Sometimes, the earth conspires in gracious serendipity so that you think it’s sending a message just for you. On the week that I begin writing again I witness so many tiny wonders that it seems like a sign, dovetailing with my newly awakened inspiration.
The day after inspiration strikes, I am greeted by the first goslings of the year. A pair of Canada Geese stand guard as their brood peck nonchalantly at the grass. Later, they slip into the water to pirouette around the pond, the parents heads bobbing, as though pointing the right direction, a gentle honk calling back any stragglers. On another pond, the punk orange heads of baby Coots and Moorhen chicks peeking through the reeds. The smaller birds are harder to see at this time of year, but I can hear their ardent songs and glimpse them high in the trees. And at the end of this enchanted week, the first of the swallow family appear: sand martins flitting around the cliffs at the coast.
Overnight, new life has appeared. The pinks have begun to join the yellows, with an abundance of campion lining the paths. A handful of delicate cuckoo flowers contrast with monstrous butterbur leaves. I see my first orange-tipped butterflies and a comma feeding on the dandelions and watch cabbage whites dance together in delicate spirals. It is blossom season, but this year I’ve been more attentive to the subtler flowers of the trees. The flowers that we don’t always notice: the broccoli like florets of the ash and the tiny green sprays of the sycamore. I saw my first hawthorn blossom at the rubbish dump, of all places, brightening up the wait to get rid of our clutter.
This year I’ve struggled to re-balance after the winter. I began the season with a box of dreams sown in the dark months and an impatience to bring them to life. Instead, I fell into a fallow period that persisted for the first quarter of the year. Spring has been slow to come, not in the earth but in my spirit. My creativity has gone, not into my craft, but into my home. An extended period of nesting: weeks of wallpaper, paint, carpets and curtains. Bags and bags of clutter divested, clearing a space for other things to come in. But now I’m fledging the nest. Beltane is the start of summer, the first big festival of the light half of the year. It came and went without much ceremony. But I was waiting, I think, for the earth to let me know it was time to give birth to my plans.
In another moment of serendipity, after writing about ruins, I have cause to visit the 7th century priory that broods over the mouth of the river. I wander ruins overgrown by Alexander flowers, unconsciously absorbing history and landscape. And it is the ruins that wake my creativity, insinuating themselves into the half-written second novel that has waited for attention since last year, taking it into a more satisfying direction. So as the signs of new life flourish, I find myself in that magical space at the beginning of a creative adventure, at the point where ideas might take flight or never leave the ground. I hope they soar.
Oh, I hope they soar too, Andrea. This post was beautiful. As always, your prose is purely stunning. You have such magic with words. It’s inspiring. Huge hugs. 😀
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Thanks Teagan, well it’s been a while in coming, so let’s hope so 🙂
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Well worth the wait. Hugs. 🙂
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❤
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So beautiful Andrea, your description of the writing journey, our wins, our losses and faltering (as we all do) in the midst of doing the stuff that we must carry out to live a comfortable life. And now you have de-cluttered and everything is new again. I am excited to see what the seasons bring you and if this post is an example, It should be awesome. Love those baby geese.
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Thanks Kath, the geese made me catch my breath, they came at such a serendipitous time! Here’s hoping that I’ve made plenty of space for new work 🙂
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Wonderful! Judging from this posting your ideas are already soaring – high above the rubbish dump, and higher still above the branches of the flowering trees! Good speed!
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Thanks Bruce – some good things come out of a load of old rubbish 🙂
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Here’s to composting that rubbish and turning it into fertilizer. I enjoyed this description of the writing fallow period. It gives me heart that it’s okay to be fallow and in fact it’s very important so we can rejuvenate.
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Thanks Sue – I stopped thinking of it as ‘writer’s block’ some time ago – fallow periods are to writing as they are in farming, a chance to revitalise the soil of the imagination!
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Stepping outside to take in nature’s beauty is a wonderful way to get inspired. We’ve had a population explosion recently with the birds, ducks and rabbits. It’s fun to watch the little ones explore their new environment.
Great photos, Andrea!
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Thanks Jill, it never gets old, seeing the new babies, it’s always joyful 🙂
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As spring buds burst, so does all life’s hopes. Awesome. 🙂
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Thanks Tess 🙂
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I am betting you will get there, Andrea, if your beautiful prose is any indication. Love the goslings. ❤
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Thanks Jennifer 🙂
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I’m glad to hear your creativity has had a spark. Like you, I hope it soars. And as always, your photos are beautiful. I’m so impressed by people like you who know the names of birds, flowers, plants, etc. so well. I feel like I missed that gene. Or perhaps I had my head buried in medical papers for too long. I wonder if there’s a class for such a thing, an all-encompassing nature 101. 🙂 It would certainly help my writing be more descriptive.
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Thanks Carrie – I’m sure your head is filled with words I could barely pronounce let alone know the meaning of 🙂 And I didn’t always know the names of all these things, you just need a decent handbook!
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Beautiful, Andrea. Glad things are coming to life and also glad you have the gift to tell about it so lyrically. Hope your incubating ideas start sprouting and grow great vines.
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Thank you Beth, I hope so 🙂
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Lovely, lovely, lovely.
and also that your creativity has gone into renewing your nest.
Well done.
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Thanks Cynthia, my nest is now a much more nurturing space 🙂
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I certainly hope that your creativity will be nurtured by the natural beauty that surrounds you. Isn’t it strange to feel more inspired some years than others? Our bodies can help us then, and the way you are using some of your energy to clean your home to prepare it for summer shows how bodies and souls are connected. When your home will be ready I’m certain that your mind will shift gears and your writing will flow again.
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Thanks Evelyne, yes last year I had so much inspiration I hardly knew what to do with it, perhaps it’s more subtle this year!
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I’m sure you will make good use
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I meant: I’m sure that you will make good use of your creativity when it returns. 😊
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Now you, YOU, write beautifully. I was walking along with you (difference between you and me is: there was a pretty yellow flower, and a lilac-coloured one and a cute little yellow bird… 😉
So happy to have you back, Andrea. I could read you all day…
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Just a different kind of beautiful Dale! And after all you did find out what the stinky tree was 🙂
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There is that! 🙂
Have a marvellous day, Andrea!
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I am going through a fallow period , for all sorts of reasons , right now . I was enlightened by my first sighting of Canadian geese parents and their brood of goslings . It puts everything into perspective doesn’t it .
Do have your fallow time because your blogs are captivating when you send them.
Cherryx
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Thank you Cherry, there’s nothing like fluffy little goslings to give you a sense of joy and inspiration 🙂 I hope you come through the end of your fallow period rejuvenated and full of inspiration.
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Loved the story of your journey as well as the gorgeous pictures of awakening life… go well
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Thank you Valerie 🙂
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Your words speak of the fertility of your creative spirit that is being re-born. The pictures of new animal and plant life contrasted with the ruins portray the cycle of life. I’m happy for you that your inspiration is breathing again. ❤
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Thank you, sometimes inspiration comes just all at once 🙂
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Andrea, simply loved this post and hope inspiration blossoms for you.
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Thank you Jean.
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I have been gone, too. It’s so good to have you back.
Scott
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Thanks Scott, hope you’re recuperating well 🙂
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Good luck, Andrea! In my own experience, I’m almost always right about those enchanted, serendipitous times resulting in a bountiful harvest, and I’m sure you are too. Also, the baby Coots and Moorhen chicks with their “punk orange heads” made me grin. 😀
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Thanks Sunshine, those Coot babies are pretty ugly, bless them 🙂
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If this post is any indication of what’s to come in your creative adventure, I predict the ideas will soar! Best wishes! ❤
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Thanks Tracy 🙂
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A beautiful piece of writing, Andrea, the content of which I can largely echo in my own life just now. So thank you for reminding me I am not alone in this – what appears to be – a fallow time. As we both know, it has a purpose – but perhaps we don’t know it yet. I feel a sense of preparation for something that is coming, but I know not what it is. Meanwhile, there is an inner and outer cleansing. Also, strange about Beltane. I too felt it just came and went without any shift in energy or consciousness – even seeing that swallow I wrote about in the haiku you liked took me by surprise. How were all the changes going on without me being part of it as I usually am, I have no idea – that is a shift in itself I suppose. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks Rachael, yes it’s difficult at the time and I think you only realise after the fact what that fallow period meant. I felt the energy shift after Beltane but just at the time the hawthorn started blossoming, which was always the indicator of Beltane – so a reminder too not to be held to dates, but to look at what is happening around us. Saw the sand martins last week but saw my first actual swallows today 🙂
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I hope your ideas soar as well, Andrea. The joy of spring’s breath is something most likely experienced by peoples of all times. You are in good company on your walks 🙂
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Thanks Laine, spring certainly is inspiring 🙂
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Blooms amongst the rubbish, isn’t that where all the best writing starts? Beautifully written as usual 🙂
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Indeed 🙂 Thanks Pete.
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I love this glimpse into your spring, ’tis truly beautiful. I’m glad you are feeling re- inspired. Sometimes we just need to fill the well for a while.
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Thanks Sara, hope you’re getting just as much inspiration from your autumn.
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I am! I love autumn ❤️
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🙂
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Andrea, keep that post! You have got to plan using it in a novel or short story, because it’s just superb, as are the photos. There is so much wisdom, hope and magic in your writing. I am sure your ideas will take flight. No doubt in my mind nor in any of your many followers.
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Aw thanks Helga, well my work in progress has a seasonal theme, so I can use a lot of my observations of the seasons in it!
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I hope you soar like an eagle Andrea and hit those thermals where you will glide through miles of renewed creativity. Happy summer time!
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Thanks Jenny, I hope so 🙂
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I so love your conspiracy of gracious serendipity!! Andrea I’m so with you on the re balance thing and I’m so glad you are back in the magical space. Let the adventures begin!!
I love your goslings, butterflies, flowering trees- and the ruins!!
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Thanks Cybele, they’re all beautiful aren’t they 🙂
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oh yes!
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Lovely post Andrea – I’m grateful as ever for your photo labelling without which I wouldn’t recognise a single thing. Good that you’re writing again. My muse has gone on extended leave but I’m serene about it. It would be different if my living depended on it.
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Thanks Roy, I do it just for you 🙂 I don’t think we’re the only ones whose muse went awol this season!
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It’s wonderful to see that inspiration has returned to your writing, Andrea. Sometimes, the brain may need a longer fallow period than others. I hope this renewal continues to spark your creativity!
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Thanks JM, you’re right, the key is just to accept that it has its reasons 🙂
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Andrea, I am sure your ideas will soar ever higher. Beautiful writing and photos to inspire us all, as ever x
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Thanks Wendy 🙂
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Very beautiful post 😀
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Thanks Irene 🙂
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Andrea, you’ve just summed up the first quarter of my year with your words “Spring has been slow to come, not in the earth but in my spirit”. I’ve had it in my head to tidy my nest, too, so the local rubbish tip and recycling plant has seen a great deal of me over the last few months. There’s still sorting to do, but it’s no longer demanding my attention full-time. Am getting back into a creative routine, as well as enjoying the great outdoors. The woods looked incredible this morning when I took the dog for a walk. And I’m sure the trees are extra splendid this year 🙂
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It’s surprising how much energy the nesting takes, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s only as I’m coming to the end of it that I’ve found I have the space for creativity, so it’s definitely true that clearing out your clutter gives you time and space for other things 🙂
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Oh Andrea, you took my breath away with the photo of the orange-tipped butterfly. And the goslings have my heart! You magically weave words and photos together to tell the tales of nature that we cannot always express clearly. Thank you for all you do to brighten the blogging world, my friend 🙂 ❤
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Thanks Christy for your lovely words. The butterflies and all the other signs were wonderful. I had lunch sitting next to the goslings who weren’t in the slightest bit bothered 🙂
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Gorgeously written post. Your prose makes me long to write fiction again. I haven’t been able to get back to my novel for months now, and I’ve been brooding lately. I believe it’s because I haven’t written fiction — non-fiction, yes, but that’s not where my heart lies.
I have been loving spring this year, more so than other years. Maybe it’s the result of a long, hard winter. More likely, I think, because this is a time of rebirth, my creativity is straining to be recognized and exercised. I must find the time for my novel. And fast.
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Thanks Kate – it’s taken me a long time to get to the novel and there is a difference in feel to writing fiction that has its own wonders. I hope you find time to get back to it 🙂
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Welcome properly back! It is horrible to go through a spell where nothing inspires and that winter has been a strange one, especially as we bounced to summer then almost back to winter again before Spring really started. I am happy that the subtle signs spoke to you and that you produced such a lovely post.
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Thanks Ste, yes and it’s still a little strange, the season can’t seem to make up its mind!
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Oh Andrea, I hope that your ideas grow wings and soar, far into the blue sky above and that your creativity flows once again into your beautiful writing. But as you say, creativity takes many forms and how wonderful that you’ve been able to have a proper sort out in your home and freshen everything up. I’ve been away from blogging more than usual with other pressing family matters (and a couple of trips away, as you know, so not complaining!) and remind myself not to get frustrated when I don’t get the time to write as I would like. Everything has it’s season though doesn’t it? And what a glorious season you have captured here with your gorgeous photos, as always, in your beautiful, heartfelt post.
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Thank you Sherri, yes sometimes our energy is diverted elsewhere but it’s all fodder for future inspiration 🙂
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You write so beautifully about spring! It is my favorite season. So many things are going on in the Nature; so much energy is released. Every message is that of hope and the triumph of life – like in your beautiful photographs.
Your second novel will grow her wings 🙂
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Thank you Inese, it is a beautiful season though the hailstones today weren’t very spring like 🙂
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So glad you have returned to the land of the writing. Each time I pick up the pen (or type on my computer), it seems like a new birth, a new beginning. May it be so with you. Your photos are absolutely beautiful.
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Thanks Pam, that’s the beauty of writing – a new story every time 🙂
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You and I have a deep appreciation for nature and I see we’re having similar experiences with Canada geese and goslings. I see them in a nearby pond everyday. The goslings, here, are getting so big. It’s really endearing. If only they didn’t leave their waste everywhere I’d appreciate them more 😉
I nominate you for The Encouraging Thunder Award. You always visit me at my “casa” and for some reason keep coming back. Love you for that xx
https://myspanglishfamilia.wordpress.com/2015/05/28/otra-vez-el-encouraging-thunder-award/
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I haven’t seen my little goslings for a while, not been near that particular pond, but hopefully I’ll see how they’re doing next week. I do worry about them, count them each time to make sure they’re all still there! Thanks so much for nominating me, how could I not come back, you always keep it interesting 🙂
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Aww that’s so cute that you count them. You’re most welcome. You are very lovely and I appreciate you reading my stuff and visiting me. You are one talented lady 🙂
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Thank you 🙂
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A stunning prose as always Andrea! May all your creative ideas take off and soar high!
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Thanks Karin 🙂
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Beautiful photos and reflections, A. I’ve no doubt you will keep strong and sure airborne.
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Thanks Diana.
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Andrea, on my walk today I experienced your wonderful line, “the earth conspires in gracious serendipity so that you think it’s sending a message to you” in the luxurious greens and purples and magentas peeking through the early morning rain that drizzled through the leaves of the tree.
Creativity comes in many gifts, writing and painting and home repairs of all kinds. One creativity encourages another, and your creativity is about to soar.
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Thanks Marylin, I’m glad you had a little serendipity today.
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There’s nothing like the fervency of spring to inspire us into action. Great post, Andrea, and beautifully written. 😀
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Thanks Jet 🙂
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Baby geese are just so cute, aren’t they? We had some at the main entrance of our office and because of the, obviously, protective parents; the managerial staff was forced to close that entrance until the little ones were old enough to settle elsewhere. This meant that we had to enter through the back entrance which was considerably far and inconvenient but we all happily did it as the little geese were so adorable.
Lovely photos, as always.
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Ah, I’m glad they were protected, despite the inconvenience 🙂
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I love when nature gives you signs that you are on the right track. And I believe it is definitely telling you that. 🙂
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Thanks Kourtney 🙂
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As always…such gorgeous insight! I understand these vulnerable moments with creativity—how difficult it can be when you’re not feeling it and how unbeatably awesome it can be when you are.
It’s funny because I said I was going to wait until after summer to continue on with my WIP, but I’ve been feeling so much energy and creativity that I’ve decided to power through. As long as I can write outdoors on my patio a little bit every weekend, I’m a happy gal. 🙂
Congrats on picking up your novel again, love. Can’t wait to read one of your books!
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Thanks Britt, glad to hear you’re going for it with the WIP, strike while the energy is there 🙂
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I’ll do my best! Unless lazy summer sets in. I feel like I could use one of those…
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All about the balance 🙂
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Serendipity: the divine talking. Thanks for this lovely post about earthly and divine things – which sometimes feel exactly like one and the same.
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Thank you Cynthia, they do indeed.
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Amazing images!
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Thanks Gail!
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Amazing piece of writing !
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Thank you, I’ve enjoyed learning more about nature from your posts.
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