First of all, that ain't my house, but I know the owners. Actually, I started thinking about living in houses after reading Michael's posting the other day. He was commenting on how the Inuit didn't like it when they began living in houses...and why. He concluded that they didn't like being separated or closed off from their environment. No matter how big the windows, no house offers as good a view as you can get standing just outside.
This has come up for me as I see my old pattern of staying indoors more as winter approaches. Never a big fan of frost bite, my day sometimes peaks 20 minutes after awakening as I stand in a steaming shower. Still, the daylight is shorter, and I am aware that I am in a little box sitting on this vast rotating planet.
Sunday, during post-paddle coffee, I found myself telling the others that I wanted to camp. I realized, then, that I missed being "out there" with no sense of confinement. It also occurred to me that that is why I often (when paddling alone...but I digress) like to paddle out a ways onto Lake Michigan, face east (off shore) and just sit. If the wind is in my face, so much the better as it keeps the sound from the city away. So, I just sit and take in the vastness of the horizon and, all at once, I feel small but part of something huge. After a while, I paddle back to shore...and go home to my house.
Paddle safe...
DS
3 comments:
Surely you've learned your lesson from last winter Dick, and you're planning your winter camping trip in the sunny south! Just let me know where and when and we're good to go! No houses, tents only!
Sounds like a "road-trip!" to me, an offer that is hard to refuse, providing you have nothing to hold you back, like a job and limited vacation time.
Just this morning over coffee Silbs was talking about camping if the weather was this mild--but soon to change for the worse.
Camping in winter, which I've done a good bit of in sub-zero temps (-26 the coldest) is a challenge.
Camping in the sunny south when the temps are below 40 degrees F in the grey north (hmmm. . .shouldn't that be blue north and grey south?) is priceless!
Just off to Cincinnati. Upon return will contemplate winter journies.
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