Noticing Nature
Light - writing inspired by Beth Kempton's Summer Writing Sanctuary - Day One
Hello, I’m Rachel. I write about nature and creativity to encourage connection and wellbeing.
Something a little different this week. I’m taking part in
Summer Writing Sanctuary. I’m part of her beautiful online writing community on here - Soul Circle, but this is her generous free offering to inspire and spark us all into writing. And that is exactly why I’ve joined. Depending on when you are reading this, I think there is still time to join.I’ve leapt back into painting recently, but my writing needed more of a nudge and I know Beth’s gentle teachings are perfect for this.
So, as much as I can, I will share here what appears on the page. I’m not going to fuss over editing it, I’m not going to waffle on in introduction like I know I do sometimes (!), I’m just going to post the words (and I’m sure accompanying photos as they nearly always go together for me).
Beyond the shutters
Cracks of light push in from the edges of the shutters, giving a hint of what the day might hold, but it’s not until the world appears on folding back the first panel that I see the colours and the textures that tell me the news. What has happened overnight, what is the outside world doing, what is the sky doing? What will I therefore do with my day?
Today the news is a quiet muffling, a stillness and is seen through a gentle pale muslin that’s been drawn across the wider landscape. It is shown in the trees wearing a cloak of white, which the squirrels might investigate but which quietens the birds as they instead head for the birdfeeder. There isn’t much sky from this view, but that which peeks through the trees is softer. Today isn’t a bluebird sky day to go tearing about the ski slopes on, but a calm day to be amongst trees, instead of shadows it’s patterns made by the Snow Queen and Jack Frost. Today isn’t sharp contrasts between rock, snow and sky but a blurring of all into shades of muted greys and dusky blues.
Today is a snow day.
(yes - this is a summer writing sanctuary but you can’t control what pops up as inspiration!)
The view from the water
All is shades of blue, more hues than any paintbox could hold, all different yet all the same. Horizon lines are clear yet gentle to the eye. In each portion of my view, it is texture that tells which is what, the ripples of the sea in front of my nose and the plump cushions of clouds across the sky that seem so far yet I’m sure I could reach out and touch them.
In the sea, the world around you is both near and far, you are part of it in a way not experienced on land. You are in the water, in the air, your skin transmitting as much as your eyes. The land, only metres away seems another world, its harsh, human sounds muffled by the bubbles and lapping of the wavelets around me and its sights blurred through lack of glasses.
This is all I need.
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I love that your words led you to snow and you went with it!
Snow @ Inshriach!