So after over a year of procrastination I’m finally writing my first blog post… It’s about time! While this first post might be a little disappointing, hopefully this blog will become my little corner of the internet for reflection and inspiration.
I spent a lot of time this past week reading A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. I had to read it for an essay that’s due this Friday, but I gotta say…I loved this book. It’s a shame I had to rush reading it, because I would have really liked to savor it over a longer period.
For those who’ve never heard of it, it’s a collection of short essays on wilderness and nature preservation written during the 30’s and 40’s. It’s interesting to see what’s changed in the past 70 years, but it’s also shocking to see how little has been resolved.
This past Tuesday I took advantage of the lovely weather to go down and read by the Speed River. I parked myself on a bench in front of the water and spent a couple of hours there. It felt appropriate to be reading about Leopold’s love for ducks and geese while flocks of them swam by, charming and noisy as ever.
It was looking so nice that I took a couple of pictures, but I forgot my real camera at home…so phone pictures will have to do for now.
With the rest of this post I’ll include a couple of quotes from the book that I liked. Hopefully it will help inspire me enough to get started on this essay!
“But all conservation of wilderness is self-defeating, for to cherish we must see and fondle, and when enough have seen and fondled, there is no wilderness left to cherish.” (Leopold, 108).
“The men who are destroying our wildlife are alienating one of these rights, and doing a thorough job of it. More than that, they are doing a permanent job of it.” (Leopold, 227).
“My notes tell me I have seen a thousand geese this fall. Every one of these in the course of their epic journey from the arctic to the gulf has on one occasion or another probably served man in some equivalent of paid entertainment. One flock perhaps has thrilled a score of schoolboys, and sent them scurrying home with tales of high adventure. Another, passing overhead of a dark night, has serenaded the whole city with goose music, and awakened who knows what questionings and memories and hopes.” (Leopold, 229).
I can’t help but love Leopold’s writing. For him to take something I usually don’t think much about (Canadian geese is a good example), and to write so passionately about it that I suddenly share his passion…this to me is a sign of a very skilled and sentimental writer.
Hopefully I can do him justice in my essay!
Love your blog! 🙂 The pictures are great, your writing is lovely and nature is great. I've never read that book but I'll check it out. His writing is really pretty. There's a book of poetry I want to recommend if you liked this book but I forget the title/author so I have to go scrounge around for it.
Awesome Girl! I look forward to the next one. This leopold sounds like an artist and a philosopher!