history

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We Are Here

Good Day you brilliant ones

A landing.  A safe harbour.   A good place to live.  A place to survive, to beat the elements, to meet the challenge, to conquer the storm.  A place, a safe harbour, a secure place.  Home?  Could this be home?  Could this remote and daunting place finally be home?

Weary and doubting, but necessity calls.  With prayers and hopes and dreams of survival, could this at last, be home?  A secure place to build a colony, a secure place for a settlement.   Set in the St. Lawrence River on a bluff of land, overlooking the river and tucked behind an island.  The thrilling prospect of yet another settlement attempt.  Success!  Success!  Give us success! Finally, let us be saved!

Oh joyous you, oh sweet Quebec.  Oh happy founding, oh life immortal.  A resting place, a  secure and safe place.  A home and shelter in the storms of the eastern coast.  Oh happy rest for weary souls, the founding of a great country, a great city, a colony, a settlement.  Oh happy success.  A refuge in a storm.  Oh great and brilliant, you sweet Quebec.

Poised and strong, fortified and armed.  For France!  Finally, the nation has accomplished it’s goal.  Finally a settlement!  Relieved and thankful, the city endures.  In 1608, mission accomplished!  Finally, a colony.  Praises and gratitude, thank you, oh thank you.    Finally our salvation, oh sweet Quebec.

A beautiful little place of old country charm.  Peace and prosperity, goodwill and protection.  The small but mighty ones of old world courage, who erected those dwellings, secured their fortress, fought the storms and cleared the land.  Negotiate, barter, trade and exchange.  A thriving place of  prosperity in the challenging land of the new world.

For France!  Oh sweet Quebec.  Our sanctuary, our resting place, our lovely, quaint and dreamy home.  It’s thrilling.  We have a colony.

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/champlain-and-the-founding-of-quebec-feature/

The habitation was secure, but the usual winter hardship wreaked havoc among the men again.  Scurvy, as usual.  Many died, but the dream was secure.  A fort, a fur trading post, a destiny wrought from the forest.  Now there is security.  Now there is a place to live.  Shelter, negotiation, prospects of trade.  The adventure of their lives has culminated in this great place.  A strong  and fortified habitation, small but secure, with cannons, guns and ammunition.

Finally, they will come.  Come to Canada, you mighty adventurous ones.  Come to great Quebec, to our island in the storm.  Come to share in the wealth of the fur trade, in the prosperity of a new life, in the duty to meet this awesome challenge and to be first, in a great line of pioneers.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

April 9, 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

 

Pioneers
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Pioneers

Hail Bravehearts

 

Welcome to this glorious new day.  A step for you, in the right direction, can take you anywhere.

Your skills ,your education, your accumulated knowledge, your comrades, your team.  All locked together in this fight for success. Your ship awaits, climb aboard.  Take this first, irreversible step, and venture forth, to the great unknown.

It is not implausible, it’s been done before. Success was marginal, but imperative to try.  You must try, say the great masters, you must will yourselves to obey.  The command is difficult, but some must follow. Off to the colonies, oh brave pioneers.

The wind whispers in their hair.   Warm, gentle breezes, lift their spirits, the waves roll and rock the boat, the ocean smells of salt and sea water and ocean animals rise to the surface for a look at them.  Trespassers in the ocean of the great wild, passers by in this fragile ecosystem of sea.

Stand tall, almighty ones, your names are counted and your lives are engraved in the history of our frontier.  Stand tall on the deck, facing your future, do not look back, the past is gone and you will not return to it. Do not look back.  France, the most populated nation in Europe at the time, could only muster a few hundred brave souls to settle and populate a great land.  Build and settle, populate the land, negotiate and trade, farm and pioneer.  Not an easy task in a land so uncompromising.  Snow and cold, the bitter winter winds howl and scarce food sources decline.  But brave stalwarts are these who settle the land.  The peaceful and helpful natives give the support that they can, and forts and settlements emerge from the dark and forboding forest.

Light.  Light in the darkness of their days as the shadows recede and the sun can shine in. Light and hope.

As the summer fades and the long shadows of winter cling to the ground, hope will come to your rescue.

http://www.genealogy.umontreal.ca/en/LesPionniers

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

February 11, 2016

That Narly Path
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That Narly Path

Hail Bravehearts

Your focus is intent.  Well educated and disciplined your hearts and goals are on the same track.  Intent and determined, the objective is thrilling.  Plan, educate, train, pursue.  A simple achievement today is a brilliant path to prosperity.

Goals!  The highest goals, the impossible dream, the conquest of a new reality.  Can  it be so, you awesome human.  Overcome the odds, change the cards, roll the dice.  Your crystal ball says, choose your partners wisely.  Choose your leaders perfectly. The game is not a chance.  The game is a skillfully executed plan, with a well trained, qualified team of determined experts.

Choose your team, oh wise ones.  What aptitude is needed?  All are fine and necessary for the intricate survival of a community.  A vibrant and exciting place, with interesting and unique opportunities, comes from mutual acceptance and the drive to protect us all.  Which is the finest aptitude?  They are all the same.  A fabulous creativity of art, culture, architecture, philosophy, star gazing and wonder.  Not at all the same, but with minds of stimulated intellect, power, curiosity and foresight.

Not an easy path to choose.  Go build a nation, way out there.  We need all of you, on this voyage, this brilliant path to enlightenment.  We need all hands on deck.  All of your voices and skills, educated and strong.

A team, focused and daring.  Individual pursuits of merit, all part of this bold and adventurous team.  Differing aptitudes, all necessary.  Follow the night sky, you navigator, the brilliant stars and shining moon, lights the heavens and guides your way.  The obstacle is a 30 day voyage.  Prepare, prepare, prepare!

Who has the ability to lead this team?  Who will be chosen from the world’s most highly regarded captains?  Only the most worthy, for this courageous undertaking.  Cast off!  You must take the leap sometime!  Choose your fellowship of comrades and build your own, unique trust.  We are all just people here.  People with problems, people with desire, people with crutches.  We are all builders.  Builders of society, builders of a nation, builders of change and builders of harmony.  Your team protects you and helps you, supports and strengthens. Luck plays it’s part, but focused intellect is more sure.

Hail, you awesome, almighty ones.  From the homes of the everyday worker, comes a triumph of international might and acclaim.  Where do you come from, oh brave and brilliant mind?  A surprise from the warehouse district, a genius from the dockyards, an invention from metal works.  A circumstantial leader from an average home.  Aptitude is unusual, it calls the shots.  Aptitude and education.

Now, all you brave ones, chosen for your skills, get on board with this venture. Our target is chosen, the path is direct.  Focus, all you daring ones, this is the greatest adventure.  This is the adventure of your life! It takes it’s turns, it battles the waves.  Storms blow in and rock this vessel, pushing it to and fro and crashing it through the high waves.  Difficulties and equipment failure, wind battering the sails.  Water rushes in and swamps the decks.

Hold on!  Hold on to your strength.  Don’t loose anyone! Those precious lives are our support team.  Each one necessary and our closest, most trusted friend.  Hold on, the sea is turbulent.  It rocks your way and cracks the foundation.

But look, the sky is clearing.  Hold on to each other.  Keep your team intact.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

January 8, 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

It Persists
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It Persists

Hail, oh brilliant ones!

The morning shines with light and warmth, the shadows of the darkness pass.  Into this world comes the strong passion of the rising soul.  Now, another day, another quest, another memory.  Each day lived brings us closer to the cause.  To peace, security, life and prosperity.  The greatest achievement in the minds of mankind.  To build a nation and to be one.

To be one with the land, to be one with the people, to join in a massive undertaking of privilege and success.  To be the ones who made it real, to set the stage of your own destiny, to carve footsteps for others to follow, to be the unbeatable champion.  Rise all of you.  Rise to glory.  It is with duty that you come forward, but it is  glory that you aspire to.  Rise, oh champions.  This is your day.

This day, of setting the boundaries, of felling trees, of building dwellings.  This day of toil, of laborious, hard work, of companionship, of perspective and perseverance.  This is a day of duty, of care, of obligations.  This is just another day, way out there.

Way out across the ocean in a land of newness and wild.  The great wild.  So tempting and so secretive, so majestic and so dangerous.  In unison they toil and in unison they strive, to build a fortress of security to protect themselves, shelter, and keep them, in this brave new world.

The great wild is lurking, we hear the howls in the night.  The barks of canine species as they call.  The hoots and coos, of the unknown, the swirling flight of night creatures, the croaks and chorus of singing sounds, the eyes of creatures in the dark.  The night in the forest, so loud and alive, as hunting and singing and playing rings in our ears and the watchful wild stare in the dark, lurking and forbidding us to trespass.  The night sky, a shining mass of stars and the brightness of the moon casts shadows across the grass.  The insects sing in a deafening crescendo and the sounds of the night in the forest fill their dreams and disturb a restful sleep. The wild, so haunting and forbidding, so silent and so eerie.

But the test for a colony comes from adaptability,  foresight, ingenuity and preparedness.  The strength to carry on. The ability to survive.  Good leadership,  sound judgement, skills and ability.  Determination.

http://www.lookbackward.com/perrault/perr1/newfrance/  A Brief History of New France

Here, in the wild frontier of Canada, where hope and dreams and dares and challenges fill their every day, comes the human of fortitude.  An illustrious European, with desires of grandeur, with minds focused on a colony, with dreams of prosperity.  Persevere, oh great ones.  All is for fame, for fortune and for us.  It is for a place in history and a place for you.  A new world!

Oh awesome human, venture forth.  To a new world!  To a new beginning!

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

November 15, 2015

In The Beginning
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In The Beginning

Good Day Bravehearts!

Welcome to this awesome new day.  The world brings light into your lives, life into your existence and hope to those who sing for  it.  Brave new world, a world of hope and inspiration.  A world of challenges and excitement.  A world for the bold, the daring, the skilled and the champions.  Light our lives, oh daring adventurers, for the great good earth has presented a brave new world for exploration, adventure and settlement.  Light our lives, oh torches of strength and courage, as the great swells of the ocean, cast you about and hurl you through the darkest and most dangerous storms, to a landing of somewhat safety.  Cast your doubts aside and persevere, oh bold and talented chosen ones. The angels fly and their wings surround you as you step to the chosen shore.  Safety.  The security of the land, the chosen place of a new birth, the cultivation of civilization, wrought from the timbers of the land.

An opportunity so profound, it could not be overlooked.  The opportunity of life, of fortune, of fame, of grandeur, all for the sake of a few strong souls who could make it real.  The hope of success, the plea for courage, the compelling need to try.  The fortune hunter, the inspired authority, the wealth of riches, the greed of plunder.  Dreams, inspiration, imagination and flights of fancy.  The mind races with prospects of achievement, the brain spins with possibilities.  Unlimited opportunity for those who dare.  A new world.  A new life.  A new beginning.  To be on the breaking edge of new discovery, new possibility, new everything!  A chance.   A roll of the dice.

Sooth sayers, fortune tellers, tarot readers, crystal balls.  What does the future hold?  Tell us, oh wise and enchanted ones.  What does it say?  Will we be rich?  Will we survive?  Give us your answer!  Tell us our fortunes!  Will we survive.

Our luck is surrounding us, the King pledges his trust.  His command is omnipotent.

Bold and daring, we must adventure, to cultivate a civilization from the forest of a far flung world.  A world of temptation, of persuasion, of allure. The call of this land is the song of the siren, enchanting and haunting it begs us to stay.

” Come!”, whispers the wind, and the swaying branches wave us ashore.  The rustling leaves catch the sunlight and play with our senses.  A pretty sight.  A friendly world.  A breathtaking, heart stopping, thought.

Build it!  Build it and they will come.  The fortune seekers, the treasure hunters, the rich and the poor.  Build it and they will come.

To the might of France, to the power of the authority of the King.   A brave new world, a fabulous civilization, fashioned from the rough hewn timbers of the forest.  An indomitable human spirit.   The sailor, the ministry, the adventurer, the pioneer.  The champions of new life, new liberty, new beginnings.  The torch shines brightly for the souls of those days, as we feast from the harvest of their workmanship, negotiation and peace.

Hail, almighty ones, a country is in the making.  Hail oh bravehearts, your backs are breaking.  The long and difficult journey to a colony is at hand.

To greatness!

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

November 1, 2015

Action!
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Action!

Hail, you awesome human

For beauty is as beauty does and you all do it so well.  Test your skills and competitive edge, test your knowledge and constant training, test your fortitude and your companionship, test your ability to train and command.  Hail, all you beauties.  The judges watch in eager support, the crowd cheers at the dare devil within and the champion of this match is an unrivaled and much heralded success.  Glory and honour to this golden crown, the skills of the beauty are unsurpassed.  A pageant queen that has never been questioned.  No one disputes the necessity of this  test, or the rights of these women to compete.

A test of skills and nerve and fortitude, an inspiration to all who watch and to those who jealously eye the crown.  The secret to success is the fabulously well trained body and the perfection of the match.

He listens closely  to the voice in his ear and responds immediately to the command.  A match of perfect unison as they plunge headlong into the race.  Over and over, the practice was perfect, now only to attain the unbeatable speed  that will send them on to victory.  Hours of training, hours spend in competition, train your body, train your mind and harness the superior beast.

Quietly down in the rolling countryside, where a days work begins at dawn and life is a routine of milking the cows, feeding the chickens and harvesting the crops.  The peaceful country life, ideally set in the picturesque landscape.  A life, so seemingly simple, that anyone could do it.

Canadian Cowboys’ Association Ladies Barrel Racing Highlights- Canadian Western Agribition

at http://www.RodeoCanada.com, from http://www.youtube.ca

But from that land of simple charm, comes an athlete of a different proportion.  Tall in the saddle, high in their ability, the twosome walk into center stage.  The drama unfolds.  Like their forefathers of yesteryear, the cowboy is still the same.  A bull rider, a bronco buster ,a  barrel racer, a calf roper and a highly skilled athlete.

Now it is the ladies turn, a competition of their own.  To train and command the powerful  horse and to demand the speed and agility for this course.

The quiet of the country, so peaceful and so dreamy.  Where all of the rush of the  rodeo comes from.  A country life with it’s own unique culture, it’s own unique identity, privileges and heroes.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

October 27, 2015

The Quiet of the County
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The Quiet of the County

Hail Bravehearts

To bravery and skill and monumental tasks, to competition and necessity and getting the job done.  Those were the days of heady exploration, of building a country of home on the range.  Those were the days of cattle drives and opening up the land.  The days of ranching, homesteading and the cowboy.

Those were our yesterdays.  But still, in the quiet of the land, in the rolling countryside, in the far off place where only the dirt roads go, lies the key to our past and our splendid present, the future still holds this truth.  The land of the cowboy, where steer wresting and bronco busting fills a part of their daily lives.

Rise to the songs of the livestock rustling, of the wind blowing through the fields and the quiet of dawn. The world sleeps at this hour, but the morning sun is rising and the daily chores must be done.  Oh lonesome cowboy, of song and spirit, the day calls to you to earn your daily bread.  Come out to the pasture, a new day is calling, come out to a day’s work of home on the range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nht3bMUebzI  mini bronc at the Edson Stampede

The chickens proudly display their treasure, a new gift of food to their delighted owner.  Chuckling and prancing their days work is done, as a new egg lies gleaming in the early morning sun.  The cattle line up in their stalls eagerly waiting, their milk has come and it must be taken.  Their gift, their treasure, more food for the farmer.  The family farm where no one starves.  The fields grow tall with grains for bread and a days work of harvesting lies just ahead.  The fruit tree ripens and sends it’s gifts to us, the bounty of the harvest lies in the basket.  A forage through the garden reveals the tasty lettuce, the carrots and spinach awaiting the platter, a days work is done when the weeds are pulled and the  ground is bursting with delicious, nutritional plants.  No more the hungry, no more the worry, the life of the farm is wholesome and ready.

At the end of the day, when the sun still shines brightly, brings a time for rest and relaxation.  A time for the energizing sport of the days of yesteryear, a time when the cowboy and ranching and riding filled their lives.   Livestock herding and breeding and taming the wild.  That horse out yonder, who must be rode, that sport for dollars and it makes sense, if you know their custom and their culture, the rodeo is a must.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3M4xhx42tc  Saddle Bronc Ride at the Calgary Stampede 2015

Ride,  you sportsmen, ride.  Break that wild horse, who  must listen.  Tame the beast to be your own and ride, for your life, you cowboy, ride!  It is not just  sport, it is not just a test, it is the taming of the wild as the horse must be ridden and taught to do a job.  From here, the training persists and the quiet of the country fills with the joy of yet another day in the saddle.

 

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

October 10, 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