Colorado aspens are lovely in the spring, their green leaves rustling and the quaking variety rattling like a Native American rainstick. But those Canadian aspens last fall made a beautiful golden contrast to the green spruce that are everywhere in western Canada’s sub-Alpine area. Think about what this lake would look like without the beautiful reflection of its surrounding trees. It would look incomplete.

No sign of clear-cutting on last fall’s drive through northwestern Canada. That’s a stark contrast to what I’ve seen when traveling in far northern California. I know there is logging in Canada and even clear cutting. Maybe I’m just imagining it, but it seemed like there’s also more respect for nature. So much open space for nature … and space to think.
I am reminded that the very first poem I ever learned as a child was Joyce Kilmer’s

“I think that I shall never see
a poem as lovely as a tree.”

I hadn’t seen enough to understand. I get it now, though.
It’s fun to think back on our trip to western Canada last fall: one of the best vacations I’ve ever taken.