BE PROUD TO REPRESENT SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON EARTH

I used the incredible autumn backdrop of Gravenhurst, and the words of author David Grayson, from his well known book, “Adventures In Contentment,” to write my October column for “Curious; The Tourist Guide,” (available online and in some local shops in Muskoka). The theme for the column is pretty much defined by the statement, “There’s more to life than straight furrows, worry, and the preponderance of responsibility. As author Grayson discovered, upon moving to a farmstead, after a lengthy residence in the city, he had neglected the magnificent environs for most of his life. Even when engaged on his new farm, he contented himself with tasks completed efficiently, correctly, and he was consumed by making straight furrows, as if it was critical to the farmstead’s success. When on one autumn day, after a lengthy period of work, he stopped and looked down into the valley, he was amazed at the true and unfettered beauty of what he witnessed.....as if he had never before experienced such a vision of universality and freedom.....yet it had been there all along. He just hadn’t been interested in its unencumbered discovery. Everything he did was burdened by excess, as if survival was the hinge of every task.

I have written while holed-up in hotel rooms in London, then from a wee portal of landscape in Nottingham’s legendary “Sherwood Forest,” and I’ve sat making notes, on a sandy knoll of ocean front, while in Florida’s Ponce Inlet, watching a storm pound up the Atlantic shore. I’ve written on a rickety desk, in a rooming house near the intersection of Toronto’s Jane and Bloor, and found just enough urban inspiration, from a small window overlooking a tiny, fenced backyard, to compose a modest tome. I’ve penned journals from bus adventures across the continent, on short train junkets north and south, and found planes more than adequate to appease the urge to write. I’ve burned the midnight oil in my tiny residence at York University, and positioned myself in many, many outdoor cafes and pubs to figure stuff out. I’ve sat out on the peak of Canoe Lake’s Hayhurst Point, where the memorial cairn to artist Tom Thomson stands, and been spellbound by the Algonquin aura.

As Thoreau needed his Walden Pond, and Tom Thomson benefitted from the Algonquin Lakes, and the good Mr. Grayson required the farmstead’s meadow to be inspired, my days spent in Gravenhurst, have been my most productive and satisfying over a lifetime of composition. Whether it is being enthralled by the sight of a lone paddler’s canoe, traversing through the morning mist, near Muskoka Beach, the windsong of a blustery afternoon, as witnessed from the lookout over Muskoka Bay, or the haunting shrill of a loon in the late evening, I could never be bored with this truly enchanted place. I can be as keen to walk along the main street, to visit local shops, and meet up with friends and neighbors. Wandering the tree-line streets and boulevards as the autumn colors engage, the curious homes and decorations, folks raking and chatting with friends, brings about a gentle, but subtle embrace of belonging here......., as falling leaves rustle beneath our feet, the sweet aroma of a wood fire permeates the chilled air.......all the peaceful, soothing characteristics we all think we know but often neglect. It is the pleasing contentment of a worthy “home town.” That sense of being in company of good neighbors and kindly souls, who care about the folks who share these good graces of every day life. And who are willing to share the despair and help where they can, when adversity or disaster strikes.....such as the storm from a year earlier, when neighbors generously helped, where and when needed, those hardest hit by the storm’s fury.

While writing the most recent blogs, in an attempt to instill some necessity, urgency and added responsibility, to the campaign agendas of this year’s municipal candidates, I have been pre-occupied with those straight furrows and study of pressing realities. It’s possible I have scared a number of council hopefuls with this encumbrance of future demand, and heightened responsibility in virtually all aspects of local governance. What I haven’t done, and I shall correct now, is to thank you all, for having the courage to seek a council seat.....because we need your assistance, and it would be terrible to approach an election without a slate of committed citizens, willing to face the challenges ahead.

I am sure it will be a very proud moment, upon hearing of a successful campaign, to know the community has supported your vision and approved your credentials. While there is no denying the next four year term will be a difficult one, it is still a most important condition of representation, for you to be proud and perpetually inspired by this dynamic hometown of ours. I would rather be governed by an elected official, who looked up now and again from those straight furrows, to examine more closely, the true splendor of home within nature, because it is that effort of enlightenment, that influences decisions that will always put quality of life concerns ahead of simply “capital gain by the expense of compromise.” It is never too late to look up, and look out, over the place we dwell. Each time we will see things we had never witnessed before.

Even as I sit here now, with the hum of technology in my ear from this sputtering old computer, the crow calls, and chickadees chattering outside my office window, keeps a cheerful mood about this place we call Birch Hollow above The Bog.

Thank you all for keeping this a good old home town.