Nature’s Bounty

I visited my daughter and her significant other and his family in Michigan. I had no idea of the beauty and wildness of Michigan. Images of car factories and dirty cities formed my idea of it and that idea was completely wrong. I discovered terrain with stunning beauty that taught me a valuable lesson about the perils of opinion-forming that I won’t soon forget.

Nor will I forget the farmers and their bountiful harvests. Plants tended carefully produced colorful and delicious food. Minerals from the soil, rainwater that fell upon the plants….a little bit of Michigan is now a part of me.

Farmland, forests, beaches and bodies of water formed harmonious landscapes that repeatedly delighted my photographer’s eye and my adventurous soul. I was already thinking of taking my kayak and bicycle back to explore the area another time.

As I was walking along the beach with my daughter and Sue, Kevin’s mom, I felt the kinship that women have with the earth. As we uncovered fossils in the tideline, I felt the ancient connection to the elements. I thought of tribal women who walked the same shores maybe fishing or maybe just enjoying the connection to each other. My daughter–a part of me, yet a part of Sue and a part of Mother Earth.

As we strolled along the remote shore of Lake Michigan, the weaving of lives, of relationships was so powerful, so strong, I could see the lines of force between us and between the elements of wind, water, earth, air and spirit. The graceful beauty of the dance humans have with each other and with nature is a blessing which feeds our souls as surely as the fresh produce feeds our bodies.