Bears in the kitchen, rattlesnakes at the door - is this any way for a woman in today's western world to live? In Loren Cruden's view, the answer is yes. She states her case in stories of living up close with nature, in essays about the vital relationship between human culture and its natural context and in poems reminding us that beauty is participatory. The volume offers the experiences of someone who for 25 years lived intimately within North American and Scottish landscapes. Cruden's portrayal of the wealth to be found in the simplest of human situations - without electricity or telephone - asks modern people to look again at what makes life good and the future bright. Wildlife drawings and photographs are included.