I clearly remember the old soap opera, As the World Turns, on black and white television, in part because my mom, much to her horror, got hooked on it. It is easy to get hooked on such a simple portrayal of life—as is being demonstrated in the news more recently.
While the Grand Old Party meets in Cleveland (I’ll leave it at that) and people die in the streets around the world and many of us live in fear, much of the rest of the non-human life on our planet continues simply to live, as best it can given our presence. A long walk in Maple Corner today clearly reminded me of this fact.
The sun shone off the weathervane of the Blue Barn behind which kids played a timeless game of hide and seek.
The green chlorophyl in the leaves of Ironwood and Moose Maple soaked up the sun and showed their hundred shades of green to any who cared to look.
Beneath them, the ground was covered in a dozen kinds of fern, including the stunningly beautiful Maidenhair, the curving stems of which as simply a miracle.
Water flowed over rock ledges for a hundred yards, creating magic with light and the forest, and a symphony of sound that any composer would have been proud to write.
And rocks of all shapes and sizes, some connected to the liquid insides of our planet and all hundreds of thousands of years old and not caring a twit about all the political bombast. I love rocks whose beauty rivals nearly anything I can imagine.
The humans of Maple Corner are, I believe, for the most part doing well and doing at least their part to create peace on Earth for all of us. Of course there are troubles and trials, growing pains and illness and death; in short all those things that are part of life. But there is a balance here, more with the day-to-day realities of mud season and long winters and people you see walking or at the store rather daily “news.”
I found a leaf that did bring real pause in a way that even the presidential race can’t: days are shortening and though we are in the warmest part of the summer, it won’t be long until, you know, Fall and then Winter (and then the inauguration of a new President). And so the world keeps on turning—as do the leaves.
Still Learning To See 
Sometimes I really miss Maple Corner. Thank you for the photos 🙂
Wonderful photos and a very well written commentary. Hard not to worry about the state of our country and the world these days, but nature is always a good place to look for hope.