GUEST BLOGGER
Backwoods Blog;
in the woods and on the road…
On the river bend… (all photos by Sara Hayman)
This week I’d like to welcome guest blogger Sara Hayman to the Backwoods Blog. Sara spent several days on retreat at the cabin last month (when we still had snow) and in this entry she shares a few reflections from her experience in the north woods.
Guest Backwoods Blog Entry
Wednesday, March 6, 2024 By Sara Hayman, Dave’s friend & colleague My two plus days in the Cabin, February 9-11, 2024
For years now in our monthly UU minister’s meetings, I’ve heard stories about Dave’s cabin in the woods, a cozy and rustic home he built on family land where he grew up, land nestled alongside the Meduxnekeag River in Monticello, Maine where Maliseet people have lived for thousands of years. Dreaming about what I’d do during my sabbatical time, I knew I wanted to spend time being there in that cabin, in the winter, on my own. Dave and Linda graciously welcomed me in and helped make it happen.
I’m grateful for particular moments that stay with me still:
Skiing down and through the beautiful white field to get there, Dave just ahead of me, lugging my stuff on a sled behind his skis, the most gracious backwoods sherpa I know.
Sipping tea at the table while the woodstove roared, my books and journals right there with me, remembering something deeply nourishing and needed about being and feeling at home…home there in the woods, home in the warmth, home in the silence and spaciousness of being alone.
Tromping outside on snowshoes in the sunshine the next day to glimpse the river below more closely – silent and snow-covered, waters moving beneath the ice—beauty, quiet and the drip-drip of melting snow inviting me to be present and awake in this moment, too.
Sitting in the glorious sauna at dusk, sweating and sipping water, cooking in the stew of it all, heat rising as more water’s poured on already baking hot stones. Letting go and leaning in to it all, then stepping outside and being stunned by the cold and a sky that turned pink with streaks of yellow.
Thinking about it all, these words by the poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer come to me:
“All day I spike my tea with sky— Is it any wonder by night I’m singing love songs.”
Thank you, Dave & Linda, for loving and sharing this sacred place with me. I plan to be back in summer.
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Sara lives in Bucksport, Maine with her partner (also named Sara) and their feisty terrier Mino. Rev. Hayman is Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ellsworth.
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In the woods,
Dave
March 6, 2024
selfie at the cabin…
Backwoods sherpa
a double selfie…
