In the Spring of 2020, the COVID pandemic rolled in like a fog.

Slow moving, without warning and enveloping us in an uneasy quiet. Shops closed, schools went virtual and the streets were left empty. We shut ourselves indoors and anxiously watched from our windows for signs when life would return to normal. When we could once again be with one another without worry.

Before the pandemic, my creativity expressed itself through my writing. I often was able to go inward and find inspiration to write poetry, prose and creative non-fiction. But during those early days of isolating, like everyone else, life became smaller and more stressful. My teaching job became more demanding, my own children were suffering as a result of the pandemic and my mother had just been diagnosed with lymphoma. I was both worried about and separated from my family, friends and community.

It was difficult for me to be with my feelings. And even more difficult to sit still.

The need for me to be out in nature, alone, and in the quiet was profound. I began taking daily walks to relieve stress. Sometimes, on the very difficult days, I went out walking multiple times. The more I walked, the more my creativity came back to me.

Walking became my breathing.

Rather than walk for exercise, I walked slowly and contemplatively. Lost in thought, I started observing things in a new way. Some days during these walks, ideas, phrases and poems would silently speak to me. Other days, I was wordlessly inspired by what I was seeing. My creativity had made space for a more visual way of expressing itself. 

With the sun setting or rising, with the snow settling or after the rain, the leaves falling or flowers blooming, I would start absorbing what was around me, and a word or expression would come to me. A theme of sorts. And once that word was in my head, I couldn’t help but see that theme over and over again during my walk. I didn’t set out on my walks with a theme. But rather, the themes made themselves known to me.

Using my phone camera, I began to take photos to capture those themes. These photos became ‘my notes’ of my thoughts during those walks.

And that was the start of my project, Notes on a Walk.

I hope you’ll take a moment or two to spend here and join me on a walk.