Feeling a little claustrophobic? I really like my house, but the longer this pandemic goes on, the smaller it feels. While I try to get out for a walk most every day, sometimes I feel like I just want to put on a nice pair of pants and ‘real’ shoes and actually go somewhere.
With so much being shut down over the past ten months, options have been few and far between. One place that has been open much of the time, and has been a real breath of fresh air for me, is a local country estate that boasts wide-open spaces and beautiful gardens.
While the lockdown over the past two months and for the foreseeable future, has closed the historic house, it’s still wonderful to wander through and explore the grounds of the estate.
It’s been especially effective for me as a gauge that life really is continuing on, that pandemic or not, the birds still chirp, the hummingbirds still sing, the deer and wild turkeys still roam about, the flowers and trees bloom and change in season, bees buzz, dragonflies flit about just like they always do, and they will continue to do so, no matter what curveballs are being thrown our way.
During this pandemic, I have found that I need to see actual evidence of all of this now and then. I know it in my mind, but seeing it in person seems to calm my soul. I just need to physically surround myself with that concept sometimes.
Do you have a place like this, where you can get a way for even an hour, to take some deep breaths, listen to and see nature all around you, feel the sun on your face, hear the wind rustling through the trees, and know that the world is continuing on and that we will get through all of this?
One day at a time.
Photo copyright Debra Fowler