For the last two years, Biff and Bash attended a pre-school (3K) two towns away. This meant a hefty commute, bunkering down in a book store to write–basically, lots of getting out of the house.
Now that Biff and Bash attend school in town, I can write in the comfort of my own home every day. Hooray!
Except some days I just want to get out of the damn house.
Yesterday was such a day. I had just finished another chapter of Beauty’s Price, saw the clock, and thought, Screw it. I am going to investigate those trees even if only for ten minutes.
You see, one of the beauties of Wisconsin comes with its trees.
They cluster, they watch, they stand steadfast behind the encroaching subdivisions. They erupt amidst the farmland, and farmers never seem to touch them. They hold together like a Roman phalanx, and like Hell will you take them down. Ever since I was a girl I’d look upon them and wonder: What lives in them? Hides in them? They’re a sanctuary, a prison, protecting a secret, protecting us from a secret…
One such cluster is near my daughter’s school. I parked, and entered.
Such a difference a tree-lined path can make for the soul! Sunlight in leaves will forever be Nature’s stained glass to me. A forest is divine, a place where the soul breathes deep that which has always been, and always will be. Churches rise and fall. Their air grows cold and stale as the outdated hymnals in their pews. But the birdsong heard since Creation, the leaves’ processional in the wind–that is always.
I had time for only one path; no concerns, I knew I’d be back for autumn’s transformation. One tree caught my attention:
A vine of some sort? Its roots jutted out like centipede legs.
My fantasy mind turned immediately to roots of dark magic. Possibilities blossomed.
Why else does a writer need sanctuary away from words? Not all stories come to us in the spoken word, but in the whisper of a leaf, the chatter of the twigs, the dance of light upon the stones in the bottom of a stream. Some stories hide among the brush, eyes invisible to the ignorant, waiting for the right imagination on which to pounce.
A lovely post oh mighty ;lady. A real get away from it all treat x
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, O Lovely Lady Shey! 😉 xxxx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very appropriate post. Today I am sitting in a house in a forest.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can’t wait to see your pictures! 🙂 xxxxx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautiful, Jean. I am going to write on a farm about once a week this Fall for some of these very reasons. A gracious friend has welcomed me to her property while my boys are in school. I am very excited🌿🌳🍂🍁🍎🙆
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh how wonderful! I hope you take pictures! xxxxx
LikeLike
I just popped by to thank you for liking my post today. And I found your pictures of your beautiful surroundings. I’m so glad you decided to take the time to do that!
LikeLike
I love those clumps of forest rising out of the middle of fields- they do seem like they ought to hide some mystery, don’t they? Glad you got out, and thanks for sharing the gorgeous pictures and the inspiration! AND a new chapter of Beauty’s Price? I’m all anticipation!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hope it’s worth the wait! 😉 xxxxxx
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, I have no doubt it will be xxxxx
LikeLiked by 1 person
I absolutely agree, the best writers are in touch with nature.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLike
It’s interesting how words arrive. An event, a dream, from nowhere and yes, you are correct…sometimes in places where the eyes drag in the words – and I have, like you, so many WIP’s at the moment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Eyes drag in the words”
Sounds like a good line for a poem…or a song. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Far from the madding crowd… such a perfect hidden place… Nature is a source of inspiration!. Love & best wishes 😀 ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hugs and Hellos from across the Atlantic to you! Thanks! 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
You’re absolutely right and I’m OVERDUE for such a release! In the meantime, many many grateful thanks for giving me the opportunity to take a virtual walk alongside you… It’s beautiful!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I might, just might, bring my kids the next time I go to take photos…we’ll see if that’s a terrible idea or not. 😉
LikeLike
Beautiful photos and musings about the inspiring magic of nature. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank the heavens for nature and all its benificence!😍
LikeLiked by 1 person
Amen to that! 🙂
LikeLike
Lovely cluster of trees and a multi-legged vine. It is so refreshing to step off the road and enter an unknown place with a possibility of magic. xxxx
LikeLiked by 1 person
You hit my core! I think, do, and feel exactly as you have depicted in this post. I have a similar place that feeds me, where words don’t exist. As much as I love words, there is fuel in the silence of nature, which is loud if you listen. Thank you for your observations and feelings about our natural world. I am grateful someone else cares about it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, kindred spirit!
LikeLike
Indeed
LikeLike
The idea of stories waiting to pounce reminds me of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Damn, I think I know that book…must investigate…
LikeLike
Pingback: #Writers, Find the #Adventure in No-#Writing Time. | Jean Lee's World
I love trees, smells, textures. I love photographing them. I love climbing them, swinging from them. I like how they’re so much more complex than people think. I like the fact they’ve been around way before me and (hopefully) way after me. I like the fact that birds and monkeys and insects (but especially monkeys) live in them. I like them bare. I like them leaved. I like them bearing fruit. I like them in my house at christmas. I love the sound of rain whilst under them. And I like the way you write, you wonderful woman you. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
My goodness, thank you! You’re quite the mighty wordsmith yourself. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello Jane. Thank you Jane. Me name is Tarzan. I find my food in the jungle. You very nice. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aw, shucks. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes somedays you just have to get out the house even if it’s just for a short while. It does look stunning. What is the wildlife like? Woods and forests are just special places. Likevour own little recharging point.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Truth! Actually, I saw no animals whatsoever. 😦 There are lots of deer around here, ducks and geese, other birds–and some bald eagles! Coyotes, too, and a fox. But no one in that forest. Hmm, wonder why…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Probably all trying out your new railroad themed camp….
LikeLiked by 1 person
LMAO! You know, I should visit that place sometime just to check it out. Maybe it’s actually some sort of seedy drug drop-off point and it’s run by the Milwaukee Mob!
Milwaukee does have a Mob, you know. I blame Chicago for it 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Probably a bit like the villages Bridge and Dominoes Group. Hooligans…..
LikeLiked by 1 person
lol! Hooligans needs to be used more often. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
We have about 20 rooks and a gang of starlings who have chosen our garden as a meeting place. They are hooligans.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL!
LikeLiked by 1 person