I am filled with gratitude as I look back on 2021 and think of the whole new year that lies ahead of us as I enjoy the present moment in these first few days of 2022. For me New Year’s Eve was a quiet one as usual, with close family and staying awake for the first time in many years to watch on you tube the countdown until midnight and the start of a new year.
With a new year comes the feeling of a new beginning and for me an excitement and newfound resolve to simply get things done that are important to me. I do make plans for the year ahead but I do not tend to make New Year’s resolutions. At least not lately in the last few years.
On New Year’s day we went for a lovely walk on my folks’ property where I have been visiting, along with my dog, Charlie. We walked across the first field to the stream where we crossed over and soon saw signs of many coyotes. In the snow we found quite a number of tracks of footprints of coyotes and then came upon large black feathers where they had caught a bird of some sort. As we walked through the second field my dog had his nose to the ground to examine all the footprints. We weren’t sure how recent the footprints were as the snow had fallen a couple of days before. But we didn’t think they were fresh.
We made our way over to near the edge of the property where there is a beautiful path that takes us through the trees. As we walked there were pine trees on the left and mostly tamarack or larch trees on the right. Beneath the trees there was a soft carpet of needles. It’s protected from the wind and there isn’t as much snow in there so the walking is easier and the beauty is, to me, breathtaking. It’s my father’s favourite trail on their property, and one of my mother’s favourite trails.
Wild turkey tracks in the light layer of snow were in abundance along the trail through the trees. And we saw rabbit tracks and signs of a mole or vole having burrowed along and leaving a track through the snow too. We reached the gulley that we had been heading for in the middle of the second field and came upon a cluster of rocks that I love to see. It is a collection of rocks likely from pioneer days when the farmers had to clear the rocks out of the fields so that they could farm the fields. They made a few large piles of rocks on the property and I always feel that there is a certain air of fairy magic in these places and feelings of yester year. I’m not sure why that is but I just always get that feeling in these rock pile locations.
The rockpile has a magical atmosphere about it
We then walked along the gulley pausing to scatter walnuts that we had brought with us, scattering them across the field around us. The walnuts had fallen to the ground from walnut trees near the house. My folks had already collected and then scattered close to two thousand walnuts so far last year. They take the walnuts to a place on the property where they would like walnut trees to grow and then just throw the walnuts about there, scattering them so that they will hopefully grow into walnut trees. Even if only ten percent grow into trees, that would be two hundred walnut trees which would be lovely.
After walking along the path in the gulley, scattering walnuts as we went, we headed back across the second field towards the house. We saw many more coyote tracks as we went, and rabbit tracks. After crossing the stream again we walked along a trail through the black locust trees. One larch tree had fallen down across the path. It had broken half way up the trunk, likely during a recent wind storm, and about twenty feet lay fallen, crossing the path that we were on. As we didn’t have a chainsaw or an axe with us, we went around the tree, and my father will return later to clear the tree from the path.
Wild turkey tracks
Heading towards the shrub garden we came upon many more tracks in the snow, this time wild turkey. We have seen many wild turkeys on and near the property over the thirty five years my folks have lived here. But on our walk we just saw the footprints and tracks in the snow.
With it being time for a lunch, and tiring from walking across snowy fields, we decided to head in to the house, and with that, our lovely new year’s day walk was over. I’m looking forward to coming out here to my folks’ property in the countryside in rural Ontario, Canada as much as possible in the year ahead. Being in the countryside, and with family is good for my soul, and my dog loves it too. For us, the new year is off to a beautiful start. I hope that the new year brings each of you peace and happiness.