Maybe our latest move is not something to be understood but to be pondered upon…and yes our new entrance stopped me in my tracks to do just that. The sweet sun pierced her rays through our window, an emergence from what felt like an eternity warmed my heart and our new nest instantly.We are in a very wooded area so much so that I questioned how will this nest keep us warm and cozy. Our beginning here was met with freezing rain and the much-expected arrival of many (too many despite our purging efforts) boxes. The usual routine followed, tearing through the piles of boxes leaving my fingers raw with so many micro-cuts that my fingerprints seem to be mutated from my original prints. But for now, I admire my nest looking from within and into the vast and alluring forest pondering the mysteriously serene and distilled form of beauty that is our present space. It’s not luscious green nowadays, nor does it have that salty mix of light, wind, water, and sun that we have grown to love the last decade, however, there is something to say about the sky-stretching trees that have remained untouched by human hand.

As the lasting evergreens canopy us from the revered, the one and only near perfectly sphere of energy, I am left toiling with my thoughts these days swaying toward a more blitheful state and letting go of past fears and what if’s that I have allowed to stew throughout my lifespan. (It’s that occasional morning sun on a winter-weary face that nourishes you with hope, promise and desire.) Just as I am consciously letting go of my emulsified thoughts, I’m letting nature surrounding my nest go…indulging in her vast richness, her remarkable craft of layering to create evocative moments…moments preserved in time as I catch myself engrossed for lengthy stretches in a reflective state.

Visual coherence is the challenge of human nature. It has always been venerated but why does it have to continue? Keeping things contained and manicured in a continuous homogenous state surrounding our nests is the same philosophy we tend to keep our minds. Why have we endorsed the post-wild nature of dominance in our lives and why do we continuously battle with our precious earth when we will be the ones who suffer more and in the end Mother Nature will always win. Especially now as we persistently urbanize at a pace unprecedented in human history; let us wake up and banish this thinking before we lose all our moments in nature.

When the gentle snow that jackets the current grounds melt for the last time, we will look around and replace mulch with (native) plants that hug the ground creating diversity of species and more stability in the ecosystem and thus more life. It will be a fascinating opportunity for our little bears to encounter life of the subterranean and more importantly learn the value of all life.

In this darkly unforgiving and uncertain time as we start a new chapter in 2017 in which things are difficult to compute… let’s start with our own patch of earth and if that isn’t possible then a couple of terracotta pots or even a candle to shed light on this darkened path and eventually lead us away from temptation.   We don’t have to tear up our yards to create a diverse landscape just as we don’t have to tear up this great nation that was founded on a set of beliefs or self-evident truths to become an American citizen. Remember the United States was never a matter of bloodlines or genealogy but rather of embracing the values established at the founding; it was not founded on a common ethnicity, language, or religion as the primal source of national identity. Just as the value of wild life should not be about what we think is appealing or customary but instead be less worried and pursue awareness of the patterns of the wild and witness nature flourish without worrying about dominance which inevitably will disrupt the root of the problem with our relationship with nature as with humankind. What vignettes will you gravitate to create this year in your community?