Elemental Musings

(N. Carolina UNC Botanical Gardens, Photo by Gaye Abbott)

“Elemental Musings” offers daily postings, for an undetermined amount of time, by a nature lover and elder in transition in the Blue Ridge Mountain area of North Western N. Carolina.

Sunday moments where a brilliant butterfly skims over the surface of the nearby creek where I am seated on a stone bench, whose cool surface permeates up through my body delivering stone energy that has been around much longer than I have.

A light sweat brings moisture to all surfaces of my skin, most noticeable on face, neck and chest. No longer in California I celebrate the recent rains that have brought this about, rising from the Earth back into the air and nourishing all creatures in this lush temperate rain forest area of the U.S.

Taking a “wrong path” in the University of N. Carolina botanical gardens ending up at a “dead end”. Yet it seems there are no “wrong” paths, simply adventures in learning and being. There are no “dead ends” for one can always turn around and rediscover the path just taken with new awareness.

Drinking in the calming sound of water flowing over rocks punctuated here and there by human voices and families. Young children in wonder running the earth paths for the pure joy of it while mom follows behind with back pack equipped with everything a filled with energy young child will need on this nature excursion. I wonder where adult wonder and awe have gone to these days. More is needed to steward this precious planet.

Pink flowers everywhere. They beg you to come closer and introduce yourself, and when you do the sweetest smell permeates your senses into every nook and cranny of your being. I have forgotten my phone with camera and am aware that I long to take a picture of this beauty. But she will not reveal the secrets of the name humans have given her for there is so much more to explore than identification.

The moments of this day could have been used up with planning for the week to come or even studying for the written drivers license test I must take on Tuesday, but instead I have chosen to commune with the natural world, breathe in the sweet smells of flowers, and listen to the conversations of the native trees that have great wisdom to bring and sweet oxygen for us to breathe…..if we would only listen.

---

Post by Gaye Abbott, 7/25/21, Natural Passages Consulting.

We ask that you reference Wildly Free Elder if you wish to pass this on…and thank you if you do!