Image of the Week

"Highway Sunrise"     November 13, 2018

All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2018 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."

Image of the Week

"Destination"     October 2018

All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2018 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."

Autumn Stories

Here is one of several autumn photos that I am posting during this fall season. Please use it as a meditation and reflection on your own experience of autumn: now or in the past autumns of your life. May it offer the beauty you need to wake up each day savoring the grace amidst the tragedy, the solace in the pain, the renewal through the fatigue. 

(Originally posted Oct 2017.)
All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2018 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."

Image of the Week

"Backsides are Beautiful"     October 2018 

All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2018 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."

Monday Musings CREATIVE PRACTICE: “Photo Montage”

TEALarbor stories’ Monday Musings are simple practices for exploring the inner/outer landscape. 

Using photos of some of your favorite outdoor places, create a small collage. 

All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2018 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."

Empty

recently I have discovered the need to empty myself 

absolutely and unreservedly 

of expectation 

however small 

however insignificant

to release it 

actually to relieve myself of any guessing 

any hope 

any fear 

around what it is I might discover in a moment

and in that act of emptying myself – a total and utter cleansing – 

I find myself made anew: free of what could have been, what might be,

as fresh as those dozens of “poor man’s orchids” on the forest floor yesterday: baby, new, just birthed in this autumn season of decay and death

pink and white and supple and nothing like blazing red leaves

when I become a vessel of what is right now, I find a miracle and beauty:

childlike innocence, playfulness, 

judgment-free exploration of the texture of this phrase,

the delicate satin lace of that expression,

and the ability to paint something new along the canvas of the present: a gift

my thought was to go strolling but instead I knelt, 

I sat, 

I stared at the horizon across the water
marveling at the sea of yellow leaves blanketing the ground under the sprawling tree,

reborn with the wind blowing up,

and through, 
and under me: 
lifting my spirits, erasing my tension

I knew right then that who I had been the day before and who I imagine I’ll be in tomorrows to come 

do not matter

I am simply in community and in family as a breathing woman on this earth:

small 

humble 

ready to face the next thing … 
expectationless

All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2018 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."