Winter can be fun, if one can get out and enjoy it , in the best way you
can –
Walk in the Woods, Work out in a Gym/ home , to some Baila tune , Sit by
the cozy fire place , curl up and read a book or follow The Web Class of
64, !, or eat comfort food to fill your belly and soul !
Better still- Run Away from it ALL to a Warmer place , like will be doing
in a month, to Arizona !!
Februray is THE worst month – temps at minus 20 deg C for the entire month
and it is killing cold to be alone here, out in the boonies , at this
stage in my life .
In my younger days- it was fun to walk on the frozen lake- not any more !!
I had my Winter Fun- yesterday – dec 13th, out in the woods near by .
Came across just what I was hoping for – Wolf / Coyote track , as this
always gives me a ‘good feeling ‘ that I am not alone in the woods and I am
being watched and guided by those who were here, before I came along to live
in Turtle Island as it how North America is known to the Native People who
lived here for ten thousand years .
I have seen the Wolves / Coyote a few times along this trail, and on the
road side, in the summer , and in the winter , crossing the frozen lake
behind my home , from Giants Tomb Island -gorgeous creatures they are,
specially to see them on the white frozen lake on a winter moon lit night
..
One time, in the summer , it was right in front of me- where I saw the
scat( poop ) yesterday , we made eye contact , for a split second , I
said ‘ Mayeengun ‘ the first word that came to my head , the Ojibway word
for Wolf.
Strange that I could not get the words Wolf , Vuurkaya ( Sinhala ) out
that that time .
I had completely forgotten the Sinhala word, until I wrote about it to
Narme last year January and he wrote back the Sinhala word for Wolf !
Follow the photos .
— the foot prints are very, very fresh- likely a few hours before I saw
them, about 3 inches deep in the snow , indicating it is a mature fully
grown animal, at least 50 lbs wt .
— tracks are in a straight line – — knows exactly where it is going and
this is typical of Wolf / Coyote, where as house dog tracks are hapahazard
and always there is a human foot print near by .
— my foot print to indicate size- a mature animal track .
— Stone Cairn – I made this, at this location, to indicate to me the
direction I should take to go home — I learnt this the hard way one time a
few years back – and thank god it was summer ! The tracks lead up to the
stone cairn, and the community beyond the woods .
It is easy to lose your way in the forest – specially in the winter, when
the usual land marks are all coverd in snow .
There are few human prints along this trail- so this helps .
— many tracks coming together – there were many tracks criss crossing the
woods , about a kilometer after I passed the stone cairn, and the Scat (
poop ) at this location to mark the Family Territory , indicating a family
group that went hunting , perhaps the Alpha Male marked the territory .
From here, the tracks part company again , and a few tracks followed my way
to the street , and went into the deep woods that follow the street for the
next 3 kilometers and into Awenda Provincial Park- a 6000 acre Natural park
/ Camping grounds, beaches etc .
— an earlier photo with the sunshine and blue sky- taken Jan 2nd – 2017-
when the snow was VERY deep, along the same woodland trail.And, belive me,
this particular day, it was hard slugging on the snow that was 8- 10 inches
deep !- I should have known better, not to venture into the woods, when the
snow was that deep !
Live and Learn !
For those who want to know this location – look up google maps- Awenda
Provincial Park/ Champlain R d, and I live on a side street off Champlain
Rd, just 2 km from the park entrance Awenda Park Road .
Eagle Deepthie
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News, Views and More from Batch'64, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, SriLanka 