A few things I really enjoy: Anything that gets me close to nature: camping; hiking, cross country skiing, cycling (but no place that I would damage delicate trails) and canoeing. I love everything about it: trees, plants, birds, wildlife-- everything in gentle balance and motion, wind whispering through tall grassey meadows, through trees. It is the one place in the world that I first discovered a real and genuine sense of gratitude-- everything about it is healing to me and my psyche. I love the smells of pine trees heated by the sun and the moisture which brings sweet scents from the fir and spruce trees. It's the one place where I feel true happiness, fully present to my surroundings and all of the wonderful miracles I've witnessed. Where I live, there is so much plant diversity, new blooms every week, in the summer time, new species of colourful dragon flies, butterflies.

In early recovery, it was do everything I could to get out of town-- my brother and would head up to the mountains and hike and hike till we could experience being present, leave the anxieties of city life behind-- our rule, we leave all our crap off the trail and let ourselves be open to the gifts out there.

Discovered canoing later on, as a way to canoe to more remote sites, far from people, to totally enjoy Nature's wonderful orchestra-- this is an awesome way to experience wilderness, encounter wildlife, many many wonderful and magical moments. How else to get really close to a humming bird, the gentle low impact of the canoe.

My favourite XC ski time, is at night under bright moonlight-- everything is illuminated, the sparkling snow crystals, the crisp air. And it's excellent exercise, a total natural high, and don't get too overheated.

My brother an I co-own a 16 1/2 foot 'prospector canoe', but no car, not anymore, it died. So getting back out there is a challenge. We'll rent a car for a day, drop off supplies, bus back ($7.) and bike to camp, disassemble bikes and carry them with us by canoe (then we enjoy the backroads/fire roads behind the lake system-- we even bike 60 k to town and back, for fresh foods and it's a wonderful scenic bike ride, through countryside views of rolling hills and farmer's fields.

In the future, we would also like to try 'bike camping' and maybe make arrangement for canoe storage at lake. It's the best way back to fitness for me, it's just totally great for mind, body, soul and some wonderful relief from ptsd. Bears and wolves much easier to deal with than most humans, I can honestly say that.

These experiences have made meditation more possible for me, that I can image lots of beautiful moments and spaces, and take that back with me, it's with me always when I need it. There's a couple of photos in my gallery, more to come...