Trolls––There and here!

“Ready to meet Barour, one of our country’s beloved trolls?”

​“Definitely!” I thought. I was in Iceland, on a barren, windswept volcanic plateau, and I was going to meet a troll! Beyond exciting!

“There he is!” Arjunnur, our guide, said, as she pointed to a huge lava rock sculpture. “Ooh!” Barour was so different from what I was expecting. Yes, he was huge like our trolls here at the Gardens, but he wasn’t warm or endearing. I had been thinking Barour might be my next blog, but now I was unsure. Adding to my uncertainty was the fact that, if I did chose Barour, I would have to change my modus operandi! I looked again at Barour. Maybe I imagined it, but his mouth seemed to say, “Make an exception! Choose me!” I could not commit, so I put the idea in my “Possibles” folder.

Weeks later, as the winds blew across the Sheepscot River dragging the temps into the 20s, a thought suddenly came to me. My blog parameters were artificial. It was I who had set them, which meant I could change them. So, this blog, instead of using a Maine site as a “window to a place/time beyond our state’s borders,” will do the reverse.

Now, for the Maine link:

Every place we visited in Iceland seemed to have a “troll story.” But, for me, the tales involved too much anger, boasting, conniving! I thought of our five trolls here at the Gardens. To be sure, the Icelandic “spirit figures” had good and bad traits, but I prefer our trolls who have only good traits! Their one goal is to teach the “little people” (us humans) how to preserve nature for the next generation. To do this, they guard tree seedlings to ensure they will not be lost to disease, environmental changes, and/or apathy. The seedlings here at the Gardens are: chestnut, birch, beech, oak, spruce, maple, cherry, ash, maple, and witch hazel. Once we—the people on the Boothbay Peninsula—absorb this lesson, our five trolls will burrow back underground to bring their message to another community!

Who knows — perhaps their burrowing will take them to Barour! What a team they would make! One that would work with the “little people” to meet and overcome the challenges facing this world we all cherish. Let me introduce you to our trolls:

There’s so much more to say about our trolls. But, come see for yourself! When you do, let me know, for I would love to visit all five with you!

Join me next time when Maine—Window to World trains its lens on another part of the world.

To read past blog entries, go to: ivycloseimages.com/blog-maine-window-to-the-world.html

Comments are welcome: rosalie@ivycloseimages.com