BY LESLIE REGO
Recently, I came across the word nemophilist. It means someone with a love or fondness for forests, woods, or woodland scenery, or someone who often visits them, a ‘haunter’ of woods.
The word derives from the Greek ‘nemos,’ a wooded glade, and ‘philos,’ signifying affection or love. This is an old word and its first recorded appearance occurred in1838 in the Atlantic Monthly.
In 1923, the word was utilized in an article in the magazine The Swiss Cross, an old popular science publication. “To many persons, Spring means ‘ethereal mildness,’ and to such her coming is indeed slow in our land, but the nemophilist, who has listened through all the lengthening days of later winter for sound of earliest bird, is off to the woods before the snow has left the hollows.” How wonderful and how perfect for our Valley!
The past few months I have suffered from severe tendonitis in my arms and I have not been able to grasp ski poles. Instead of skiing, I am snowshoeing. One thing I like about snowshoeing is that you slow down. I have become familiar with the different trees in each trail, remembering a few as my favorites. I love the paths that lead me through the woods. With the lengthening of the days, the light has been spectacular bouncing off the snow and trees.
Snowshoeing has allowed me to listen to the woods. I have been able to attune myself to the gentlest of nuances. Earlier in the winter,` when I snowshoed, the shadows were deep and the light was low. But now, as I continue to snowshoe in April, I hear the quickening of the waters, the chirp of the birds, and the sweet rustle of the branches. I feel as if I can hear the sap awakening and coursing through the trees.
Many of us are haunters of our woods. We are nemophilists who have been listening. We have heard the woods even though the snow has not yet left our ‘hollows.’ The shift from winter to spring is here.
Leslie Rego is an Idaho Press Club award-winning columnist, artist and Blaine County resident. To view more of Rego’s art, visit leslierego.com.