I am a happy woodsman.

My younger care-free years were spent hunting, fishing and exploring the forests of Nova Scotia and Quebec.

All my adult years have been spent making a living from the woods ... lumberjacking, working sawmills and silvaculture projects, and now nature photography and fighting forest fires.

I believe myself to have a husbandry with the land, appreciative of the forest and nature in general. I also realize how fortunate ... how very blessed... I am to have lived my life this way.

However, the burdens of life have recently come to rest squarely on my shoulders and I am feeling the weight of them heavily.

It occurs to me that no matter how we choose to live ... no matter how care-free and fortunate we may be ... how happy we believe ourselves to be... life always has a way of bringing us pain. It will come when least expected and rock our world to the foundation. Such is the nature of the human experience.

If pain, suffering, and heartache is inevitable at times in our lives, then maybe it is how we cope with it ... how we learn from it... how we recover from it ... which is the true test of our lifetime's happiness.

Although this woodsman is in pain, the forest and my love of photography helps my healing. It brings me hope for a better tomorrow.

Please, my friends, when you are beset by life's hardships, grab hold of the gifts and talents you possess ... and use them to pick yourself up again.

Best wishes,

Skinner

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