Of Toronto’s two founding first nations villages, Teiaiagon to the west astride the Humber River (Teiaiagon means “crossing point” or "it crosses the stream”), in the area now known as Baby Point near Jane and Bloor, proved the more significant. Etienne Brule may have gone through that area between 1615-1618 though that is now in doubt.
First nations peoples tended to move their villages about every 15 years as soil became exhausted. There is no way to know how many previous tribes chose that impressive site through the centuries. Steep banks on three sides made for sound defense and easy access to water made survival during a siege possible. It is an attractive site to keep your people safe.
French Jesuits Brebeuf and Chaumonot serving at St Marie among the Huron (Midland) spent the winter in the Hamilton-Brantford area in 1640-41 among the Attawandaron (it means in Huron something like "people whose speech is a little off"). The French called them "Neutral" since they had avoided choosing sides between the Iroquois and the Huron. Since there are signs of a large Huron village near Hackett Lake (Weston Road and 16th Sideroad, King Twp) is it possible that Brebeuf and Chaumonot traveled the Carrying Place en route?
However, neither Teiaiagon to the west nor the smaller Ganasekwagon to the east were established by Iroqouis until the 1660s - 1670's. Upon their arrival, the Huron retreated north. It is certain that Louis Hennepin arrived at Teiaiagon in 1678, and Rene-Robert Cavelier de La Salle was there in 1680.
Roman Catholics' low-key relational approach won many friends among first nations peoples, in a way that the more aggressive European protestants could only envy.
Huron called Jean de Brébeuf "Echon" meaning "Healing Tree", due to the medicines he brought them from Europe. Brébeuf's Huron Carol circa 1643 is one of Canada’s earliest and finest musical achievements. Perhaps some of this hymn was composed in the environs of the Carrying Place!
’Twas in the moon of wintertime,
When all the birds had fled,
That mighty Gitchi Manitou
Sent angel choirs instead;
Before their light the stars grew dim,
And wondering hunters heard the hymn:
Refrain: Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, In excelsis gloria.
Within a lodge of broken bark
The tender babe was found,
A ragged robe of rabbit skin
Enwrapped His beauty round;
But as the hunter braves drew nigh,
The angel song rang loud and high:
The earliest moon of wintertime
Is not so round and fair
As was the ring of glory on
The helpless Infant there.
The chiefs from far before Him knelt
With gifts of fox and beaver pelt.
O children of the forest free,
O seed of Manitou,
The holy Child of earth and Heav’n
Is born today for you.
Come kneel before the radiant Boy,
Who brings you beauty, peace and joy.
Huron Carol tr. fr. Huron to English by J. Edgar Middleton, 1926.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
TORONTO's HOLY ISLAND?
Prior to the first Europeans seeing the Toronto area (around the time of Shakespeare), Great Lakes First Nations cultures regarded what we now know as Toronto Island as a sacred place of healing. Somewhere I read once (but I have lost the source) that members of all tribes and nations were welcome to go to the island for healing provided they first lay down their arms. They considered the Islands so healthy that they resorted to it “whenever indisposed”.
"If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God,
and wilt do that which is right in His sight,
and wilt give ear to His Commandments,
and keep all His Statutes,
I will put none of these diseases upon thee,
which I have brought upon the Egyptians:
for I am the LORD that healeth thee." Exodus 15:26
Of its birth Mohawks said, “On a day before the coming of the white man [the Great Spirit] was in a mood of anger and, as he often expressed himself forcefully, the winds came that day with a terrific roar, laid the forests bare as matchsticks, whipped the waves as tall as treetops on Lake Ontario and made the earth tremble with their violence…when the sinking and upheaval finished and the storm had ended an island had been formed…” From More than an Island by Sally Gibson.
The visionary who saw to the building of the island’s first church, The Most Reverend Arthur Sweatman (1834-1909), later became Lord Archbishop of Toronto and, later still, the Primate of all Canada.
At the opening service of St Andrew’s By-The-Lake Anglican Church, 27 July 1884, the good bishop preached to the crowded pews on the theme,
“It is good for me to draw close to God.”
Surely, we should draw close to God there still.
The Toronto Carrying Place - the local community group of the Northumbria Community has made the island a repeated place of pilgrimage. Looking at the island high in the air above the mainland, if you squint the island seems to take the shape of a bird's wing. During one of the Carrying Place events, we encouraged our island pilgrims to reflect on these sacred words. [ALL TNIV]
Exodus 19:4 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.
Deuteronomy 32:9-12 For the LORD's portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.
10 In a desert land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,
11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them on its pinions.
12 The LORD alone led him;
no foreign god was with him.
Ruth 2:12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."
2 Samuel 22:10-12
10 He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
11 He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared [a] on the wings of the wind.
12 He made darkness his canopy around him—
the dark [b] rain clouds of the sky.
Psalm 57:1Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.
Isaiah 40:31: Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Ezekiel 10:5,19, 11:22 The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far away as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks… While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the LORD's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them… Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
Malachi 4:2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.
Luke 13:34 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!
Revelation 4:8: Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
"If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God,
and wilt do that which is right in His sight,
and wilt give ear to His Commandments,
and keep all His Statutes,
I will put none of these diseases upon thee,
which I have brought upon the Egyptians:
for I am the LORD that healeth thee." Exodus 15:26
Of its birth Mohawks said, “On a day before the coming of the white man [the Great Spirit] was in a mood of anger and, as he often expressed himself forcefully, the winds came that day with a terrific roar, laid the forests bare as matchsticks, whipped the waves as tall as treetops on Lake Ontario and made the earth tremble with their violence…when the sinking and upheaval finished and the storm had ended an island had been formed…” From More than an Island by Sally Gibson.
The visionary who saw to the building of the island’s first church, The Most Reverend Arthur Sweatman (1834-1909), later became Lord Archbishop of Toronto and, later still, the Primate of all Canada.
At the opening service of St Andrew’s By-The-Lake Anglican Church, 27 July 1884, the good bishop preached to the crowded pews on the theme,
“It is good for me to draw close to God.”
Surely, we should draw close to God there still.
The Toronto Carrying Place - the local community group of the Northumbria Community has made the island a repeated place of pilgrimage. Looking at the island high in the air above the mainland, if you squint the island seems to take the shape of a bird's wing. During one of the Carrying Place events, we encouraged our island pilgrims to reflect on these sacred words. [ALL TNIV]
Exodus 19:4 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.
Deuteronomy 32:9-12 For the LORD's portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.
10 In a desert land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,
11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them on its pinions.
12 The LORD alone led him;
no foreign god was with him.
Ruth 2:12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."
2 Samuel 22:10-12
10 He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
11 He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared [a] on the wings of the wind.
12 He made darkness his canopy around him—
the dark [b] rain clouds of the sky.
Psalm 57:1Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.
Isaiah 40:31: Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Ezekiel 10:5,19, 11:22 The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far away as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks… While I watched, the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the LORD's house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them… Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
Malachi 4:2 But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.
Luke 13:34 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!
Revelation 4:8: Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
DANGERS
Storm clouds are brewing over my soul
& waves of confusion they buffet and roll
Be thou my anchor,
be thou my stronghold
As I am crossing over…
Carry me, carry me carry me
Over this ocean, carry me. (2x)
Before me, horizons of uncertainty
Behind me, the shadows
of what might have been
Be thou my rock, be thou my constancy
As I am crossing over...
Be thou before me a beacon to guide
Be thou beneath me,
my home-coming tide
Be thou around me on every side
As I am crossing over...
Nick / Anita Haigh © 2002 Break of Day Music/Daybreak
DANGERS
Danger loomed all afternoon. Zephyr was already feeling skittish. She could not read the abundant coyote warnings that I could: Wild in the City. No, she was sniffing something she did not like and she would not walk another step. We had already abandoned one dense trail where I first saw signs posted warning us of coyote. Dog-strangling vine gave her no worries, nor threat of thunderstorm, nor poison ivy. But something dark was still in the air and trusting her better judgment we backed out - again.
The notion that coyotes might be lurking in the bushes shook me, too. The travesty the Maxell’s experienced in their own back yard - a coyote jumping the fence grabbing their beloved Chihuahua and disappearing with a hasty lunch… Zephyr and I would be no match for that wily a hunter. We would have to content ourselves with an equivalency walk – covering elsewhere the distance we skipped here in fear. Maybe next time we’ll book a guide.
That's what the signs recommended.
Everything I needed to know in life I learned from Rouge Trail signs:
“For safety, never walk alone”.
We need each other. We were made to live and walk in fellowship. It’s a tough challenge to coordinate than doing it all on your own. But you miss so much of the view by yourself not to mention the dangers (I told you not to mention that).
So many dangers. Windat (Huron) “Indians” moved north once the New York Iroquois moved into town. Windat were also mighty hunters – but there was plenty of land enough for all to share if it can be worked out. First contact Europeans who joined up with one set of tribes/nations were often in danger among competing tribes. French feared the English and vice versa. All feared disappointing those who sent them. The presence of others could make the journey that much wiser.
Last night, we saw the movie Forks Over Knives about the health dangers of eating animal based foods. We're not vegan yet - but it is a sobering documentary. Today on the radio on the way to what would become our aborted walk, I heard that someone was stabbed just blocks from where we live. On the way home, we saw a van that had been badly rear-ended on the Don slip road. So many dangers.
Whoever else comes along, the journey must be walked with Jesus. He is more than our guide along the changeful way, who will, when need be, carry us when storm clouds of confusion are brewing. He is the Way itself.
Steps and slopes may be steep. Watch your footing.
We have met the enemy and he is us. We so often are our own enemy. The treacherous paths we are on require caution. I find I fear less making a mistake than I do forgetting something. Neglect can also be our downfall. Watch your step.
What to do if approached by a coyote: Remain calm. Do not run away or turn your back. Slowly back away.
In the face of metaphorical coyotes it’s good advice.
Remain calm: Trust the Lord who has brought you this far.
Do not run away: face what confronts you head on.
Slowly back away: when necessary REPENT - often!
Read [and obey] the Signs
In the big book of creation and also in the little book of Scripture. John Stott, God rest his soul, dedicated his life to expositing the Bible and guiding the wanna be faithful, from you and me to the Queen. It is worth studying: See…
http://geochristian.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/visualizing-bible-cross-references/
Chris Harrison, of Carnegie Mellon University, and Christopher Romhild, of Nordelbische Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Germany, have created a graphic that shows 63,779 cross-references between different portions of the Bible. The colored lines are the cross-references. The white bars at the bottom represent the number of verses in each individual chapter of the Bible; the long white bar at bottom center would be Psalm 119, which has 176 verses. National Geographic Best Science Images of 2008 #6
Do the above- The God of that word will bring you to...
Celebration Forest
At the clear end of the dangers, near the Twin Rivers carpark is an area set aside to commemorate those who during their lives made contributions to Rouge Park: a meadowed valley circle surrounded by forest wildlife - a celebratory symbol of safety found.
Thoughts for any day from a frustrated foray into into the forest.
Lord, save us from dangers and also from ourselves.
“Be thou around me on every side, as I am crossing over.”
& waves of confusion they buffet and roll
Be thou my anchor,
be thou my stronghold
As I am crossing over…
Carry me, carry me carry me
Over this ocean, carry me. (2x)
Before me, horizons of uncertainty
Behind me, the shadows
of what might have been
Be thou my rock, be thou my constancy
As I am crossing over...
Be thou before me a beacon to guide
Be thou beneath me,
my home-coming tide
Be thou around me on every side
As I am crossing over...
Nick / Anita Haigh © 2002 Break of Day Music/Daybreak
DANGERS
Danger loomed all afternoon. Zephyr was already feeling skittish. She could not read the abundant coyote warnings that I could: Wild in the City. No, she was sniffing something she did not like and she would not walk another step. We had already abandoned one dense trail where I first saw signs posted warning us of coyote. Dog-strangling vine gave her no worries, nor threat of thunderstorm, nor poison ivy. But something dark was still in the air and trusting her better judgment we backed out - again.
The notion that coyotes might be lurking in the bushes shook me, too. The travesty the Maxell’s experienced in their own back yard - a coyote jumping the fence grabbing their beloved Chihuahua and disappearing with a hasty lunch… Zephyr and I would be no match for that wily a hunter. We would have to content ourselves with an equivalency walk – covering elsewhere the distance we skipped here in fear. Maybe next time we’ll book a guide.
That's what the signs recommended.
Everything I needed to know in life I learned from Rouge Trail signs:
“For safety, never walk alone”.
We need each other. We were made to live and walk in fellowship. It’s a tough challenge to coordinate than doing it all on your own. But you miss so much of the view by yourself not to mention the dangers (I told you not to mention that).
So many dangers. Windat (Huron) “Indians” moved north once the New York Iroquois moved into town. Windat were also mighty hunters – but there was plenty of land enough for all to share if it can be worked out. First contact Europeans who joined up with one set of tribes/nations were often in danger among competing tribes. French feared the English and vice versa. All feared disappointing those who sent them. The presence of others could make the journey that much wiser.
Last night, we saw the movie Forks Over Knives about the health dangers of eating animal based foods. We're not vegan yet - but it is a sobering documentary. Today on the radio on the way to what would become our aborted walk, I heard that someone was stabbed just blocks from where we live. On the way home, we saw a van that had been badly rear-ended on the Don slip road. So many dangers.
Whoever else comes along, the journey must be walked with Jesus. He is more than our guide along the changeful way, who will, when need be, carry us when storm clouds of confusion are brewing. He is the Way itself.
Steps and slopes may be steep. Watch your footing.
We have met the enemy and he is us. We so often are our own enemy. The treacherous paths we are on require caution. I find I fear less making a mistake than I do forgetting something. Neglect can also be our downfall. Watch your step.
What to do if approached by a coyote: Remain calm. Do not run away or turn your back. Slowly back away.
In the face of metaphorical coyotes it’s good advice.
Remain calm: Trust the Lord who has brought you this far.
Do not run away: face what confronts you head on.
Slowly back away: when necessary REPENT - often!
Read [and obey] the Signs
In the big book of creation and also in the little book of Scripture. John Stott, God rest his soul, dedicated his life to expositing the Bible and guiding the wanna be faithful, from you and me to the Queen. It is worth studying: See…
http://geochristian.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/visualizing-bible-cross-references/
Chris Harrison, of Carnegie Mellon University, and Christopher Romhild, of Nordelbische Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Germany, have created a graphic that shows 63,779 cross-references between different portions of the Bible. The colored lines are the cross-references. The white bars at the bottom represent the number of verses in each individual chapter of the Bible; the long white bar at bottom center would be Psalm 119, which has 176 verses. National Geographic Best Science Images of 2008 #6
Do the above- The God of that word will bring you to...
Celebration Forest
At the clear end of the dangers, near the Twin Rivers carpark is an area set aside to commemorate those who during their lives made contributions to Rouge Park: a meadowed valley circle surrounded by forest wildlife - a celebratory symbol of safety found.
Thoughts for any day from a frustrated foray into into the forest.
Lord, save us from dangers and also from ourselves.
“Be thou around me on every side, as I am crossing over.”
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
ETERNAL PEACE
Over the last few nights Deborah, dog and I walked parts of three short trails.
NOBLETON
Nobleton marks the westernmost reach of the Carrying Place. From there it moves eastward toward Weston Road. Saturday night we walked through a quiet Nobleton neighbourhood for about 2kms. Such large homes yet no one seemed home - but for a trio of young adults quietly chatting by a pool. Were they all at the cottage? Zephyr disappointed a smaller local dog barking non-stop through the chain link fence that separated us but "Z" just did not want to play. She is so goal oriented!
KING CITY TRAIL
Simcoe Day took us to the Humber River - which by the time it reaches King City is not much more than a ditch beside the road. This is east of where the Carrying Place trail was but with street parking available at various points of access, we gave it a go. The King City Trail is very well marked: at every intersection a sign showing where you are in relation to the rest. It was a bit buggy in the early evening so we only took in about 2 kms. On the way back we discovered a large three bedroom house that had been sold in King - later we found out it was listed for just about what a much smaller place was listed for near us.
TOM TAYLOR TRAIL (named for a former mayor)
From there we drove to the head of the Rouge end of the Carrying Place Trail, to Newmarket along the Tom Taylor Trail. The 2.6 kms walk from the municipal building to the base of Fairy Lake and back was the most civilized of our outings. Paved sidewalks - watch out for speeding bikes - but when the street lamps go on - magical. On the way back from Fairy Lake we took the bike-less boardwalk to the east of the water and were privileged to feel the wings of a great heron glide right by us as it headed for the calm waters.
ETERNAL PEACE
A surprise greeted us at the end of our walk heading for the car: an Inukshuk and a statue by Sculptor Brett Davis entitled "Eternal Peace". Google "Eternal Peace" and "Newmarket" to see the one piece stone sculpture of what seems to be a mother raising a child high, each peering in wonder at the other. Is it Mary lifting Jesus high? Perhaps? Who's to say - but the Peace of all Peace be yours today.
NOBLETON
Nobleton marks the westernmost reach of the Carrying Place. From there it moves eastward toward Weston Road. Saturday night we walked through a quiet Nobleton neighbourhood for about 2kms. Such large homes yet no one seemed home - but for a trio of young adults quietly chatting by a pool. Were they all at the cottage? Zephyr disappointed a smaller local dog barking non-stop through the chain link fence that separated us but "Z" just did not want to play. She is so goal oriented!
KING CITY TRAIL
Simcoe Day took us to the Humber River - which by the time it reaches King City is not much more than a ditch beside the road. This is east of where the Carrying Place trail was but with street parking available at various points of access, we gave it a go. The King City Trail is very well marked: at every intersection a sign showing where you are in relation to the rest. It was a bit buggy in the early evening so we only took in about 2 kms. On the way back we discovered a large three bedroom house that had been sold in King - later we found out it was listed for just about what a much smaller place was listed for near us.
TOM TAYLOR TRAIL (named for a former mayor)
From there we drove to the head of the Rouge end of the Carrying Place Trail, to Newmarket along the Tom Taylor Trail. The 2.6 kms walk from the municipal building to the base of Fairy Lake and back was the most civilized of our outings. Paved sidewalks - watch out for speeding bikes - but when the street lamps go on - magical. On the way back from Fairy Lake we took the bike-less boardwalk to the east of the water and were privileged to feel the wings of a great heron glide right by us as it headed for the calm waters.
ETERNAL PEACE
A surprise greeted us at the end of our walk heading for the car: an Inukshuk and a statue by Sculptor Brett Davis entitled "Eternal Peace". Google "Eternal Peace" and "Newmarket" to see the one piece stone sculpture of what seems to be a mother raising a child high, each peering in wonder at the other. Is it Mary lifting Jesus high? Perhaps? Who's to say - but the Peace of all Peace be yours today.
Monday, July 11, 2011
CANOEING THE ROUGE
Deep irony lives along old rivers. The regions around the Humber and the Rouge valleys were home to generations of first nations who tamed a small bit of the wild to be a safe place for families. Hills on those same valleys became places where first nations and first Europeans met for trade and commerce: produce from land tamed.
Ironically, each river and valley today attracts a steady flow of visitors but not so much for commercial gain as to escape from it for a time, and to experience the wild within reach of the city. Now it is the untamed that draws them.
"Wild in the City", the laudable vision of Rouge Park, should be maintained for posterity. Elsewhere so much of the wonders of creation have been lost at the steady encroachment of civilization. Here are sufficient amenities - yet the bulk of the park is preserved from busy roads - except for the 401 overhead, and an incongruous Via Rail at the beach(!) - and from too safe paved lighted paths. Rougher more natural trails or the flowing river lead you on. It reminds me of that old hymn: "there's a wildness in God's mercy." (Yeah, I know its "wideness" but "wildness" works, too. Mercy when it comes is always an unpredictable, overwhelming flood. Wildness indeed.)
I can only imagine how the animals experience the Rouge. Some are approaching endangerment so what a blessing to have unrestrained freedom so close but far enough from where the masses drive to work. Animals flourish within the narrow confines of the Humber and also, and especially, the Rouge. May their tribe forever increase!
CANOEING
What a splendid morning it was paddling in a canoe on the Rouge. The number of groups working to expand our understanding of and appreciation for the wild in this city is mushrooming. But Toronto Adventures is one of only a few commercial groups enabling newbies like me to discover - within the bounds of Canada's largest city - the wild on the river itself. They were well organized and offered informed instruction and touring of the Rouge environs and marsh. Our guide was very sensitive to the needs of the beginner kayakers and the one novice canoeist (me).
SWIFT OBSERVATIONS
Stopping regularly to keep the group bunched, he pointed out enumerable flora and fauna, especially birds: kingfisher's speedy flight, watchful wary great blue heron wading on the edge of the marsh, hawks and turkey vultures high in flight way overhead....
Another irony: an old brick chimney from a derelict house has been preserved on the east bank of the Rouge for new residents: the chimney swift. The swift's natural habitat - hollowed out rotting trees - are often cut down as a safety hazard. Without decaying remnants of civilization such as crumbling chimneys, the swift would face extinction.
How ironic, too, that we were promised site of the Rouge's famed turtles basking in mid-day sun on stones by the slowly flowing stream - but they remained turtle-like and never appeared. Sigh.
GUIDE and COMPANY
Our guide knew his stuff and the area. I would gladly try my hand at kayaking on the Humber next time round if he were leading. Most participants came with a friend. Though we stayed together as a group down and back - more or less - a single kayak is very much an individual experience so interaction was limited. That's okay because it seemed to me most were more interested learning to kayak well and in the Rouge than in each other. Still afterward we were mixing better than at the start of the day - eager to talk about what each had learned and how we did.
I suppose the experience is similar to church in some ways. Each enters somewhat uncertain about the others and what the morning will bring. Church pews sit in what is called "the nave" - as in navy - resembling as they do rolling waves. Rhythmic motions of liturgy and prayer, like rowing, move us along together. After shared time either in the closed box of a church or the open-aired river-cathedral, we sense a unity of experience: of defeats and victories, insights and wonders and the presence of something much larger than ourselves.
Not so ironic then that we are changed by God in his own world. Being with God does that to you: both in the big book of creation and the little book of the written word. I offer now and then a thankful prayer for our guide and the crew of Toronto Adventures: may you peacefully dream of the Wild to come.
Ironically, each river and valley today attracts a steady flow of visitors but not so much for commercial gain as to escape from it for a time, and to experience the wild within reach of the city. Now it is the untamed that draws them.
"Wild in the City", the laudable vision of Rouge Park, should be maintained for posterity. Elsewhere so much of the wonders of creation have been lost at the steady encroachment of civilization. Here are sufficient amenities - yet the bulk of the park is preserved from busy roads - except for the 401 overhead, and an incongruous Via Rail at the beach(!) - and from too safe paved lighted paths. Rougher more natural trails or the flowing river lead you on. It reminds me of that old hymn: "there's a wildness in God's mercy." (Yeah, I know its "wideness" but "wildness" works, too. Mercy when it comes is always an unpredictable, overwhelming flood. Wildness indeed.)
I can only imagine how the animals experience the Rouge. Some are approaching endangerment so what a blessing to have unrestrained freedom so close but far enough from where the masses drive to work. Animals flourish within the narrow confines of the Humber and also, and especially, the Rouge. May their tribe forever increase!
CANOEING
What a splendid morning it was paddling in a canoe on the Rouge. The number of groups working to expand our understanding of and appreciation for the wild in this city is mushrooming. But Toronto Adventures is one of only a few commercial groups enabling newbies like me to discover - within the bounds of Canada's largest city - the wild on the river itself. They were well organized and offered informed instruction and touring of the Rouge environs and marsh. Our guide was very sensitive to the needs of the beginner kayakers and the one novice canoeist (me).
SWIFT OBSERVATIONS
Stopping regularly to keep the group bunched, he pointed out enumerable flora and fauna, especially birds: kingfisher's speedy flight, watchful wary great blue heron wading on the edge of the marsh, hawks and turkey vultures high in flight way overhead....
Another irony: an old brick chimney from a derelict house has been preserved on the east bank of the Rouge for new residents: the chimney swift. The swift's natural habitat - hollowed out rotting trees - are often cut down as a safety hazard. Without decaying remnants of civilization such as crumbling chimneys, the swift would face extinction.
How ironic, too, that we were promised site of the Rouge's famed turtles basking in mid-day sun on stones by the slowly flowing stream - but they remained turtle-like and never appeared. Sigh.
GUIDE and COMPANY
Our guide knew his stuff and the area. I would gladly try my hand at kayaking on the Humber next time round if he were leading. Most participants came with a friend. Though we stayed together as a group down and back - more or less - a single kayak is very much an individual experience so interaction was limited. That's okay because it seemed to me most were more interested learning to kayak well and in the Rouge than in each other. Still afterward we were mixing better than at the start of the day - eager to talk about what each had learned and how we did.
I suppose the experience is similar to church in some ways. Each enters somewhat uncertain about the others and what the morning will bring. Church pews sit in what is called "the nave" - as in navy - resembling as they do rolling waves. Rhythmic motions of liturgy and prayer, like rowing, move us along together. After shared time either in the closed box of a church or the open-aired river-cathedral, we sense a unity of experience: of defeats and victories, insights and wonders and the presence of something much larger than ourselves.
Not so ironic then that we are changed by God in his own world. Being with God does that to you: both in the big book of creation and the little book of the written word. I offer now and then a thankful prayer for our guide and the crew of Toronto Adventures: may you peacefully dream of the Wild to come.
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