Late as usual

I'm entering the #blogjune space 3 days late.  And being late for things is something I'm pretty skilled at.  I've called this blog "drink the wild air" after an Emerson quotation.  I loved studying 19th century American literature at Uni eons ago, including Emerson and Thoreau.  I love that Thoreau was an early adopter of both mindfulness and minimalism.  I've been to Walden Pond twice - once in the late 90s, and then again in 2009/10 with 2 kids in tow.  The first time it was Autumn - the pond was chilly but not iced over, the woods were red and gold, and we arrived early in the morning and had the place to ourselves save for a lone fisher in a rowboat out in the middle of the pond.  We imagined it was Henry himself seeing where his boat would end up.

The second time was deep in a very cold Boston winter, with abundant snow, and the kind of silence that brings.  I trudged around with a baby strapped to my front, cocooned in fleecy things, and a 5 year old beside me, delighting in finding sticks, making marks in the snow, seeing ice crystals and all the lovely things of real winter.  Again, we had the place to ourselves - apparently not many people journey out to Walden Pond when it's not swimming weather.

Both times the quiet and the beauty really did make us drink the wild air.  Having read so much about Thoreau and his sojourn in the woods, we really wanted to drink in the experience, to stand on the site of his cabin and feel, see, and hear those woods.

Nowadays, a foggy morning on the top of the mountain in Toowoomba can have the same effect.  The frost on the grass, the dog disappearing into the fog on his morning walk, the chill on your cheeks...  Just a few minutes of quiet before the chaos that is life as usual.