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Monday, July 14, 2014

The Sound of Silence



So, yes.   

We went away for more than an overnight for the first time in five years.  Away, away.  With my husband's brother and his wife.  Into the woods, by a lake, twenty-five minutes to the nearest town, many, many minutes from anywhere else.  No TV.  Spotty Internet.  Cell service touchy.  We slept in a cabin, searched out moose and found four, climbed to a ninety-foot waterfall an hour’s hike deep into the forest.  We kayaked for a couple of miles and returned with the wind dead in our faces. We tooled around in a tin motor boat.  We watched a mother duck go after a mink that was threatening one of her babies.  We chased away a red-tailed squirrel that hopped through a hole in the porch door and charged the table where we’d been eating peanuts. We drove twelve miles up a twisting incline, got out to eyes tearing in the wind, to see a 360 degree view.  Mountains.  Lakes.  More trees then we’ve seen in our lifetime. The skeletons of twisted  trees.  Cairns stacked three stones high. Anything higher would blow over.

A week of quiet.  A week of still.

Crackers and cheese with wine out of plastic cups, on a dock overlooking the lake.  Sticky finger S’mores in front of the camp fire. Weather too cool for the katydid’s we’d hear at home.  Even the birds spoke in whispers. 

All the clatter, the beeps, pings, ringtone, cars, trucks, airplanes.  Gone.

Awake by an open window in the middle of the night, I listened to the cry of the loons, convinced the mournful call was nature’s way of feeding our hearts. I got up at five and walked through the dew to catch the sunrise on two mornings so cool, mist rose from the lake.

So quiet.

So still.

A week to last a lifetime.

Home now, we just have to hold on to it.



17 comments:

J.B. Chicoine said...

You have just described my ideal vacation! (okay, my second ideal vacation--#1 has an ocean in it!)

I'm so glad you got away and experienced that kind of quiet with you loved ones.

Unknown said...

Wow, that photo is amazing. Spooky even. I would love to have a holiday like that. I could get so much writing done. Thanks for stopping by The Tiki Hut.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Wow, what busy week in that silence! We forget what silence sounds like in our world.

Dianne K. Salerni said...

That sounds lovely! I agree with Alex -- true silence is rare these days!

Anne Gallagher said...

I'm still waiting to get to RI. Stuck in PA awaiting T-storms and hail. By Weds. they said it will be all be gone. Hopefully by Thursday I will be sitting at the ocean.

Talk to you soon.

OH, and glad you had such a great time on the lake. I miss the sound of the loons.

Robin said...

From the time I was in the sixth grade through high school... I spend a great deal of the summer at camp. I loved it there. No phones. Surrounded by nature. Campfires. Just a complete change of pace from the rest of my life. It renewed my soul every summer. Now, when summer rolls around I spend a great deal of time thinking about that place and holding it as best I can in my heart. Sometimes when I go to bed at night I can almost hear the waterfall whenever I was lucky enough to stay in Milner cabin. And it soothes me.

T. Powell Coltrin said...

Now that is bliss and just made for R & R.

glnroz said...

goodness, I hate that you had to endure all that, just for a vacation break :) reckon? you deserve a break like that...

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Sounds so lovely and relaxing. My husband wouldn't enjoy it but I would.

Carol Kilgore said...

Love the photo - looks like a book cover image.

So happy you had a great time :)

Ava Quinn said...

I think you've just described paradise! I'm very jealous. I'm glad you had such a beautiful respite!

mshatch said...

That's why they call it vacation land.

Don't you love the call of the loons? And boy, aren't they the prettiest birds?

I'm glad you had a lovely week.

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

Aaaaah! I can feel the peace just reading this post and looking at that wonderful photo. And I so needed it. Thank you!

Madeline @ The Shellshank Redemption

emaginette said...

Sounds like heaven on Earth.

If you still feel lucky, I'm having a giveaway. :-)

Anna from Shout with Emaginette

Empty Nest Insider said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful retreat filled with love and laughter in the great outdoors! What a stunning photo!

Julie

Arlee Bird said...

I know what you're talking about. I used to do a lot of camping--sometimes with a tent or other times just in the open under the stars. It's such a drastic change from the daily hubbub.

Lee
Tossing It Out

JJ said...

That was my life in New Hampshire. I now reside in Florida for the weather, but I do miss everything you described.