Photos and descriptions of well known and secret nature locations in New England
Twirling under a crescent smile
Her golden hair turns silver
In the night
As her bones remember
The dance of time.
Arabesque
Slowly, gracefully, child-like
Her bare feet slide across the grass
Under the diamond studded sky.
Dewy eyes sparkle
As the moon waves goodbye
Fading behind the eastern tree line.
2024 peaceful moments. I may or may not write a thoughtful piece on my year in the coming weeks.
For now I’m simply trying to enjoy the little moments and open my heart a bit more to those around me.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Self love promotes healthy relationships
My heart-
He didn’t steal it
Didn’t take a piece
For himself
To light his way.
My life-
He didn’t change it
Didn’t tell me to be
Someone else but me.
My time-
He didn’t waste it
Didn’t flood my life
With empty promises.
My smile-
He didn’t dull it
Didn’t leave me wondering
If he cared.
My past-
He didn’t fear it,
Didn’t run from
The darkness I’ve lived through.
My love-
His love-
We’ll share it,
Just as we’ve shared
A comforting embrace
Or a booth at dinner.
Hand in hand
With the man
I never knew existed,
A connection that
Slows the seconds
But speeds the hours up.
It’s hard to believe
We were ever strangers,
When here we are
Gently dancing
Into love.
I refuse to call it
Falling.
Golden leaves
Rest at the edge
Of forested pathways,
Some in pairs,
Watching their colorful
Brothers and sisters
Dance in the gentle breeze
On overhanging branches,
Quietly giggling
At the spiders that
Bedeck their imperfections
In shimmering strings
Of sunlight.
Nine years ago today, my divorce was finalized. I was living in some of my darkest days and hated the person I had become. I didn’t recognize myself and continued to drown my sorrows in the bottle.
Today, I am 6 years, 4 months and 13 days sober. I have forgiven my past self for the mistakes, for not speaking up, and for letting fear win.
I’ve been in a bit of a slump lately, but take solace in the fact that I’m not the person I was back in 2014-2018. Indeed the grass is greener on this side of sobriety.
Change is possible. 😊
You are loved.
And I don’t mean this in the generic, impersonal way.
What I mean is
Someone still loves you.
Maybe you knew that.
But what you may not have known is that even the ones who are no longer in your day to day life- who no longer exchange in-person communication with you- or texts, calls, emails, or even letters.
Those people still love you.
Because you cannot simply destroy a feeling as powerful as love.
You see,
The way you smile, is like a fingerprint or a snowflake- unique to you. And there is a person out there (probably many) who remember the way your lips curl when you are genuinely happy.
The way an emotion finds its way to your eyes, even if your mouth does not tell the world. Someone out there knows exactly how you would react to a certain event. Perhaps they can even hear your laughter, or a clever remark, even a movie quote, said in your voice. And even if they never hear from you again, they’ll always hear your voice as if it were spoken moments ago.
The way you get excited about things. Oh there is someone out there who not only remembers moments like this, but when he or she looks at flowers, leaves, the sky, shoelaces, old glass bottles, dairy free/ low calorie ice cream, a large rock in a clearing, fireflies, etc. they will always think of you. Someone out there will forever smile every time they pass a Captain Crunch box in the cereal isle, tie the half chewed lace on their hiking boot, watch golden leaves fall to the ground, smell the sweet scent of cider donuts permeating through the air, or see the word Rooibos.
Someone out there remembers the kindness you showed them in moments of extreme vulnerability, and they will always love you for that.
You see, certain words, songs, scents, everyday objects, foods, and days on a calendar will forever hold a new meaning for someone because you painted them with your own unique aura.
So when I say that you are loved, I also mean…
Songs will play at coffee shops, schools will sing them in their chorus, or they’ll come on the radio, and someone out there will turn their thoughts to you. Perhaps you once shared this song with them as it really meant something to you: it was playing when you won your first race, it gave your strength during a hard time in your life, it made you laugh, or perhaps you shared it with someone because it’s lyrics conveyed your feelings for them.
Whatever the reason, you can best be sure that the music still stops someone in their tracks and causes them to smile, no matter what they’re doing. And in that moment they’ll miss you and be grateful for the time you did share together in this life.
A certain taste, scent, sound or feeling- the taps of the first few raindrops, the sound of an owl, mango Italian ice with frozen custard (gelati), homemade chocolate covered strawberries, a warm cup of matcha, homemade ginger tea, Belgian waffles, the scent of pine and leaves after a rain, and a clear night sky filled with a half moon and constellations. And Sunday mornings, Willie Nelson, gluten free cookies, dancing in the kitchen and running in the snow.
Those moments, and so many more, are carried with someone as a reminder of your love and presence in their life.
So here is your reminder that you are loved, deeply, and that you are the reason for someone’s happiness and making them feel like they matter in this world.
If you hold this place in my heart, then let me remind you that I love you and am grateful for all you have shared with me.
Thank you for being unapologetically you.
When the golden leaves
Appear from emerald blankets
Trembling in excitement
With the cold breath of autumn,
My mind paints a picture
Filled with distant memories
And watercolors.
Brush strokes dipped in
Colorful nostalgia
And somber tears
Of both emerald and gold,
Grateful for the story
And the love
I’ll forever hold
In these Autumn mornings.
Visit the river,
Let its song replace
The darkness
In your mind,
If only for a moment,
Remember the time
You were happy
And at peace,
When the sight of wildflowers
And mighty trees
Softened your heart
And opened your eyes
To the beautiful journey
Ahead.
And when the sapphire
And obsidian replace
The golden glow above,
Rely not only on the presence
Of the moon
To guide you,
For there will be
Nights on which
It slumbers.
Instead
Look to the sky
And bask in the wonder
Of the cosmos,
Let your soliloquies
Float along the backs
Of chartreuse fireflies
As your Angel
Envelops you in an ivory glow,
A sweet embrace
From the universe
To remind you
That you are never
Alone.
A new chapter
Or perhaps-
A new book,
Without pages
Or a spine,
Penned by heartbeats
Instead of keystrokes,
Memories
Carved in time
Rather than stone.
Delivered by my
Luminous ivory Angel
A Story of my own,
Where I, the protagonist,
Am a monster no more
The universe burned
Love letters
In western wildfires
And drowned potential memories
With mighty waterfalls,
But I have come
To trust it
In all it has
Created and destroyed-
No-
All it has transferred
Between the cosmos
In the forms of
Music notes
And Keystrokes,
Moon phases
And rainbows,
Pines to mighty oaks.
The universe answered my plea
As if it knew exactly
What my soul needed
In every stage.
Growth,
However painful
Led to change so beautiful
Like the colors painted
On New England trees
In Autumn,
And I am eternally grateful
For all the seasons
I was made to walk through,
For I gained a special appreciation
For poetry and photography
Daylilies and sunbeams,
And though the mountains
Remain a mystery,
I’ve found my home
Among the rivers and the trees
Where the present moment
Is more than enough
For me.
Like the glass lake
On a calm summer morn
Painted in gold, pink and blue
I am at peace
With the old and the new,
The light and the dark
The clouds and the stars.
I am at peace
With what the universe
Has built from the ashes.
Nature in New England 