The Wilderness Idea

"But we continued to talk, concluding that if wilderness was a state of mind--a perceived rather than actual condition of the environment--why not write a history of the wilderness idea?"

-Roderick Nash thinking back to the autumn of 1960 in his Preface to the Third Edition

I saw a reference to this book in the latest Orion. I'm just at the beginning, very intrigued by the author's original inspiration.

This Too Shall Pass

 Childhood, 2014

Have you ever felt off kilter, searching, hoping to put yourself back on track and feel at ease again, when you stumble upon the perfect something? For me it's often something I read, but it can also be a memory, a photograph, or passing a contented old man on the sidewalk. I'm sure you have your own collection.

Today I found a quote from Marilynne Robinson's novel, Housekeeping, at the top of an article in The Atlantic. I read it, paused, looked up, saw the few wonky little ceramic pieces I made as a young girl resting in my bay window, and I was again in upright position, restored.