Tag: nature
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Boundaries
Today has mostly been about enforcing boundaries. It’s the time of year when mice come into the house. Who can blame them? It’s wet outside. The temperature’s dropping. Food is getting scarce. A (relatively) warm house with crumbs dropped here and there is a lot more attractive than a pile of old leaves in the…
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Mouse in the House
Furry teachers of compassion It’s mouse-in-the-house time of year again. Technically (having caught two of the buggers today), it’s mice-in-the-hice time of year. I love mice. They’re beautiful creatures: sweet, funny, resourceful. There’s some in the compost bin in my garden. I take out food scraps and hear them cheer. What I throw away makes…
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The shortest day: mental health in a time of change
We’ve reached the shortest day — at least here in the Northern hemisphere. Maximum darkness. Minimum light. As I look at the storm outside my study window, though it’s daytime, it’s gloomy. Barely above half-light. The clouds are low and dense. Everything, sky, earth, trees, the very air itself, sucks light in and gives out…
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Perfect moments: Finding beauty in the present
I sat last night in my kitchen. Wooden table and white wooden chairs. Outside the wind was, for a while, stilled. No stars. I live in a very quiet place. A few white houses. Fields. Some trees. Peat bog. Behind the house, beyond the hill, ocean. I hear the waves some days. A lighthouse up…
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Snow
How to build community Where I live, community still matters. People wave when they drive pass. If I’m out walking, often drivers stop to say hello, or ask if I want a lift somewhere. Often enough I don’t lock the house when I go out. If I ask a neighbour for help, I know it’ll…
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Seasons of the mind
For many years I travelled continually. I was away from home for months on end. Often I’d be packing suitcases for a new trip before unpacking from the one just finished. I saw many wonderous things and worked with extraordinary and beautiful people. I saw the world. But I lost contact with the earth. However…
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Planting a tree
Yesterday was glorious warm and sunny in Ireland. I planted an oak tree. It’s thigh-high with seven large leaves. I put it near another young oak I planted 18 months ago. It’s even smaller, barely to my knees, but thriving. I hope they’ll meet beneath the ground and be good friends. I fenced the new…
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Spring Arrives Suddenly
… but ‘sudden’ is an illusion…… Photo by Casper van Battum on Unsplash Spring arrives suddenly. I walk the wild of my garden, amid young trees that one day will be a forest if left enough alone. They’re beech trees. The deep brown leaves of last year cling on through the winter, clothing them in…