Muskoka As Walden, By Fred Schulz and Ted Currie

The Torrance Barrens , Both Photos By Fred Schulz

MUSKOKA AS WALDEN - A TRIBUTE TO HENRY DAVID THOREAU AND WALDEN POND - BUT I MUST BEGIN WITH WASHINGTON IRVING

     THE COLD SPRING WIND IS RATTLING FURNITURE STORED ON OUR VERANDAH. I MOVED SOME OF THE CHAIRS THE OTHER DAY, IN ANTICIPATION THE TOUGHEST PART OF THE WINTER SEASON WAS OVER. HOW I WOULD LOVE TO SIT OUT ON THAT DECK, LOOKING OUT OVER THE MODEST GROUNDS OF BIRCH HOLLOW, WITH ITS SCATTERED RASPBERRY CANES MIXED WITH HOMESTEAD LILACS, BROUGHT FROM THE OLD COTTAGE IN WINDERMERE. I'VE BEEN A MUSKOKAN LONG ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT IT CAN SNOW IN JUNE, AND IT IS NOT UNCOMMON TO HAVE A MAJOR WEATHER EVENT IN APRIL, DEMANDING SNOWPLOWS AND SHOVELS BACK INTO ACTION. EVEN WHEN THE WEATHER IS ROUGH LIKE THIS, AND THE SKY IS DARK AND THREATENING, I HAVE NO PROBLEM IDENTIFYING THE ATTRIBUTES, OF BEING SO VERY FORTUNATE, TO LIVE IN THIS DYNAMIC EMBRACE OF MUSKOKA……REGARDLESS OF THE PREVAILING CLIMATE, REGARDLESS OF THE PREVAILING SEASON. I AM PLEASED BY ALL ITS DIMENSIONS AND IMPOSITIONS.

     I HAVE A LARGE WINDOW BESIDE MY DESK, THAT AFFORDS ME A CLEAR VIEW OUT OVER THE WETLAND, WE CALL "THE BOG," AS YOU CAN READ ABOUT, ARCHIVING BACK THROUGH THIS MULTI-YEAR BLOG. I CAN SIT HERE AT ALL TIMES OF THE DAY AND NIGHT, AND FIND CURIOUS REALITIES AND ODDITIES ABOUT THIS SMALL BUT IMPRESSIVE LOWLAND. I MIGHT WAKE UP IN THE MORNING, AND SEE A NUMBER OF DEER WALKING ALONG THE FAR RIDGE, IN THE LIGHT AND SHADOWS OF SPRING SUN BLOCKED BY VENERABLE BIRCHES WHICH HAVE BEEN THIS WAY FOR LONG AND LONG. A MOOSE MIGHT WADE INTO THE MUCK OF THE BOG, OR AN OWL COULD EASE DOWN FROM A PINE BOUGH, ONTO A JAGGED, BROKEN-OFF BIRCH STUMP, FREE OF ITS BARK, IN THE UPLAND'S THICKET OF SCRUFFY GROWTH, I CAN SEE WITHOUT BINOCULARS. A BEAR MIGHT AMBLE ALONG THE PATH, AT MID-DAY, AND OLD CROWS WILL "CAW" INTRUSIVELY FOR HOURS ON END, ABOUT SOME BROKEN SOCIAL CONVENTION OF WOODLAND LORE. SQUIRRELS LEAP THROUGH THE OVERHANGING BOUGHS, AND SOON FAT RACCOONS WILL WADDLE OUT OF THE HOLLOW, LOOKING FOR ADVENTURE AMONG THE HUMAN KIND. THE NIGHT SOUNDS IN SPRING ARE INVIGORATINGLY HEARTFELT, AS THE AIR PERMEATES THE AROMA OF WET, OPEN EARTH, AND NEW GROWTH EMERGING ACROSS THE WETLAND.

     AS A WRITER, I'VE BEEN SOOTHED BY THIS VISTA, AND NEVER EXPERIENCED A TIME, AT THIS DESK, BY THIS LARGE WINDOW, THAT I COULDN'T FIND SOMETHING TO COMPOSE…..SOMETHING TO HIGHLIGHT, OF THIS SPECIAL PLACE IN AN URBAN NEIGHBORHOOD, IN THE TOWN OF GRAVENHURST. AT TIMES WHEN I'VE SAT DOWN HERE, FEELING UNINSPIRED, AND FRUSTRATED BY DAILY CHORES AND DELAYED PROJECTS, IT ONLY TAKES A FEW MINUTES TO FEEL A SENSE OF RENEWAL DEEP WITHIN, AND A GENUINE INTEREST TO EXPRESS THESE FEELINGS, TAPPING AWAY AT THIS KEYBOARD, ANY TIME THE URGE PREVAILS. I BEGAN THIS PARTICULAR BLOG, AS A PORTAL OF ESCAPE FROM THE RIGORS OF THE WORK DAY. A SANCTUARY FROM THE STRESSES OF PROJECTS I'M FORCED TO PURSUE, FOR A WORKDAY WAGE, BUT AM GENERALLY DISINTERESTED. IT WAS MY EXCEPTIONAL PLACE TO VISIT, WHEN EVERYTHING ELSE SEEMED HEAVY AND BURDENSOME, AND INTOLERABLY REGIMENTED. ENTERING THIS MINDSET, THIS BLOG, LIKE THOREAU, AT CONCORD'S WALDEN POND, GAVE ME A CURIOUS SENSE OF ESCAPE. LIBERATION FROM THE NORMAL DAY TO DAY FARE. A CHANCE TO EXPLORE MUSKOKA, WITH A LIBERAL, ETHEREAL EXTRAVAGANCE, WITHOUT FEARING THAT I MAY HAVE, IN THE PROCESS, COLORED OUTSIDE THE LINES. "MUSKOKA AS WALDEN," HAS BEEN MY CONDUIT TO THE NATURE OF OUR REGION…..THIS DESK, THE WINDOW, AND THE COMFORTABLE CHAIR NOT FAR FROM THE WARM HEARTH, OF BIRCH HOLLOW, A STRETCHED PARALLEL TO HENRY DAVID THOREAU'S TINY CABIN AT WALDEN. 

THE SENSE OF ENCHANTMENT - I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT

     One of the authors I often turn to, in the stress-laden moments, when I feel stifled by protocols, and exhausted by the news of the day; like the scent of cleansing sage, to the clairvoyant…….., a passage or two from the pen of Washington Irving sets my imagination free. It validates how I have always felt, since childhood, about our lives outdoors, and the inspirations to be harvested…..if we can ever truly keep imagination free of the encumbrances, that dull its cutting edge. I feel it is important to offer you this often repeated section, from Irving's 1820's book, "Bracebridge Hall," as it will explain how I have studied and celebrated Muskoka since I arrived here, in the winter of 1966. A refugee from city life. Thrust down into an enchanted hinterland, that I enjoyed every day of my youth……every second of every day in adulthood. As I re-visit this blog-site, that I began several years, out of a desire to escape day to day pressures, I can't write a more profound explanation, as to my endless passion to seek out Muskoka's mysteries. In the words of Washington Irving I humbly concur:

     "I am dwelling too long, perhaps, upon a threadbare subject; yet it brings up with it a thousand delicious recollections of those happy days of childhood, when the imperfect knowledge I have since obtained, had not yet dawned upon my mind, and when a fairy tale was true history to me. I have often been so transported by the pleasure of these recollections, as almost to wish that I had been born in the days when the fictions of poetry were believed. Even now I cannot look upon those fanciful creations of ignorance and credulity, without a lurking regret that they have all passed away.

     "The experience of my early days tells me that they were sounds of exquisite delight; and I sometimes question whether the naturalist who can dissect the flowers of the field, receives half the pleasure from contemplating them, that he did who considered them the abode of elves and fairies. I feel convinced that the true interests and solid happiness of man are promoted buy the advancement of truth; yet I cannot but mourn over the pleasant errors which it has trampled down in progress. The fauns and sylphs, the household sprite, the moonlight revel, Oberon, Queen Mab, and the delicious realms of fairy land, all vanish before the light of true philosophy; but who does not sometimes turn with distaste, from the cold realities of morning, and seek to recall the sweet visions of the night."

     When I look out this same window, and feel the cool breeze on a scented summer evening, seeing the lights of fireflies, deep in the hollow of The Bog, I am reminded of Washington Irving's advisory, that enchantments have their place even in our most conservative perceptions of reality. We all benefit from the liberation of imagination, to wander, as we did as children, down these playfully haunted paths, to sense for ourselves, the true dimension of what is real, and what is fantasy. Sometimes we would come home perplexed by what we had experienced. We might return home frightened by the unknown. We thought we saw strange creatures, dancing lights, and upon hearing a footfall, ran as fast as we could, to the safety of our illuminated lane. I worry about the children of today, and how they interpret the strange wonders of the vast Muskoka hinterland. It can be said with some honesty, that I have pursued the secrets of this region, as much as a child would explore a perceived haunted woodland. Siding, as it was, that enchantment was profoundly integral to nature, as its deep roots in forest and bog; as rugged and weathered as the rock faces warmed daily by the sun. I can't take ten determined steps in these same woodlands, without feeling that rising sense of wonder, about what I might find of nature, that will fascinate me today…….and encourage an intrepid march further along the trail of discovery. This has been the writer's relationship with Muskoka. It has been my place of inspiration, as it has been my portal for escape. I can find joy in the simplest of offerings, and wax poetic about the first lilacs, and the robins that peck at the sod beneath. I can feel lost in enterprise, but in only moments, of sitting on a fallen log, in this picturesque dominion, my heavy heart escapes its mortal trappings. As a writer, Muskoka is my Walden Pond. I have never once, been void of creative adventure, when writing about the place I live and work. It is in essence, the passion for this most basic offering of reflections, now enhanced by the brilliant photographic work of long-time Muskoka photographer, Fred Schulz, of Gravenhurst……who will regale us with his historic images, captured over many decades…..that demonstrate his own lifetime passion for his home region…..and its representation in film.

     This blog is still the portal I intended it to be, when I began my entries a number of years ago. It is a safe haven, as much as a place to step-out from, on occasion, to explore and entertain adventures. I hope it will come to represent the small comfortable cabin, that Thoreau built on the shore of that lovely little Massachusetts pond……affording him a place to contemplate nature…situated on the brink of urban expansionism as it existed during his life. The photographs that will be provided by Fred Schulz, will highlight all sides of the Muskoka experience…..urban and rural, as he has enjoyed the home region, since his earliest days, growing up in the hamlet of Kilworthy, south of Gravenhurst, where his family ran the popular general store. He will include many photographs of trains then and now, as they were part of his youth….and a hobby he extended into adulthood. Side by side, he will offer magnificent vistas of places like the lowlands of the Torrance Barrens, and scenes of lakes and forests throughout the seasons of the rolling year. There will be two journeys, two adventures, two interpreters, and trustfully, they will compliment each other, in the collected works published here for the first time.

     The work you will see in the coming weeks, will reflect the values of the photographer and the writer, independently of one another…..except for our residence for now, in this Walden cabin, comparing notes about our respective relationships with Muskoka…..and the good lives we've had here. I suppose, in a way, expressing these thoughts and images now, is something we can both cross off our bucket lists…..as being things we believed, we really had to do….to remind others, about the history of this region…..and all the reasons to conserve and protect this incredibly beautiful district, long into the future.

     This blog compilation was not put together for any reason of profit, presently or in the future. It is the product of two enthused Muskokans, who want to share their passions for the home district…..in the sincere hope, others will feel the same.

     Please feel to drop by Muskoka as Walden any time. You can archive back for more context about how this blog was developed. Much more to come. This will be a daily blog for the immediate future. Thanks for your support.