Winter came early this year, but that is not a bad thing.




September 22nd, 2005. The first day of fall, named so appropriately for the leaves that fall to the ground leaving no doubt in our minds that summer is over. It is not the leaves falling that have my attention today though. It is another sound.

I hear it before I see it, the ticking sound as the crystallized water hits the canopy of leaves high above me. A frown consumes my face as I assume that the sound is a prelude to more rain, and I do not look forward to another day of gathering firewood in the rain. Then a white, fluffy flake falls to the ground in front of me, and as it moves down, the corners of my mouth move up into a grin. Snow!

It has been a long time since I have heard the snow fall. The soft sound, like the feet of dozens of fairies dancing through the multi-coloured treetops, cannot be heard inside the four walls of home or hovel. Amidst the sounds of traffic and the music of life, the sound of snow falling is non-existent. Out in the woods however, away from the aural assault of everyday life, in between your heavy breaths, you can hear the flakes of white water smash into the leaves with the softness of a baby?s breath.

To some this sound and site is not what they want to hear. It signals the impending cold and darkness of a long winter. In many ways though, the sound of that first snowfall is like the sound of a heartfelt commitment to change whispered in your soul. Commitments often made only when you find yourself lost in forest of life.

Once the commitment is made, your soul is washed clean and white. Eventually the heat gets turned up by someone or something, and that white covering melts away, revealing a dead, muddy mess that was hidden beneath it. Then the commitment is whispered again and the soul is covered in a clean new covering of white. This time the period of rest and recovery may be a little longer then the last before the heat gets turned up again, but it will get turned up again. Eventually the heat will get turned up and the white covering will melt away to reveal a carpet of new life, teeming with energy, ready to display itself to the world.

For some, winters are longer then others. For others, more winters are needed. But like nature itself, our souls often need a winter to rest and recover before revealing the life hidden within.

Have you heard the snow fall?

_________________________________
?Lawrence Nault
Lawrence Nault - aka The Mountain Hermit is an author and storyteller in based in Alberta Canada. To contact Lawrence or to request printing or publishing rights to this story please e-mail publisher@danggooddigitaldesign.com or mail Suite 113, 105-150 Crowfoot Cr. NW, Calgary, AB, T3G 3T2, or phone (403) 560-0378.

Someone mentioned the Alberta Antholgoy to me and that this year it was focussed on Alberta because of the centenial. I wrote the following story for submission only to find out I had missed the deadline. Oh well, politics being what it is in this province I doubt this story would have got very far anyways.


It had been a more then a few rough years. Work was hard to find, money harder. It was getting more and more difficult to put food on the table and pay the bills, for everyone. Desperate to find a way out of the hole he was in, the young man searched for a solution. Surprisingly the solution found him.

"You have something we can use," the company representative said in his matter of fact tone. "You let us have it and we will pay you good money."

"What could I possibly have that is of any use to you?" the young man asked.

"Oh, nothing really valuable," said the company man. "We know you are having some troubles and we just want to help. Under your surface you have a dark fluid we can use."

Now the man wasn't totally naive. He knew what the company man was referring to.

"My soul! You want me to sell my soul?"

"It's really not such a big deal," offered the company man. "There is plenty of it there. More then enough for us and you. You won?t have to do any of the work."

The company man paused as he slid a contract and pen across the table.

"And we will pay you for it."

The young man looked cautiously over the document in front of him.

"You pay others more then this," he commented as he looked at the numbers.

"Yes. Yes we do," said the company man. "But of course they don't present the same challenges you do. But that's okay," said the company man as he reached for the contract. "We just wanted to help you out a little. Maybe another time."

"No, wait," the young man almost yelled. "I'll take it."

[Read More!]

This story came from a dark place within. Frightening to look back on in many ways




It started with the television. Ryan had purchased the new television only a few months earlier. A nice twenty-seven inch screen, the largest he had ever owned and the first new television he ever had. As he pulled it away from the wall to detach the various wires hooked up to it Ryan remembered the many late nights he and his wife sat in bed, snuggled warmly under the covers watching the late movie. He carried the awkward weight outside to his truck where he wrapped the television carefully for the journey into town.

When they arrived at the pawnshop Ryan took a deep breath and carried the television inside. He stepped back out of the shop a few minutes later and though he was no longer carrying the weight of the television in his arms, he had the appearance of carrying a much heavier load. He handed the hundred dollars to his wife as he climbed into the truck. The money was a small fraction of what he had paid for the television a few months earlier but what choice did they have? Food was more important than television.

A few months ago Ryan became ill. He was a self-confessed workaholic whose days started at five in the morning and finished at eleven at night. Someone found him, his truck parked in a ditch on the side of the road, lost, confused, and frightened. It had been downhill since then. His brain was in a constant fog. His skull was being painfully forced out in all direction. His voice unreliable, at time not even there.

The next trip to the pawnshop was with the stereo. Ryan walked in carrying the stereo and walked out with the cash. "Was he loosing weight?" his wife asked herself as she watched him walk slowly back to the truck.

Ryan's wife had suffered a great deal with Ryan's illness as well. The expensive drugs she needed just to keep the constant pain under some sort of control could no longer be afforded. She had stretched out the medication she had left when Ryan first fell ill but the medication was all gone now. Now she was dealing with not just the constant pain, but the withdrawal symptoms as well.

After buying a few groceries and a little gas, Ryan and his wife stopped at the hardware store. Ryan went in and returned with a "for sale" sign, a marker, and some duct tape. In the truck he rested the sign on the dusty dashboard as he filled out the information about his truck and where to call his wife. She would have to deal with the sale. Ryan just couldn't think clearly enough to deal with this sale.

He opened his door slowly and stepped down, out of the truck. Pausing for a moment, Ryan looked over his truck, then taped the for sale sign to the back window. He climbed back in the truck and his wife looked over at him, eyeing him up closely. "He must be loosing weight," she thought. "He didn't make the usual thud as he climbed into his seat."

[Read More!]

This story is based on a real experience.



It was a beautiful day late in the summer and Greg and Dawn were moving from their campsite at Banff up to Jasper for a change of scenery. The move involved a long drive but as long as the drive was it was still enjoyable as the couple traveled through the majestic Rocky Mountains.

About half way to their destination Greg and Dawn stopped at one of the major tourist attraction, the Columbian Ice Fields. For those that have the stamina, you can hike up the side of the mountain to the foot of the Columbia glacier and even onto the glacier a short distance. For those that have the money, you can climb aboard on of the ice field tour buses. These buses are luxury coaches equipped with tires the size of a large pick-up truck. They will drive you in comfort, up the side of the mountain while you watch a video that tells you all about your tour. The bus will take you far out onto the glacier where you can get out, feel the chill, take your pictures, then get back in the bus and travel down the mountain in comfort again.

Well Greg and Dawn had the money but when they went to purchase their all too pricey tickets (just like most tourist attractions) they ran into a little problem. You see Dawn was in a wheelchair. She had been in a wheelchair since she was a very young girl.

Now this wasn't a problem for Greg. He figured that he would just pick his wife up and carry her onto the bus, just as he had so many other times when the wheelchair couldn?t make it. The problem was that if a person couldn't get off the bus by their own power they were a safety hazard.

Greg had dealt with this type of problem before and he knew arguing with the clerk would get him no further ahead. Dawn graciously suggested that Greg take the tour himself but Greg would have nothing to do with that suggestion. His stubbornness and male ego had kicked in and he was bound and determined that he was going to get Dawn up to that glacier.

The couple left the lodge and went to the foot of the walking path that wound its way up the side of the mountain. They looked up the path and it didn't look so bad from that point of view.

"Let's go," Greg said, and before Dawn could object she was being pushed up the path.

It wasn't too difficult to start with. Sure it was uphill, but the path had been paved for some of the distance and after the pavement there was some fairly packed gravel. Soon though that packed gravel became loose gravel with large rocks jutting out of the path. Greg stumbled a little as he tried to move Dawn as smoothly as possible up the path.

[Read More!]

We are lucky enough to have wild strawberries growing in various spots on our land. Now for those of you who are true strawberry connoisseurs you know that there are farmed strawberries, then there are organic strawberries, then there are wild strawberries. Nothing, absolutely nothing beats the taste of a wild strawberry.

The first challenge to getting those berries of course is to timer your outing just right. Late enough that the berries are ripe and ready, but early enough that the bears haven?t found your favorite patch yet. You could of course wrestle the bears for the berries but I am not that much of a connoisseur.

Assuming you have timed your outing just right, you will find loads of luscious berries waiting for you, with one small catch (or a few "catches" depending on how you look at it). The same soil that nourishes you lovely berry bushes also nurtures thorny plants. These plants scrape your shins and arms, stick in your socks, and invariably embed themselves into your skin. Nevertheless, if you are brave enough to endure the thorns and thistles, then the sweet taste of success is like no other.

In many ways picking strawberries is a lot like picking your path through life. You can choose the easy path, but the challenges and struggles of the rougher path often make the rewards at the end far sweeter.
_________________________________
?Lawrence Nault
Lawrence Nault - aka The Mountain Hermit is an author and storyteller in based in Alberta Canada. To contact Lawrence or to request printing or publishing rights to this story please e-mail publisher@danggooddigitaldesign.com or mail Suite 113, 105-150 Crowfoot Cr. NW, Calgary, AB, T3G 3T2, or phone (403) 560-0378.

Before man appeared on the face of the earth; before animals roamed the surface, birds flew in the skies, and before the fish swam in the vast waters, there was still life. That life took the form of Mother
Earth and the great Sun god.

Mother Earth watched the great Sun God high in the sky above her as she basked in the warmth of his glow. As one part of her cooled another warmed and would turn her cool side to face the great Sun God so it would warm as well. Over and over again Mother Earth would turn around trying to keep warm all over but she could never keep totally warm. Mother Earth grew tired of turning and one day called out to the Sun God. "Sun God, I adore you dearly. Please come closer so that I might feel more of your warmth."

The Sun God did not answer. He remained high in the sky where he stood resolutely. Day after day Mother Earth called out to the Sun God and day after day the Sun God did not reply.

"He must not be able to hear me," Mother Earth thought to herself. "I have to get closer to him so he can hear me."

Mother Earth pondered over her problem for a great long time. Much longer than man, with his short life can comprehend. One day the solution came to her. Mother Earth stirred her great forces within
and from her surface sprouted life. There were grasses of many shapes and sizes and flowers in colors to numerous to count. To these plants Mother Earth issued a command.

"I have created you for one reason. I need to talk to the Sun God but he is too far away to hear me. You must reach up to the skies trying to get as close as you can to the Sun God and deliver a message for me. Tell him that I love him dearly and then I want him to come closer to me."

The plants grew fervently and they reach towards the sky higher and higher each day but one of the plants in particular reached the highest. The tree, which was perhaps the least beautiful of all the plants with its tough witty stem and plain flat leaves, strived to be the best and it wanted to be the first to deliver Mother Earth's
message. Day after day the tree would reach higher and higher until all the other plants appeared tiny next to the mighty tree, but still the tree reached higher and higher.

Mother earth watched as all of the plants tried to deliver her message and she noticed how the mighty tree used all its energy to reach the Sun God. She watched as the tree would work so hard that would become tired and shed its leaves regularly in exhaustion and soon thereafter grow new leaves and continue in its quest to be the first to reach the Sun God and Deliver Mother Earth?s message. The effort the mighty tree put forth touched Mother Earth deeply and she spoke to the tree.

"Mighty tree you have demonstrated your dedication and commitment to me by trying to reach the Sun God and in watching you I have felt the pain as you shed your leaves and rested only to try and reach the Sun God again. You alone of all the plants I have created have reached the highest and though I do not know if you'll ever reach the Sun God it no longer matters for the commitment and dedication you have shown me creates a warmth of its own. To you I give this gift of a ring that tells the story of your life and to show my commitment to you. I will give you a ring each and every year and in that ring will be inscribed the story of your year for all to read. This is my commitment to you mightiest of all plants."

To this day Mother Earth gives the tree a ring each and every year inscribed as she promised. When you cut down a tree you can see those rings and those enlightened individuals who have come to understand Mother Nature can read the inscription and gain the knowledge of years far beyond their own.
_________________________________
? Lawrence Nault
Lawrence Nault - aka The Mountain Hermit is an author and storyteller in based in Alberta Canada. To contact Lawrence or to request printing or publishing rights to this story please e-mail publisher@danggooddigitaldesign.com or mail Suite 113, 105-150 Crowfoot Cr. NW, Calgary, AB, T3G 3T2, or phone (403) 560-0378.