I went looking off the trail for the pool of water where morning sun was lighting the skunk cabbage. Even when I am not actively writing my essay, I am thinking about it, and what to do about it. Tonight, as I posted #mydailywalk photos here of the skunk cabbage, and returned, as I do each spring, to this wonderful essay by the naturalist Craig Holdrege about skunk cabbage, I realize that what he says about how the skunk cabbage creates the environment it needs for its own growth is what I can do for the development of my essay. The woods, this daily journal/blog writing, this time I spend walking and paying attention to nature, and then putting words and thoughts and feelings and ideas down here, at the end of the day, is how I generate the active, warmth, movement my essay requires for life.

All photos and text ©Kelly DuMar 2018