......intimacy with nature

Yogis,
There are many places right here in the United States that I have never been with Maine being one of them. With that in mind we flew to Bangor to meet up with friends who also hadn’t experienced Maine. A quick four-day trip to begin the process of getting to know our northern neighbor.

An old third floor walkup space converted to an Airbnb apartment became our Bar Harbor home base. The aroma of freshly baked croissants, scones and good strong Maine coffee wafted up to greet us each morning from the charming bakery below. Teeth brushed, backpacks loaded, water bottles filled and off we went. Nature…..here we come!

Acadia National Park is only minutes away by car or boat and we tried both.

As we motor across the water to the next peninsula, the first thing I notice is the abundance of stately evergreens against foggy shores. Scents of spruce, pine and cedar fill the air. Once on land my feet gradually become accustomed to the hard granite surfaces, interrupted by soft interwoven layers of moss and pine needles.

Eagles, seagulls and cormorants who hold their wings wide to dry. Pods of porpoises diving near harbor seals lazily lounging on nearby rocks.

Violet colored asters with their bright golden centers blend seamlessly with stalks of goldenrod draped over them, acting as cheerful greeters wherever we wandered. Lichens create abstracts with various hues on rock faces. Mosses I have never encountered dripping from branches and mushrooms sprouting from long ago fallen logs.

By day four I feel I am getting to know this place.

One final stop was the old Stanwood homestead laced with nature trails and a bird sanctuary. Established in the 1850’s, the oldest daughter Cordelia spent the last fifty years of her life wandering the property, photographing and taking meticulous and often poetic field notes. A keen observer of nature. As we followed the trails established by the placement of her feet, wood planks on trees held quotes from her journal. All spoke to me, but a particular one held my attention.

'Intimacy with nature is acquired slowly. It comes not with one year out of doors or with two. You look and listen, beware your stupidity, feel that you have acquired little new information; yet are determined never to despair or give up. All at once you know what you never dreamed you knew before.’
      ~ CJS fieldnotes

Yes. Yes. I myself have wandered the woods, trails and river paths of my town for close to forty years and yet I discover new every time I enter that space of not-knowing. Of curiosity. Of childlike wonder. Intimacy, whether with nature or in relationships, follows a meandering trail of footsteps taken with patience, reverence and awe. To be intimate is a gift slowly unveiled.

Maine….I now know I have only taken the first baby steps toward intimacy.  I hope to take many more.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. ~Laozi
SARAH