Enamored By a Toadstool

Last fall, while away on a retreat, I spent one day entirely in silence. I had roamed the nearby woods earlier in the week, on the lookout for these toadstools I had heard could be seen along the path. What sheer and simple delight to find them! During my 24 hours of silence, I nestled myself down in the fallen leaves and was enamored by this lovely beauty. It asked to be remembered in a poem.

Toadstool Muse

She popped up overnight

A bit of a granIMG_0755d entrance I’d say

Tucked in the hollow beside a small stump

A beauty she is

With her freckled sienna top

Catching autumn’s dappled light

Quiet

Unassuming

Accepting

Raving BeautyIMG_0761

Enough in what she is

Enough with where she is

Not clamouring

to be noticed

Simply being

Showing up in her time

Silently, brilliantly present

Still

Published by Judy

On the edge of Waterloo county, resting sedately on knoll, is an old stone house looking out towards the Grand River. This stone house and farm has been in my husband's family for years. We have been graced to call this place home for the last thirty years. Our best crop has been our four children. After years of immersing myself in raising and educating our family, the proverbial nest has slowing been emptying, opening up space for me to fill with other pursuits. Both writing and photography have been knit into my everyday living since I was very young. Sharing them is both a bit of a dream and a nightmare. But living small and in fear shrivels up a life. My thoughts are musings on God, aging, family, and simply living. My shelves are lined with books, my baskets are brimming with skeins of yarn, my closet shelves are stacked with apparel, my cellar shelves are chock full of home canning - all testaments to my inclinations. Our journeys are not solitary affairs. As I share bits of my journey with you, I hope you will be enticed to look more closely, listen more attentively, and live with abandon. May God's peace rest on your journey. Judy Mae Naomi

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