Sunday Scribblings: Woodland Homecoming

Blue Heron and Deer by hart_curt on Flickr photo sharing

It’s a homecoming of sorts, after a long winter away. I turn off the smooth highway and onto the buckled and pocked asphalt of a country road. Asphalt quickly gives way to gravel, which turns into a rutted clay track leading down to the lake’s edge. Deer dart from a sun-splotched meadow, into the deep shade of the woods. A pair of doves linger by a puddle until the last possible minute, skimming over the tall grass with a lazy flap of wings.

The guardian osprey has already spotted me by the time I carry my kayak to the lake. He swoops in for a better look when I push the boat into the water. I watch for Old blue and his mate, wonder if the herons survived another winter.The kayak glides through the water and peace glides over me. A light joy bubbles up inside, the kind of feeling you get over a glass of wine with friends.

Word travels fast as the osprey’s cry here on the lake. Old friends appear, sending their greetings as I pass. The beaver slaps the water in salute as I paddle by his lodge. Egrets and kingfishers flit through marsh grass and call out. The owl that guards the swampy corner wakes long enough to send its deep bass greeting ringing through the clear, cold air. But still, the herons haven’t put in an appearance.

I edge the boat into a shaded cove and pick up my notebook to write, a little sad the herons are gone. A few minutes later, I look up and spot a young, buck watching me from the opposite bank, ears flicking, tail twitching. And there at his side, still as deadwood and not as invisible as he likes to think, Old Blue watches. Neither appears disturbed by my presence. The buck returns to his grazing and the heron watches, a gleam in his eye. Welcome home, he seems to be saying.

“It’s good to be home,” I whisper back.

~~~
I wrote this in the spring of 2010, sitting in my kayak in my favorite woodland hideaway. I discovered the entry again about two weeks ago when I returned to that little woodland nook for the first time this season and opened my hiking journal to find this as the last entry.

I’m finishing up the revisions on my next book, Snatch Me, this morning and this afternoon I will run through what the game developers have promised is the final version of the Spirit Walkers: Curse of the Cypress Witch video game (a story about a woodland adventure). So, I think I’ve earned a day out tomorrow. I’m headed to the lake for solitude and writing in this beautiful woodland setting. Work has kept me away from my inspiration too long.

This scribbling was posted in response to this week’s Sunday Scribblings prompt. See what others have written or join the fun yourself here.