Into the Woods.
My first realization of the quiet vastness of the woods was in 1988 when my parents purchased a small, isolated cabin in the Catskill Mountains. The property lines between neighboring homes (often of summer vacationers rather than year-round dwellers, making it feel even more desolate) consisted of one (to three) acres of unexplored forest. And I was terrified of them, and stayed as far away as possible, imagining all sorts of deadly animals and bugs (the horror!) that would surely attack (and kill) me if I ever came too close. And so avoided them I did, throughout childhood, adolescence, and eventually adulthood, until relocating to the Rocky Mountains last year, where (ir)rational fears still haunt and the woods are rarely explored without a buddy. Enjoy!
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It is eight acres.
ReplyDeleteAnd I know how you feel. Last year, a bobcat broached the stream while we were sitting on the deck. (Thirty feet away?) I am pretty sure that has ended all my lone walks on the road. One bobcat in twenty years...can sure lower a girl's sense of safety. But then there was that bear...