SunDay

It's cool, but heating up after several nights of rain. We're running through our paces with the Bayfield summer tourist crowd. I work as assistant innkeeper at Pinehurst Inn three afternoons a week, teach a t'ai chi chih class in Cornucopia, and am currently organizing classes on Madeline Island and lakeside in Bayfield. Frances is booked with massage sessions at our Island Inn office on Madeline and at our north woods retreat here on the mainland.

Today, thankfully, it's quiet. The phone is silent and the bird song magnificent. We're home most of the day .... actually took time to sit out on the deck as we ate breakfast. Then Frances gassed up the tractor to scrape and grate our driveway back into shape after its customary downhill slide into gullies from the heavy rainfall.

Even though we're busy, wildlife casually saunters by. A black bear appeared outside our south deck several nights ago. S/he was back again last night around 7:00 pm based on the dog's frantic barking, panting, and shaking. Yesterday morning Frances yelled to a deer eating in the near woods by our deck fearful that s/he may be too close to her horse chestnut trees. Later I let out the geese and played with the dog on the west side of the house, oblivious to the deer's continued presence. As I talked and yelled and laughed I heard a loud and continuous snort. The perceived message? "This is my woods! Who do you think you are chasing me away?"

Saturday I drove the eight miles to downtown Bayfield. A visit to the Farmer's Market provided welcome socializing and delectable produce. Jennifer, one of my t'ai chi chih students from Cornucopia was there with cilantro, parsley, kale, and lettuce from her garden plus fresh-baked delights (quiches in raised dough, brownies, pound cake and more). Tony, a neighbor from Town of Russell, displayed beautiful butter lettuce and romaine, and Sam (also from Russell) sold homemade apple cider.

Conversation focused on the expanding development in the area. We fear, of course, that once the trees are cut down and the expensive houses built, our own privacy, quietude, and backyard wilderness will be lost. The war in Iraq was also up for discussion. Could dissent in the streets be the only way to move toward change in that never-ending saga? Several other vendors enticed me but I stopped shopping after cash ran out and the dog lost patience.

My walk with Namaste on Brownstone Trail was wonderful. This lakeside hike reminds us of the coastal sea path in southern England. Of course, there you have an ocean view and here it's a lake, but either way you walk through beautiful wildflowers, vines, and bushes with occasional glimpses of water. The vegetation is so prolific in some areas that it grows overhead and provides much-welcome shade. And--the word must be spreading--it felt like a well-used country road out there with human, dog, and bike traffic coming and going in both directions. As I walked I realized that Frances and I, so busy during the summer, seldom venture onto this trail. Our spring, fall and winter walks are much different without the blossoming flowers, leafed out trees and bushes, and strolling tourists to fill our senses and mask our view of the lake.

It's a precious gift to live in a peace-filled environment. I'm soaking it into every pore ...