Settled in the Wild: Notes from the Edge of Town

122 Pages·2010·0.78 MB·English

by  Susan Hand Shetterly

Settled in the Wild
ALSO BY Susan Hand Shetterly
ESSAYS
The New Year’s Owl
BOOKS FOR CHILDREN
The Dwarf-Wizard of Uxmal
Raven’s Light
Muwin and the Magic Hare
Shelterwood
The Tinker of Salt Cove
Settled in the Wild
Notes from the Edge of Town
Susan Hand Shetterly
Published by
ALGONQUIN BOOKS OF CHAPEL HILL
Post Office Box 2225
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515-2225
a division of
WORKMAN PUBLISHING
225 Varick Street
New York, New York 10014
© 2010 by Susan Hand Shetterly.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.
Design by Anne Winslow.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shetterly, Susan Hand, [date]
Settled in the wild : notes from the edge of town /
Susan Hand Shetterly.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-56512-618-3
1. Natural history—Maine—Anecdotes. 2. Wildlife watching—Maine—Anecdotes. I. Title.
QH105.M2S54 2010
508.741—dc22 2009030802
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
For Margot and Dan—
in admiration
What must a man do to be at home in the world?
There must be times when he is here as though absent, gone beyond
words into the woven shadows of the grass and the flighty darknesses
of leaves shaking in the wind …
from “The Silence” by Wendell Berry
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
PART ONE
1. April Nights
2. Going Back to the Land
3. Walking at Dusk
4. Sonny’s Song
5. Dangers
6. The Inward Eye
7. Elvers
8. Eden
9. Treasure
10. Chac
PART TWO
11. A Point of View
12. The Gift
13. Alewives
14. The Alder Patch
15. Country Road
16. Letting Summer Go
17. Knowing Things
18. Tree
19. Big Fish
20. Ice
21. Trapped
22. Neighborhood Deer
23. Jed Island
24. Cormorants
25. Rain
26. The Fire and the Owl
EPILOGUE