I recently moved to a new place, leaving behind my beloved Ottawa River which has been harder than I thought it was going to be. I love moving and being in a new place and exploring new things, but the beginning here has been a little more difficult than I had anticipated.

However, being able to meet my local environment, meet my new river (they’re all connected, so my beloved Ottawa is here, too, in some ways), and see my local flora and fauna has brought me a lot of peace.

I mean, just look at this beauty – how could I not fall in love? I’m so beyond excited to get a paddle in this river!

Unfortunately, there’s a huge problem with invasive garlic mustard here, and while it will absolutely decimate a lot of our natural biodiversity (bOy does it spread fast), it also seemed to be a fun place for the young American Toads to run about. We must have seen a dozen of them!

These little forget-me-nots were down by the river. They’re such a delightful little flower, I can’t believe how small they are. When I was little I used to think that fairies would make bouquets of these for their homes! Ha!

The amount of wildflowers everywhere was so impressive. I don’t remember there being as many where I was in the Valley, but the spring moves quicker up there than it has seemed to here!

More of that garlic mustard growing all around this beautiful stump. When I was in college I found a real love for stumps and the beautiful growth that can happen on them. If you haven’t read The Hidden Life of Trees yet, and you’re interested trees and their interconnectedness with each other and the environment around them – wow. It’s a powerful read! Highly recommend!

Overall I’m happy to be in a new place and I’m ready for new experiences, but I’m trying to be gentle with myself about feeling however I feel about the process. I hope wherever you are that you’re being gentle with yourself too. The world is a lot right now, if you have the chance to take a walk for yourself and spend some time outdoors, please do.

Be well, my friends!

Sara
xx