Saturday, April 29, 2017

Manitoba Mirage

By the same token that chili isn't as tasty in the Summer as it is in the Winter; looking and reading about cold places in the heat of Alabama Summer makes you feel cooler.  
As the first 90'F days hit us, I started dreaming of Svalbard Islands in Arctic Norway.

Better than lemonade!
After today's sweat donation in the garden, I opened my recently arrived Manitoba Tourism Guide.  I need a cardigan and scarf to peruse it!

I only meant to read the introduction, then return to battling the weeds in the garden, but she sucked me in until the last page.  I left quite a bit of drool on the Riding Mountain National Park feature.  
Since adolescence, I've had two steadfast heroes in my life:  my grandmother and Grey Owl.

Grey Owl was a trapper turned conservationist, who wrote stories in the 1930's of his life and struggles in the Canadian Boreal Forests.  He ultimately settled in Saskatchewan, but he resided for 6 months in Riding Mountain Park, Manitoba, where his log cabin still stands.  
He is credited for drawing international attention to the imminent extinction of beavers from trapping pressure and the destruction of the Great Boreal Forest from raze and burn logging.
Can my Bucket List hold one more entry?  Can I retrace Grey Owl's steps to his Manitoba cabin where he lived with his two pet beavers, Jellyroll and Rawhide?  I know the stories by heart...

Just a mirage for now, but maybe reality by 2018.  

"There is silence.  Intense, absolute and all embracing." 
The forest, according to Grey Owl 1931