Twelve years ago I started sending out a weekly image of the wonder of nature close by—something of the beauty that is right at our feet, that is near us every day. Over time, that has changed, and I’ve shared natural images from many places. All of our movement for a while will be very close to home. As we isolate, it will be a time to once again appreciate the beauty that surrounds us. That is always so close to us. We only need look.
Fullersburg Woods, DuPage County Forest Preserve
I was scheduled today to be on the Island of Lewis and Harris on the Outer Hebrides—as isolated and safe location as one is likely to find. We realized, we could not go to that idyll. Instead, I’m awaiting my flight back home today. It’s been quite the 72 hours, as it has been for so many. I’m with my daughter, who will be leaving her studies in Scotland. One of the wonders is she will still be connected by technology, and finish her program remotely.
I did have some wonderful, if brief, encounters with the wild of nature on the Isle of Skye. One that will stay close to my heart, is a little stand of birches along side a sea loch. They stand resolute. And together.
Isle of Skye
Occasionally, as I photograph, some trees or animals specially touch me. And we often have a conversation. I express my gratitude to them for being and for sharing their beauty with me. I had a wee chat with this birch. As we go into a much smaller world for a while, I will be able to think of this distant friend, standing resolutely with the others, and waiting out these times of change.
Planted together