Life in the Woods

Walden is perhaps the most influential book I’ve never read. Thoreau’s tale of life in the woods was introduced to me while I was still in my teens via the film Dead Poets Society. Even then it struck a chord. “I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately… to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” I like to think I’ve been sucking that marrow all my life, balancing studies and career with plenty of simple pleasures – food, friends, songs, travel.
These past few years I have embraced his ideals even more, simplifying my life and trying to live as self-sufficiently as possible. It is coincidental that Lithuania looks very like the area in Massachusetts where Thoreau lived when he wrote Walden. We recently took a walk in a wood by a small lake. The day was warm and sunny but the water was still frozen at the edges and the shady woods still had a light covering of snow. The photos remind me very much of some I have seen of Walden Pond.
Someday I will get round to actually reading Walden. Not today, though. Today I’m going for a walk.
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Photos taken at Paršežeris lake, Lithuania.

I wonder if there is a toilet like this on Walden Pond!
I read Walden for the first time last summer. It was one I had wanted to read for awhile. I think I read it at the right time in my life, when my way of thinking closely aligned with his. I even named one of our hiking trails Walden. It is one of my favorite spots to sit & enjoy nature. Beautiful photos, it looks so peaceful!
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Thanks Amy. I really must read it myself – it’s been on my list for so long!
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Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
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Beautiful place by that lake 🙂
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The last image did not load for me so it must be the second from the bottom (?) image that is outstanding and quite worthy of printing for your wall.
When the little lake we lived on was like this I would get in my kayak and go out to look for frogs coming out of the stasis of their winter sleep. Do you have spring peepers there? I am sure they have them in Walden.
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I’m not sure what species they are, but we do have lots of frogs around us. The storks are just returning and they love munching on them. Not sure why the last image didn’t load, but it was just a loo cabin – I wondered if they had something similar at Walden Pond. I really love the photo of the trees and the reflection, too. I might just get it printed – my walls are currently very bare. Thanks!
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What a lovely spot. The photo of the trees reflected in the water is particularly striking.
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Thank you! Yeh, I was a bit smitten with that reflection. The density of the trees makes it interesting, I think.
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I love Walden Pond. Especially in the summer.
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cool
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