Ice Storm Patrollers

Ice Storm Patrollers
a haibun for Marvin Orbach


For many years I was self-appointed inspector of snow storms and rain storms, and did my duty faithfully; surveyor, if not of highways, then of forest paths and all across-lot routes, keeping them open, and ravines bridged and passable at all seasons, where the public heel had testified to their utility.

Henry David Thoreau
from WALDEN, first section "Economy", 1854



A major ice storm hit Ontario last Friday, and for several days it was unwise, basically impossible, to drive. Exploring the beautiful results of the storm wasn't possible until yesterday, Monday. Chase & I visited one of our favourite trails on the rocky plateau above the village. I call these the water tower trails.

ice storm
fleshes the bones
of old tipi sticks

 
Walking was very difficult. Fortunately Chase and I found a snowmobile track sunken under the ice crust and were able to crunch along above it. After a half mile the snowmobiler had circled back, and hiking was far more difficult. I sank heel deep with each step, while Chase skidded on top, enabled by his 'four-wheel-drive'. Walking was so laborious for me we didn't continue far. On the return hike, I noticed an ethereal surprise in the unblemished snow:
 
each footprint
glowing
bodhisattva blue

 
Day 2: The Reeve's Trail

This trail is part of the greater trans-Canada Trail, which was originally the old CNR railroad tracks. The rails were removed decades ago, but fortunately the rail bed was acquired and turned into long stretches of our national trail. It is extremely rare for Chase and I to encounter another hiker. The only humans we see are snowmobilers whizzing past at high speed in the winter, and ATVers in the milder weather. Chase and I enjoy our daily exercise and appreciate nature at an enjoyable pace. The crazed riders enjoy bruised kidneys and the aroma of small whining engines. The fuel scent lingers for minutes after their passing in cold weather. 

 
stunted dogwood swamp
magick fairyland today


boring stretch of trail
transformed to crystalline
archway

facing the sun
the whole swamp glistens
crystal

 
Chase & I turn our backs on the sun to start the return hike to the car. Sadly, the magick crystal swamp has returned to its usual dross colour. How can this be? Without the sun's brilliant magnification, the ice no longer reflects. Also the sun has also melted the ice on the south side of the cattails and dogwoods. Same swamp, two visions.

 
sun behind us
the swamp returns
to dull browns

looking back
crystal magick returns
with the sun's eye

lone black wing
swoops off the slag heap
this magick day

On day two the ice surface has hardened enough to bear my weight. I think of the sweet bread pudding I baked last night with its brown sugar crust. Tonight the forecast is for 25 below - no melt forecasts more ice magick tomorrow. 

 
Day 3: Water Tower Trails Again

It's a Christmas Day tradition to hike a certain section of these trails before Christmas dinner with my friend Morley and his family. While I hike I remember the image of the Christmas Day Chase & I flushed a snowshoe rabbit from a brushpile on this plateau.


faint sun
makes new magick:
all is silver-white


 
Even the daily high temperature has remained far below freezing since the ice storm visited. These sub-zero temperatures are tempering the ice crust to a steel-like hardness. Now it is a rare surprise when I fall through the crust. The edges are knife sharp, and I have a gouge on my thumb from one of these stumbles.

I worry that small animals may be trapped in their burrows by this once-in-many-decades ice storm. It would be reassuring to see tracks, but

 
even humans
leave no tracks now
in the frozen woods

 
Chris Faiers/cricket
Christmas Day 2013


Sunday, Dec. 29 : Thaw Day

I took Chase for a great ramble at Callahan's Rapids Conservation. Haven't been there in a month. I tried to explore the 'haunted woods' section by the rapids, but the thaw was in effect today, & I realized I couldn't make the round trip I like to do because the little creek was no longer frozen. So Chase & I hiked back to the parking lot, over the bridges, & took the little side trail which comes out in Riverside Pines.

Because of the thaw birds & little animals were finally out & about today. The warmer weather created a mist which made the hike feel like we were walking thru some primordial soup. From the bridges:

thaw day
beaver's slap a monk's tap
awake
 
Lots of falling ice & snow in the woods. It sounded like large invisible beings were tromping around in the woods, & a few times large chunks fell dangerously close to us.

We hiked for almost 2 hours, & I was so hungry I went to the Ranch by myself for crispy chicken. When I got home at 4:30 there were emails from Jim & Virginia, & another one from Gail. So I left Chase to warm up & drove back to El Rancho for a holiday drink with Jim & Virginia.


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Ancestral Roofs has left a new comment on your post "Ice Storm Patrollers":

Thanks Chris for this lovely wander through the ice storm woods - such dangerous beauty and now all signs gone, just broken branches to remind us where the ice lay heavy.
You two keep well.
Lindi 

Posted by Ancestral Roofs to Riffs & Ripples from ZenRiver Gardens at 30 December 2013 07:04

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Friday, January 10, 2014: Wraiths on the Water Tower Trails

Hi Marvin,

Thanks for letting me know the 2 UMBRELLAS arrived OK. I'm pleased I was able to feature the work of Martin Durkin in one, & that of Kathy Figueroa & Ursula Pflug in the other.
The small package of ephemera should arrive early next week. Chase & I were finally able to hike on our favourite trails for the first time in a week this  aft - first it was the ice storm & then the arctic vortex making hiking dangerous & unpleasant. Chase had a great time, it's hard to believe he's around 16 years old & not still a puppy sometimes. I'm still enjoying my time with HDT - about 90 pages to go.

Chase bounding
over fresh snow
and scary tracks  


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Arctic Vortex Aftermath

There are no gods in the wilderness
only wolves remain scavenging
in the four corners of the savage winds,
angels are made of black iron
refrain from kissing their frozen feet,
in the tangle of crushed trees
a flurry of fur and tails,
monkeys are returning.

Katherine L. Gordon
frozen January, 2014.

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Saturday, January 18, 2014: Changes

Hi Katherine,
Many thanks for your poem"Arctic Vortex Aftermath". I've done something a little different with it - I've been adding daily haibun to a posting I initially started about the ice storm, but then I have continued adding posts, including my last one about the arctic vortex. So what I've done is add your poem as another link to this 'renku' (linked) sequence. I think it works???
peace & poetry power!

Chris & Chase Wrffffffffffffffzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!  - both very full after a big dinner - today's hike was a major one way back to the 'shaman ponds' on the old quarry properties behind ZenRiver. We encountered a lot of wildlife for a change. Perhaps nature is also restless after the recent overwhelming wintery intrusions. At the start of the hike a young doe, perhaps 3 years old, bounded across the trail within 50 feet of us. Later, another startled adventurer:

ghost rabbit
boots over the trail
ears still brown


When we started the hilly & dangerous return journey from the distant ponds, a pair of crows noisily flew overhead (Milt & Al?). Close to where we saw the first deer 2 yearlings slipped into the woods. By the main quarry a woodpecker was busy tap-tapping for hidden snacks in low lying scrub thorn trees.

both trees I signed
by the shaman ponds
gone this wild winter 



  
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Sunday, January 19, 2014:  Sewage Bay Swamp


Today I took Chase for an hour hike on the Sewage Plant trails. It was snowing quite heavily, & we enjoyed our first annual visit thru the frozen swamp to 'sewage bay'. It's a haunting place - only accessible in the height of winter freeze-up, & even more haunting in the midst of an increasingly heavy & windy snow storm. There was a very ramshackle lone ice hut on the little bay - it would have made an interesting picture (by the marge/of Lac Labarge).

camo canoe
resting against
winter cut stumps

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the Peace of Walden Pond

picture of Henry David Thoreau's retreat, Walden Pond


Hi Marvin,
Thanks for your commiseration, it's very much appreciated  : ) I'm not at all surprised that WALDEN is your all-time favourite book!

Last summer I picked up a thin copy of Thoreau's writings at the used book store in the nearby village of Madoc. I think it cost a buck, which went to supporting the Madoc Library. I read WALDEN and "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" in my late teens. Of course both strongly resonated with me - I've always been a lover of nature and a solitary person by preference. But it was especially appropriate and inspiring that I read Civil Disobedience while I was in the process of sorting out my beliefs and course of action during the upheaval of the VN War. I wish this essay were more widely known & read.

So it's been almost half a century since I first explored Walden Pond and its surrounds with HDT  :  )  I admit that long stretches of Walden can still be a bit tedious, but on a more relaxed re-reading I'm finding there are many nuggets of wisdom scattered on every page, which I would have glossed over in my teens.

I'm also surprised at the breadth of Thoreau's knowledge & imaginings - wisdom. Much of the tone & tenor of Thoreau's writings reflect what I consider to be Hindu/Buddhist principles. HDT even mentioned the Bhagavad-Gita in the section I read last night.  HDT praised simplicity, reverence for nature, respect for one's fellow humans & neighbours, but with a healthy dose of New England Yankee distancing, which some might consider standoffishness.

The iconoclast in HDT is something which also resonates with me. I could perhaps interpret it as  'save yourself first', before you try to save the world. Keep yourself apart from the world as much as possible, & if the world & its craziness impedes too much on you, well, you have to take a moral stance, even if it means going to jail for the night in Concord for not paying your poll tax! Thoreau was an avid abolitionist of slavery, and he did occasionally break his own guidelines by giving public lectures against this.

Yes, on re-reading WALDEN I see that HDT had a much greater influence on the young me than even I realized. I had one very supportive English prof at the University of Miami, & every paper I turned in he'd praise with the suggestion that my newest production could be my Master's thesis. My thought was to do my thesis on HDT, but three draft notices in a week cut short my academic career, & a few months later I found myself living on Eel Pie Island in the middle of the Thames River on the outskirts of London, England! Living on Eel Pie Island wasn't exactly retreating beside Walden Pond, but it was one heck of an experience!

HDT's youthful influence is still reflected in my life. Now I've got my own quirky version of HDTs retreat with ZenRiver Gardens.  I'm 90% joking about going to live a Thoreauesque life at ZenRiver Gardens, but there is a 10% temptation to follow HDT's fine example. His cabin was 10 by 15 feet, while my shaman shack is an even more modest 10 by 10 (but then I do have the luxury of a 60 square foot deck!). It was a hoot to again read HDT's penny by peny accounting of the cost of building his shack, & the same New England penny-pinching accounting of his personal income & expenses. On further thought, in the warm months I do spend more than 10% of my time at ZenRiver, so I'm living a life at least partially in accordance with HDT's high standards.

Thank you Henry David Thoreau. Almost unknown and unread in your time, but a bellwether writer & thinker for the current state of life on our shrinking hillbilly planet.

peace & poetry power!
Chris/cricket and Chase Wrfffffffffffffffffffffffffzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  

On 2013-12-21, at 10:35 PM, marvin orbach wrote:

Hi Chris,
   I am sorry to hear about all the problems you are having. I hope the new year brings   some relief.
   I send you happy solstice greetings.
    BTW,   Walden is my all-time favourite book. I worship Henry  David Thoreau.
     Cheers, from Montreal West.
     Marvin.

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 Dec. 22/13

Hi Chris,
    I am not all surprised that Thoreau had such an important influence on you.   I was profoundly affected by his writings when I was a student. 
    As a matter of fact,  in my mind,  you are to some degree a Canadian Thoreau.
    Peace, Shalom.
    Marvin. 
 
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Dec. 22/13

my Walden Pond ? the puddle I make when I piss of of the deck !
I call it Mellow Yellow Pond !

ciao, Ed

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Dec. 31/13 (email excerpt)

Hi Gerry,
I'm still plodding my way thru WALDEN - I'm finding I can absorb just a few pages a night. There are more parallels with my life & HDT's WALDEN than I first realized - even his cabin has similar surroundings to my shaman shack at ZenRiver Gardens. There are sumacs in his side yard, white pines at the back, & of course the pond at the front (while I have the river). We both share visits from many of the same species of birds and mammals.  Some of Thoreau's descriptions of his day-to-day life have probably subconsciously influenced my haibun/blog postings. Of course I'm a fan of the Quakers - it was the Miami Friends Service Committee who offered me the most support with resisting the Vietnam War, & they let me print my underground newspaper, PAPERS, at their headquarters.
 - Chris
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 from Wikipedia:

Henry David Thoreau

Portrait by Benjamin D. Maxham (daguerreotype) of Henry David Thoreau in June 1856.
Born	July 12, 1817 Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	May 6, 1862 (aged 44) Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.
Era	19th century philosophy
Region	Western Philosophy
School	Transcendental idealism[1]
Main interests	Ethics, Poetry, Religion, Politics, Biology, Philosophy, History
Alma mater	Harvard College
Notable ideas	Abolitionism, tax resistance, development criticism, civil disobedience, conscientious objection, direct action, environmentalism, anarchism, simple living
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