Fruit Box Castles: Poems From a Peach Rancher’s Daughter and Living through a Pandemic!.
Nature is my great source of solace and joy during this pandemic which has brought human contact and activity to a great stillness. Now is a time of physical distancing, turning inward, slowing down, finding new ways to connect on zoom, texting, talking on the phone, meditating and sending healing thoughts out to the world. The pandemic has arrived just as nature is awaking sending life out in all directions. We want to follow her too and celebrate this rebirth. Instead we must find other ways to focus our energies safely, find ways to connect virtually, and work in solitude. Lately, I wake up at 3 a.m. my heart pounding from a nightmare. I wake and remember the virus. Slowly my heart-rate slows and I am reassured with my husband lying next to me, the cat at my feet and the dog curled up between us. But I find being outdoors seems to center me the most. I am lucky to be in California with its relatively calm weather. Sinking my hands and boots in the mud, reaching for the gr...