Outside Port Hope. A detour home through Haskill Road, Lakeshore Road, and Willow Beach Road. Out of frame: a mothballed coal-fired hydro plant; the 401 highway; hedgerows.

It was late spring. I met my brother and his son at the end of a lane next to railway tracks. They often park their car here hatch up and enjoy the solitude of a tucked away spot. At the height of summer it is a dense grassy meadow, but this time of year it is still a tangly thatch of new growth and dormant sprig.

A worn tire track path cuts through. It tells of occasional movement by heavy farm equipment or ATVs. The path breaks a fence line and continues down to a creek. Just south of here Lakeshore Road began as a footpath parallel to Lake Ontario’s north shore. Here too are traces of the original railway alignment that was later straightened and chased from the eroding shoreline.

This Fall in Haliburton County; a walk, a drive. Out of frame: a logging operation, a recreational trail, Drury’s Pond, and everything else.

Visiting family on a lake in the bush at the end of a road (“forest access,” then private). Timber, lumber, tree; stones big and small strewn about up and down the hills. Leaves this time of year a blanket on the floor.

When here often we hear: the hackle of the raven; the diving loon’s call; wind rushing through leaves (before it’s felt); the approach of a vehicle coming down the hill (who is it?), the hum of a logging operation; the pop of the hunter’s rifle; fish leaping from calm water; the gallop of a dog; a passing plane; the crack of a twig.