Valentine’s Day 2017 / Spanish Moss At Night

Driving though rural Florida and lost. Just driving South with no signal, looking for a road West. And I find one called Eucalyptus… A tiny path but it’s paved. It is like a sidewalk.

Now, driving down a sidewalk called Eucalyptus into darkness. Smoke from a factory mixes with low settling fog. It is difficult to see more than a few feet in any direction. Twisted bodies of trees push into the periphery and branches curl out of the haze with their Spanish moss hanging all around.

Some landscapes look nightmares if you allow yourself to be afraid. Some paths look treacherous if you fear proceeding with little clarity. I move forward, slowly and with caution, alone. Feeling at peace.

Lavender buds in hot milk

Lavender buds in hot milk.

I heat this on a stovetop in South Florida,

feeling OK and also lost, but mostly curious.

Sprinkled on top, the buds float on the milky surface.

Lavender is soothing.

Drinking a cup of hot milk with lavender in a hot bath—Self-soothing.

We do what we can.

A better remedy may lie in confronting collective disconnection, isolation.

Communing with nature, we put our own natures at peace.

In Florida, I long for a soul-friend.

For the scent of lavender in sunshine.

For now I do what I can. There is joy in life, yes.

But sometimes you just need to…

I take baths everyday.

And keep my head above water.