“Ravings” are a series of essays written by my sister Linda J. Clarke. It was her hope that people who read them would gain a “tenderness and appreciation for the animals and plants who share this world with us.” For more on Linda and her book, “On A Planet Sailing West”, click here … Linda Clarke.
“There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.”
Aldo Leopold
DREAMING OF A BEAR
One of my small achievements is that I have been able to avoid bears all my life, except in Alberta Canada, when Joanie drove me down a fire trail and into a deserted section of Jasper National Park right up to a young black bear eating red berries on a bush. I will never forget how his great soft paws crunched down on the pine needles as he moved around the bush, how his black-rubber nose wrinkled and sniffed each berry before he pulled it off with his short claws.
I could reach out and touch him. It was early morning on a languid summer day, smoky and hazy from distant campfires. Clouds of insects swarmed around his head. When he glanced up he seemed to cast a spell all around us. The scolding sparrows flew away. [Read more … ]
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