The second I step foot in the forest ( The Ebonshire) I knew exactly what I was put here to do. It was an entirely other world. One I would weave magic upon for years to come. No one knows my forest better than I do. Every blade of grass, every tree, every path that leads to nowhere and somewhere. It’s like a collage of ideas flashing inside my head that never ends. It’s a muse, a partnership, a door to enchanted worlds and it’s my home away from home. It breathes, has many hearts, a soul and gives spark to a balance with nature within ourselves. It can morph into almost anything we need to be yet still be what it is just as beautifully on its own. There is freedom among ancient pines that could never be expressed through words. It must be felt, experienced, embraced and submitted too. It is bigger than and more powerful then we could ever comprehend. In the deepest, darkest corners of the green we find solitude, connection and a spirit humming along in tune with the wind through the trees that sway like a dance so amazing it’s sometimes hard to believe we get to witness it. Stand still, quiet still, if you hold your breath you can hear it, the death and rebirth of centuries. The colors whisper beautiful pastels and then deep golds and reds until finally shades of grey and white. The cycle repeats year after year and what a blessing, this magic around us. The whimsy, ethereal, elegant magic, the timeless beauty of life that endures. The fables, stories and folklore passed down to us on the night by peepers and cricket songs. We spy the fae by swift moving streams and brooks, dancing by the hidden pools in secret corners of the wood. The elves keeping watch, standing guard protecting all life in the forest. Beautiful sirens and gods come forth and breathe again. Characters that leap out of history to tell there tales once more. Customs, paths, rituals legends, civilizations past all come forward again to speak new truths and knowledge. We live out our fantasies, drop our inhibitions and create the most beautiful expressions of life and within ourselves and we are all the happier for it. Life is better when you no longer care what people think. Perhaps I am dreamer with my head buried in fairy tales and alternate realities and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Our imaginations are essential to our quality of life and happiness.