Land of the Silver Birch

so the other thing that was great about this weekend, to the extent of warranting a separate post was dave and i went on a little hike/walk around the don valley. this in and of itself isnt that exciting, we go biking around there a lot, but we were at a different part where i had never been, up around york mills.
anyway, we were just wandering in and we saw a FOX. it was so cool! and much bigger than i thought foxes are. i think i have seen a fox in captivity, but this was a wild one. it was so gracefull and swift. dave was bummed because he missed it, but then we saw him again across the river.
later, we were deep, deep in the woods, off the paved path, and i saw this group of silver birch trees. they were the biggest birch trees i had ever seen. they had to be at least a foot and a half in diameter. maybe more. i placed my hand on one and looked up at the leaves and was stunned. it was so beautiful. it has been such a long time since i had an experience like that; a real communion with the earth.
moments like that are the reason i was and am so passionate about biology, but i get so busy and caught up in my humdrum meanderings as a wheelchair pusher that i sometimes forget. i forget that there are places in this world where i am stopped dead by the majestic beauty of creation. places that have been untouched and gone unsullied by the exploitation and degradation of human beings. places where, if you are quiet enough and look hard enough, you can actually see the face of God as He inhabits the forest, and so inhabits you for as long as you are part of the forest and the forest inhabits you.
i long so much to be in and of a forest. there is so much beauty there, the divine organic wholeness of the universe. the strange chaotic peace that resides there, where everything makes sense. it is too easy to be cynical and give up on whats left of our planet. to think that the damage cant be undone and not to care. but i just cant and i wont. i love this planet and i see all of the things it is and could be, if we would let it. its as simple as laying your hand on the trunk of a silver birch tree.