Things we learned as of last evening-by the way this post has been prerecorded-but here it goes. Last night my son and I spent the early hours of the evening making a fire, lesson 1-it's not as easy as Bear Gryllis would have you think, or is it? We learned very quickly that we know the process of starting a fire and when we slow down and do what we know we're supposed to do-magically we have a very nice fire indeed. The problem we have with starting a fire is the excitement and speed in which we try to do the act skips over crucial steps that would make the fire easy. We regrouped and slowed down and instead of fighting to keep a fire going we succeeded in getting a fire to last through the evening and put it out only when we decided to,

It was cold and windy but for me it made the evening more memorable. We spent time in silence, it's funny how fires bring out the deep intense stares into oblivion, must be the light in the darkness, we're like moths attracted to the warmth and light, luckily we are a bit smarter than moths and don't burn ourselves, well some of us do but that's another story and another camping evening. We watched for shooting stars and just relaxed while we watched the reward for our troubles. It was one of those extremely bright nights, so bright  you would think it was an eclipse in the middle of the day, I missed the darkness, there is something about look into the blackness and the blackness stares back. Without television, Internet, cell phones, we were able to actually spend time without the distractions of daily life.

We had the entire campsite and the lake to ourselves which is kind of wonderful and still a bit unnerving-the right mix for time away from civilization is a few people in the distance and just enough remote without feeling like you are a survivor in some foreign jungle. During the evening we got to watch deer across the lake and it was like nature came looking for us, I still think they were probably not happy with the light in their eyes but it was exciting to be able to watch them without scaring them away. Another amazing thing to listen to was the owl in the grove across the water, I couldn't have asked for a better sound to listen to while enjoying the outdoors.

The next morning, I actually got to see the sunrise and get out on the lake in the really cold water of early winter. By the way, when kayaking you get wet and even if the air is warm the water is ridiculously cold. My son seems to care more about the fishing than the idea of drowning or freezing to death. It was pretty windy and neither of us caught anything-again! After this trip I have since been studying the illusive smallmouth bass and my next trip I hope will be a whole new chapter on fishing and actually catching-I definitely am starting at a good point-there's only getting better! It was an amazing day and the evening even got better visiting Turner Falls and Tucker Tower but the amazing thing is the peace and serenity of nature which I have only recently begun to rediscover.

So how do you relax? Where do you find peace? I am just realizing again, starting with a new found faith and an intentional attitude of slowing down and taking stock in my life-Peace is available for all of us but we need to slow down long enough to realize it. We need to find silence and solitude as only in these times do we find our true selves and the chance at rekindling our faith-by the way when starting a fire, don't forget the kindle-I'm just saying.