(no subject)

[mrlich]

***I actually wrote this on Friday but wasn't able to login to LJ until today...***

It's a slow time for the coffee business. Most folks have spent their money on Christmas and Hanukah and aren't hitting the restaurants with their usual abandon. Less customers for my clients means less coffee sales for me. S'okay I guess - but I like the pace a little better when I'm selling a lot of java. None of this is really important - I'm only telling you to let you know that my day started out kinda mellow to begin with.

My route today took me through the northeastern most part of Pa. Starting in Olyphant, then down through Carbondale and then Honesdale to wrap up in Marshall's Creek. That last stretch is the important part. There's a route from Honesdale to Marshall's Creek that I take. Route 402 South. It's almost entirely state game lands and private hunting cabins along that stretch. As I'm sure you can imagine, it's beautiful to begin with. There's only a handful of businesses along that road, and most of them are in old homesteads so there's not much to break the 'far and removed' feel to the area. The two businesses that aren't in old houses are a pair of general stores, which only seem to add to the ambience. In fact, both places really look like something you might see on a greeting card from someplace like Montana. I love this part of my route. It is, without a doubt, my favorite part of all my routes.

That's the starting point.

Now, northeastern Pa. is covered in a layer of ice and snow. Other regions didn't get hit quite as had as this, so even those of you around me locally probably don't realize that neighboring towns just slightly north of us are a winter wonderland. I know I didn't. Not really anyway. Actually, I don't know that the phrase 'winter wonderland' really does justice to what I am looking at. I took some photos, but I don't think that they even begin to capture the quiet pristine feel of the woods around me. The wind has picked up today, but still the forest feels quiet. Calming beyond words.

Between Olyphant and Carbondale, I was on a more secluded stretch of road and I saw something impressive. A beautiful red fox was in the center of a clearing just casually sniffing the ground. It's fur was not flaming red or even dark - but rather it seemed to have a slightly lighter shade of red- not unlike the color of my own hair. I'd never seen anything like that before. Oh, I've seen more than a couple of foxes in my life, but never completely in the wild like this - and never so beautiful a specimen. The animal's fur wasn't matted down or dirty looking in any way. Full and lush, it made the fox appear healthy and well fed. The scene looked like something straight out of a Disney live action movie or even a Nature Channel special on the fox.

I found myself thinking that this all kinda looks like something out of a Macy's Christmas marketing campaign. Only it's real. It's beautiful and quiet and lush and I love it. Christ it's almost enough to make you cry - simply because it's that stunning.

I need to spend more time in the woods.

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[(Anonymous)]

'Nuff said.
- Your Bro, Ben.