Places of the spirit
I'd call it places of the heart, I suppose, too.
I'm not the least bit religious, but I definitely connect with a sense of place and feeling connected to special places in the world. Mine were the forests and mountains of my youth, camping in the Rockies of Colorado, I've realized, with a summer spent on the flanks of Mt. Hood, Oregon in the mix as a high school student.
It wasn't the scrub cedar of the Edwards Plateau, in Austin, Texas, where I grew up, that I connected with. Although I loved exploring the then wide expanses of Northwest Austin on my own, poking around in the junipers and sophora.
It was the evergreens and aspens of Colorado that imprinted their mark; mountains and forests are my home place.
So I've felt like I've returned home to the Southern Appalachians of Asheville, Carolina, but now I'm feeling equally at home in the far northern stretches of the Appalachians in Quebec, where the mountains dip into the sea. The forest areas here are magical: spruce, fir, aspen, and birch, with a delightful understory of various natives and adventives.
We're so fortunate to have mountains, sea, and forest, as well as a historic house and expansive garden to restore and revision.
Not to mention wonderful views into the St. Lawrence River and Parc National du Bic nearby.
I'm not the least bit religious, but I definitely connect with a sense of place and feeling connected to special places in the world. Mine were the forests and mountains of my youth, camping in the Rockies of Colorado, I've realized, with a summer spent on the flanks of Mt. Hood, Oregon in the mix as a high school student.
It wasn't the scrub cedar of the Edwards Plateau, in Austin, Texas, where I grew up, that I connected with. Although I loved exploring the then wide expanses of Northwest Austin on my own, poking around in the junipers and sophora.
It was the evergreens and aspens of Colorado that imprinted their mark; mountains and forests are my home place.
So I've felt like I've returned home to the Southern Appalachians of Asheville, Carolina, but now I'm feeling equally at home in the far northern stretches of the Appalachians in Quebec, where the mountains dip into the sea. The forest areas here are magical: spruce, fir, aspen, and birch, with a delightful understory of various natives and adventives.
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| Havre du Bic view this afternoon |
Not to mention wonderful views into the St. Lawrence River and Parc National du Bic nearby.
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