When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
~Wendell Berry
You can’t really tell, but these images are from five different trips to a couple of my favorite places in nature that are close to home and easy to get to. Times are certainly unsettling, strange, and unnerving. But trips to nature are healing balms to the soul. I try to get totally immersed in nature at some point every day, we go out in rain or shine, cold or hot. What you see and what you hear and what you discover in nature has healing properties.
These images were all taken with either a Lensbaby Velvet 56, 85 or 28 which I think really helps to capture the beauty and magic all around us. If only you could hear the birds and the river, feel the squish of mud, smell that amazing smell of rotting leaves and newborn flowers, all while we watch New England wake up to life again with me! I miss you all and wish we were walking these paths together.
Woods
I part the out thrusting branches
and come in beneath
the blessed and the blessing trees.
Though I am silent
there is singing around me.
Though I am dark
there is vision around me.
Though I am heavy
there is flight around me. ~Wendell Berry
“There is a love of wild nature in everybody, an ancient mother-love showing itself whether recognized or no, and however covered by cares and duties” ~John Muir
Let it come
like wildflowers,
suddenly, because the field
must have it: wildpeace.
~Excerpt from Wildpeace by Yehuda Amichai
I wish you all peace, health and a sence of calm during these days of unrest <3
