Blustery Day at Toft Point

Blustery Day at Toft Point 24x30 oil on canvas

Landscape, lakeshore, Door County, Lake Michigan, impressionist

It took me a long time to find Toft Point. I was  curious about an area of old growth cedar forest that I had read about in a nature guide. The folks at the Ridges Sanctuary in Baileys Harbor pointed me in the right direction down Ridges road and I missed the sign. At the time,  the small directional sign would occasionally disappear due to a privacy seeking, protective local.
One day I went on a painting expedition and again, I found myself at the end of the Point, not at the Toft Point. As I set up to paint, an elderly woman approached me and asked what I was doing?  Eyeing my paper towels and easel and paints she admonished me to leave the place it as I found it! Thinking that this was my opportunity to find the elusive site, I asked her where the old growth trees and trails were? She shrugged and went on her way.
Dismayed, I painted, packed up and went to my car to find a note tucked near my window. There, were the exact directions to Toft Point and these words: “ Missy, I watched you. Thanks for packing up your gear and trash. Enjoy the trails.”
After this invitation to share a special and sensitive spot, My family and I returned many times each year to walk next to the waters edge, to relish the old cedars and the remarkable remnants of  the Toft family’s life.
I understand the woman’s desire to protect and shelter this special place. But if more people would take the time to be in a forest, I think we would have a better world.
The natural world heals, astounds and reminds me how small I am in both time and place. The dark rocks and sometimes wild waves will be here long after I am gone. When the ways of humanity seem overwhelmingly selfish and chaotic, peace, harmony, and wildness prevails within moments on a trail where ancient gnarled cedars and tall pines speak in the wind.