When the Water Settles
A few days ago we had some pretty strong thunderstorms during the overnight hours. Not enough to shake the walls, but certainly enough to light up the loft with flashes of bright light.
The next morning during our walk in the Water Works, the reflective stillness of the pond stood in stark contrast to the bluster of the thunder and lightning just a few hours earlier.
It was the kind of quiet where the world seems to pause just long enough for something deeper to reveal itself.
We’ve walked these paths nearly every day over the last few years. I am always amazed by how many different looks can be connected to what has become so familiar. The shoreline holds so still against the water. The trees move in two directions. Stretching toward the sky while reaching across the water.
For a brief moment it’s difficult to know where the trees begin and where the reflection starts. The branches seem to take up as much space below the surface as they do above it.
And that stone tower sitting at the end of the small jetty with its iron rail, weathered with age. Built for a purpose at some point. Today it simply stands there with the patience that only time can deliver. Its reflection extending the tower’s form where stone and water meet. A kind of symmetry that would surely go unnoticed if the surface were disturbed.
I was struck by all of the lines and curves touching each other in this scene. Sometimes the absence of sun allows the surroundings to shine even more. Stillness has a way of revealing things that movement cannot.
When the wind disappears and the water settles, everything around the pond becomes easier to see. All the lines I mentioned suddenly come into view. The calm of the water that morning created a quiet balance between wood, stone, and water. The elements are always there, but the stillness allows them to speak.
Maybe this is why certain places stay with us long after we leave them. They remind us what the world looks like in its truest form when nothing is trying very hard to move forward.
It’s simply there.
Waiting.
“An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”
Henry David Thoreau
Talk soon…
G