Delphys is a Greek word meaning womb and one that comes to my mind when I reflect on the powerful allure of  the Queen Charlotte Islands.  Comming to the Charlottes has been a personal journey into a safe and evocative place created by sights, sounds, and separation from the intensity and contamination of an urban existence.   While I experience some geographical islolation I don't have any sense of being unrelated... isolation is a state of mind , not a place of residence.  I feel a strong relationship with both the physical and social environment of these islands. As you pass through the wonder, fury, and passion of the landscape tapestry of them you arrive at amazement of their power and appeal..  I don't have the ability to paint a literary picture worthy of the islands so will be reduced to a handful of abstractions like beauty, wilderness, pristine. I do appreciate the visual attributes of the Islands but it is the symphony of sounds that most affect my inner consciousness. Can there be any thing more suited to a meditative experience than sitting on a windswept beach listening to the crescendo and decrescendo of the surf either has a roar of restless waves or the tranquillity of gentle lapping ones. As I lie in my bed I am soothed by a symphonic arrangement.. . the beat of the rain, the angry flurry of the wind,the tinkling of chimes in a gentle breeze, the surf rhythmically breaking, frogs chirping, the cry of a Canada Goose, a trumpeteer swan honking. or a beaver slapping his tail in a cymbal like manner. Even silence  has  an essence. I am enthralled by nature's orchestration as I camp by a river in the moonlight watching the firefly-like flicker of salmon and the the sound of them breaking water as they fight their way up stream, accompanied by the whispering of wind in the the trees, the hoot of an owl, and the sound of friends and family enjoying nature's largesse. After a long time of challenges and changes I have returned to my "Delphys", my womb of life, where I have found the warmth, beauty, freedom, community, and spirit that I had been searching for.