In looking through my beloved library for a book to reread, I found a treasure — "Bogtrotter," by Richard A. Coffey. Inside, I had written my name and the year I read it (a Christmas gift from my daughter), which was 1983. Such a beloved book! I started rereading right away.
It describes a simpler life many of us long for, although probably its reality wouldn't be so soothing. Mr. Coffey and his wife quit their Minneapolis jobs, sold everything and moved to a small cabin without electricity or running water in a bog in northern Minnesota. It was a dream that became a reality for them. They "wanted a place to listen to the poetry in the trees and feel the texture and breathe the gas of the woods." And "a place that was so quiet, so uninhabited, that if God wanted to talk to us He could whisper."
They chop wood, carry water and I would assume that COVID does not have a big place in their daily living (assuming that they still live there). Such a peaceful, idealistic way of life. The poignant writing brings me right there — in a world I long for but will never experience.
Catherine Sjostrand, North Branch, Minn.
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