The day was intensely pure, one of those incomparable bits of California winter, warm and balmy and full of white sparkling sunshine, redolent of all the purest influences of the spring, and at the same time enlivened with one of the most bracing wind-storms conceivable. Instead of camping out, as I usually do, I then chanced to be stopping at the house of a friend. But when the storm began to sound, I lost no time in pushing out into the woods to enjoy it. For on such occasions Nature has always something rare to show us, and the danger to life and limb is hardly greater than one would experience crouching depreciating beneath a roof……….John Muir

coming undone around the dark and bare roots, around the cycles of cold and bright, hot sun………noticing each sweet breath that warms the soul with the inertia of winter……

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within……Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

bark & skin & roots

It is from the elements of the Earth that we are given birth, and it is the fruits of the Earth that nurture us so that we can live and grow. The Earth is the foundation for our houses, for our communities, for our civilizations. It is on the surface of Earth that we walk, and it is on the solidity of the Earth that we lie down to deep. And eventually, when we cease to live, we will return to the Earth, in one way or another. When our inherent value and dignity as human beings is witnessed, whether by the Earth or by those around us, it can transform our life…..Jack Kornfield