Because of my ANFT Training and the pandemic, I’ve been spending more time in the woods this December and noticing more subtle pleasures, like the profusion of fungi, mosses, and lichens:

And what happens to the dripping springs when the temperature drops:

But nothing compares to the wonder of bluebirds in flight, that striking flash of blue against all the grays and browns of the winter woods. It reminds me of a story by Isak Dinesen about someone searching for “the right blue” and of my own encounter with it years ago in Italy. I rounded a corner in the Vatican, and there it was — the most astonishing blue I’d ever seen! I don’t remember the subject or the title of that Fra Angelico painting, just that glorious color, which I’ve only seen a few times since. Maybe the rarity is part of its beauty.

And continuing the blue theme, here’s the latest version of Once in a Dream. Now the top layer has a new blue glaze:

Wishing you and those you love a new year full of good health and unexpected beauty!

There was a little snow today, but it was much warmer last week when I had a close encounter with a bobcat! First a chipmunk darted onto the porch in front of me, then quickly jumped under a bush. Next I saw something else moving out of the corner of my eye; and when I turned my head, I was looking right into the eyes of a bobcat! The boxwood bushes hid us from each other until she/he was right in front of me — we were only about 4 feet apart. Although we were probably equally startled, the bobcat recovered first and took off running before I could get a picture. And the chipmunk had a narrow escape!

Here’s the latest version of Once in a Dream. In the actual dream, a young girl I’ve befriended is running through the trees towards me with an expression of joy as white translucent spheres mysteriously fall from the sky. Here she has the pose of another character from the dream, and these spheres are more opaque to increase their visibility.

This photo shows the back of the middle layer; you can see the combination of painted dowels and foam spacers I used to create different degrees of depth.

I’m so grateful to be doing Forest Therapy Guide Training during the challenges of the Pandemic! One of our long-term projects is to create our own Web of Interbeing. This kind of Web refers to all the underappreciated relationships and connections between different beings in the forest. It’s an expansion of concepts I’ve been exploring for years in pieces like Secret Sides of Soil:

The ANFT Guide Training is such a rewarding experience, especially in these challenging times! We focus on connections and relationships — with each other, with ourselves, and with the More than Human World. Our motto is: “The Forest is the Therapist. The Guide Opens the Doors.”

Curious about what happens on a Forest Therapy walk? Why not sign up for a virtual one here, and see for yourself: https://www.natureandforesttherapy.org/virtual-forest-therapy-walks

And to give you a glimpse of the training process, I’m sharing my “Sit Spot” map below. It was fun trying to decide what to include and how to simplify it! Since wildflowers dominate this area in the spring, I wanted to include the time of year.

Capturing the feeling of a dream can be a challenge! The Dream piece I shared in a Sneak Peek last month keeps on resisting the idea of being finished. You can see what I mean here; the darker piece at the top used to look more like the little piece on the right:

Now I need to finish repainting everything else to go with it; hopefully this will be the final set of revisions! In the meantime, Happy Halloween!