Friday, March 16, 2007

Last Photos from the North Woods




Monday: Tried a spur trail and part of the Superior Hiking trail, but the snow was deep and not very packed. We’d opted to go without snowshoes and used ski-poles as walking sticks. But every third or fourth step, we’d sink in to our thighs. It wasn’t long before we decided a sauna at the lodge was a better idea.

I’ve decided there is some kind of genetic coding that makes me feel at home along the Northwoods lakeshore. My dad and his ancestors were from the Baltic Sea coast. I’m not surprised so many Scandinavians settled here in Minnesota – or in my family’s case – Latvian/Russian/Germans. Forests of birch and pine, snow, wide dark waters, sunlight in a searing blue sky, woodsmoke rising from the fireplace . . . and yes, even the pickled herring for breakfast made me feel a sense of belonging.

Tuesday: Hiked a section of the Superior Hiking trail. Snowpacked footpaths through birches led us into complete solitude. We spotted a bald eagle (see second photo - the eagle is peeking out) and watched it take to its nest. Near a half-frozen waterfall, we found a box where other hikers signed in with brief messages in a notebook. We read a few entries and discovered one signed by Becky Miller! That’s right, my dear character had hiked this same trail only a few weeks earlier. And people wonder why my characters feel so real to me. :-)



Blessings!
Sharon Hinck

3 comments:

Tonja said...

All of your pics are so lovely!! I've never seen anything like that. And, a bald eagle's nest?! Wow! I hope one day I'll get to see that in person...that would be so special.

question: how many times did you talk yourself out of writing before you wrote your first book?
Tonja

Sharon Hinck said...

Hi, Tonja!
Yeah, it was amazing.

Okay, I probably shouldn't confess this, but the internal argument is STILL going on. There are LOTS of good reasons to NOT write, and I start telling myself some of them most days.

But for some reason, I write anyway.

It's partly obedience (I really feel God has asked me to spend a large chunk of my time at this right now)

It's sometimes the exhilaration of discovery, and sometimes a desire to give a voice to people's struggles,
(those are my good reasons).

But I confess its sometimes a very human desire to show-off, like a little kid saying, "Hey, mom! Watch how high I can swing! Are you watching?"...as well as a rather pathetic longing to not feel alone in the universe ("hey, someone read what I wrote and identified. Hooray! I'm not the only one!")

Thanks for asking such a cool question!
Hugs, Sharon

L.L. Barkat said...

Hey there, Sharon. I saw you on another blog and clicked over. That is one enormous and wonderful nest!