Category: nature

  • And so we begin again

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    This time last year, I was beginning a week-long meditation retreat.  As I look back at that time, I can see the rapid decline of my health that was to come shortly thereafter.  The space of that retreat also mirrored the space that was soon to come to fruition in my life.  In that retreat, I can also see the beginning of a radical transformation in my relationship to myself. 2013 has been a year of powerful lessons, of tremendous growth, and of passages.  It has been a year of shadow-reckoning and humbleness.  I have felt myself become a wholly…

  • Letting go of self hatred

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    Sometimes, we are wise enough to recognize when life is handing us something to free us of long-held patterns.  Sometimes, we circle around for years only to find ourselves where we started, at which point, we walk the same path until we have found what we need there and are ready to walk in a different direction.  The past few months have been full of revelations for me, openings to a consciousness I could never have imagined possible in my life.  I don’t know if turning forty changed something in my wiring, or if it was just time to wake…

  • Mud, buds, and connection

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    Awaiting the budding of trees, boots caked with dried mud from the last woods walk to see what was sprouting, I sit inside remembering the feeling of summer on my skin.  Early in the morning, the birds are lively outside, their songs pulling me out of sleep.  The tree outside my office is showing the first signs of green unfurling shyly and slowly.  The peas I planted three weeks ago are starting to show their first leaves.  Everything is waking up, including the wildcrafter in me, who is anxious to get out there and find some food growing.  The dandelions…

  • Awaiting the Return of Spring

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    Through the snow, the slush, and the grey skies, our bodies are attuning to the flowing sap, the mud softening under our feet, and the flashy promise of spring’s return.  It’s hard to see through the 5 foot snow banks, ground blanketed in soft, white snow, but it’s there, calling.  The robins feel it, the geese feel it, and I can feel it in my skin as I notice the sun higher in the day and more westerly at sunset.  It’s all bubbling there under the surface and we are getting impatient with the pelting ice and blowing rain.  Come…

  • Late January walk

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    The crows were raucous as I walked through the woods this afternoon, feeling the cold on my face and the sun warming me through my coat.  It was warmer than it has been in days, but when I walked on the leaves in the woods, trying to follow the sound of the crows, my crackling footsteps on frozen leaves made for a less than quiet approach to the scene.

  • Seasonal shifts, winds of change, and the big transition

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    This week, with the arrival of (first) Hurricane Sandy, Samhain, and then the Day of the Dead, we are being thrust into the darkest time of the year when the light wanes and the days grow shorter and shorter. It is a time for going inward, for sorting out what is working for us and what needs to be discarded to make way for the new growth that will come. We can look to the world around us to find examples of how to honor this time of darkness. Animals are readying their nests and burrows for the winter to…

  • Riot of Spring

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    When last I posted, it was the dead of winter–grey some days, bright others, but the days were short and the darkness long.  Now, the days are nearing their longest, and while the sun still alternates heartily with rain, we are beginning to see the summer’s color and blooms begin. The birds are singing and scavenging, and the garden is alive with native bees, bumble bees, ants, and (yes, my favorite) slugs.  I have planted nearly everything I have room to plant, and now the task is to wait for it all to come up, mature, and bear the gifts…

  • Backlog

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    I have been a bit behind in posting.  I hope you have had a good week! Here are the newest water poems: 1.17.12 Each day, my twitter feed lists dramatic weather, pleas for snow, concern about our lack of winter. Each day, I look out the window to analyse cloud formations. Each day, the sky yields disappointing results.  Water is moving in a different direction. Drip. drip. drip of rain or sleet crossing this boundary, lakes open to the clouds above. 1.18.12 a wash    a shore    a drift and this settling rough seas ahead       see the waves off in the…

  • Low tide

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    1.15.12 Sea gulls huddle on icy shores during low tide, pearls in the sandy flats—- ice rafts float at high tide, the bay frozen at the edges in today’s single digits—- we sing songs to water and ask for forgiveness—-

  • Birthday ice

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    1.13.12 parking ban ice covered snow walk up hill water pools ice rink small city wind abates down hill moon shining clear dark snow glitter perfect sledding