Day 1: Thanks to the people of Bloedel Reserve, I was able to spend most of October in this house tucked inside the garden, writing, sketching, and composing music. While I’m working on completing projects I started there, today is the start of a 30 day photo essay on my time at the reserve. Green is good!

Day 2: There are so many gorgeous plants to examine from multiple perspectives. The symphony of textures, colors, sounds, and smells in the garden weave together to create an immersive space that is regenerative, particularly to the nervous system. Gentle time spent outside can lead to subtle shifts in wellbeing, especially when time is taken in silence — and its those subtle shifts that lead to lasting changes. Here’s to plant power.

Day3: A colorful evening sky over the Bloedel estate. The transition time of twilight is a magical place to rest.

Day4: Texture is a book to be read through touch, and the garden is full of many beautiful poems. Opening my senses, I can receive the gifts of the garden in images, emotion, music, and words.

Day 5: A bed of textured stone as a final resting place for ephemeral pieces of red and gold beauty.

Day 6: Fall color and clear skies. The yellow of the changing Katsura tree signals the emergence of that amazing smell: carmelized brown sugar if the wind hits you just right.

Day 7: All the pretty colors. They speak for themselves!

Day 8: The magic portal decorated with fall colors. Where do you think the portal would send you if you stepped through?

Day 9: A misty morning wraps itself around the cedar tree.

Day 10: A garden resident out for a stroll, considering the best way off the log (spoiler: it took a half hour and two attempts, but she ultimately went for a swan dive into the greenery below).

Day 11: Magic plant babies being cared for by the awesome horticulture staff so they can grow up and inspire more artists.

Day 12: A cave made by the arms of cedar, an invitation to daily meditation and tuning.

Day 13: Life at the bird marsh. Looks peaceful now, but the bird characters that live here have a raucous dinner party every evening. Fortunately the patrol squirrel clued me in on the secret password.

Day 14: More mushroom magic. Beautiful colors springing up from the earth, and a whole unseen world underneath.

Day 15: Texture. Touch. Feel. Listen.

Day 16: Light streams into the prehistoric beauty of the moss garden. Spending time outdoors always reminds me of edges and transitions; an inspiration and aspiration for smooth sailing in life.

Day 17: Blue skies and streaks of sunlight over the tree guardians. There are so many more of them than there are of us, taking care of our home and our lungs. Appreciation.

Day 18: The scents and sounds of the garden shift as the mist comes and goes. Stopping to feel into the shifting senses of the heart, we can find our way to the next rendezvous, no matter how dense the fog seems. Stop and listen.

Day 19: Texture, edges, green and grey. Changing beauty every day.

Day 20: Like skin stretched over a wooden skeleton, the translucent green hands reach out to catch the sun. Beauty overhead.

Day 20: A falling leaf, caught suspended in the air by a spider's web. Magic dancing on an invisible thread. Spontaneous laughter.⠀

Day 21: Structure blending into sky. A safe haven from the rain and a starting point for a natural amphitheater. Many songs sung here over the Japanese garden. Appreciation for the human capacity to create elegant things that can harmonize with the beauty of nature.⠀

Day 22: Guard goose! If you watch the goose tribe closely, there's always one who is keeping a watchful eye. Sometimes there's a "guard goose in training" who acts like the guard goose, but if you test the perimeter you'll find there is only one true guard goose. Fascinating!⠀

Day 23: I call these "Birch Lights" because at night the leaves glow on the path to light your way. ⠀

Day 24: More plant babies, cute little conifers ready to grow up big and strong.⠀

Day 25: Water or sky? Or a mix of both? Leaves floating on glass as the trees peer down to read their fortunes.⠀

Day 26: Stone speakers, holding ancient wisdom. Jagged and black against the sky. Deep solid beauty.⠀

Day 27: Food and housing all in one, fungi power. I learned last year that scientists have figured out how to make wood, strong enough for building materials, out of mushrooms. Fascinating!⠀

Day 28: Love the shape of these Liriodendron leaves. So precise and angular, yet soft.⠀

Day 29: Human-made texture providing a resting place for a leaf.⠀

Day 30: On the last day of this photo essay, an interior view of the space I spent time working in at Bloedel. Works in progress on the table and at the piano station overlooking the forest. Thanks again to Bloedel Reserve for the wonderful opportunity!⠀