I was on my daily pilgrimage to the ocean, driving north along the bluff above the water in Wellfleet. It was the dimming end of a silver-skied November day, and […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Immersed in a Sea of Little Bluestem
Looking at the subtle beauty of a native grass becomes a form of meditation
There is a meadow in Eastham just off the side of the highway that pulls my attention every time I pass by. The field is the site of the old […]
Scratch Circles
Stories of the winter wind, the compass grasses, and the sand
We stood on the steps of the dune shack, chipped enamel cups full of strong coffee in our hands, and looked out over a world made clean and new. The […]
SURFING
The Small Wave Days
Finding the joy in a knee-high swell
Coffee spilled from our mugs as we drove over the big tree root at the end of the driveway. It happens every time Eli and I go to check the […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
In Summer’s Slow Nightfall, a Glimmer of a Reward
Lessons in letting nature keep the schedule
I should have known the chickens would not go into their coop until it was properly dusk. I had stopped in at my mom’s place to shut the chickens in […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Remembering That Last Bobwhite’s Song
After a meditation, listening differently for the peepers and the bees
When I think back to my childhood here, I remember days spent in the woods and fields and on the marshes and the dune tops. The memories have an enchanted […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
The Bee and the Beach Plum
For each, in a funny trick of nature, the other is all that matters right now
The dunes of the Province Lands were in full bloom. It was May, and the tops of the sandy hills were crested pink with Rosa rugosa. Beach plum, covered in […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
How the Beach Draws Us Back
Over and over again, the chance to see something no one has ever seen before
Something about the beach felt different that morning. The feeling was quiet but persistent — a background sound humming below louder thoughts. I’d walked an eighth of a mile before […]
SURFING
Flying on the Edge of Sunset
After fearing it, a surfer rides the calm of the fading light
For most of my life, I’ve had a recurring nightmare. It’s dusk, the light is fast fading from the day, and I’m headed to the ocean to surf. I arrive […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
Ruled by the Low Angle of Autumn’s Light
The animal inside us knows to welcome winter’s stillness
Every year, around the middle of November, I feel sad. It is a gentle sort of sadness. It doesn’t inspire tears. It is not sharp or stinging. It is a […]
SURFING
Giving Up on Second-Guessing the Swell
After chasing the perfect storm waves, what’s remembered is something else
For a whole week, I had been watching the storm develop in the southern Atlantic. Lee was growing into a hurricane and was predicted to track northward up the East […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
The Imperative of the Pond
Life among the giant puddles that tell the genesis story of this place
I was driving home from the ocean along a winding road, windows open, the air heavy with humidity. The dusk sky of a late summer evening was settling rich and […]
SURFING
Reading the Ocean
The ‘pattern literacy’ behind surfers’ intuitions
When we think of surfers, we picture those people who ride waves. The ones who spend their time gliding across the faces of breaking walls of water. In truth, though, […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
August’s Elegance in a Roadside Weed
Queen Anne’s finery is made of concentric whorls, repeated in perfect miniature
The rains that fell in spring and early summer have stopped by now, and most plants have plateaued in their upward movement. It is August; everything is resting for a […]
ON THE LANDSCAPE
A Rose Among the Washashores
Following the Rosa rugosa’s sweet, spicy, buttery scent to the sea
There are days in early summer when the warm air smells gently sweet, almost peachy, and a little spicy. The scent is buttery soft; there is nothing brash about it. […]
