Embraced by green: beauty along the way

COFFEE WITH WARREN, with Warren Harbeck
Cochrane Eagle, June 22, 2023

This past weekend I became conscious of a special beauty our foothills community is blessed with at this season. We are embraced by green – green fields and forests along our highways that we too often just take for granted while we are heading to our destinations: Airdrie, Red Deer, Edmonton, or even natural destinations awesome in their own right, such as Big Hill Springs Provincial Park.

But that green really did catch my eye this time, and it comforted my soul grieving over the recent passing of two close friends. So, I made a return jaunt a couple of days later, camera in hand, to share some of my visual experiences with you.

Indeed, these verdant surroundings were embracing Cochrane on every side. But I limited myself to a circle trip north from Cochrane on Hwy 22, then east on Route 567, south on Lochend Rd., and back to Cochrane along Hwy 1A, stopping only where it was safe to do so. Here it was, just two days till the first day of summer, and spring’s green legacy in field and forest couldn’t be more hope-and-life affirming.

As Louis Armstrong so melodiously noted:

I see trees of green,
Red roses too.
I see them bloom
For me and you.
And I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.

And here, I’d like to offer my own words:

I see fields of green,
And forests too.
They are inspiring
For me and you.
And I think to myself,
What a wonderful world.

Or as the 23rd Psalm so memorably says, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures…. He restoreth my soul….” (See my column for June 27, 2019, “The joy of green.”)

Yes, when my heart was heavy, I took this drive and found comfort and encouragement. Thank you, God, for the gift of green.

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