Dreaming the World

After sever chilly nights, this morning rose warm and bright. There is a stiffening breeze out of the south and enough humidity to allow dense fog and dew. We are promised rain come Wednesday.

The first New England asters have appeared. So for there are the tall varieties in the fields and verges, and a tiny, single blossom, variety that has spread across our lawn. Finally, it seems like fall.

Our group show opened on Saturday. The gallery was filled with folks, the work is exceptional, and the intersection resulted in much art talk. The person who runs the gallery was delighted, as were we artists. To our relief our piece and the sound worked better than we had hoped, and were very well received. The virtual exhibit is still being prepared so I’ll send along a link as soon as I receive it.

Yesterday we stopped by a farm stand we like a couple of towns away. The owner is lovely and carries the best bread in the area. Its made by a small bakery nearby and has very limited distribution, so we are pleased when we can get it. She also has delectable late season corn, a rarity in this drought year.

I’ve just finished reading James Rebanks’ new book, The Place of Tides. The volume chronicles his ten week stay on a tiny island just off the coast of Norway several years ago. Rebanks had gone to the island to learn about collecting eider down as a cottage industry, and to find some relief from his growing sense of futility, rage, and despair.

The story revolves around Anna, an eider woman, who is spending her last season on the island before retiring. Anna has been caring for the wild eider ducks who nest on the island each spring for thirty years. At least one of the ducks has been nesting with her every year for that time.

Anna is the duck’s guardian and support, providing nesting sites, driving away predators, and helping in any other way she can. She knows the eider populations are declining from climate change, over fishing, and predation, many of the ducks who come ashore late in the season are too thin and hungry to nest successfully. Still, she loves the ducks and will do what she can for them.

Anna, her friend, Ingrid, and Rebanks form close relationships over the course of ten weeks working and living close together. We hear the story of Anna’s life, and come to appreciate her fierce determination to aid the eiders and live life on her own terms. Along with Rebanks, we begin to imagine alternatives to rage and despair, even in an age of destruction. Its a great, quiet, slow read and I will say no more least I say to much. (There’s a link to a lengthy review above.)

I want to turn back to the farm stand for the moment. As we walked through the stand’s vegetable and flower gardens, we realized they were thick with pollinators. We watched as people snipped flowers to take home as bouquets, the bees and wasps moving aside and no one being stung. We stood surrounded by feeding birds and insects, the air vibrant with activity, and I realized that the woman who owns the stand had created and guarded another island for endangered wildlife.

A while back I wrote about the urban forests my step-son’s partner is building in Providence. A couple of Saturdays ago we were surprised, overjoyed, and proud to find a long story about her work on the front page of the Boston Globe. An enormous photo of her and her colleagues filled much of the page!(There is a link above.)

Walking through the gardens after time spend with her, and Rebanks’ book, I was reminded that seemingly small actions may have real import, and that focusing on our relationship with the natural world can result in aid to many who are in danger and balm for the soul.