Plan B……“Life is all about how you handle Plan B.” Those are the words on the mug one of my best friends gave me. She firmly believes that if things aren’t working out there’s always Plan B. That’s the problem. I don’t have a Plan B, at least one that is appealing and somewhat exciting. Come to think about it, she doesn’t either! What is Plan B after all? Is it being prepared in case Plan A fails? Or having a safety net to fall into while doing Plan A or thinking ahead to catastrophes that could happen while attempting Plan A? It would seem that Plan B, being second choice is also the less desirable. That’s a problem for a person like me who is always grabbing at beginnings…ready to jump into any chasm or take a dare. I never did learn to edit my life while in the process of living it and I’ll probably not start anytime soon. Perhaps I’ve never cottoned to the idea of Plan B as it seemed to take all my energy just to activate Plan A. I’ve come to see that moments, hours, days, weeks seem to be nourishing the rhythm of my life.The pandemic has forced me to live in the moment—not a bad place as most of us can only ponder the future but not count on it. One virtue that seems to have stuck for me is trust…trust that which is unfolding because you can’t control it anyway. I’m ready to be fascinated by what is coming and how I will gracefully handle it.

Standing Sure….It is dawn. I awaken to a lawn covered in snow as a fierce wind blows through the yard forcing the limbs of some of the larger trees to bend to excess, but they do not break. One tree is said to be over a hundred years old. A hurricane two years ago tried to take it down but she held firm. I am that tree. The Anderson motto is: Stand Sure… so much strength comes with lengthened years. Even though it is sometimes hard to bend, I do. Even though I think I will break, I don’t. Today I am gifted with a new outlook…I hope you are too.

Growing from Trouble.

Just when I thought I was doing well enduring the perils of the pandemic, in the blink of an eye, en route to the bathroom, oops! All six foot 4 of my husband fell hard and bad. Diagnosis: Broken Ankle, Surgery needed, six weeks of non -weight bearing.This would be the fifth surgery in 4 years as a result of other falls and this time when I looked through the fog in hopes of finding lazy, hazy dew, today nothing was clear. For days upon days I have been awakened by nature and now, once again, I’m drawn into winter’s darkness.The famous American artist, Andrew Wyeth said that everything he might want or need to paint could be found within a five mile radius from his studio in Brandywine, Pennsylvania. I suppose the same is true for me here on Cape Cod. The muse has not left me…the muse is within. Each person chooses his or her own complications. I want to scale mine down to “littles” and find solace in the simple and the immediate.Perhaps there is a reason for my life to be temporarily stalled. I can only harness the power of restraint and trust that after trauma, there will eventually be flow again. For now I will simply breathe in and breathe out offering my inner self a time to regain its equilibrium and know that way will open.

Meet Photographer Ann L’Esperance. She was once a mountain girl, coming clear across the country from Colorado to live by the edge of the sea. It was time to change venues and find a new point of view. Cape Cod would offer the ocean water, sand, dunes, big sky, sunsets, and the space that she craved. This low tide girl found her bliss. Each day she would hop in her car and head east with only a vague idea of where she was headed…”mostly to the outer Cape where there are fewer people and wild seascapes,” she told me, and “where I have the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Cape Cod Bay on the other.”“At first I was simply in awe by what I saw in all kinds of weather and seasons,” says Ann. “No beach walk is monotonous. The landscape constantly changes with the tides, storms and light. I walk fast at first, wanting to get beyond the footprints left by others. Then I’m alone, seeing what no one else can see, at least for that particular day. I used my cell phone to take pictures and it was just so I could share my days with my family and friends, wanting them to experience what I was experiencing. My hobby became more serious as I attempted to capture not just the scene, but the feeling that comes with seeing such unique images of natural beauty. Gradually, I began realizing how many people cannot or do not want to walk through sand for miles and miles or attempt to catch so many sunsets – and that’s when I started sharing my pictures online.” Although time and family responsibilities have kept me from similar forays recently, Ann’s pictures became a muse for me. The spirit of the sea washed over my notepad and my soul quickened and I was able to break the writer’s block that had held me hostage for several years. And so it came to be that I am using Ann’s pictures and my words to awaken that which has been dulled in many of us with the pandemic and other personal challenges. If her work and my words awakened us, perhaps it would do the same for you. Pandemic peril has had a way to keep us closeted along with our feelings, senses, attitudes and thoughts. Check out her new website here:
https://ann-lesperance.pixels.com