Mist Meanderings

suspended and untethered, but grounded by light

Morning Mist, Quechee Photo by Lyn Swett Miller

Hello Dear Reader,

What are your thoughts about mist? ¹

Mist on the Lift, Photo by Lyn Swett Miller

This week, in addition to the Harvest Moon and partial lunar eclipse, there’s been a lot of morning mist.

Tiny water droplets, suspended and dancing.

Trees in the Mist, Quechee Photo by Lyn Swett Miller

I’m reminded of the movie Gorillas in the Mist² and the book The Mists of Avalon…³ and wonder what would happen if I left the path and walked among these trees - - where would the mist take me?

Morning Mist, The Land Photo by Lyn Swett Miller

Might it lead me to my parent’s land in Sharon, Vermont, where my mother is buried, or to The Hanover Golf Course where the dogs and I walked hundreds of times.

Sunrise, Golf Course Photo by Lyn Swett Miller

Maybe the mists would lead me to the Upper Loop⁴, with the gated red fire hydrant…

Red Fire Hydrant in the Mist, Photo by Lyn Swett Miller

or to the red canoe at my cousin’s house in Virginia, where I explored the morning after a laughter-filled dinner in a love-filled little house by a pond.

The mist, a backdrop then as now, timeless.

Red Canoe at Sunrise, Photo by Lyn Swett Miller

Or, might the mists take me home…⁵

Comfrey in the Mist, Photo by Lyn Swett Miller

I hear the birdsong, smell the composting soil, and feel the moisture on my arms.

But the sun distracts, bringing me back from those mist-inspired meanderings.

Clearly, I am in limbo. A new family lives in our house and explores the garden. I’m living in temporary housing, taking a morning walk on a new path in a new forest in a new state.

Rays, Woods in Quechee 2024 Photo by Lyn Swett Miller

Writing this post and looking at these images grounds me, though. While this moment feels new, the process of processing change and of playing with light are familiar companions.

I mean, check out the sun dancing with the snow eight years ago up on Balch Hill?⁶ I was also on a morning walk with the dog and the light was playing with a different set of suspended particles of water. Bliss.

And now I remember: Didn’t we move, in part, so that I could spend more time doing just this…telling stories with word and image?

Snow Mist, 2016 Photo by Lyn Swett Miller

Who knows where next week may take us, but it’s clear that relationship to place is on my mind…

Thank you for sharing your time and this space with me.

With gratitude for you being you,

Lyn

1. Please share your own misty meanderings in the comments section below. I love how photographs can spark sometimes unexpected associations.

2. Produced decades ago in 1988, Gorillas in the Mist remains a keystone film for me, reminding me that all is not always beautiful, even in the most beautiful of places. I really admired how Sigourney Weaver played naturalist Dian Fossey, who worked to protect the endangered Gorillas in Rwanda from poachers.

3. I’ve read The Mists of Avalon, a historical fantasy novel by Marion Zimmer, multiple times, at least once a decade since first reading it while visiting Cornwall, England in 1999. The book explores the legends of King Arthur from women’s perspectives, particularly that of Morgaine (Morgan Le Fay). When were you last able to ‘part the mists’? I love this idea as described in The Mists of Avalon, as it invites attention to and honors a woman’s mystery and power.

4. The Upper Loop was a ~2.5 mile walking route that went next to the Hanover, NH Reservoir and water treatment plant. The fencing is to keep unwanted people and animals from contaminating the town’s water supply. The Lower Loop was a ~3 mile walking route that went closer to town and next to what was once the Hanover Golf Course.

5. As I followed the keyword rabbit hole in Lightroom, this image, Comfrey in the Mist, presented itself. Created last summer in our garden in New Hampshire, probably before the morning walk, when I took the dogs out first thing in the morning, it leaves me speechless. I’ve been telling myself to no ‘go there,’ to avoid pictures of the garden in its prime. But going there is just what I need to do, to practice admiring, loving and remembering it from afar.

6. Balch Hill is a nature preserve in the middle of our old neighborhood. It is managed by the Hanover Conservancy.