This was so wonderful to read this morning, I lived in Ireland for awhile and there were many times I had communion with fog. I would go hiking in the hills. I camped on an island, I got so lost in fog on the road that I couldn't see in front of me or behind. I felt Many times I had this experience and it transported me to other realms. I was always sad when the fog faded.
I too lived in Ireland for a while, quite a long while in the end. I believe that of all the places in different parts of the world I have lived in, Eire has more hidden mysteriousness than any other especially on a misty morning. I wrote about one such communion quite recently - I'll pop the link below just in case you haven't read it already (no pressure to do so of course)
Thank you so much for reading, do lease tag me if you have any more wonderful foggy morning encounters, I'd love to hear of them Jessica! 🙏🏼
I am deeply ashamed Louise, the agony of the decision took days, weeks, to put into action but they had to go, combined with a cherry tree which I left standing because it gives us abundant fruit when the weather is clement, my veggie patch was in complete shade… oh but the heartbreak was immense!
This morning is clear, no fog hangs over the hill and I have no choice but to dress respectably for class, right after I take a bucket of nuts to my sheep who don’t care how I’m dressed just so long as that bucket arrives! 🙂xx
I bought M a Japanese cherry tree for her graduation present back in … 2005? I planted it in front of the house. I didn’t know when I planted it, but it takes several years for it to blossom the first time. The year it finally started to have some tiny blossoms, we had to cut it down because the roots would eventually seep into the septic tank system. Broke my heart. Planted another one out back, but still….
Sheep, goats, horses, cows, they’re all good that way, fashion-wise. Love them. And you. I don’t care what you wear as long as you have nuts. x
This reminds me of the clematis I planted in Ireland Louise… it was the first plant I put in the ground at that house and the first plant the new owners cut down when we sold it… I too was heartbroken, it had grown exactly as I’d wanted it to, rambling along the entire front of the house and in spring the flowers were like clouds of the palest pink, they were so beautiful. I tried to plant one here in France but it died after a year, too dry, too hot, earth too stony. I know exactly how you felt xx
Thank you India, I am delighted to read that, I have a feeling they are an acquired taste which many don't quite reach, my husband has even stopped trying!
"The fog lifts and falls again, undecided on destination or form it shrouds and reveals, each revelation a new page." I am so, so very grateful to have read that. Thank you, dear Susie x
I am relieved Chloe, that something I wrote may lighten the weight of your fog even a tiny little smidge makes me smile. I wish you a blessed day with love always.. x
Susie, Susie, Susie! A whispered, "thank you." Your fairy, elven heart speaks to mine. We are kin, across the miles, across time and distance. This is a beautiful, beautiful piece of work! I am humbled beyond words to read it. XO
And it is for that reason my sweet kindred sister that I will take your hand right now as I wander into fairyland this morning... the mist is once again rolling up - yes, 'up' the valley and I hear the elfin calls of all that is mysterious beckoning. Hold onto your reasoning, for surely it will be lost, as so often mine is, in the mischief!
May your day be beautiful Daniellel, thank you always, from my heart, for your friendship and wonderful comments. XOX
O Susie, how beautifully you describe the excitement about a foggy morning, the urge to wander around and skip, and the joy of it all. Loved reading this!
I am so so glad - It was like a fairy tale JoAnne, like every other magical morning misty we've known only a thousand times more so... I wish you could have seen what I saw, walked in the arc with me.💛xx
Ahh Jo, this makes me smile hugely! Seeing those fogbows, which I have waited for all my adult life and will likely never see again just might be my favourite day ever... only the two days my children were born surpass the magic!
Thank you lovely lady, I hope you've found a little magic this weekend too 💛xx
Oh my Susie, you always manage to take my breath away! Thank you for this beautiful delirium, I was able to escape all that is weighing me down by traveling along with you, also in my pajamas!
Dear Pamela, my thoughts were never far away from you and all I know here who have had such a traumatic week, I prayed, am still praying for a little light to shine to guide and soothe tattered nerves. I wish I could do more...
Thank you for reading my pyjama (such useful comforting clothing don't you think?) clad adventure - bless you lovely xx
Thank you Susie! I think we’ll get through this, yet again. I probably need to go on a couple of pajama adventures to help with the transition! Bless you Susie!
As so many others have said, this is lovely, and so calming. I particularly love the "I am" statements that follow "Here there is no need to pretend." Not having to pretend and instead being able to be most essentially me in the outdoors - that really resonates. Thank you for the reminder, Susie.
If only we could keep that feeling bottled Sarah, for all those times when we are tired and stressed and frustrated with the mundanity of life's necessities when we are not who we want to be much less where.... 'I am' sometimes it is so very hard isn't it?
I hope you had at least a few moments of 'I am calm' this weekend... thank you so much for reading.
Really!! That makes this yet more special than I initially believed... If I ever have the l good fortune of seeing another I will think of Charlie in his boat called Fogbow! You can count on it! 💙
I feel euphoria reading this dear Susie! I saw every moment in detail as you rose before the sun to enter into the hushed “snowlike” silence. (So true!) But then you take my hand and say, oh there’s more. This isn’t going to only be about the beautifully told details, this is going to be about love and resuscitation and celebration. “I am thinking; is there a love affair deeper than that which lies between the soul and a land it has come to know like a son or daughter.” Can I tattoo this sentence to my body? Or better, my soul? This speaks to the very essence of your profound wisdom Susie born from the daily dedication and hard work of nurturing your land, your hill. And the land nurtures back as you move through your most stunning of dawns, invisibly dancing, silently singing, generously being so we can then read about it and remember. Thank you. 🙏
Kimberly this is a most beautiful and heartfelt response! Your words truly move me; they’ve wriggled straight to the core of what I feel every morning on my hill. It’s deeply humbling to know that the story, and these quiet dawns, resonated with you in such a profound way. And yes, that love affair between soul and land—it’s an intimacy that defies description, yet here you are putting it into words so eloquently yourself!
The thought of the sentence becoming a part of you, a tattoo on your soul, is touching beyond words. To feel seen, understood, and joined in this quiet celebration of nature is all I ever wish for. Thank you for walking with me through these mornings, for witnessing and feeling the love, and for always reflecting it all back so generously. Bless you sweet soul - may your Sunday be beautiful. xx
I am already cracking a smile and I barely started reading. Susie, I can picture you lying in bed , the room still too dark to see, eyebrows arching in silent answer to your own question; ‘Yes, I would love to get up and walk my misty hill, well then, let’s get dressed’, as you step out onto the cold floor as quiet as mouse toes ( or lizard tails ?🦎). I am draped in word fog and it feels luxurious . Maybe like seal skin, cozy warm on the inside, silky soft and slightly damp in the early morning air.
I started painting with acrylics in high school I remember the first time I picked up a tube of Cerulean blue to paint a sky. I’m so glad you wrote about your experience under the white rainbow, the fogbow. Exquisite and gorgeous. I am heading out to play and will wear my coat of mist and fog and words. Come on along. I think this is the most beautiful piece you have written. It comes from deep inside where you store your happy places, next to every memory of your family, and all your joy. Where emotion and love , combine with the land you hold so dear. A part of your DNA one would say. If this were a fairytale, then you would be writing with a quill, kindly donated, and happily plucked by a goose, a turned bowl of peach wood pretending to be an inkwell, filled with fog, words flowing from thin wisps .You sit comfortably in the cradled arms of an ancient Oak .Your writing desk carefully crafted from cherry ( by a love you know well🤭). Sheep happily grazing below, mingling with chickens, pups, goats and every kind of bird imaginable. All under a white rainbow in a Ceraleun blue sky. I followed back to your intro;
“I hesitate to begin writing about me, I am not extraordinary…” Oh, but you are.
Oh, my heart Lor, This comment feels like a story in itself, so tender and full of imagery that I can practically hear those “mouse toes” and feel that seal-skin fog (I love how you use this metaphor) wrap around us both. Thank you for coming along for that morning walk, for embracing the fogbow, and for sharing these beautiful thoughts and memories, right down to that first tube of Cerulean blue—what a perfect color for this dreamy scene.
I’m deeply touched by how you see into these moments, this quiet dance between land and sky, and even more by how you've brought your own vision into it. The idea of writing with a goose’s kindly donated quill under an ancient oak, sheep and chickens nearby... you’ve given me an image I’ll carry with a smile through this once again foggy morning I am about to step into... this time dressed as necessary!
Thank you, from the deepest part of that place where joy and memory meet. Knowing this story found a home in you makes every early step on that hill feel even more meaningful. Let’s keep walking through the mist together. May your day be blessed my lovely friend. x
Usually I don’t think in fairytales, but there was so much visual and heartfelt magic it just came out that way. If you continue with these gorgeous images , I will be painting vivid pictures of you walking with a wand.🪄
Thank you Susie for your words and beautiful pictures! That fog....I am happy to say that after 3,5 wonderful years at the seaside, in december we will move back to the woods and the heather. Can't wait for the mist between the trees! Have a beautiful weekend on your hill.
Elske!! I can't believe you are moving again? But back to woods and the heather and misty moods I can understand your enthusiasm... good luck, I hope the transition is an easy one lovely!
Thank you so much for reading, you would have loved that morning! xx
This was so wonderful to read this morning, I lived in Ireland for awhile and there were many times I had communion with fog. I would go hiking in the hills. I camped on an island, I got so lost in fog on the road that I couldn't see in front of me or behind. I felt Many times I had this experience and it transported me to other realms. I was always sad when the fog faded.
I too lived in Ireland for a while, quite a long while in the end. I believe that of all the places in different parts of the world I have lived in, Eire has more hidden mysteriousness than any other especially on a misty morning. I wrote about one such communion quite recently - I'll pop the link below just in case you haven't read it already (no pressure to do so of course)
Thank you so much for reading, do lease tag me if you have any more wonderful foggy morning encounters, I'd love to hear of them Jessica! 🙏🏼
https://open.substack.com/pub/ahillandi/p/on-wings-and-angels?r=1mrn9s&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Love this so much, Susie! (I go out in the fog in my pyjamas all the time… 😁) ✨
I think it might be written in the ‘fog chaser’ contract Laura! 😉
I’m delighted to find a kindred pyjama clad fog chasing soul here, thank you 💛
Me too! 🌫️✨
I love the idea of your walking in your pajamas...I wouldn't dare where we live, but should try it elsewhere!
You must Betty, all my best adventures happen in pyjamas around here!
Oh, Susie, the peach trees.
Yet another heartbreak.
Hello, sheep
also in fog 🐑
I am deeply ashamed Louise, the agony of the decision took days, weeks, to put into action but they had to go, combined with a cherry tree which I left standing because it gives us abundant fruit when the weather is clement, my veggie patch was in complete shade… oh but the heartbreak was immense!
This morning is clear, no fog hangs over the hill and I have no choice but to dress respectably for class, right after I take a bucket of nuts to my sheep who don’t care how I’m dressed just so long as that bucket arrives! 🙂xx
I bought M a Japanese cherry tree for her graduation present back in … 2005? I planted it in front of the house. I didn’t know when I planted it, but it takes several years for it to blossom the first time. The year it finally started to have some tiny blossoms, we had to cut it down because the roots would eventually seep into the septic tank system. Broke my heart. Planted another one out back, but still….
Sheep, goats, horses, cows, they’re all good that way, fashion-wise. Love them. And you. I don’t care what you wear as long as you have nuts. x
😕😢
This reminds me of the clematis I planted in Ireland Louise… it was the first plant I put in the ground at that house and the first plant the new owners cut down when we sold it… I too was heartbroken, it had grown exactly as I’d wanted it to, rambling along the entire front of the house and in spring the flowers were like clouds of the palest pink, they were so beautiful. I tried to plant one here in France but it died after a year, too dry, too hot, earth too stony. I know exactly how you felt xx
I do like your photographs, they're lovely.
Thank you India, I am delighted to read that, I have a feeling they are an acquired taste which many don't quite reach, my husband has even stopped trying!
"The fog lifts and falls again, undecided on destination or form it shrouds and reveals, each revelation a new page." I am so, so very grateful to have read that. Thank you, dear Susie x
I am relieved Chloe, that something I wrote may lighten the weight of your fog even a tiny little smidge makes me smile. I wish you a blessed day with love always.. x
Susie, Susie, Susie! A whispered, "thank you." Your fairy, elven heart speaks to mine. We are kin, across the miles, across time and distance. This is a beautiful, beautiful piece of work! I am humbled beyond words to read it. XO
And it is for that reason my sweet kindred sister that I will take your hand right now as I wander into fairyland this morning... the mist is once again rolling up - yes, 'up' the valley and I hear the elfin calls of all that is mysterious beckoning. Hold onto your reasoning, for surely it will be lost, as so often mine is, in the mischief!
May your day be beautiful Daniellel, thank you always, from my heart, for your friendship and wonderful comments. XOX
Reasoning is long gone!
You are a lovely Being of the fairy land! 🧚♀️ i am blessed by you and your musings! XO
Sending fairy hugs across the ether Danielle 🧚🏽♂️x
Right back atcha, Sister!! XO
O Susie, how beautifully you describe the excitement about a foggy morning, the urge to wander around and skip, and the joy of it all. Loved reading this!
I am so so glad - It was like a fairy tale JoAnne, like every other magical morning misty we've known only a thousand times more so... I wish you could have seen what I saw, walked in the arc with me.💛xx
I would have loved to! 🥰
I would have loved you to too! 🥰
This is my fav ever Susie! Just gorgeousness. Really felt you and your beautiful child like delight
(and despair over the peach trees) every step of the way. So much resonated.
Thank you. 💖
Ahh Jo, this makes me smile hugely! Seeing those fogbows, which I have waited for all my adult life and will likely never see again just might be my favourite day ever... only the two days my children were born surpass the magic!
Thank you lovely lady, I hope you've found a little magic this weekend too 💛xx
Oh my Susie, you always manage to take my breath away! Thank you for this beautiful delirium, I was able to escape all that is weighing me down by traveling along with you, also in my pajamas!
Dear Pamela, my thoughts were never far away from you and all I know here who have had such a traumatic week, I prayed, am still praying for a little light to shine to guide and soothe tattered nerves. I wish I could do more...
Thank you for reading my pyjama (such useful comforting clothing don't you think?) clad adventure - bless you lovely xx
Thank you Susie! I think we’ll get through this, yet again. I probably need to go on a couple of pajama adventures to help with the transition! Bless you Susie!
Pyjama adventures are of great importance Pamela… have plenty! x
As so many others have said, this is lovely, and so calming. I particularly love the "I am" statements that follow "Here there is no need to pretend." Not having to pretend and instead being able to be most essentially me in the outdoors - that really resonates. Thank you for the reminder, Susie.
If only we could keep that feeling bottled Sarah, for all those times when we are tired and stressed and frustrated with the mundanity of life's necessities when we are not who we want to be much less where.... 'I am' sometimes it is so very hard isn't it?
I hope you had at least a few moments of 'I am calm' this weekend... thank you so much for reading.
Oh! And p.s. Charlie’s sailboat, the one that sailed him into his own mysterious ending, was named Fogbow.:)
Really!! That makes this yet more special than I initially believed... If I ever have the l good fortune of seeing another I will think of Charlie in his boat called Fogbow! You can count on it! 💙
I feel euphoria reading this dear Susie! I saw every moment in detail as you rose before the sun to enter into the hushed “snowlike” silence. (So true!) But then you take my hand and say, oh there’s more. This isn’t going to only be about the beautifully told details, this is going to be about love and resuscitation and celebration. “I am thinking; is there a love affair deeper than that which lies between the soul and a land it has come to know like a son or daughter.” Can I tattoo this sentence to my body? Or better, my soul? This speaks to the very essence of your profound wisdom Susie born from the daily dedication and hard work of nurturing your land, your hill. And the land nurtures back as you move through your most stunning of dawns, invisibly dancing, silently singing, generously being so we can then read about it and remember. Thank you. 🙏
Kimberly this is a most beautiful and heartfelt response! Your words truly move me; they’ve wriggled straight to the core of what I feel every morning on my hill. It’s deeply humbling to know that the story, and these quiet dawns, resonated with you in such a profound way. And yes, that love affair between soul and land—it’s an intimacy that defies description, yet here you are putting it into words so eloquently yourself!
The thought of the sentence becoming a part of you, a tattoo on your soul, is touching beyond words. To feel seen, understood, and joined in this quiet celebration of nature is all I ever wish for. Thank you for walking with me through these mornings, for witnessing and feeling the love, and for always reflecting it all back so generously. Bless you sweet soul - may your Sunday be beautiful. xx
I am already cracking a smile and I barely started reading. Susie, I can picture you lying in bed , the room still too dark to see, eyebrows arching in silent answer to your own question; ‘Yes, I would love to get up and walk my misty hill, well then, let’s get dressed’, as you step out onto the cold floor as quiet as mouse toes ( or lizard tails ?🦎). I am draped in word fog and it feels luxurious . Maybe like seal skin, cozy warm on the inside, silky soft and slightly damp in the early morning air.
I started painting with acrylics in high school I remember the first time I picked up a tube of Cerulean blue to paint a sky. I’m so glad you wrote about your experience under the white rainbow, the fogbow. Exquisite and gorgeous. I am heading out to play and will wear my coat of mist and fog and words. Come on along. I think this is the most beautiful piece you have written. It comes from deep inside where you store your happy places, next to every memory of your family, and all your joy. Where emotion and love , combine with the land you hold so dear. A part of your DNA one would say. If this were a fairytale, then you would be writing with a quill, kindly donated, and happily plucked by a goose, a turned bowl of peach wood pretending to be an inkwell, filled with fog, words flowing from thin wisps .You sit comfortably in the cradled arms of an ancient Oak .Your writing desk carefully crafted from cherry ( by a love you know well🤭). Sheep happily grazing below, mingling with chickens, pups, goats and every kind of bird imaginable. All under a white rainbow in a Ceraleun blue sky. I followed back to your intro;
“I hesitate to begin writing about me, I am not extraordinary…” Oh, but you are.
Oh, my heart Lor, This comment feels like a story in itself, so tender and full of imagery that I can practically hear those “mouse toes” and feel that seal-skin fog (I love how you use this metaphor) wrap around us both. Thank you for coming along for that morning walk, for embracing the fogbow, and for sharing these beautiful thoughts and memories, right down to that first tube of Cerulean blue—what a perfect color for this dreamy scene.
I’m deeply touched by how you see into these moments, this quiet dance between land and sky, and even more by how you've brought your own vision into it. The idea of writing with a goose’s kindly donated quill under an ancient oak, sheep and chickens nearby... you’ve given me an image I’ll carry with a smile through this once again foggy morning I am about to step into... this time dressed as necessary!
Thank you, from the deepest part of that place where joy and memory meet. Knowing this story found a home in you makes every early step on that hill feel even more meaningful. Let’s keep walking through the mist together. May your day be blessed my lovely friend. x
Usually I don’t think in fairytales, but there was so much visual and heartfelt magic it just came out that way. If you continue with these gorgeous images , I will be painting vivid pictures of you walking with a wand.🪄
Haha... My wand is made of cherry wood, worn at the handle by years of spells! 🧚🏽♂️
May your week be blessed dear Lor !
Thank you Susie for your words and beautiful pictures! That fog....I am happy to say that after 3,5 wonderful years at the seaside, in december we will move back to the woods and the heather. Can't wait for the mist between the trees! Have a beautiful weekend on your hill.
Elske!! I can't believe you are moving again? But back to woods and the heather and misty moods I can understand your enthusiasm... good luck, I hope the transition is an easy one lovely!
Thank you so much for reading, you would have loved that morning! xx
"Filigree fingered light melting dark…"
💚
🙏🏼💚
love that photo
I love that you love that photo Darren, thank you.🙏🏼