Break The Routine, Make The Day Count!
Breaking Loose
Driving home from work, I looked to the west and couldn’t but marvel at the snow-sprinkled peaks of the Rocky Mountains towering 60 miles away. The autumn air was so crisp that the slopes seemed to be much closer and higher. And then, out of the blue, it dawned on me: “Why would I continue living my uneventful working day when there is still plenty of time to break loose from the grip of a mundane routine?”
It wasn’t even three o’clock in the afternoon yet and the prairie was already passing by my car window. With Calgary in my rear-view mirror, it felt really good to be out of the bustling town on the spur of the moment. The fact that I didn’t know where I was going made absolutely no difference to me. I was simply happy to be on the road and watch the beautiful peaks on the horizon.
Once in the mountains, I stopped fairly soon to get out of my car and enjoy the remaining hours of the daylight. The sky was full of beautiful puffy clouds casting shadows on a nearby mountain ridge. I found myself on a dead-end road right by grassy wetlands with a stunning view of Mount Rundle.
As I walked leisurely along the deserted narrow road, I happened to find a hidden corner of unspoiled wilderness. I squeezed myself through some thickets, bushes, and young spruces just to arrive at a quiet spot that totally took my breath away. Right in front of me, there was a pool about forty yards across with crystal clear water all the way to the bottom. I could watch the underwater world as if it was one big, perfectly clean aquarium. In the middle of the pool, there were a few stumps and branches sticking out of the water, presumably the work of an invisible artist. A typical wetland grass with straight, narrow, and long stems grew out of the water and practically dominated the entire flats stretching for miles all the way to the mountains. Various brushes and trees were scattered across the plain with leaves showing fall colors and thus perfectly complimenting the yellow tints of the grass. There was no wind. The surface of my newly discovered pool was like a mirror, the reflection was absolute. I stood in silence. Every molecule around me seemed to be motionless.
When the sun started to approach the rugged horizon and the light began to change, I noticed something moving in the grass. Not further than twenty yards away a beaver stepped into the water and started to promenade its flat tail around the pool. What a show! The beaver seemed to be playing and swimming with visible joy. For a while he was showing off at the wooden stumps in the middle of the pool, and then he was diving occasionally and looking for some food. He got so close to me at one point that I could hear him munching the grass.
I took a few stunning landscape pictures and drove back to Calgary like a new person. What a memorable day!