Sleeping In The Forest by Mary Oliver

I thought the earth remembered me,

She took me back so tenderly

Arranging her skirts

Her pockets full of lichens and seeds.

I slept as never before

A stone on the riverbed,

Nothing between me and the white fire of the stars,

But my thoughts.

And they floated light as moths

Among the branches of the perfect trees.

All night I heard the small kingdoms

Breathing around me.

The insects and the birds

Who do their work in darkness.

All night I rose and fell,

As if water, grappling with luminous doom.

By morning I had vanished at least a dozen times

Into something better.

We as a group of artist mothers from all over the world are making it our priority to turn off the tv/video games so that we can give our children the sacred experience to connect with the fast disappearing natural world. We will freelens our adventures into the wild and share them through this monthly project.  The goal of this collaborative is to journey “Into Something Better”

My favourite thing to do on the weekend with my family is to bushwalk ( or hike). I love connecting with them without distractions as we walk under huge gum trees. I feel our connection strengthen and grow with each step. They always complain about going and there is a fair amount of bribery involved to get them into the car.  Sometimes our gentle coercion escalates into the clear direction of "get into the car" but I know once we are there they will enjoy it. They always do!

On this cold Saturday, I went with my camera in hand and freelensed our walk. It was tricky as my husband likes to walk with pace and I like to meander and breathe in the bush air; most walks he ends up well ahead of me. Adding freelensing slowed me down further but as I walked ( or meandered) I felt a deeper connection with the bush. I felt it wrap its arms around me and show me all of its beauty. I saw the beginning of spring as the wattle blossomed and the paper daisies bloomed. I saw the rough bark and the many textures of the leaves. I even saw an echidna but he didn't like us watching him. I really would have loved to stop, sit, meditate but shooting on the fly opened up my heart in a way that I havent experienced before. It allowed me to embrace the imperfections and worry less about composition or creativity. I shot what moved me and now when I look at these images, I see me and my heart; my family in the Australian bush.

This is a blog circle of amazingly talented photographers who love to freelens. Pop on over to see Anna's "into Something Better" post and follow the circle.