![Fig Season]()
Figs are a hallmark of the Virginia seasons for me.
Their picking has stood out as the last height-of-summer activity, and the beginning of ushering in fall.
(I have written about figs a time or two before, as seen here… And here… They have also made it on the instagram a time or two or three…)
They’ve also been the happy excuse for the visitation ties between beloved family members.
I used to bike from The Fan in Richmond to Northside to pick and revel in my Aunt and Uncle’s juicy fig offerings. In other seasons I’d drive further East to my Grandparents to partake in their riverside tree’s bounty.
Recently a friend, my first in this county I started calling home a number of years ago, offered to share her fig supply and I jumped at the chance. It had been a few years since I’d been able to steep myself in the nostalgia this fruit picking always brings up for me.
It was a happy sun-soaked, mosquito heavy afternoon.
More of nature gifts were shared, and stories swapped.
Friendship of this type is an enduring gift in all times, but especially in the midst of uncertain ones. A beautiful constancy and promise of goodness amidst a world in a heightened state of upheaval.
It is my dream to have a home, a piece of nature similar to this, with budding plants and growing gardens to offer to and share with others in the way of love and familiarity.
One day…
In the meantime, I am grateful for the yards and gardens of others so near and dear in my life who don’t mind impromptu sunkissed-barefooted-visits on hot August afternoons.
Read MoreThese are portraits of a dear friend of mine. She lives in England. We’ve been friends for about seven years, but met in person for the first time this year.
Okay, there is more to this story…
Siobhan and I have been internet friends through our blogs for longer than we’ve had Instagram. I remember having my blog on Blogger when she started following it, and I remember her blog, Bless The Weather, on Wordpress back when she was mostly knitting and only dabbling in taking photos. (For those of you who don’t know, she’s a kick ass full time photographer now.)
We have come a long way in the development of our businesses, but more importantly our friendship.
Read MoreCharlie Umhau and i used to be neighbors back when we both lived in Richmond, Virginia.
it was a while before i realized the jovial wild-haired being, who always greeted me on the sidewalk with a grin and a wave, was the same one on Instagram commenting on and resonating with my wild and creative musings (and here is just one of the many examples of how the internet has brought the most remarkable people into my physical world).
though we really only had the opportunity to become friends and hang out for a short time before he moved to New Orleans, there was an instantaneous connection in our conversations and ways of viewing and loving the world.
from our common ideas on rewilding, our mutual experience of feeling a little-bit different than everyone else around us, to answering the call of leading and living a life counter to what our society told us to live.
Read Moreand have you ever felt for anything, such wild love? —Mary Oliver
from the moment i knew of this little ones being (which involved a sonogram in a little country restaurant parking lot and lots of happy tears) i was filled with anticipation and joy.
i've told multiple people, in all manner of abject wonder, how disarming and incredible it is to have so much love for such a little being who isn't even your own blood relative. for such is the experience i have when it comes to loving this small person. if i love this baby this much, how in the world am i going to feel about my own hopefully-one-day child?
i hold the hope of one day finding out.
Read Moreleaving here a small collection of imperfect photos, that i took with some expired film, that make me happy.
perhaps exactly because of their imperfection.
and perhaps also because of:
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