Swirling

I realize that rivers are in at least two of my key nature places. The Ramapo River is a core low land feature of Ramapo Reservation in Mahwah. The park is magnificent because you can choose the watery low land hike, the ascending on road hike, the ascending through the woods hike with stream or without, or just a walk around the lake.

Being in the woods is often accompanied with the quiet that I enjoy. From the quiet I can hear my heart, my breath and I picture my heart beating, pumping and distributing fresh blood and O2. Being next to the river I listen to the rushing of water that overcomes any sound of cars driving on nearby roads. Only 30 yards wide in this area, the river sometimes seems like a stream. There are numerous places to sit, either on the shore, or slightly above the river. These are my places of nature watching, of meditation.



I like circles and spirals; especially where they exist in motion. The place where the river intersects the shoreline are natural spiral locations. The place where rocks, immovable objects, force the fluid water to go around them are perfect places for spirals. Emerson says about circles, "...the highest emblem in the cipher of the world".