New Germany

Under the clear water of the lake. (October 2017, New Germany Lake, western Maryland)

We can touch wonder in every moment as we slow down and perceive the world around us as if for the first time. And when we contact wonder, we know thankfulness for the most ordinary, extraordinary things of life.

~M. J. Ryan

Reflections on the lake.

The sun returned today, and brought some slightly warmer temperatures with it.  Although I did get out for a walk, I did not take the camera with me so I’m going to use photos from the trip to western Maryland for today’s post.

Off season, but not yet put away.

After we finished our hike on Meadow Mountain (here is the previous post on that), M and I went to New Germany State Park to have a picnic lunch by New Germany Lake.  The Maryland Department of Natural Resources website states that “visitors frequently call it a ‘best kept secret.'”  The park is located between Big Savage Mountain and the Eastern Continental Divide along Meadow Mountain.

View from our picnic table.

It’s a beautiful little park with multi-use trails (hiking, mountain biking, cross-country skiing in the winter), and the New Germany Lake where you can fish, kayak or canoe, and swim from the small beach.  The lake itself is the result of the land there being flooded and dammed  so that it could be used to power a mill and to make ice.  In the lake’s early days it was not used for swimming or any other kind of recreation.  In fact, parents would not let their children play there.  In the 1930’s, then President Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) came in, repaired the dam, and cleaned up the lake so that swimming, fishing, and other forms of recreation would be possible.

Walking towards the beach and the Lake House.

As you can see, it’s a beautiful lake, especially on a blue-sky day like we had when we visited.  You won’t be able to tell from the photos I took, but there were a lot of other visitors there as well.  Park rangers from around the state were gathered there to learn a few things about park rangering.  Some of their classes took place indoors, at the Lake House, and we saw them once gathered near the Nature Center.

The beach.

After lunch, M and I strolled up to the Lake House, talked with one of the park rangers (who was not assigned to New Germany State Park but he did know a thing or two about it) while they were on a break from their classes, got a map, and decided to explore the trails there.  I don’t know what we originally had planned.  We tend to keep our itinerary loose when we go on trips like this.  We had maps for various parks and trails in the area, and figured we’d go wherever the wind or whim blew us.

Beautiful blues.  I probably took this from the dam or the little bridge by the dam.

My walk today had me meandering around the subject of gratitude.  After yesterday’s wanderings about love, gratitude seemed a good place to explore next.  I like to start my day with a small thank you.  Before I get out of bed I think, “Thank you for this day.”  Throughout the day, I say small thank you’s.  Thank you for this breath.  Thank you, feet, for taking me on this walk.  Thank you, wind, for dancing with the trees.  Thank you for our well and potable water.  Thank you, loblolly pine, for letting me lean against you and for listening on those days I feel the need to pour out my joys or woes.  When I finish my morning yoga practice, I inwardly say, “I give thanks to my body, mind, and spirit for their support throughout my practice, throughout my day, and throughout my life.”

A little color in the mountains.

There are the big thank you’s, too:  Thank you, M, for all that you do.  Thank you, Universe, for the people in my life, especially my husband, children, and grandchildren.  Thank you for friends and the rest of my tribe.  Thank you for this life.

A spot of light on a chicory flower.

On that note, thank you for you, and for visiting with me today or any other day.  During the time I’ve been writing up this post, the clouds have taken over the sky and the sunlight has disappeared.  Not completely, of course, because it’s not dark outside.  But it is darker.  If it clears up, let’s go out to the dock to watch the sunset.  It’s at 4:57 PM.  We will need to be there about 20-30 minutes before that if we want to watch the sun slip behind the trees.

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

Going up the steps on the Hemlock Trail.

A few of the 10,000 reasons to be happy:  426)  Sunlight on chicory.  427)  Love tea from Pukka.  428)  A treat for dinner tonight:  Pizza!  429)  The extraordinary ordinary things in life.  430)  Hemlock trees.  

In the glow of a hemlock grove.