Giving Thanks…

November 21, 2012 By in My life, Nature Tags: , , 51 Comments

And sharing some beauty…

I’ve had the luxury of time to enjoy some long morning walks around Mountain Lake in Moran State Park. This park on Orcas Island is about a five minute car ride from our house.

This lake over the last nineteen years has provided another place to think it out.

Thoughts of happiness, frustration, confusion and inspiration have seeped into the path that lies only feet away from the clear, cold water.

It also holds in its center, the island where one of my best friends was married. They had a vision. We thought they were crazy. People rowed in boats on a gorgeous, sunny day in July to this little island to witness their vows exchanged on a floating platform. And it was amazing. This same island was swam to four years ago with a man I didn’t know at the time would be the love of my life, and my now 81 year old father along beside us.

I normally walk the 3.9 miles in about an hour and 15 minutes. Clockwise. Today about thirty minutes longer with my camera. Some days it’s a 45 minute jog.

The strong scent of cedar flushed my nostrils as if I’d walked into a bathroom with a brand new air freshener plugged into the wall. The low rumble of a ferry’s fog horn drifted through the park. The natural beauty astounded. I cannot imagine tiring of these views.

My post on a walk on the Detmold countryside described a path I started not knowing where I’d end up or how long it would take. I thought about how often in my life I’ve chosen a new path. I’ve gained a lot of strength and insight. I’ve spent a lot of time discovering and learning how to navigate.

I’ll keep this simple. I’m once again enjoying a familiar path. It’s nice knowing where it stops and starts, how long it takes and where the switchbacks are. There is comfort. And there is more energy for other endeavors. On a familiar path, if you keep your eyes open, you begin to access the details. Details you missed the first one hundred times. I’m grateful to have an awesome love to share these details with. Love you O!

Mountain Lake

There is a balance between consistency, continuity and boredom. I’ve often avoided the first two in order to bypass the third. Don’t be afraid to change but don’t be afraid  not to. Are you with me?

I’ve no regrets. I love where I am right now.

And I’m going to learn to let things be.

Full of thanks.

For those celebrating Thanksgiving or not, have wonderful experiences and…

Keep your eyes open. xx

tschüß,

Here’s what was happening one year ago: Get some exercise and some chuckles:

Fitness with Nordic Walking …. Me and my poles

51 responses

  1. My dearest Wendy, every day is Thanksgiving with you back on the Rock. That beep when you pass my cabin, the joy of seeing you puttering in the greenhouse and knowing that I only have a 100 yards to walk to see you’re beautiful face, is the bounty that life has given back to me this season. I found your beloved Ol and now we will both share this wonderful gentleman while he starts his new life in this paradise. That’s the magic that brings everything full circle in its time. Welcome home. Dad … XXX000

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  2. Beautiful pictures! And I agree on the keeping your eyes open on a familiar path and beginning to access the details. Happy Thanksgiving, and all the best for your new life on Orcas!

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  6. Wendy – solch wunderschoene Bilder – ich wuensche mir sehr, dass ich da auch wandern kann.Der Duft der Baeume …..oh ich kann es fast richen, hier in Sued Indien.
    Have a wonderful time back ‘home’ – but where is home?> Hamburg or …..

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  9. Hi Wendy ~

    Your thoughts bring this poem to mind…
    Happy Thanksgiving ~ Sue

    T. S. Eliot
    Little Gidding V

    We shall not cease from exploration
    And the end of all our exploring
    Will be to arrive where we started
    And know the place for the first time.
    Through the unknown, remembered gate
    When the last of earth left to discover
    Is that which was the beginning;
    At the source of the longest river
    The voice of the hidden waterfall
    And the children in the apple-tree
    Not known, because not looked for
    But heard, half heard, in the stillness
    Between the two waves of the sea.
    Quick now, here, now, always–
    A condition of complete simplicity
    (Costing not less than everything)
    And all shall be well and
    All manner of things shall be well
    When the tongues of flame are in-folded
    Into the crowned knot of fire
    And the fire and the rose are one.

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  11. Wendy, love your way celebrates Thanksgiving … we have so much to be thankful for – so we should have a thankful hour everyday instead of one day per year.
    Stunning photo – you live in wonderful surrounding – it shows you’re close to Canada.
    My favorite photo is the 2 photo page – with the stubs and one with moss.
    Wendy, changes are good for us … and so long as we go ahead and do changes, are we alive .. and that’s something to be so thankful for

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  23. I love these photos of the calm and nature surrounding your home. Going back and reading abut your ‘Thanksgiving’ its refreshing to hear your thoughts on what it means to give thanks. That those many years later, you can look back with such fond memories of the life you’ve lived and (with the choice people in your life) thus far!

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  24. I enjoyed the walk in nature so much this morning. It is past the Thanksgiving Day, but I am so thankful everyday for what I see and experience. Being unable to walk for real right now, the scenery was just what I needed. I could almost taste the air and smell the woods smells. Thank you, Wendy. Have a blessed day.

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