Remember sixteen – when all the world was new and a lifetime stretched before you like fresh snow just waiting for your footprints? ~ Peggy Toney Horton
I haven’t been leaving many footprints here lately. Life took a decidedly inward turn in December as I began to treasure the last few weeks of my sabbatical, reluctant to share the quiet and solitary days left to me before I returned to the whirlwind of another semester. Punctuated only by a happy crowd of family and friends on Christmas Day, I spent those days reading, thinking, writing and walking and sometimes snuggled up to the fireplace with Angel in my lap. (She may be large but she considers herself a lap dog!)
Snow has been plentiful this winter, nature sharing her winter mulch in a generous way. And so I have been able to track the rabbit that sneaks through the fence into my garden to chew on the rose bushes, leaving my own steps behind. Angel tracks the rabbit’s movements with great interest but we never catch a glimpse of it, only the traces of its path in the snow. I have been feeling like that rabbit lately, making quiet visits to favorite blogs but rarely leaving a footprint. It was a bit of a shock to return to work after seven months of quietly pursuing my own path, but I have found my inner and outer balance again and suddenly find that I want to leave a few more footprints in my wake. A special thanks to those of you who stopped by here to say hello while I was on vacation.
A few footprints in my life. (All images © Lynn Emberg Purse, 2014)
A musical version of Footprints, with composer and saxophonist Wayne Shorter performing live with Esperanza Spalding on the Tavis Smiley Show. Enjoy!
“I think that’s what we all want, in the end. To know that we left footprints when we passed by, however briefly. We want to be remembered.” ~ Mike E. Lancaster
composerinthegarden 
I liked the term “angel prints” and so true, for the wildlife.
Hope spring is coming in your area. It’s tiptoeing brightly in ours..after a long, hard winter.
Lynn, so happy to see you’ve returned. I am truly jealous of your time to commune with yourself, God, and nature. Looking forward to the “revelations” you share that will uplift our souls. WW and I so often include your music, your writings, and your pictures in our Sunday morning meditations. All the best!
Eleanor, that is an amazing compliment and I am honored to think that I’ve touch your lives in that way. I’m hoping to get back to regular posting next week, once I am past a few deadlines.
I wasn’t aware you were on a sabbatical. Well, if your blog is any reflection, it was time well spent.
Thanks, Jean 🙂
Cheers to your return and recharging your batteries. Good job of taking charge of life! Angel seems to be one, pleasant and content companion! Thanks for the smooth tune for my morning.
Thanks, Frank; it was a recharge in the best way possible. Yes, Angel is a loving snuggler, as seen here on her Dad’s lap. Looking forward to seeing what you’ve been up to!
In the process of moving … so my time visiting is limited … but the latest musical debuts on Wednesday night … Life: The Musical.
We’re all entitled to a little winter quiet and a welcome sabbatical. We’re glad to be in your company whenever you can share. Beautiful photos….as always.
Thank you, Ogee, for the welcoming words 🙂
Glad to see you posting again, Lynn (I’ve just recently ended a blog posting hiatus of my own), and good to hear that your sabbatical went so well.
Thanks, Kerry and welcome back to you too! I did treasure every moment of that sabbatical time.
Welcome back! Glad you feel rejuvenated and ready to leave some new footprints to go along the old ones 🙂
Thank you, diversifolius!
“To every thing thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”
Indeed 🙂
Lovely to read your thoughts and step for a while in your footprints,
Thanks, Claire 🙂
Ah you weren’t eaten by the electronic world as I feared. 😉 So glad your back making tracks. Love seeing Angel in the snow.
Carol
Ah, Carol, it was more like being eaten by the nature world; it pulled me in and I was reluctant to spend my energy anywhere else. But it’s good to be back and I look forward to a catching up with everyone, and especially with your Dance Around Fridays!
I was thinking about you the other day, and missing your voice, but it’s fine – I’m glad you had such a nourishing sabbatical. I’m going to go find the music – it didn’t load for me, and I like all three people involved – I’m sure I can find it online…be well my friend!
Lynn, thanks for stopping by, I’ve missed visiting you too. Here’s the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHxAhYN5wMQ
That is a very smooth and saxy sex … I mean …
Good to see you back rarin’ to go. Have you an urge to compose in any particular direction? I have a strange impulse to try a cello sonata.
Thanks, Colonialist. Hmmm, I still have another year or two of working on the “Year in Penn’s Woods” project but that is more still in the recording sound and video stage. I have decided to finally complete an opera that I started a few years ago. The reworked the Overture last year for a symphonic performance and one of the arias is being performed in concert this month, so it feels right to pick it up again and take it to completion. Cello sonata – LOVE that instrument. I’ve been talking to a cellist who wants me to write a concerto for him; we’ll see where that goes. Perhaps we’ll both be writing for cello this year:-)
Having got that far with the opera, you definitely can’t leave it there!
Actually, now that you mention it, a concerto would probably be more fun as long as I can avoid having the cello drowned by the higher string sections. It would also be a better follow-on to my current recorder/violin/piano trio which seems to have bogged down in mud a bit.
Welcome back, Lynn!
Thanks, Vlad!
Ah, just thinking of you, yet again, Lynn, and sensing those movements and feelings you’ve spoken of here…the end of your sabbatical and the need to gather in your energy, re-balance, and gently step back into the dance once again, which I imagine you’ve accomplished with your inherent elegance and grace…The photos are lovely. Gentle peace and quiet joy to you and your Angel(s)…
Kitty, so wonderful to hear your kind voice! It has been an interesting dance these past few weeks, sorting out the habits of both thought and practice that I want to keep and those I am letting fall away. Always wonderful to hear from you, and I look forward to catching up on your posts.
i love these shots!
Thank you, Beth!
Good to see (and hear) you back! Hope your had a wonderful and fulfilling sabbatical!
Thank you, Mary; yes, the sabbatical was both!