 |
| A river runs through it London, ON October 2019 This photo originally shared on Instagram |
Thankfully we live near a particularly lovely example - the Medway Valley Heritage Forest - so we regularly find ourselves wandering under the canopy until the sound of the burbling creek drowns out the distant thrum of the city that surrounds this magical place.
The city has wisely chosen to leave it alone. No asphalt or gravel-covered paths, nothing built or engineered. Just the occasional sign to point out the time-worn path that meanders through the valley.
Nobody walks quickly through this place. Too many obstacles, elevation changes, slippery surfaces, random stuff. Everybody looks down. Deliberately picking through the old growth. Deliberately picking a path that minimizes risk. Because no one will hear you fall in here.
Which, I guess, is the entire point of coming to a place like this. Not to get anywhere quickly. Or at all. There’s no destination. No ETA. No GPS. Just you, a towering forest cover overhead, and an impossibly diverse forest floor below. How you fill the rest in is entirely, gloriously, up to you.
I almost tripped as I stepped over this root, and it was enough to stop me just long enough to notice it. I bent down and slowly ran my fingers over its textured surface, each knot and burl another chapter in a story the massive tree it anchors started writing long before any of us existed.
I’d been walking this path regularly for years, but never took note of this particular tree, or this particular root. Because every journey, no matter how familiar the landscape, will always offer up the promise of something new.
But only if we move slowly enough to notice it - and allow ourselves the luxury to stop and take it in.
Perhaps I should stop calling this a luxury in the first place.
#ldnont #london #ontario #canada #canadian #medway #valley #forest #trees #roots #texture #nature #naturephotography #landscape #photography #photooftheday #instagood #nofilter #nofilterneeded #google #pixel2 #teampixel #lifeinthemargins #family #everything
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please note that Written Inc. has been set up so that all comments must first be moderated before they go live on the blog. I apologize for the inconvenience, but this is to ensure bots and trolls don't muck up the works. If you have any difficulty leaving a comment here as a result, please feel free to email it to carmilevy AT gmail DOT com. Thank you for your understanding.