For the first time, this morning, I set off on this hike alone, hoping I would find my way to the lagoon, and back home.

For the first time on this adventure, I embodied my familiar, necessary quiet – in the interior, unselfconscious way I feel at home in myself. The sea, the mountains, the sky, the plants became my home in the way the woods, the Charles River, the meadows, the brook, the swamp make a home for me.

There is an entirely new rhythm to my daily walking, seeing, photography and writing truth and beauty. Here I am, writing at 11:00 at night - rather than 9 or 10 or 11 a.m.! This time of night I certainly do not feel fresh or spontaneous or inspired, or able to concentrate very well. But I'm attending to the discipline of my practice, in the midst of all the change of routine and distraction of a setting full of engaging friends who make it challenging to withdraw into the kind of inner sanctuary for thought, craft, insight, art that I make for myself at home in the woods.

Permission. I am giving myself permission to adapt. I am grateful to have made this photo inspired writing practice for myself. And I will let it be just what it needs to be – here in paradise, this day.

All text and photos copyright Kelly DuMar 2017