  No more the docile and calm, the placid and unassuming.  No more the mild and passive.

Now the days have changed and with it comes the call to fight.  The call of great champions, the days of autumn, when the  songs of battle pierce the air and the trumpets blare their demanding rights.  Come out of hiding, oh mighty foe, the challenge must be met and the fight must commence.

The song is a love song, it calls for a mate.  Bellowing and blaring the dominant voice of a great leader calls to it’s circle of proud supporters, to gather around.  Come close and be protected calls the great voice and the interested, the curious, the dutiful, come forward to be protected and to join in the circle of togetherness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJd7L2aDHC0  it’s elk mating season

The family gather around to join with their great leader.  His voice echoes throughout the land and he can be heard by his rivals.  Others, his foes with massive girth and muscular strong bodies, come forward to challenge the champion and the duel for supremacy and superiority rights commences.

The bystanders watch with interest as the champions face off.  Their wide weapons, honed to perfection.  The sharpened daggers of bone, the weapons of nature, tines of pointed danger.  The aggressors face off for the duel of their lives.  Courtship and mating is the name and fighting for this privilege  is the game.  Only the strongest, of superior genetics will win this fight for life itself.  The rights to reproduce, to be the grand champion, to be the life force of nature that will sire next years fawns.  A game of immense proportions, of immense importance, for the victor is the wild almighty one, who’s genetics will carry the herd forward into another year of healthy prosperity.  For these ones, their prosperity is their numbers and the grand victor of these matches is the prize of nature.

The grand prize of nature, stands up to be counted and calls his wild call of majesty and triumph.  To a duel!  Out of the forest comes another bold and athletic counterpart to attack with ferocity for the dominance of this season.  To win!  To be the pride of nature’s glory. To be the victor of this remarkable privilege.  The fabulous,  the mighty, the hero of the herd!  It is now.  A time to live and a time to fight.  The season of the great wild champions, is  now!

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

September 2, 2015

Proper Awesome
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Proper Awesome

Good Day all you almighty ones!

The glorious days of summer are upon us.  Global warming is changing our world.

In an area where 30 degrees is a sometime thing, we have reached record highs in May.  The result?  A new kind of splendor.  It might be dire, but for the holidaying visitor, the new kind of splendor is an awesome grand new experience for us.

http://www.parkscanada.ca

The snow is still clinging to the mountains in places, the high glaciers, still holding their place on the peaks of those far off places, the rivers, still streaming from those sources and the avalanches still crashing down.  The quiet of the day in a remote location, broken by the sound of avalanches crashing and rumbling down a mountain side.

Spring has come early  here, with the wildflowers showing their elegant blooms, the birthing mothers showing off their delightful offspring, the warm, lush landscape brimming with vegetation and the northern lights playing and dancing in the sky.

Here is the remote wild.  A far off place where nature sings and calls to us. Venture oh wise ones, hear our call, come to visit and to know us , come to see how we live and come to understand the awesome need of the great wild.  Come, oh wise ones and bring your children, come to play in the great outdoors.

The warm, soothing waters of soft glacial fed lakes, the pristine clarity of the water and the warm, bathtub temperatures to sooth the aching stress of highways, traffic, pollution and busyness.  A warm dip in a warm lake of glacial fed water, blue and shimmering and still.

The wild orchids show a fine display in the shaded forest.  The birds sing and call to the glory of the day.  The animals watch with curiosity, then hide in the forest.  The awesome summer, with it’s warm and brilliant days is upon us.

These splendid, special places, where the Earth shows its finery, its majesty and it’s awe, have special meaning for us.  Ecological integrity, bio-diversity, unique areas of cultural and environmental significance.  Places where time stands still, where you can still see the view that the fur traders saw.  You can still navigate the rivers and portage the land.  You can camp near historic camping spots and fill your cup from water, today’s first water, melted glacial water,  the water that will enter our rivers and flow to the oceans.

Here, in the great wild, is the birthplace of many.  The birth of the rivers, the lakes, the watershed.  The birth of the wild animals, the great forests, the mountains themselves.  Here is the new beginning for you.  A step into the land of the wild.  A cultural place, a privileged place, a place of sanctuary and life.  A place where the history of the people presents itself in preservation, in endless land, in an unusual meadow.  A place to learn about our protected places, the events that built them to their glory and distinguished them from other, lesser known areas.  Here we sing and laugh and play in the heart of this beauty.  Our special land, our special life, our immensely special love.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

July 3, 2015

Environmentally Adapted
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Environmentally Adapted

Hello Bravehearts

Now you rise to a day of adventure.  Now you rise to the call of your destiny.  The spirit wakes and your soul sings and the praises of this day, fill you will life.  Praises!  For your life to be worthwhile and joyous, sing with praises for each new day.  In this moment of wakefulness, as the day dawns and the newness of the morning greets us, the world opens it’s doors and lets your eyes see.  The dawn of another day.

The birth of the Earth comes with each spring and this year the world is warmer and the spring is green and lush.  The lakes are warm and inviting.  Swimming and playing in the clean, clear  water is a welcome retreat from the hot, summer sun.  The sun shines brightly late into the day and our daylight lasts past 11 pm.  This is joy to us, the greening of the fabulous planet, the late evening sun and the warm,inviting, outdoors.  We thrive in the outdoors.   In the yellow morning sunshine and the green, lush plantings.  The Earth, so welcoming and quiet in the morning, we can hear out hearts beat and the sounds of the morning risers as they  sing!

Sing!  all of you glorious risers, sing!  The world is filled with the call of your blessings and the love songs of joy as the world sings in gladness for the gift of living.  Sing!  The songs of the wild fill the air as the mating pairs rejoice in the beauty of their efforts.  Life! Love! Creation! Sing! The joy of being, of living, of being alive!  Sing, to each other, to the great planet and sing with joy.  To live is to be and to be is to have life.  Sing for the joy of living as the world’s small creatures do.  Sing with the joy of being alive.

How awesome are we to be the caretakers of the Earth.  To be superior and in charge, to be grand and intelligent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkzDKaq2M_U  The endangered spirit bear

Here in a quiet corner of the Earth, on a lovely piece of land, lives the endangered spirit bear.  An uncommon piece of the beauty and serenity of the forests of British Columbia.  Here, in the great wilds of Canada, we have a piece of evolution, of animal adaptation to a select region of forest.

Preservation is key.  A selected animal in a selected habitat for the joy and beauty of this place.  Unique and rare the white spirit bear lives in a old growth, coastal forest that screams for protection.   The cries of “save us!” ring in our ears as the great white bear lives it’s entire existence in a small area of BC.  A small, needy population of bear, asking for just a small favor.  Oh you wise and intelligent ones, hear us as we call to you.  Protect us.

Save us so that we can sing our song and live our lives in the old, mossy forest. Save us for what we are, the rare and unusual, the environmentally adapted, the unique and special.  Save us so that we can dot your landscape with something different and something rare.  Save us, oh great masters.  Our hearts call to you from the great wild.  Let us sing!

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

June 15, 2015

Dream of Peace
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Dream of Peace

Good Day, you Awesome Human!

Splendid day. Warm and snowy. The birds are singing gaily from their roosts. The elk lie in the meadows, relatively calm, after a long autumn of elk battles and rutting. The peaceful does with wombs full of the promise of another successful spring of calving. The big horn sheep, also resting, caring for the silent burden of their soon to be offspring.
The great wild! The drama of the wild as it plays out its role, in the never ending cycle of creation. Born to this place, the wild entices us, with its riches of spectacular views, muscle strengthening climbs, varieties of lifeforms and the gift of providing us with natural wonder to explore.
A peek into this place, of grand beauty and grand design, which fills out hearts and souls with wonder. Oh mighty planet, to give us this gift, from a highway, cut through the mountains. Those of us who have time, will exert ourselves more and climb to a pinnacle on a well traveled trail, for a look at what lies on the other side. A steep bit of climbing, a scramble, an effort, but where it takes us is to the grand view of the wild. A view of what lies on the other side of that mountain range. More forests and rivers, cascading waterfalls, animal tracks, mountains and valleys to explore. We are the hungry. We thirst for more and more. Show us your splendor, oh great planet earth, as we strive to reach your mountain tops and intrude into the land of your wildlife, to photograph those elusive species, and brag.
The world turns for us, on these snow covered days, as we strap on snowshoes and venture out to play. A daunting world of snow and ice, but for us to trudge through, a winter’s delight. Animal tracks. There’s plenty of life in this snow covered domain, but no one shows their faces today. Instead, it’s us, joining the tracks in the snow, plodding and chatting and breaking trail. These small few hours of exertion, to remind us of by gone days and years of exploration, as the well traveled adventurer set off to discover this new land. Tracks of snowshoes in the forests, tracks along the winding creek. An easy day of healthful activity, to fill our lungs with pure, clean air, to strengthen our bodies and refresh our minds.
The luck of an easy day of refreshing activity. The joy of adventure into the quiet winters solitude. A brush with nature as she plays out her part. The wild calls us and the wild whispers. Save us, oh mighty ones. Don’t plunder here. Spare us from the weapons of mass destruction and a world of madness and we will give you the peace of a quiet winter’s day, with snow on the mountains and the crisp, crunchy snow beneath your feet.
Let this stand of the earth be your playground, oh great ones, and may you forever venture into the wild and breathe.
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
January 19, 2015

Those Grey Days
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Those Grey Days

Good Day Bravehearts.

Welcome to this bleak, wintry, grey day.
Get out your snow shovels and start working. It’s the crack of dawn at 8 am and the weather is socked in for the long haul. Pull on your boots, your warm mittens, coat and hat and with shovel in hand,start your day off right,with a little vigorous exercise.
The cool wind blows damp flakes into your face. Your hair and eyelashes freeze. Your damp breath creates a fog around you and the shovel slides a few inches in the ever accumulating snow.
Paradise! This is what winter is all about.
While we lay dreaming in our snug, warm beds, the soft, wintry white stuff was falling gently outside. Swirling flakes of powder to hide the frozen ground. A winter wonderland of snow covered land to entice us outside to play. The shoveling continues and the path to the road is nearly complete. We’ll be doing this a few times today, as our spirits start to soar, with the possibilities that this climate presents. It will have to stop snowing soon and then we go out to play.
For us, the fabulous cold, is not a harsh, dreadful climate, but rather a change of life. A new joy of living. A chance for a new adventure. The snow presents a new challenge in sport and fun. For us, this is awesome. It’s not all that cold, and snow is fun. Joy! for what this season brings. Strap on your skates, your skis or snow shoes, pull on you boots and build a snowman, drag your sleigh or toboggan to the hill, pile up your defenses for a snow ball fight and smile. The cold, frosty, white north, is a superb play land. When this snowfall lets up, we’ll be raring to go, for we pride ourselves in the skills of these sports. What was once survival, is now a calling. Come on out of your houses and enjoy this day!
The raw elements burn our cheeks and the fresh, crisp, cold enhances our complexions. Rosy cheeks and rosy glow. Beneath layers of insulating fabric, our bodies remain warm against the chill and the adventure of the day starts to begin.
Now, as the flakes are piling up again and the seemingly endless task of digging ourselves out of the house resumes, the exercise bike and barbells lay in wait, as our strengthening task becomes the monotonous shovel, shovel. Will it end? Not until spring. And thankfully, spring is a way off, months of endless winter play away.
The barbells and weight rooms lay in wait for us as we gladly clear our path to the road. The temperature is a balmy -12. Warm enough to be outside for hours.
Now is the season for those much desired national past times. We put on our hats and coats with pleasure and slip into the peacetime of winter escapes, winter sport and winter fun.
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
January 7, 2015