Post #3301: Life in the trees

I went for a walk in the woods yesterday, for the first time in quite awhile. Since having covid in the spring – I’ve been cold a lot and also a bit lazy. I’ve never had anything like “long-covid”, but both times I’ve had the virus it’s taken about six months for my energy and core body temperature to return. I did not swim much this summer as a result, and I have not wanted to walk outside in the cooling autumn much either.

But yesterday, the weather was reasonable and I felt the need to get a workout outside of my little gym – so I went out and up the hill in the forest, across Wild Cherry into another forest and then down to my house again. On my way into the second forest, I spotted the no trespassing sign at the head of this post – at first glance believing it to be vandalized (which most no trespassing signs on this piece of woods have been) – but then realizing that the tree itself had done the damage in response having a sign embedded in its bark! Ironic and oddly delightful!

When I was at our cabin outside of Princeton in mid-October, I found myself taking photos every day. Part of the reason for that is it’s a special place for me, and especially in its fall splendour – but also because when I’m there I make an effort to get outside every day. At home on Gabriola, it’s a little too easy to sit at my desk and then slip downstairs into the garage gym rather than engaging with the outside world – especially when the weather is bad.

So embedded in that are two efforts I would like to return to my life – getting out and about more on a daily basis, and documenting my life no matter where I am.

Thus, my return to this blog. I’ve missed having a place for everyday life things! The Comfort for the Apocalypse substack is too formal for the random bits and pieces, and I’ve found it overwhelming in terms of the sheer volume of stuff I feel expected to read whenever I open up my app (I’m working on that by unsubscribing from things). It’s great for getting an audience, but I’m not sure that’s what the daily ordinary of my life demands. This blog feels like a better spot for the quiet record-keeping of days – and if folks stumble onto it (or I remind people it’s here) and they wish to read about me – great! But it’s mostly just for me.

So, here I am, with some photos and words about the small discovery of a mangled sign in the woods and not a lot else to say about any of it.