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This past week, I took a 4 day trip from California to visit older relatives in Central New Hampshire…staying an hour south of the wonderful, lush and lovely Lincoln Woods where I grew up.

I love those northern woods and realized that it made sense to take a little bit of “nurturing time” for myself and to drive up there…for a short and magical walk in the woods. I got up at 5:30 AM, hopped in the rental car and drove north to spend that little bit of time in one of my favorite parts of the forest….a soothing, nurturing, inspiring little walk along the trail to Greeley Pond.

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Here are some photos from that lovely walk in the New Hampshire woods…
wandering along the path to Greeley Pond…
Maybe the images will provide some nurturing and calm to others, too…
perhaps, join me in this quiet little walk…

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a few very beautiful and delicate wild flowers along the way…
a lady slipper, a star flower, a pretty little yellow flower,
lovely to behold,
and a small moth on some trillium leaves…

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So many of the roots were gnarled and twisting…
twisting and turning through and on the rocky soil,
traveling along the surface,
doing whatever it takes to provide stability
and to find water  for their trees
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Everywhere I looked…
moss, moss and more moss
so much moss,
soft, delicate and beautiful
so much lovely moss

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The brook crossing…

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I didn’t have much time…
I needed to get back to the relatives further south
So, I only walked as far as the brook crossing…
but strangely enough, I felt oddly “outside of time”…
I may have walked only 20 or 30 minutes, I don’t know…
but it felt like it could have been 5 hours or 5 days…
it was the time I “had,”
I was fully present, completely relaxed and peaceful,
completely content with being immersed in such beauty,
it didn’t matter “how much time” there was…
it was enough…it was more than enough…it was complete

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a little “universe” within a square foot….
an ecosystem unto itself,
rich earth, insects, leaves, moss, lichen and a baby maple seedling,
connected and interdependent,
sharing the space, the nutrients, the water and the light
a tiny universe unto itself,
part of the larger “universe,” on our planet Earth

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And so…
a lovely walk in the New Hampshire woods…
soothing, calming and nurturing,
immersed in the richness of nature,
the joys of plenty,
a lovely little walk in the New Hampshire woods…

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This post is part of Nurturing Thursdays, from Becca Givens’ Blog... please wander over to her blog to get links to other participants’ posts on Nurturing Thursdays…and please feel free to join us…offering some nurturing to others each Thursday.

Previous related posts, with older photos from that Greeley Pond path:
“Home, the Stillness of a Quiet Mind” …with Greeley Pond as the inspiring image for quieting the mind…
“Show me the way to go home…I’m tired and I want to go to bed…” (from when I was still working…with a  youtube of a man singing the song…  😀 )