I am fascinated by this photo. The slender hourglass shape carved by the beaver is striking. It looks fragile, yet perfectly balanced. I have seen many pointy tree stumps completely chomped down by beavers, and others with a few nibbles, but this trunk stood out as it was so very close to completion. Another bite or two, chomp chomp, and it surely it would fall.  I took the photo a couple years and keep thinking about it. There must be meaning, a message, a hidden truth, to be uncovered in this finely chiseled trunk. But what?  Then at the cottage this week I saw a beaver swimming across the lake.…

I am floating, suspended in the deep green, cool, clean water. Drifting. My body relaxed, head back, ears submerged in the water muting out any sounds other than the quiet of the lake. There is no other body of water where I have passed so many idle hours. Lazing on an inner tube, extremities dangling languidly into the water. Plunging into its refreshing embrace on a hot day. Swimming leisurely along the shore. Little Straggle Lake. I have been coming to this little lake my whole life. Literally. My parents owned the cottage before I was born so my first trip was as a baby. My husband and I now…