Day 93 – 43.5 km (total – 2194.8 km)
Beautiful farmland, the St. Lawrence and Mt. Tremblant off in the distance!
I spent a lot of time yelling at the wind yesterday (while I was enjoying the views!). But today, although there was still a headwind, it wasn’t nearly as strong or cold. It was a sunny day, but I definitely find myself scratching my head as to where spring is. I get the sense there are a few people across the country perhaps asking the same question!
Today I ended the run on the outskirts of St. Vallier. We are in the middle of farmland with the St. Lawrence beside us and my memories brought me to one occasion of my time on a farm that left a lasting impression. I was about 13, living in Winnipeg and one of my best friends had a cousin who lived on a farm outside of the city. We went there for a weekend to visit and if memory serves correct, his cousin must have been a bit older as I remember doing donuts in his car in one of the fields (obviously that wasn’t being cultivated!). The prairies have prairie dogs, which can do a lot of damage to crops… so one of the events of the weekend was to take a rifle and try to kill them as their heads popped up from the ground. I don’t remember that as much as I remember heading to a marshy area nearby and starting to shoot birds out of trees that were some distance away. I remember being horrified as I watched birds fall from branches amidst the echo of the backfire. I’d like to say I was strong-headed enough to voice my disapproval. I wasn’t. I felt the need to fit in and so when I was handed the rifle, I took a couple of shots.
H132… a little more peaceful in some ways…
To this day, I honestly don’t know whether I hit a bird or not. I’m hoping not. But years later when I lived in Toronto, there was a bird that got really tangled in some meshing behind our house. I worked hard through so many tears to free that bird, still feeling that guilt I had from the farm. I had no intention of ever harming an animal again. In fact, I wanted to save as many as I could. We all have different experiences with nature that help shape us. For me, it took a negative experience to help shape some of the views I now have. What experiences in youth helped shape your current view of the natural world?
