The Framed Weekly two

"Be in nature, where everything is perfect..."

~ Ken Burns

In the garden - a favourite place to be. Here, something reassuring about all there is to touch and feel - the wooden handle of a garden tool, the hope that comes with every new pair of gloves. A spade, rusted though it may be, swiftly opens the earth, readying what will be a young plant's forever home. You notice your knees, solid as they hold you on muddy, tufted ground, connecting you to the whole of life. Braced heel to calf in wellies worn so many times they have their own kind of knowing, you're prepared to meet the challenge of change. If, for a moment, your balance is off, these boots will right your list. You may be grownup, but here, for the hour, as young as the plant, as hopeful as the gloves, you know the imaginings and freedom of play.

You pass someone else's garden...you love the old wooden fence leading into this peaceful space where you imagine many have met and talked and laughed and cried, where secrets have been shared and stories told, where invitations were accepted and rejected, unions and separations decided, where birds for many springs have made song and nests and more birds. Gentle feathered creatures, painted with heaven's brush of colour, gifted composers, polite talkers, who, with our attention and care - will gladly share the joyful sounds we've known forever. Take nothing for granted.

What is your road? Which path will you choose? What lies ahead? Will you meet the unknown, the uncertain, bravely moving forward in spite of your fear? Will you trust yourself enough to know that you can do this? Somehow. Some way. You can. First, you must decide. Sort it through. Push through to the dream you hold, the imagined life where fears are overtaken by the energy in your step telling you you're in the right place. Will you listen? Will you feel, then heed the message taking you to locale or person or role where breath feels right?

It's hard to resist the invitation to climb a hill with its promise to meet the sky. Your stride brings you closer to clouds painted the blue of a robin's egg, the grey of stone, the soft white-lavender of a flower's petal - and, as in every life, the deep ink-blue of impending storm. As you reach, your heart pounds not only to meet the challenge, but to know in that moment the magnificence of what it is to be alive. Say yes to the climb. Accept the invitation.

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Thank you for visiting the Framed Weekly. All photos original. New England and the English countryside. Please leave comments below and forward this post to friends and family so they too can be reminded that beauty lives, nature heals, and humankind can still be be that.

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