To Be Ignored

Weekly column written for the Singapore Unbound newsletter. Sign up here.

To send this dismal year off, we are taking a break from New York to stay for a few days in Mystic, Connecticut. This old shipbuilding and whaling village has many delights to offer, including our rented cottage built in 1770 by one John Denison. Another is the river, whose scale-like appearance when brushed by the wind justifies fully the name of the village. The name "Mystic" is derived from the Pequot term "missi-tuk" describing a large river whose waters are driven into waves by tide or wind, as Wikipedia informs us.

The best part of our stay, however, is away from the village, from its historic seaport and shops. Barn Island Wild Life Management Area is a 1,013-acre wildlife conservation site offering hiking, bird watching, fishing, and deer hunting. You emerge out of hardwood forests to see large tracts of tidal marshes that drown in Little Narragansett Bay. The landscape is brown and bleak but very beautiful. We spotted two herons. At least we think they were herons. They could very well be egrets.

Whether they were herons or egrets, they ignored us completely, so intent they were on stalking a fish or just standing around. Where everything caters to us, it feels good to be ignored.

Jee Leong Koh
December 31, 2020

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