An Imperious Summons.....

It's always hard to close up our cabin in Northwestern Ontario, especially as we grow older. But as we have to boat in, we make a decision when the days grow short, and the birds begin to gather ready to migrate; that it is time to pull up boats and canoes, turn off the water, put the boat motors away in sheds and pack up for the winter.

I find it heart wrenching every single autumn, but remind myself that we are so so lucky that my grandparents in 1918 and parents (1948) chose to build cabins on this lake and we, as children, climbed the rocks and explored the forest every summer, as our children and grandchildren do now. Me, too, of course as you can tell from my many boreal forest photos!

I read this quote recently at a memorial service for an old timer who spent most of his life at our lake. It really touched me.

"Through the marshes and the forests

An imperious summons flies

And from all the dreaming northland

The wild birds flock and rise."

P. McArthur 

Watercolour Print by Ireart on Etsy