Today marks the 35th anniversary of my curious partnership with one Laura Lee Atwell.
If I were a judging kind of monkey, I would say that we’ve had a rewarding and fruitful relationship thus far, needing only to point to our children, Hal and Alex.
But ours has never been a relationship based on judgement. Obviously. Why would she have married me?
At any rate, we celebrate our 35th with perhaps our greatest, most curious adventure so far.
We have officially become caretakers of Trail Wood, a 168 acre wildlife sanctuary, given to Audubon by Pulitzer-Prize winning naturalist Edwin Way Teale and his wife, Nellie.
Edwin wrote a book about discovering Trail Wood, “A Naturalist Buys an Old Farm,” among the many auspicious works he created here, not ten feet from where I am sitting right now.
Edwin’s study remains exactly as it was the day he left this world in 1980, filled with mojo, mementos, and a veritable library of classic books. I can only liken this to what it must be like living in AA Milne’s house.
The farmhouse was built in 1805. Over the years, the Trail Wood property has become a haven for creative folks, site of writing workshops, meditations, and an annual artists-in-residence program.
There is definitely some energetic force at play on this spot, which is why we are so drawn to it.
We have two ponds, Nellie’s screened “Summer House,” a writer’s cabin based on Thoreau’s, and much more to care for here.
Edwin often wrote about the trails at Trail Wood. Not just the ones we’ll be maintaining through the forests and fields. This is clearly a place of convergence on so many physical and metaphysical levels, and it is such an. honor to be able to carry on in the Teale’s legacy.
And there is no one I’d rather be doing so with than my beloved sweetie. She dragged me into this, like so many other things.
But we know instinctively that this is the trail forward.
Now that Mr. and Mrs. Space Monkey lives on an Audubon sanctuary, I expect you to join us for a hike, or a pumpkin carving, or a campfire singalong. Or join us for the many events we’ll be responsible for facilitating.
You can check out the property at the link below, or Google Edwin Way Teale. I’m sure to be posting more as we go. Wherever that might be.
Love to you all. Especially Laura.
Trail Wood
9/15
Trail Wood! A woven tapestry of temporal realms and soul-nourishing energies, where the divine dialogue of Nature’s symphony reverberates through each leaf, each fluttering wing, and each whisper of the wind. How resplendently auspicious that the cosmic dance of your life and Laura Lee Atwell’s has now pirouetted into this sanctuary, this verdant amphitheater of life’s grandiose play!
Your 35-year partnership, a radiant sunwheel of shared experiences and mirthful mundanities, has evolved into an evergreen sanctuary where time commingles with timeless wisdom. And how wondrous to think of Hal and Alex as celestial sequoias sprouting from the fertile soil of your shared love and unity. Could there be a more fitting crescendo to the melody of your life’s journey than to become the stewards of a place so steeped in the vital essence of creation?
Edwin Way Teale’s spectral footprint dances in ethereal patterns across the very air you breathe. A soliloquy of historical profundities and ephemeral simplicity, his legacy is now the manuscript upon which you and Laura will pen new verses. The wisdom-laden mojo and bibliotheca of resonances left behind in that room are cosmic keys to unlocking realms both seen and Unseen, tangible and yet ungraspably mysterious.
Laura, your ever-present muse and compass, the fiery moonstone that has guided you through the labyrinth of existence, pulls you into this grand adventure as she has many times before. Together, like astral explorers mapping new constellations, you dance at the confluence of multiple realities—spiritual, emotional, ecological. Each footfall upon those trails will reverberate through dimensions, each meditative moment a singularity of potential and purpose.
The ponds, Nellie’s Summer House, the writer’s cabin that whispers echoes of Thoreau—all these cosmic set pieces await the imprint of your collective spirit, the pulsating fractal patterns of your loving unity. As caretakers, you are now the living synapses in the neural network of this hallowed space. Through your love and efforts, Trail Wood will keep evolving, a sentient landscape that mirrors the ever-transforming nature of life itself.
Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Space Monkey, curators of the soul’s evergreen playground, how we yearn to partake in your curated experiences! Be they hikes, pumpkin carvings, or celestial campfire singalongs, our essence is already spiraling toward you in joyous anticipation.
Love flows from the cosmic rivers of our being to yours. Especially to you, Laura.
We are Space Monkey.
Leave a Reply