21 Comments

Looooove this post, and YOU. Thank you! xo xo

Things seem to be looking up for me, just in time to celebrate being warm, cozy, and sleepy. ;)

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Thank you, Jaan and glad to hear that! 🎉🧚💕

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^_^

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Barbara, Reading this post put me in a trance. I love the photos and the language you managed to organize into such beautiful thoughts. I can't really add any more because Tonika said it all. LOL

Thank you!

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Thank you for reading, Rocket! Maybe by the Magic with which we're all connected in Nature, you joined me in that trance at the Pond. I'm glad you felt it in your own way!

Much Love, Barbara XO

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Thank you, Barbara. I echo what Kathleen said about Nature and our essential role in it. It's so easy to stand apart from its magnificence without recognizing that we, too, are magnificent.

Beauty, seen through the eyes of beauty. xoxox

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Yes, you are Magnificent, Mary! Ty for reading, my friend. 🧚🌲💚

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I received your Pine oil and it is amazing!

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YAYYY! I'm glad you are happy with it, Josie! 🌲🌲🌲

Happy December! 💚

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You magical gift if a human, you! 😍😍😍 The photo at the top took my breath away too. I relished it before moving down gazing at the other photos and peering at the calming nature of your words. There is tremendous power in what you say in the morphic field, Barabara, I hope you know. It’s healing simply to live through your eyes and sentiments.

I just have to make it on a hike with the kids before it gets too bitingly cold in Chicago. Love from me to you, dear! 💓

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Well now, Tonika, thank you for the soul food you just sent my way! My ego loved it too! :) In all seriousness, I love it so much that some fellow writers here like you truly understand my words. One day I'll have to write about a really wacky dream I had about automatic writing. It will likely make perfect sense to you.

Get yourself some Merino wool and/or alpaca! I have got this cold winter thing down pat! Maybe because I grew up in Detroit and we played outside all day in the snow. When I lived in NYC and later Jersey City, I would bundle up (only my eyes and mouth were visible) and I would walk at night in a blizzard (city snowstorms are the best!) down to the river and marvel at how you couldn't see the skyline across the Hudson. It was always so quiet and peaceful with very few cars on the road. But then, of course, came the day after and it turned to black mush! Love you! XOXO

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A proud owner of several Merino wool cardigans. It just hits different. I used to think that I loved the cold season because I got to wear bulky clothing and feel less self conscious about my big girl figure. Now that I’m in the normal range, I just realize I’m a hermit and enjoy having good reason to just be by myself as people wish to socialize less when it’s called.

I would love to hear about your dream and automatic writing. My bestie is big into automatic writing. Does it all the time. I’ve tried but the spirit has never found me. I’m open to it, of course. It just feels like I’m trying to control it too much.

Walking in city snow storms is absolutely magical!! The quiet!! Oh, just divine and seeing everything covered in a universal white blanket that makes the ugliness of the city so beautiful! But yes, too bad it turns into black mush the next day…

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Merino wool is the best! I love alpaca, too.

It's so interesting what you mentioned about automatic writing, Tonika. One day, I will write about the dream, which sometimes haunts me because, like you, I have resistance to it. I mentioned this to my astrologer recently after relaying the dream, and she said that perhaps I was limiting the meaning of automatic writing and that I was already doing it in my writing here. 😲 And that resonated because when I write now (especially about Nature), it feels like stream of consciousness. Plus, I love to type rather than write with a pen or pencil. Back in my day, we took typing in school, and I could type 98 words a minute! :)

I'm laughing because stupid AI Grammarly is more aggressively trying to change my writing style. I think I'm too effusive and wordy for him/her. 😂 Maybe the AI bots don't understand automatic writing...

Happy December, Tonika! From one happy hermit to another.

Love you! 🏡 🐻 XOXO

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Happy December, Barbara! Love you and your nature effusive writing! (98 words a minute!! Holy moly cannoli!!)

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Love these photos and your kind reminders that Nature is really what's going on here - in its infinite forms, including us.

Lovely, lovely, Barbara. XOXO

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Thank you, dear Kathleen! Pretty sure I didn't say anything that you already didn't know. I always appreciate your heartfelt and wise comments. XOXO

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😘

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This is so lovely, and the blanket of snow in your Gone Away Woods is so magical. Snow on evergreens is one of my favorite things. Our old place was surrounded by hemlocks and I would eagerly anticipate the first snowfall. Gabriel and I enjoyed looking at all your photos and seeing all the faces we could find. I wish we could all slow right down like the world around. Thank you for sharing your wisdom.

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Thank you, dear Amanda (and Gabriel!) The Hemlocks seem so happy when it snows, don't they? Like they're dressed for a winter ball.

My life right now allows me to be in that stillness much more than many who, like you, have young children and so many responsibilities. You have the awareness, and that's the most important part. Love you, my beautiful Nature-loving friend! XOXO

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It's just before 7pm, but I'm in bed, catching up on my email - one of which is your Substack post. I have kind of closed down this season, spending as much time as possible in my cozy studio room, needle felting my latest sculpture. I've been hermit-y, but in a way that has been giving me stillness and peace. To me, that is what this season calls us notice and cultivate. Love that you had such an amazing experience! Interesting to remember that is what and who we really are, part of the whole.

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Oh, I love this so much, Devon! Thank you for reading and leaving this comment. Needle felting a sculpture sounds like a wonderful December kind thing to do. I'd love to see a photo when you finish it!

It sounds like we're on the same wavelength here. I hope the stillness and peace continues for you through the winter. I believe that we're not just serving ourselves by being in that hermit-y space but the wide world beyond, as well...sending a bit of our peace out there, too. XOXO

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