The Daily Respite

Good morning! It’s Sunday, and it’s just begun to snow. Not a delicate powdery parmesan kind of snow but a billowy popcorn one that makes plop sounds when it hits the water. Before we head back up to the house for hot chocolate, let’s stand here for a minute. I’ve spotted a loon that is very eager to show us how long it can hold its breath under water. “It snowed last year too: I made a snowman an...

Good morning! It’s Sunday. We’ve bundled up and time-traveled back to a softer snowy day by the water. There’s a bit of a wind, but the air smells of woodsmoke and salt water. We’re bundled up and ready for whatever the day may bring. “There is peace even in the storm.” —Vincent van Gogh Onwards, Clara p.s.—You can also watch today’s video via this link . This is a public episode. If you'd like to...

Good morning! It’s Sunday, and it’s Christmas Eve. Instead of our usual stroll to the ocean, how about a woodland adventure? We’ve stepped off the dirt road and tiptoed across grass until we spotted a small opening between two ancient cedars tottering at the edge of the woods. Let’s see what happens if we walk through that opening and see where it leads. Is that water I hear in the distance? “If y...

Good morning! It’s a glorious Sunday. For today’s nature Respite, let’s not stand still. We’re headed down the old dirt road that leads to the ocean. We’ve made our way through the blueberry field and are now in the woods. Down one small slope we’ve gone, and then past another, stopping just short of the Hill That Requires a Commitment . Here we pause and ponder. Do we have that commitment? Or sho...

Good morning! It’s Sunday, and the sun is setting before 4pm now—so don your coat, lace up those walking shoes, and meet me at the door. There’s a brisk wind blowing from the southeast, so I’m taking us to a sheltered cove where we can watch the waves in peace. “It is quiet and peaceful here, the air is good, there are numerous gardens, and in them nightingales sing and spies lurk under the bushes...

Good morning! It’s Thursday, and it’s the last day of August. Stand with me at the edge of the field, and let’s listen to the sounds together. (Just tap the right-pointing triangle up top and make sure your volume is turned up.) “The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever.” —E.B. White E.B. White’s crickets lived about 12 miles from here. Could we be...

Good morning! It’s Thursday. Yesterday morning I headed outside to feed the birds, as I always do—although who am I kidding, most of the seed gets stuffed under the house by the squirrels. Anyway, I’d taken only a few steps when I heard a sound that stopped me in my tracks. A sound as seasonally symbolic as the first spring peepers, but far more spine-tinglingly magical at its core. I heard my fir...

Good morning! It’s Saturday, and I invite you to stand on the porch with me and listen to the most glorious, joyful sound in Maine at the moment. It is the sound of the spring peepers, or pseudacris crucifer, which have finally come back to life after their long winter freeze. What are these “peepers” exactly? They are frogs. Very musical frogs. Their song begins at dusk and sounds rather like sle...

Good morning! It’s Thursday, and another sign of spring is the return of the seasonal help wanted ads. They’re always the same: Hotels need housecleaners, restaurants need servers and kitchen staff. Summer can’t begin without them. Everyone feels the urgency. Just yesterday, a pair of Barred Owls stationed themselves deep in the woods and called, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?” back an...

Good morning! It’s Monday. There’s a church just a few blocks away from where we’ve been staying. It’s nothing grand by French standards, though stunning by anyone else’s, I’m sure. I’ve never been inside, but I have heard the bell. It’s beautiful, with a deep and sonorous resonance that you feel in your chest. They ring this bell every night before the service. Not once, but twice, but for severa...

Good morning! It’s Monday, and a fresh new week sits before us. To set our course, I’m sharing an audio recording of what passed through our street yesterday. With no warning, the most joyful music began to play. I rushed to the balcony in time to see a man in hat and suspenders pushing a small barrel organ down the middle of the street. He had a friend (also in hat and suspenders) collecting the...

Good morning! It’s Thursday. After all that, I spotted a bee on the cosmos yesterday. Harmony having been restored in the garden, I decided to walk down to the ocean and see how it was doing. Partway down the wooded path, the crickets stopped me and asked if I could convey a message to you. They were very insistent about it, as you’ll hear. I don’t speak cricket, so I don’t know what they’re sayin...

Good morning! Today is Saturday. Before you engage in whatever jangle or clang the day may try to bring, I offer you one minute of my birds, field, and bell buoy for grounding. Yes, even the crows got in a few words. “TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, ki...

Good morning! Today is Wednesday. Now that the bears are awake, I go outside every evening to bring in the bird feeders. Sometimes everyone is already in bed and the world is silent. But last night they were still up and chattering away. Shall we stand outside and eavesdrop on their conversations for a minute? (Just click the sideways-pointing arrow up top and turn up your volume.) "Faith is the b...

Good morning! Today is Saturday. Outside, everything is still encased in snow. But yesterday I opened the window and heard the most wonderful sound. I had to share it with you. Tap on that sideways triangle up top, turn up your volume, close your eyes, and take a listen. “There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready f...

Good morning! It’s Sunday. It’s been a dry month here in Maine. But today a light rain is falling, and the birds and the plants are happy. Turn up the volume, close your eyes, and sit with me on the porch for a minute. “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” —John Ruski...

Good morning! It’s Friday, and the spring peepers have returned! I’ve recorded their evening symphony for you. Just tap the right-pointing triangle up top for a listen. “After that hard winter, one could not get enough of the nimble air. Every morning I wakened with a fresh consciousness that winter was over. There were none of the signs of spring for which I used to watch in Virginia, no budding...

Good morning! It’s Monday, and it’s the first day of February. Since much of the northeastern United States is bracing for a nor’easter that’ll dump at least a foot of snow, I thought we’d practice some escapism this morning. The right-pointing arrow at the top of this email will play you an audio recording of Maine in the height of August, complete with a symphony of crickets, a passing bee, and...

Good morning! It’s Thursday, and it’s first day of October. This calls for a midweek nature break. Today we’re sitting at the edge of a dock on Squam Lake in Holderness, New Hampshire. I have an extra treat for you: After dark, the loons perform their night chorus. When I was there, I couldn’t go to sleep without recording some of it. Tap that little right-pointing triangle at the top of this emai...

Good morning! It’s Monday, and we’re trying something different today: audio . I’m out on the porch. After a rainy night, the fog over the pond is lifting and a hermit thrush is singing its heart out. Won’t you fill up your mug, tap that “play” arrow up above, and join me out on the porch? Into this new week we go, Clara This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscriber...