The sea makes
itself at home in my office…the skin of maroon and pink seaweed, kelp with
rectangular puckers into which my finger reflexively probes, a tangle of sea
plant with a thick stem remind me of their origin by the thick scent they
release as they dry out on a rag atop my journals.
Sunset on my
birthday calls me outside three times…first, lines of light striate the high
western sky; a while after returning home, the striations morph into color and
I’m out in the front yard gazing toward the Sound; a searing orange blaze then
wakens me from my inside reverie and I rush toward the window made by trees
across the street and raise my hands in gratitude for the sunset’s final gift
of the day.
The tree boughs
curl into vertical waves through the dripping window pane of my office in the
still-darkness of this nearly winter sodden dawn...it reminds me of the blocky
black cow at the edge of the road who caught my attention as I slowed toward
the red light, grateful that I had a minute to pause and watch him.
On a fast road,
I suddenly slowed down as my mind said, “Orange!” to the spread tail feathers
of a flicker landing on a fence post…as my eyes and heart eventually captured
the image, I realized that the color was more like robust peach, deep apricot,
a tangerine creamsicle – fruity colors at the base of a sitting woodpecker.
I quietly walked
the high tideline as a gift to myself…stooping to find pebbles as round and
smooth as marbles, I also found my hands achingly cold with the sheets of sea vegetation
flat across my palm, bed for the delicate crab shell I also brought home.
* *
*
It
is just so easy to find a gift, small
but enduring, each day in the more-than-human world. The small examples above
are only a sampling of the dozens in the past thirty-six hours that made
themselves available to anyone who would notice...I was the one who happened to
pay attention; who noted in my journal; who passes these along to you now. When
fear, despair, or grief for the world threaten to drown us with their claws, we
are given that next new breath of peace, soul-nourishment, in the form of
Nature. Each one of these Earth-given presents is a call to presence. Though
they are good markers of time, and opportunities to reflect and move forward
anew, birthdays and new years and holidays are not the only chances we get to
begin again…we need only look, step out into, and touch our breathing sister
soil.
TEALarbor stories - in collaboration with and through the generous support of the Charter for Compassion - is offering to the international community a free video conference call on Dec 8th, 2016 from 9 – 10:30 AM Pacific Time. To learn more and to register, go to: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/f313ea655b832a97c5b9141539e44ee6
TEALarbor stories - in collaboration with and through the generous support of the Charter for Compassion - is offering to the international community a free video conference call on Dec 8th, 2016 from 9 – 10:30 AM Pacific Time. To learn more and to register, go to: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/f313ea655b832a97c5b9141539e44ee6
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| Birthday Altar (collected at the tideline and assembled atop a bed of moss in the backyard) |
All blog images created & photographed by Jennifer J. Wilhoit unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: "©2016 JenniferJWilhoit/TEALarbor stories. AllRightsReserved."
