The Peace of Wild Things
When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Wendell Berry
Happy Earth Day. The beauty and balance of our planet never stops amazing and inspiring me. Earth makes me happy. Leave a comment about your happiest place on the planet, and I’ll find something in this book to add to your happiness.
Happy Earth Day! No 289, 12 please. 🙂
Thanks! From the book:
“camping cabins”
And in honor of Earth Day, you get as a bonus the one just below your selection:
“breakers so huge that they seem to move in slow motion while wind blows spray back in gossamer white arcs and mists the air with spindrift”
Oh I love my bonus one – thanks so much! 🙂
Right after high school, my happiest place on Earth was Garrett Holler(yes, Holler, not Hollow), way out in the county. I often spent more time at my best friend’s house out there than at my own.
Is Garrett Holler a person or a place? :)~
Did I say happiest “person”? *raises eyebrow* Don’t make me drop your ass off out there next time you come down. LOL
Places in our memories should always be “hollers!” And from the book, in honor of Earth Day:
“aspen-covered mountains in golden and amber hues against a backdrop of dark green fir, spruce, and pine”
WOW!!! Reading that definitely put a smile on my face. Reminds me of another happy place, the view of the Seirra-Nevadas from Lake Tahoe(one of th emost beautiful places EVER!!)
Happy Earth Day, and nice quote from Kentucky’s own poet laureate, Wendell Berry. Right now he’s a big supporter of locally-grown and sustainable agriculture.
I would say the happiest place I’ve ever been to on the planet was Mt. Hood, Oregon, in August. It was surreal standing in snow in the middle of August (the glacier never completely melts in summer), and the view below was breathtaking.
#11 on pg. 249 please (Mt. Hood’s elevation!).
Thanks! I support Wendell Berry’s support! Thank you for sharing your Mt. Hood memory. From the book:
“a polar ice cap”
And even though that’s a lovely gift from the planet, you still get your Earth Day bonus:
“beaches you’re sure no one else has discovered”
Happy Earth Day!
May I please have page 4, # 3.
Thanks! I like your user pic. From the book:
“the buzz of a bumblebee”
And your Earth Day bonus:
“wild blueberries blanketing coastal Maine”
ACK! I forgot my happy place!
That would be Provincetown, Mass. I’ll see if I can’t dig up a pic later today to illustrate my point.
Footprints and pawprints – Race Point Beach, Provincetown, Mass.
Aw–pawprints are the best companion to footprints. =)
New Orleans for me because it is a place of endless possibilities.It’s like a different world…and Dash says he’s very fond of taking walks in the park across the street.
I’ll take 235 number 23 and Dash will take 345 number 18
See, that’s a close second for me, because I never fail to enjoy the city when I visit! I always come home on cloud nine!
Happiest place on Earth for me is Central Park. It belies the chaos that is Manhattan.
Page 288, #14?
I agree–I love Central Park. From the book:
“penicillin”
(And thank goodness for it!) Your Earth Day bonus selection is:
“trees noisy with songbirds”
Excellent!
Also, as another little gift for you, might I direct you to my post of June 7, 2007? You won’t be sorry.
Very nice!!
No matter the season, Central Park is always photogenic.
Page 25, number 16 please.
I do love to be in the Tetons….
Your pick is:
“rubber animals”
(I don’t know why that makes me giggle.) And your Earth Day bonus selection is:
“shimmering blue lakes bathed in warm sunlight, framed by snow-capped Alps and lush green hills”
Happy Earth Day, Becky!
🙂
Not surprisingly, probably, my happiest place is London. I am posting one of my earlier LJ entries that (I think) illustrates my love of London. And then, whenever you have the time – I would be honored for you to choose another reason for me to be happy on Hump Day Happy Day!
🙂
Thank-you, Becky!
After having gone into London for my first time – I returned home to telephone my mother and tell her about the day – and of my experiences there. She knew that I had wanted to live in England my entire life – and so she had made me promise to phone her after going to London, my first time.
My Mom would be coming to England a couple of months later… so as I described this and that of the day… my mother said ‘Save something for us to see, together!’ I laughed and said there was a lot for us to see and do – and I reminded her that I had not gone to the Tower of London (which she knew I had always dreamed of going to) – so I told her that she and I would go there, together.
On the telephone – she asked me what I saw first in London.I told her that on that day I had arrived in London via Paddington Station and took the tube to the station on the Thames, across from the London Eye. My fiance (later my ex-husband) had told me that it was nearing 2:00 – and after I snapped a few photos of The Eye – I told her that we went up the stairs to street level. My fiance had said I would see Big Ben at the top of the stairs.
We reached street level – and C. pointed across the street… and I looked up (and up, and up!) and saw the top of Big Ben – just as the chimes started going off. I told my Mom that I hadn’t realised that Big Ben was so pretty, so immense – or imagined that it would sound so beautiful… She said that she wished she had been there – and I told her that we would go.
My mother is partially deaf. Her hearing aid was being replaced with a stronger, more amplified one… and she expressed concern that she would not be able to hear the bells of Big Ben if her hearing aid didn’t arrive to her by the time of my wedding… and of course, it didn’t arrive.
🙁
After my mother arrived – and after our wedding… my mother and I went to London. We took a double-deck bus tour, we went to the Tower of London and we took a barge cruise down the Thames. We disembarked at the station stop across from the London Eye and I looked at my watch. It was 3:58 – I had just enough time to get her up the stairs for her to be able to see Big Ben at 4:00.
I grabbed her hand and leaned close to her ear saying loudly ‘We have to run up those stairs… I want you to see Big Ben.’ She nodded, smiled and we RAN.
We got to the street and stopped short. She looked up at the clock tower and asked ‘But why did we have to run…? I looked at her and tilted my head toward the clock and said ‘Listen, Mom’ as Big Ben began to chime.
I was watching her face, holding my breath – waiting to see if she could hear the bells when she began to cry.From the look on her face I knew what she was going to say… and I began to cry.
She nodded, several times… still looking at Big Ben.
Then she whispered to me: ‘I hear them, Cari… I hear the bells…’
Best.
Moment.
EVER.
🙂
Beautiful story–my eyes are full of tears, and I swear I hear the bells, too. Thank you.
Your selection in honor of Earth Day is:
“luxuriant meadows with wildflowers”
Thank you, Becky… I love wildflowers.
<3
That moment in London is one that I will always remember and cherish.
It was that moment that made up for most all of the other less-than-stellar moments experienced thereafter… and that’s saying something!
🙂
Here’s a photo that I took of Big Ben my sixth (and final, to this point…) time into London:
Happy Earth Day! : )
I’m sort of stumped on a happy place. There are bound to be better ones I’m forgetting, but today I’m thinking of my old bike trail through lower Manhattan, and this corner near Chambers Street and The West Side Highway. There’s a bench there, looking out at the choppy river.
Sounds wonderful to me. =) Though it is NOT from page 25, you get:
“cinnamon apple waffles with maple or cane syrup, pepper bacon, fresh fruit, coffee, and freshly squeezed juice”
AND, in honor of Earth Day:
“songs of the meadowlark” (picked randomly) and “being surrounded by a grove of maple and sweet gum trees” (picked deliberately).
WAHHH!
FULLZ!
Suddenly you sound like Figaro.
Riding an elephant through the jungles of Thailand with my hot wife.
Oh, everybody says that. 😉
That IS a good place!
And your Earth Day gift from the book is:
“clear, cool alpine breezes blowing on steep, snowy mountains”
I’ve done a lot of traveling – saw some awesome sights – even been to Texas about two dozen times – but I’m always happiest when I’m in my little corner of the sky, my own backyard. Could be because I have 55-years of happy memories from this spot. And the house had 50-years of memories before we moved in.
And for you in honor of Earth Day THE RECYCLED MAN AND HIS DOG. –
–
I shot him this afternoon on my trek of the CWE. How many reclaimed items can you identify in his DNA?
And as a happy Earth Day gift back to you, from the book:
“air so crisp and clear it draws you outdoors”
My favourite sound on the earth is birdsong – especially late at night in the summer before they start to roost. I was looking for a picture and when I Googled “Nightingale” the first picture it came up with was Florence Nightingale!!
I guess she was “of the earth” in that her humanity and determination has saved many lives in succeeding years, but this was really what I wanted . . .
Happy Earth Day to you, too!
Thank you! The nightingale is beautiful. I’m betting you would like The Compound’s dovesongs at evening and daybreak. They are quite the vocal bunch. And from the book, for you in honor of Earth Day:
“the dew, the air, the sounds of the birds”
“the dew, the air, the sounds of the birds”
That’s perfect . . .
For the life of me, I can’t think of my favorite place on Earth. Perhaps I have yet to find it, which means I have something to look forward to. (Hey, I’m trying to be optimistic here.) It might just be wherever the coffee is fresh.
Failing that, page 201, number 11, if you please.
Maybe you’re just happy in the moment, wherever you are. =)
From the book (and it made me HUNGRY):
“the quintessential lumberjack’s breakfast piled high, dripping with maple syrup, and partnered with a few choice strips of bacon or plump sausages”
With less calories and in honor of Earth Day, your bonus happiness is:
“sapphire mountains set into emerald valleys”
“Maybe you’re just happy in the moment, wherever you are. =)”
Oh, no one would ever believe I’m THAT optimistic. 🙂
Mmm, maple syrup. The best syrup I’ve ever had was made by my brother. He’s the director of a wildlife sanctuary in New York, and every spring they tap the sugar maples and give maple sugaring demonstrations, complete with a big vat of sap boiled down over an open fire. Smoky and delicious.
Maybe that’s my favorite place.
Is this the Aries brother?
there are too many happy places on this great blue planet…
one of my most breath-taking moments was in the Muir Woods National Monument (yep, monument not Park). I have never been so in awe of God’s creation as I was standing among those trees listening to them.
I was WONDERING if you were going to show up. I saved a special Happy Earth Day entry from the book just for you. It is:
“swimming with dolphins”
I’m glad you stopped by to get it. =)
AWESOME!!! Like the ones that swam up to me & the family in FLA last summer. That was another one of those incredible moments.