Winter Sketches: I did it my way..

Last Updated on August 1, 2016 by Patrick

..and I was rewarded. Anyways, here’s the story:

I need to get somewhere.. somewhere in a place quite far away from here where I can rest as much as I want.. a place for myself, a warm bed, a table, some chairs, a nice roof above my head and a beautiful vista. It’s not quite a dream nor a desire, as much as it is a longing to settle somewhere somewhat familiar so I can anchor myself and rest after a hard day of work. The notion of winter escape is in my mind right now.. away from the noise of the big city and into the quietness of the natural world.

I’m in the mountains, moreover I’m in the forest. I see the high peaks and they’re covered in snow.

There’s a mountain range in front of my eyes, just off a mile or two, that I need to climb and then get back down again. Actually, there’s a river stream that I first need to cross in order to get to the other side, to start climbing the ranges again, first through the forest.

It’s winter, but there are a few patches of snow where I’m at and a partly cloudy sky, hardly any cold, if at all, just a cool breeze here and there, every now and then. This winter, only the high ranges of mountains and hills are strewed with snow. In the forests, snow was scarce and quickly melting after a day or two of positive temperatures.

The stream flows quite heavy and I’ve got to be careful where I put my feet on. There are a few rocks but not very close to each other so I risk if I am to jump from one to the other.

I decide I keep walking on the same river bank. After a few hundred meters I finally see a canoe with an oar, left on the bank. I hurry to it and prepare it. I push it on the water and jump right in. I feel the power of the river immediately as it pushes me downstream.

I struggle to oar the canoe in order not to smash it to the rocks in the river, but the stream is doing actually the same work for me. So I let it loose, I stop fighting it and let it go. After a while I decide I have to oar to certain sides and then to the other side of the river bank and easily stop it there. It was quite a paddling performance since I had to make do with what I got, the river flowing at its will, my oars with which I had to navigate wisely not to crash myself on the rocks and stear, so to speak, to where I needed. I can say I adapted myself to the situations and managed to get through to the other side. After all, I was just a passenger on that river.

On the next bank I left the canoe and continued on foot. Ascended in the forest again. A cool breeze, though, started to blow gently, at first, and then a little harsher. After quite a while of ascending it went colder and biting. I raised my collar and continued to ascend on the quite difficult journey on the other side, to get to the winter snowcaps on the mountains. I needed the icy air to bite my cheeks and my forehead. I needed everything to be frozen on my fiery mind.

Through the forest and overhill, removing the foliage and the branches that obstructed my way, I saw a wooden house. Windows were opened and I could see some flickering light inside. I approached and saw some folks watching some sort of film on the projector casting it on a large white screen in front of them. There were boys, girls, men and women, they seem to knew each other like relatives. Some of them were crying, others were watching fascinated. I took a look and saw some sort of an old propaganda film about the war and its necessity. I didn’t quite know what it was, actually.

After watching a little bit, not letting it fascinate me, after all, I decided I easily get away from that house, from those people. Continuing on the road, so to say, I heard some more noise. A meadow opened in front of me, a glade, and at more than a hundred feet in front of me I saw some shepherds with their sheep crossing from the right. They didn’t see me.

I waited a little and moved on afterwards, only to see something interesting. Some sort of a cave near the path, to the left. It had a few cave paintings on a wall inside. Luckily I had my flashlight with me. I inspected the paintings to find some interesting symbols I recognized: a snake, a man, a woman (their figures), a bear, some water, I guess, and a sort of spaceship.

But, blasts! The mist started to fill the air where I was and in a few seconds I couldn’t see at a few meters in front of me. I guess no more cave painting investigation for me! I tried to move on walking ahead on the path that was still visible in before me. Only I was following it and noticed it went to the left and then to the right to widen quite a lot.

To my surprise I found snow and lots of it, but it didn’t appear suddenly on the road, on the trees, in the place. It gradualy appeared and filled the entire landscape. Now I wasn’t ascending but going down and it went to the left again.

After what seemed like a half hour of walking the snow gradualy disappeared and the mist also, but a bit faster, to reveal a moody scene in front of my eyes. It was the fog unveiling the land and the mystery of it. I continued and found a soil so black and fertile and a clearing on the path again. The trees of the forest were to my sides and the place was very welcoming. A few small flowers on the ground bloomed and greeted me with their smile and their leaves wide opened like they wanted to embrace me.

I set my backpack on the ground and I burried right then and there my ring and the rest of my valuable belongings. After this, I continued my journey to the mountain ranges, to the snowcaps.

I can still remember to this day that when I went back to the place where I left my valuables, I found a juge tree with a house built in its canopy. I was awed! Its windows were opened, lights were on, and an alluring flavor of green tea and ginger spice came from the inside.. my favourites! :)

P.S.: This story is entirely fictional. But I guess you figured this out already…