A forest full of berries & feeling grateful

It seems so cheesy to say, but I wish you can feel how peaceful it is to sit back against some of these boulders which have been here for billions of years, and be feeling the reindeer moss in your fingers. I think it’s impossible to know how amazing that can be until you are there, and when you really find this slow and conscious space.

"I think that eating berries every day during the winter can help to stay strong and healthy"

Sure it is great to have some wild berries for the winter, I am really excited for that. But to take these hours in the crisp autumn air, seeking out quiet marshes for these crowberries and cranberries.. I just love that too. I wish these days could continue forever.

From a forgetful moment

Some kilometres out from town, I had only then realized I forgot my berry picker. I had a momentary thought of if I should go back for it, but decided that no, it was alright and better just to continue on for the further out countryside and breathtaking colours as far as you could see.

I am sure I have never seen the countryside look so beautiful with colour before, ever. Not only was all the yellow still hanging from the birches, but reds and oranges like I haven’t seen here before also. After every corner, I couldn’t believe how it became more beautiful. Just kilometre after kilometre for all 46 of them.

Through the midafternoon, even sunshine broke this typical October cloud which we are experiencing in abundance these days. The air, while crisp, was completely devoid of any wind. Something so perfect for a slow coffee and snack out on a rock surrounded by flowing water.

What a great day in nature from just forgetting something so small right at the front door. The timing was unquestionably perfect.

The long drive

If you could erase the few kilometres through Jasper, unsuccessfully trying to find a Tim Hortons drive-thru, the feeling over two full days and 2,000 kilometres was an overwhelming one of loneliness, but perfect cosiness.

I love to drive, so much, which definitely hasn’t always been the case, but that’s a long story for another time.

Every single drive south and back north over all of the years I’ve lived here, I’ve enjoyed immensely, but there was something so different about this drive home. It felt especially lonely and isolated, in a really good and comforting way. Many drive-thru coffees brought me such warmth and enjoyment, and random snacks of licorice, apples, hashbrowns and McDonald’s apple pies (I’m not ashamed) were all part of this comfort.

It’s difficult to describe pulling into a gas station and stepping outside instantly shivering after hours of being nestled into a heated seat. But that crispness and fresh air, that’s a deep breath and awkward stretch moment truly to savour before getting right back in my favourite ever car, fully fuelled up and ready to continue on. There’s something really beautiful in those brief moments.

It becomes like a home for those days of driving, perhaps that’s just it, and for this complete homebody, that is so, so important and perfect.

At the end of 14 hours on my first day, I pulled into a quiet hotel for the night after chasing a magnificent sunset right into the deepest twilight before total darkness. I unloaded, quickly, two boxes of tropical plants, a couple very full IKEA blue bags, my suitcase, and a few other random things before making one last trip out for the night.

This whole day was with a light-hearted but meaningful-to-me time crunch, because KFC closed at 10pm.
Part of being happy is knowing what you love, what feels good, and for me at the end of all this in a state of total exhaustion, the spicy plant-based KFC chicken sandwich meal in front of the fireplace in my dimly lit room, watching HGTV, as frivolous as that seems, made me really happy.

I know that I don’t have any photos to give even faint justice to just how beautiful the fall colours were all the way up to Yellowknife, or any words to convey that magic of feeling gentle sunrise and sunset light hitting my face in the moments between mountains or forests, but it was all unforgettable, and all of this was just another tip of the roadtrip iceberg for me.

Moving on

The middle of the night wake up and bury my frozen face back into a warmer blankets have been still alive and well. Cold nights and even colder mornings stayed unrelenting, but hot coffees with breakfast had never felt better in my hands.

These final days were full of walks around dirt roads nestled tightly into nature and time spent deep in the forest. Violent wind, rain and thunderstorms blew through both by day and night. I woke often to the comforting sound of the fire being stoked, which led to brief moments of bliss seeing beautiful twilight skies and sunrises for the few seconds I could keep my eyes open before falling back asleep. A late evening in front of Canadian football, America’s Got Talent, or HGTV was never passed on.

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“It’s the sunset after a storm blows through kind of crap.”

This was a time of more than one ending, where winds constantly blew to bring so many things together. Photography, books, sleep, baking, so much about nature and all which can be translated from ‘hygge’ have been everything for me.

I wish I could give this to you in larger format, because the light on the train across the lake is so spectacular.

The simple things

There is just something so perfect here. And I know you maybe tell me about the clothes drying all crunchy instead of soft from the dryer machine, but this smell of nature in your laundry, the feeling of the clothes after… You cannot find that from any other way. The smell and the sunlight, the way they blow in the breeze. It’s part of the simplest pleasures and more countryside life for me.
How I would love a little light wood floored and white interior, red exterior countryside home on some forested land with a small garden, and of course my clothesline to use from +30° to -30°.