The Bat: On darkness, perception, and knowing what you cannot see There is a moment after sunset when the world begins to lose its edges. Green becomes gray, trees become silhouettes, and things that were perfectly obvious twenty minutes ago require a second look. Then something moves overhead. You catch it only briefly…a dark shape against a darkening sky, there and gone before your eyes can quite decide what they saw. Another follows. Then another. The bats have arrived precisely when your...

The Spider: On weaving, entanglement, and the things we make from ourselves There is a particular kind of magic in finding a spiderweb in the morning. It might have been there yesterday. You might have walked past it a dozen times without noticing. But sometime in the night the air changed, the mist settled, and the dew gathered along each filament until something nearly invisible became an architecture of silver. Nothing new has appeared…you’re just now able to see what was already there....

“Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” -Mary Oliver August stretches toward the horizon like a long exhale. The light is warm and golden, and the world feels like it’s holding its breath before the next season begins. It’s a month for soft awe. For remembering that wonder is still an option - even here. Even now. We often think wonder is reserved for children or poets, but it’s not. It’s a skill. A practice. A way of looking at the world that keeps...