Well said - well written... but then I expect no less. Nature is an experience to which too few pay sufficient attention. Now I must give some attention of my own to Mr. Dennis - I was not aware of his writings. Permit me to suggest a writer out of my distant past whose communions with nature I found inspiring - perhaps you are familiar with him? I would hope those who engage intimately with nature, hunt, fish and perceive deeper questions are, although he is long past. I speak of Robert Ruark and his series "The Old Man and The Boy" from the 1950's available in book form. At the time he was writing a monthly column for Field & Stream magazine and the book is a compilation of those monthly "essays". He went on to greater things, but The Old Man and The Boy is timeless - if you need something with rich to pass a winter's day, give it a look. For those reading this who would be interested, here's a link: The Old Man & The Boy (if I did that correctly). There was a second compilation titled "The Old Man's Boy Grows Older" that is every bit as good.
And thank you for that tip!! Ruark has been one of my life-long favorite authors. I have read everything he wrote (same for Hemingway and Twain) - but The Old Man and The Boy is something that has stayed with me and deeply affected me, still - after a lifetime outdoors. Don't put it off too long 😉
Yeah...I've been around long enough to remember reading some of The Old Man and The Boy as a young boy myself. Was lucky enough to get to go to what was locally known as Conservation Camp several summers as a lad, and the rustic cabins that I and the other boys stayed in for a week during the dog days had lots of well-worn copies of Field & Stream lying around. Great stuff. Thanks for the reminder. Not only of some good writing, but of some very pleasant days long gone.
Btw...Just looked it up. Good ol' Camp Currie, located on Kentucky Lake and run by the Ky. Dept. of Fish & Wildlife since 1949, is still going strong. Sans F&S, no doubt. But proof I guess that at least sometimes & in some places, govt. gets it right.
I don't like to throw my weight around, but I just got made a Kentucky colonel, thanks to a pal. Me, and about 10,000 other people this month, in all likelihood. Though I like to think I earned it, due to all the Kentucky products I've fearlessly consumed over the years in the never-ending War on Sobriety. So if you need me to pull any strings......
If you haven't already, I hope you have a chance to visit (and fish) in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula. It is one of my very favorite places, ever, and a favorite place to escape Ohio River valley summer (and increasingly, autumn) heat. It remains primarily a destination for neighboring states, which amazes me but I guess I should be grateful. Truly magnificent part of the country.
I have to admit, I was anticipating this would have a plot twist that ended in cannibalism. Then again, it wasn't set in California or Germany. Although it was set in Yorkshire... Ei-up!
Not sure if the very idea offends your inner technophobe, but there was a Econtalk episode recently that your cites and comments called back to mind:
"...we often don't find them so much as they find us when we're ready for them."
Sort of like that "unlikely magic" you spoke of a few weeks ago as you launched your classy little enterprise here. The kind of magic that "...when it happens, tends to happen on its own time, not ours."
Excellent insights, both. You wrote here that you'd "lived long enough" to recognize the rarity of these restorative blessings whenever they occur. And you are 100% right that we should "never slough them off" when they are encountered. Far too rare for that. Allow me to add something here. I've got a year or three on ya'. I figure I'm entitled. (Kidding. Mostly.)
I recall writing in a comment somewhere not too long ago (don't ask me where or about what; that year or three hasn't done anything for my memory) that good and evil are always present in our lives in this world, unseen possibilities waiting to be made real by the choices we make.
So it is with hope. It's always out there in the ether somewhere, just hanging around, waiting to be made real. And part of our "being ready" for those restorative gems to find us, whether they are large or small, is being prepared to choose. And choose wisely.
Thanks for the reminder. I'll be keepin' an eye peeled. Because after a lot of what's gone on in the world of late, I'm definitely ready.
Am with you on Bass. I know it's high heresy, but I've never been much of a Guinness guy - a steak knife beer. When I want to drink heavy, I drink whiskey instead.
May be interested to know that Guinness, by virtue of being a porter stout, has fewer calories and alcohol than almost any other beer. In other words, it’s a lite beer(ssshhhhh…). Added that there is no carbonation, it’s velvet ambrosia.
I am someone that spends 4-5 hours a day wandering around the woods with a black lab. I have few obligations (other than the pup) and I enjoy the solitude and time to marvel at the world and think. My days chasing industriousness are done, I am no longer driven to challenge or gain (the Buddhist in me) but Mr. Dennis is absolutely spot on about many of today’s ills.
Matt, maybe send this line to Mr. Dennis “And maybe, you’re gonna be the one that saves me”
Good lyrical pull, Mary. I hear you. But I don't want to send him that - he might get a big head. And he's from the midwest, where you can't afford one of those.
All this snowed in talk reminds me of my obsession with the PBS show 'Alone in the Wilderness' about the guy who builds his own cabin in remote Alaska. Can't resist watching (with a couple glasses of whiskey) every time it's on.
Lovely piece Matt...I always believe in hope and nature as calming restorative at times too
Well said - well written... but then I expect no less. Nature is an experience to which too few pay sufficient attention. Now I must give some attention of my own to Mr. Dennis - I was not aware of his writings. Permit me to suggest a writer out of my distant past whose communions with nature I found inspiring - perhaps you are familiar with him? I would hope those who engage intimately with nature, hunt, fish and perceive deeper questions are, although he is long past. I speak of Robert Ruark and his series "The Old Man and The Boy" from the 1950's available in book form. At the time he was writing a monthly column for Field & Stream magazine and the book is a compilation of those monthly "essays". He went on to greater things, but The Old Man and The Boy is timeless - if you need something with rich to pass a winter's day, give it a look. For those reading this who would be interested, here's a link: The Old Man & The Boy (if I did that correctly). There was a second compilation titled "The Old Man's Boy Grows Older" that is every bit as good.
Thanks for the tip, Urey. Have never taken the Ruark plunge, but have had him on my to-do list since reading Stephen Bodio's "Sportsman's Library," where he came highly recommended. Itself, worth checking out: https://rowman.com/isbn/9780762780259/sportsman%27s-library-100-essential-engaging-offbeat-and-occasionally-odd-fishing-and-hunting-books-for-the-adventurous-reader
And thank you for that tip!! Ruark has been one of my life-long favorite authors. I have read everything he wrote (same for Hemingway and Twain) - but The Old Man and The Boy is something that has stayed with me and deeply affected me, still - after a lifetime outdoors. Don't put it off too long 😉
Yeah...I've been around long enough to remember reading some of The Old Man and The Boy as a young boy myself. Was lucky enough to get to go to what was locally known as Conservation Camp several summers as a lad, and the rustic cabins that I and the other boys stayed in for a week during the dog days had lots of well-worn copies of Field & Stream lying around. Great stuff. Thanks for the reminder. Not only of some good writing, but of some very pleasant days long gone.
Btw...Just looked it up. Good ol' Camp Currie, located on Kentucky Lake and run by the Ky. Dept. of Fish & Wildlife since 1949, is still going strong. Sans F&S, no doubt. But proof I guess that at least sometimes & in some places, govt. gets it right.
I don't like to throw my weight around, but I just got made a Kentucky colonel, thanks to a pal. Me, and about 10,000 other people this month, in all likelihood. Though I like to think I earned it, due to all the Kentucky products I've fearlessly consumed over the years in the never-ending War on Sobriety. So if you need me to pull any strings......
Apparently I did not copy/paste the link correctly... here it is in its Amazonian complexity:
https://www.amazon.com/Old-Man-Boy-Robert-Ruark/dp/080502669X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1IYAOKXE6EXQE&keywords=old+man+and+the+boy+robert+ruark&qid=1638464315&sprefix=Old+man+ad+the+boy%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-1
If you haven't already, I hope you have a chance to visit (and fish) in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula. It is one of my very favorite places, ever, and a favorite place to escape Ohio River valley summer (and increasingly, autumn) heat. It remains primarily a destination for neighboring states, which amazes me but I guess I should be grateful. Truly magnificent part of the country.
Sounds ideal, Barbara. Every time I go to Michigan, I end up in Detroit. Not quite the same vibe.....
I have to admit, I was anticipating this would have a plot twist that ended in cannibalism. Then again, it wasn't set in California or Germany. Although it was set in Yorkshire... Ei-up!
Not sure if the very idea offends your inner technophobe, but there was a Econtalk episode recently that your cites and comments called back to mind:
https://www.econtalk.org/sandra-faber-on-the-future-of-the-earth/
Something about the rarity of Nature on our little part of the Universe, entropy, and how that it's all so fleeting...or something.
The Inn is now inviting the real Liam Gallagher to perform. So it very well might end up in cannibalism.
1 word. Excellent.
Re: Hope-restoratives
"...we often don't find them so much as they find us when we're ready for them."
Sort of like that "unlikely magic" you spoke of a few weeks ago as you launched your classy little enterprise here. The kind of magic that "...when it happens, tends to happen on its own time, not ours."
Excellent insights, both. You wrote here that you'd "lived long enough" to recognize the rarity of these restorative blessings whenever they occur. And you are 100% right that we should "never slough them off" when they are encountered. Far too rare for that. Allow me to add something here. I've got a year or three on ya'. I figure I'm entitled. (Kidding. Mostly.)
I recall writing in a comment somewhere not too long ago (don't ask me where or about what; that year or three hasn't done anything for my memory) that good and evil are always present in our lives in this world, unseen possibilities waiting to be made real by the choices we make.
So it is with hope. It's always out there in the ether somewhere, just hanging around, waiting to be made real. And part of our "being ready" for those restorative gems to find us, whether they are large or small, is being prepared to choose. And choose wisely.
Thanks for the reminder. I'll be keepin' an eye peeled. Because after a lot of what's gone on in the world of late, I'm definitely ready.
The beer is cellar temperature. Not warm.
There’s a difference…
So they say.......Still tastes warm to us Yanks. I like my beer like I like my women: cold and crisp.
This cracked me up...and I smiled...though I don't think I am either...lol
I’m a Yank. And a Cape Codder. So I know all about cold and crisp gals, m’boyo.
A beautifully drawn Belhaven, Smithwicks, Bass, or Guinness is a thing of beauty forever.
…admittedly, certainly more so when belly up at local across the pond
Am with you on Bass. I know it's high heresy, but I've never been much of a Guinness guy - a steak knife beer. When I want to drink heavy, I drink whiskey instead.
May be interested to know that Guinness, by virtue of being a porter stout, has fewer calories and alcohol than almost any other beer. In other words, it’s a lite beer(ssshhhhh…). Added that there is no carbonation, it’s velvet ambrosia.
The Blond In Black
I am someone that spends 4-5 hours a day wandering around the woods with a black lab. I have few obligations (other than the pup) and I enjoy the solitude and time to marvel at the world and think. My days chasing industriousness are done, I am no longer driven to challenge or gain (the Buddhist in me) but Mr. Dennis is absolutely spot on about many of today’s ills.
Matt, maybe send this line to Mr. Dennis “And maybe, you’re gonna be the one that saves me”
Good lyrical pull, Mary. I hear you. But I don't want to send him that - he might get a big head. And he's from the midwest, where you can't afford one of those.
I love Wonderwall....and many of their songs. They were a talented (if tortured at times) group.
I am not too knowledgeable about midwesterners, so I will defer to your better judgement 😉
Oasis is a blank in my old f*rt (73) musical experience, but this writer has expounded well in the spirit of Ecclesiastes.
My favorite book of the bible - so thanks, Brad.
All this snowed in talk reminds me of my obsession with the PBS show 'Alone in the Wilderness' about the guy who builds his own cabin in remote Alaska. Can't resist watching (with a couple glasses of whiskey) every time it's on.
I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed today’s column. Absolutely delightful! Awesome. Delicious! Close as I can get!
Knebworth 1996 was released a couple of weeks ago... fantastic.