“I like to search the maps, pick a brook that I hope will be crazy-beautiful, and spend a few hours getting to know it.
A healthy, clear-running, forest-shaded gurgling brook creates an aura, and when we are in its presence we are in another world, one where cares are swept away as surely as the sound of water splashing over rock delights.
Sometimes I bring a fly-rod; sometimes I don’t. But I always walk along the brook, and I often walk in the brook. Inevitably I stop, sit on a rock or ledge, listen and look. A good brook is like a good book: completely absorbing.”
From “Forest Streams Naturally Soothe,” The Hartford Courant, June 6, 2009. Steve’s column appears monthly in the Courant’s CTLiving section, usually the first Saturday of the month.