Joyspotting - Peace and Consolation
It is a very long time since I’ve published in this space. Due to an incursion of health issues, it has been a very long, stressful winter in our home. We’ve had dental issues, two cancer scares, a complicated surgery, an injury and a new proclivity for fainting. By turns, each of us has been equally worried about and frightened for each other. Many’s the time I considered writing a blog post about these experiences, about being broken — indeed I have copious notes on my computer but…
Yesterday was the best day ever. Perfect in fact and, whilst out, I knew that my next blog post would be joyful. It is amazing how much of nature’s peace we absorb if we only give it the chance to work its magic. Whatever happens in the next few weeks and months we’ll face together, but it is not now, nor then, going to occupy so much of my thought process. I hope!
….it was strange how content it would make me,
how it would make peace and consolation flow….*
On Sunday afternoon, my shooting pal Charlie chivvied me until I agreed to meet him Monday morning for a joint photography outing. He’d plans to visit Wheatley Provincial Park, the Port of Wheatley, Hillman Marsh Conservation Area, Point Pelee National Park and the Caldwell First Nations’ Boardwalk. An ambitious schedule for two young, spry, energetic, healthy souls (I am none of those things nor, if I’m honest, is Charlie). Still, armed with the delightful Ingrid Fetell Lee’s Joyspotter’s Guide, and some new Canon photography gear (more to follow), away we went for an absolutely smashing, soul-restoring day out.
#1 - Look up!
As always, my outings begin at the golf club where I leave Cam. This is the parking lot and, looking up over Lake Erie yesterday, as Ella sings, nothing but blue skies, do I see.
#2 - Look down!
One of my favourite sights at the Caldwell First Nations’ Boardwalk is the turtles. Hundreds of them! Mostly Painteds but I’ve seen some Blandings and some Snappers too. Yesterday, looking down over the railing, there were so many turtles out of the water, sunning themselves on rocks. I do love my reptiles!
#3 - Keep an eye out for colour.
This is my first Western Wallflower. As we approached, the vibrant orange caught my eye and I assumed it was a Butterfly Weed, which seemed early. When I identified it, I also experienced the joy of a new discovery.
#4 - Follow the curve.
Why I’m constantly drawn to this most common of wildflowers (and their seeds) I’ll never know but they always make me smile.
#5 - Go where the wild things are.
Thanks to books and movies and their fanciful writers, vultures evoke a certain foreboding and darkness but up close, they’re a rather magnificent raptor specimen, aren’t they? Plus, Turkey Vultures are scavengers, and clean up all carrion they can find with their keen and finely honed senses of sight and smell.
#6 - Seek out symmetry.
Symmetry proved a bit elusive yesterday but, although it’s a very simple example, I do love the evenness and balance of the Annual Wallrocket’s blossoms.
#7 - Search for signs of abundance.
These two certainly have an abundance of goslings, but look carefully - how many wee heads do you see?
Charlie and I counted twenty (several times). That’s abundance!
#8 - Watch for weirdness.
Dude literally stepped over the fish on his "buffet table". I didn’t know Seagulls were so discerning about their piscine intake! Weirdness is the number of dead fish lining the shore of Lake Erie - they spawn then die.
#9 - Zoom in.
This is Daisy Fleabane - closest I seem to get to wild Daisies here in Essex County. Who’d have thought that the world’s preeminent lover of Oxeye Daisies would move to a county where there are virtually none? Still, these beauties always make me happy.
#10 - Notice the invisible.
I heard this wee chap long before my lens found him. Too often I’m focussed on the sights of nature (in this case, wildflowers - Garlic Mustard) to the exclusion of its other charms.
#11 - Take the scenic route.
The long, wide arc of the beach at Hillman Marsh Conservation Area is woefully underutilised and offers the opportunity of a serene, beautiful walk accompanied by myriad birdsong. Charlie and I enjoyed every minute of our walk from one end to the other, and back again.
#12 - Use all your senses.
As you’d glean from its name, the Botham Tree Trail is a woodland trail, wending its way through the beautiful Carolinian Forest at Point Pelee National Park and that is where Charlie and I walked yesterday. Haphazardly scattered along the trail were massive clumps of Forest Phlox in full bloom. Their sweetly fragrant flowers issue clouds of delightfully perfumed air — strong enough that we could smell them long before we could see them. It was quite lovely!
It was a long outing, we did a lot of walking, a lot of talking, and a lot of shooting - me with my new gear. For a long time I’ve wanted something more compact and lighter weight than my Nikon gear and this month I splurged on a mirrorless camera with two lenses - a wide angle and a long zoom. Everything Canon seems to be the opposite of everything Nikon so I’m not on a mere learning curve, but a full circle. Still, I’m very happy with my purchase, it all fits in a small sling bag and I don’t need a tripod (which also lightens the load). Admittedly, some of yesterdays shots are better than others but overall I’m thrilled to bits.
The divine Ms. Munro who, very sadly, we lost today, wrote a phrase that I think of quite often and which seemed to encapsulate my feeling of equanimity and ease after yesterdays outing: It was strange how content it would make me, how it would make peace and consolation flow…. Last night, recounting my adventure to Cam, I thought just that - how strange such a short time outdoors, in nature with my camera made me feel so content, at peace and truly consoled. It was pure bliss.
’Til next time, y’all…
*Alice Munro, page 151, “Changes and Ceremonies” from her novel Lives of Girls and Women.