Soft Focus

“The hard edges of life move into softer focus up north,” says Joan Steffend. And Standing Bear said, “Man’s heart away from nature becomes hard.”

During Gunter’s recovery from his knee replacement surgery, I couldn’t wait to get back into nature at Northern Bliss, our lake home. Your own “up north” could be anywhere you choose to  get away and de-stress.

“The volume of life can creep up slowly…

the white noise of the daily routine…

distortion of unnecessary busy-ness…

groans of a big picture lost in a to-do list,

as the peaceful voice of our own nature

seems to grow fainter and farther away.

Up north you can turn up

the Silence of Divinity.” –Jimmy Brandmeir

Last week, with my Canon EOS hung around my neck, I crept close to butterflies and dragonflies while touring the dikes and watersheds of Crex Meadows in Grantsburg, Wisconsin. Time stood still while reeds rustled and sedge grass swayed in the light breeze. Even though July is off-season for the migratory fowl these wetlands are famous for, the day was a blissful communion with nature. As Tolstoy said, “One of the first conditions of happiness is that the link between man and nature shall not be broken.”

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