When I noticed the plywood, I felt a lump in my heart. Where had the Holy City Windows gone? I had developed a spiritual relationship with the windows, if such a thing if possible. Now my best record of the windows having once been there is a page in a book, The Windows of St. Luke’s Church. In 1909, Mrs. William Goddard had given the windows in loving memory of her husband, Colonel William Goddard.

Thinking back to when I connected with the spirit of these windows, it was Wednesday, October 5, 2011. I had an early afternoon appointment with my friend Stan, who owns a promotional products business. I wanted to see samples of small personalized pencils that children can fit in their pockets and keep handy to write notes when they go Story Walking. As I was leaving and walking out the door, Stan commented how he had been having trouble sleeping and was waking at 2:00 every morning, with lots of ideas in his head. I acknowledged that this happens to me, too.

This is a widely-experienced phenomenon that happens in the liminal space that separates the end of the night and the beginning of a new day, sometime between 2am and 4am. A friend of mine once referred to this time as the Hour of the Angels. Could it be that this time of peace and quiet is the best time for the spiritual realm to download the answers to the perplexing questions that are in people’s heads as they settle into bed for the night?

Driving out of Stan’s parking lot, I turned on the radio and heard Robert Palmer sing the lyrics “you can’t sleep” from his hit song Addicted to Love.

When radio tunes align with my thoughts or experiences, I wonder if some musical angel has just whispered into the subconscious mind of the DJ. Recognizing and acting upon communications from angels through such cryptic means has become a game for me - a spiritual treasure hunt. My husband dubbed my game play Story Walking, because stories unfolded as we walked.

Upon arriving home from Stan’s, I composed a playful query in rhyme and emailed it to an old friend Anne, a collector of illuminated manuscripts who channels angel messages back and forth… between here and there.

I wondered if my rhyme would elicit a response. It did.

Storied Windows

The angel reply came back promptly, proposing a light-hearted challenge.

The word dim sparked my curiosity, although I have no idea exactly why it was that word. Just a feeling. I consulted Webster’s Dictionary, which listed the synonyms for dim as obscure, dark and mysterious, among others. Inserted among the longer definitions of dim, not luminous or bright, was a quote by John Milton ((1608-1674).

Milton was an English poet who lived during a time of religious strife. Bartlett’s book of Familiar Quotations devotes almost thirteen pages to quotes by Milton. I guessed that “storied windows” referred to the stained glass windows of churches, and in finding the section of verse in Bartlett’s, my guess was confirmed.

I had to flip through the pages of the dictionary to find the meaning of dight – to arrange or put in order. Then I asked myself, “What is the pentameter of Milton’s verse verse?”

Pentameter is a literary device that can be defined as a line in verse or poetry that has five strong metrical feet or beats per line. A metrical foot is a grouping of one stressed syllable with one to two unstressed syllables that repeats in a regular pattern.

As I pondered all this, the spiritual detective within me suddenly understood the intention of the words “when the ship sails in.” I left the house and traveled a mile into downtown, to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, on the hill. St. Luke’s has a great organ and a sanctuary surrounded by stained-glass windows. At the back of the sanctuary is a historical window depicting the ship Providence.

Richly Dight

Arriving at the church, I entered and went straight to the window at the back of the sanctuary. I examined the ship and its setting in detail. The bottom of the lower window panel had a bible verse, styled in Old English lettering, like an illuminated manuscript: “TRUST HIM AND HE WILL HELP YOU STEER A STRAIGHT COURSE AND SET YOUR HOPE ON HIM: ECCLUS 2:6.”

Then I stepped away from the window and walked down the left side of the sanctuary to visit my favorite set of windows, a triptych of Tiffany glass known as the Holy City Windows. The iridescent windows were stunningly different from all the other windows. Tiffany seldom used Jesus or other figures from the bible, whereas all the other windows along the sides of the Nave depicted various saints.

The Holy City window was a pastoral scene representing Psalm 24. In the foreground were tulips, iris and goldenrod, signifying the seasons Spring, Summer and Autumn. In the center panel near the top was the “Holy City,” heaven, with a hint of a radiant figure in the clouds. I thought it might be an angel.

I studied the bible verses at the bottom of the left and right panels, also styled in Old English lettering: “THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S, AND THE FULLNESS THEREOF” and “THE WORLD, AND THEY THAT DWELL THEREIN.” I sensed a connection between these windows and the sailing ship one. The bible texts merited some investigation, and I returned home to do some research.

Comparing the Ecclesiastes verse from the Providence window to the verse in my Standard Bible, I was surprised to find the two versions were completely different. In my bible I read: “2:6 I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.” It was followed by “2:7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house.”

The Rhode Island General Assembly purchased the sloop “Katy” in 1775 from John Brown, a wealthy merchant, slave trader and statesman, who lived in Providence. The “Katy” was commissioned to serve the Continental Army against the British and renamed USS “Providence.” It was one of first ships to form the U.S. Navy.

It struck me as a twist of irony, that the U.S.S. Providence served as a merchant vessel of a slave trader, only to be rededicated to the fight for freedom from the enslaving rule of England. The alternate verse drew my attention to this fact. I searched online and found a third version of the same verse, originally written about 200 years before Christ. “Believe God, and he will recover thee: and direct thy way, and trust in him. Keep his fear, and grow old therein.”

Keep his fear? Grow old therein? Puzzled by the turn of phrase, I thought about the words beneath the triptych window, “Dwell therein.” THEREIN. The words tumbled around inside my mind and my heart, settling into a different order. HIS FEAR… THE EARTH… THE WORLD… HIS SPHERE?

And storied windows richly dight. I saw the angel message clearly in my mind:

KEEP HIS SPHERE, AND GROW OLD THEREIN.

Take good care of this planet, and live a long life. Had I discovered a pun that had been intentionally laid there by angels overtime for someone to find… or had I created the pun of my own mind?

A pun is a literary device where a word is or similar sounding words are used in a manner to suggest two or more possible meanings. This is generally done to the effect of creating humor or irony, and make the reader have an “ah-ha!” moment.

Inspired by a cryptic triptych, I had stumbled upon the wide discrepancies in biblical verse and connected the bits of information, like the pieces of a puzzle. Deeply intrigued, I sought more information from an ecclesiastical expert.

Re Verse

I directed an inquiry to the Assistant Rector of St. Luke’s, and he replied, “The Book of Ecclesiastes is an Apochryphal Book. It has never been included in the canon.” Apocryphal means of doubtful authorship or authenticity; hence fictitious or false. It is derived from the Greek word apokryphos, which means hidden, concealed, obscure. Perhaps the wide variations in text created the doubt in the book’s authenticity. Then again, the entire bible had always struck me as full of obscure meaning. Surely, the angels were enjoying this game with me.

“TRUST HIM AND HE WILL HELP YOU STEER A STRAIGHT COURSE AND SET YOUR HOPE ON HIM: ECCLUS 2:6.”

Providence. Providence is aptly defined as the foreseeing care and guidance, of God, or Nature, over the creatures of the earth. The word is derived from Providentia, the divine feminine personification of a virtue celebrated in the art and literature of ancient Roman culture. More specifically, Providentia represented “the knowledge of things that are good or bad or neither.” She was the embodiment of Wisdom.

This heaven-sent challenge of verse, word play and historical intrigue prompted me to dwell upon the divine feminine and the gradual spiritual reawakening of our connection to Mother Earth. Established by slave traders, kings and current political-industrial-military leadership for economic power and control, patriarchal-dominant systems have disavowed the sacred interconnection of all life and the free will of all individuals.

This dim picture of world governance is slowly becoming more illuminated. The world is out of balance, and there are many problems to resolve. As people take positive, conscious and wise action in their spheres of interest and influence, I believe, collectively, we will help Earth revert to a healthier more balanced state.

Reflecting on all this, I felt at liberty to pen my own pentameter rhyme for Providentia.

Regardless of dogma and the authenticity of religious works, and regardless of God’s gender, faith is about trusting a higher power to provide for both Earth’s and Humanity’s collective well-being. It is also about individuals trusting their intuitive connection to that power and harnessing the prevailing winds of Wisdom.

Where Have the Windows Gone?

Saint Luke’s Church sold the Holy City Windows last summer for $3.5 million to shore up its endowment funds. The church is one of thousands around the country that is costly to maintain. The beloved storied windows were sold through Christie’s in a private auction. No knows who the buyer is nor if the public will ever be able to see these windows on display again.

I was deeply saddened and have not stepped back inside the church since learning this. I see this story is a significant METAPHOR.

Last week I wrote: “There were periods of my life when I attended church services regularly, and times when I did not… Over the years, I explored different denominations… I will attend a church service occasionally, however, I feel closest to God (the cosmic Birther) when walking through a forest of trees…”

Roots & Routes

Yesterday I jointed about twenty other elders on an Earth Day/Arbor Day forest walk, guided by Arborist Matt Largess and Public Historian Bob Geake. Roots represent both the native plants and trees that have grown there for centuries and the deep cultural roots of the people connected to the land. Routes are the paths walked over time — by Indigenous communities, early settlers, farmers, and visitors today. The walk invited us to experience history underfoot and to connect nature, place, and story in a way we can only understand by walking the ground.

We viewed the evidence of a battle between the native red maples and the invasive Norway maples. A metaphor for the land’s history. Everywhere there was evidence of Nature reclaiming forest that had once been cleared in for farming. Another metaphor.

Near the end, Matt invited me to read the Joyce Kilmer poem, about “A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray.” It was a fitting way to conclude a tree walk.

I invite you to begin Story Walking your journey with me at StoryWalking.com.

Why does the mere mention of “God” make some people uncomfortable? Perhaps, because, they find the word limiting. There are many names for the same concept - Adonai, Allah, Bramah, Goddess, Jehovah, Krishna, Shiva, Tao, Yahweh, Sky Spirit, or something more encompassing like: The Almighty, The Great One, etc. In African traditional religions, there are many names, representing different aspects of the divine.

Having been raised in the Christian faith, I lean toward God, although I will sometimes say “Great Spirit” or “Creator.” I also might refer to the “cosmic Birther” of the original Aramaic version of the Lord’s Prayer: “O cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration!” Some might call this power Gaia, Mother Earth, or Nature.

I have close friends who are atheist, and they are good people. They might ascribe to something more scientific, like Nature.

For the purpose of writing, I have chosen the word God to represent all the possible names. When I lean toward God, this is more of a spiritual choice than a religious one. Religions tend to have rigid belief systems, teachings, and practices that were created to guide the moral lives of individuals and communities. Spirituality is more flexible. It is about soul experience - one’s own individual search for sacred meaning and life purpose. Everyone is on their own journey of discovery.

What I find intolerable about religion are the patriarchal power structures that use religious interpretations and doctrines to legitimize subjugation and exploitation, that use propaganda to create divisiveness, that ignore and exclude the weak and disables, and persecute those who challenge the system… because these systems have created so much inequity and suffering, and there is a greater need than ever now for healing.

Jesus welcomed everyone to his ministry, from the hungry and sick to strangers and social outcasts. He stated, "A new commandment I give to you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34-35.) His ministry, in the purist sense, was service, stewardship, and the act of meeting needs among individuals and communities. Love was his healing modality. He brought a new, more compassionate, form of leadership and was persecuted for challenging the religious authorities of his time.

His message was more spiritual than it was religious. He made the unseen higher power visible. And I wonder, did he call this entity by the English word “Father?” Or by the Aramaic words “cosmic Birther?” Translations and interpretations of Jesus’s story vary widely.

Christian denominations vary widely - in governance, doctrine, worship style, and beliefs. Personally, I can relate to the idea of Jesus as the manifestation of pure spirit – God in physical form. I believe we all have this potential within us. I see it outside of us. I see God, or Spirit, all around me – in the strength of trees, the beauty of the flowers, the busyness of bees, the songs of birds, and in human beings who shine with the inner light of spirit and who serve others generously.

There were periods of my life when I attended church services regularly, and times when I did not. Churches can create a wonderful sense of community. Over the years, I explored different denominations, including Unitarian Universalism, which is centered on love and pluralistic worship. I will attend a church service occasionaly, however, I feel closest to God (the cosmic Birther) when walking through a forest of trees, which brings me to the topic of trees.

Yesterday upon returning from a forest hike along the Chatooga River up in Long Creek, SC, my husband and I noticed a craft fair happening and stopped to check it out. My eyes fell on a beautiful pen made of olive wood. It was crafted from Genuine Bethlehem Olivewood, “The Immortal Tree.”

Christian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions share common Middle Eastern roots. These religions grew apart like the branches of a tree. Different denominations and sects emerged from these branches, yet they still share the same roots. The Olive Tree is a universal symbol of these common origins, representing divinity and eternal life.

Why is the Olive Tree so central? Olive trees are considered culturally immortal due to their longevity, some living for 3,000 to 4,000 years, bridging ancient history and modern life. Olive trees have the ability to regenerate from roots even when cut down or burned. The wood for my pen was harvested from the pruning of young trees, which sprouted from the trunks of old trees, some of which were no longer productive. No trees were damaged in the process of harvesting the wood for the pen.

The craftsman promised he could provide Cross refills for the pen, which seemed perfectly fitting for a pen made of wood affiliated with the birthplace of Jesus. Incidentally, A.T. Cross is located in my home state of Rhode Island, which was founded on religious freedom. The wooden grip feels light and smooth in my hand, and it writes smoothly, too. I swear, I can sense the gentle spirit of that olive tree as I write with it in my journal.

Earlier the week I wrote about another old-growth tree - a single tree, known as the Angel Oak, standing on Johns island, SC, rooted in time. Some historians claim this Southern live oak could be as old as 1,500 years, although most guess it to be between 400 and 500 years old. The circumference of the truck is 28 feet… imagine that… and the canopy covers 17,200 square feet.

Image from https://angeloaktree.com/

A visit to John’s Island is now at the top of my bucket list.

In 1675, a man named Andrew Percivall traded a package of beads, cloth, and other goods to the Coosaw indigenous people in exchange for land rights that included Johns Island, where the tree grew. Percivall granted some of the property to an Englishman named Jacob Waight, who cleared trees from the land to create a plantation. Somehow, the live oak was spared - maybe for its beauty or for the cool shade it provided in the high heat of summer. Or was it protected through some mysterious divine intervention? Angels?

By 1717, enslaved people were toiling in the plantation’s fields of corn and cotton, while other slaves were tending livestock, running machinery, and doing housework. One can imagine them stealing moments to rest or to meet for beneath the shelter of the magnificent tree.

In 1810, a Waight daughter married a man named Justus Angel, and the tree became known as the Angel Oak. What kinds of relationships did members of the Angel Family have with their slaves? Apparently, plantation life continued beyond the Civil War, and the family continued to grow cotton until 1904.

From the beginning of the civil rights movement in 1954 and into the 1980s, the Angel Oak served as an important storytelling site for the Gullah Geechee people, descendants of West Africans once enslaved in the Low Country.

In 2008, a developer had purchased the land surrounding the tree, and the City Council approved plans for a complex called the Angel Oak Village. The development would clear thirty-five acres of maritime forest around the Angel Oak and construct more than six hundred town homes and apartments, plus 40,000 square feet of retail space. Save the Angel Oak was formed as a non-profit to wage a battle and defeat the developer. The organization won!

Imagine the environmental changes this ancient tree has witnessed over the years. Imagine the stories, in which it has played a central role. What happens next?

In 2022, Samantha Siegel, founder of Save the Angel Oak and the Lowcountry Land Trust began working with the acclaimed landscape architecture firm, Nelson Byrd Woltz, to design the Angel Oak Preserve, a forty-four-acre park with paths, boardwalks, and a visitor’s center. Community engagement, historical research, archaeological surveys, and ecological analysis have expanded the scope of the conservation project, which is still underway. Upon completion, this living museum will serve as a public venue for sharing place-based stories. The Angel Oak will provide a lens for interpreting Indigenous and Civil Rights history and connect people from all walks of life to nature and conservation.

While attending the College of Charleston in South Carolina, Siegel drove almost every day to Johns Island to sit beneath the Angel Oak. She explains, “It was my sanctuary,” she remembers. “I could touch the tree and feel the negative energy drain from my body.” Today, the tree is protected by a fence, but, oh, how I look forward to standing beneath it some day and connecting the cosmic Birther.

With Arbor Day 2026 happening this coming week, I invite you to listen to my interview with Nathan Cornell, President of the Old Growth Tree Society for the April 2026 Story Walking Radio Hour. Maybe you will decide to go out and search for old growth forest or even a single tree. Click on the map below to see if you can find an old-growth forest near you. Ask around, because there may be more old-growth to be discovered.

Read more about The Angel Oak:

https://gardenandgun.com/the-enduring-magic-of-the-angel-oak

https://lowcountrylandtrust.org/home/creating-community-green-spaces/angel-oak-preserve/

The Olivewood pen was crafted by Charles Lalone, L Design SC. If you would like his contact information, please email me - storywalkerwendy@gmail.com.

I invite you to check out my children’s book, The Angel Heart and/or to celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day with me through storywalking.com

Nathan Cornell knows which paths lead to patches of old growth forest, where majestic trees wear twisted crowns shaped by centuries of windstorms… where one can touch a broad trunk and feel the contrast of the high and dry rough ridges of the outer bark and the soft moist moss that clings to them. Yang and yin.

Sometimes there is no clear path to these sacred groves, because the way is blocked by thorny briars, swampland or tick-infested brush. Cornell ventures forth with great care and intention, making his own way beyond the barriers to where, eventually, he can meander across the clear, but uneven, terrain of pit and mound. The natural death and decay of old growth has created a landscape unfamiliar to most people living in today’s world. Cornell studies the native undergrowth of shade-tolerant shrubs, such as mountain laurel and witch hazel. He notices that invasive species are absent.

As “civilization”continues to encroach, these vital old growth forests are disappearing. If these undisturbed natural forests disappear altogether, we, too, may be lost. Old growth forests do more than host rare ecosystems of native plant and animal diversity. They do more than cool the atmosphere. They store more carbon than younger forests and other landscapes. They are more resistant to wildfire. They prevent flooding. They have an extensive underground mycorrhizal networks that make them more resilient to pests and disease. Old growth forests embody natural wisdom.

The disturbing fact, however, is that these forests have been disappearing at an alarming rate around the world due to clear-cutting, a forestry practice in which most or all of the trees in an area are uniformly cut down.

According to the Old-Growth Forest Network, less than five percent of the Western part of the U.S. and only a fraction of one percent of Eastern original forests remain standing. The network was established in 2011 to identify and help protect “one forest in each county of the U.S. where forests can grow” and to let people know where these forests are located. When people become aware, they can work together to stop the destruction of what old-growth remains and even help degraded forests heal and recover.

When Cornell became aware of old growth forests in 2020, he set out to establish the Old Growth Tree Society (2022) to identify and promote the preservation of Old Growth Forests and trees in his native state of Rhode Island. I interviewed Cornell for the April 2026 Story Walking Radio Hour.

Cornell walks his chosen path with passion, purpose, persistence, and positivity. His leadership and enthusiasm are contagious. I invite you to download the podcast and listen at https://dreamvisions7radio.com/protecting-old-growth-forests/

While sitting here and writing this, I took a moment to look out the window and watched one squirrel chase another through a 100-year old dogwood, cloaked in lichen. One or the other stopped periodically to nibble on buds or prune off a twig. As the squirrel leading the chase reached the tippity top, I wondered how it would evade the other. What path of escape would it take? It made an agile leap down to a lower branch and scurried off from beyond my sight.

With Earth Day 2026 approaching, I invite you to visit storywalking.com for more environmental learning and actionable inspiration. Take the Nature Quiz. Explore the paths. Pick one, and follow it to “your heart’s delight.” Maybe you will decide to go out and search for old growth forest in your neck of the woods.

Why would a child take the time to handwrite a letter? Why would an adult take time to handwrite a letter when texting and email promise quicker delivery? Maybe this article will inspire you.

When I was ten years old, I began writing to my Aunt Flo, an 87-year-old retired children’s librarian. She was a wonderful storyteller! She enjoyed receiving stories, poems, and drawings from me, and I looked forward to receiving descriptions of her activities and travels. When she passed away at age 101, her executor found an old candy box filled with letters I had written, between the ages of ten and 23. The box held a priceless a record of my life through those years - schools attended, friends made, activities enjoyed, trips taken, places lived, jobs worked.

Back in 1976, a postal stamp cost 13 cents, and the stamps were marked with their value. Today, its costs 78 cents to mail a letter and 61 cents to mail a postcard. To help promote and fund the production of my educational nature-inspired Story Walking Radio Hour, I started offering nature-themed postcards for sale on my Story Walking website. These postcards feature some of my favorite photos…

Shop for postcards here. Visit your local post office to purchase “postcard” stamps. Snail mail a thoughtful message to someone your love. Perhaps they will respond in kind. Imagine opening your mail box and finding a friendly note instead of bills and junk mail!

If you send me your postal address via chat, I can write and send a personalized postcard to your mailbox.

This month’s Story Walking Radio Hour is about Protecting Old Growth Forests, with guest Nathan Cornell, Co-founder and President, Old Growth Tree Society. Read more about the episode here.

While collecting litter during my walks through the neighborhood, I find that trash never ceases to amuse me. Sometimes, I save my findings and tape them into my Walking Journal. This week I found a Kids Meal bag with a picture of a cow fixing a split rail fence. The “Cow tech scramble” clue printed on the bag that was pretty lame: Unscramble the letters below to reveal the best gadget to use for this mission.

The answer was printed on the bottom of the bag. TRACTOR. ??? A tractor is NOT a “gadget,” unless maybe we’re talking about a remote control toy tractor. That IS a gadget! If the mission is to fix a split rail fence, tell me, how is a tractor going to help with that?

I remembered helping my husband fixing our split rail fence last year. I held the two pieces of the rail together firmly, while he splinted them back together with two steel plates, screws, and a cordless power drill. Now, THAT’s a cool gadget!

Arriving home after my walk, I went over to check the repair job on our fence. That’s when I spotted another interesting piece of litter. The mysterious image of a magnifying glass was visible through the thin paper, however, the paper’s message was sealed with ice.

I had to take the paper indoors, gently rinse it with warm water, and thaw it out. That is how I found what was hidden inside. The Case of the Secret Message? The Case of the Zoo Clue?

I went back out to the fence, sensing I had missed something. There it was! Bright red! Beyond the fence and to the right!

A yogurt drink that had been well-chewed by a squirrel. The picture on the package showed a gamer… a character with all the gadgets… monkeying around. A Zoo Clue? The character reminded me of my son Neil… the bright brown eyes… one arch eyebrow… the brown hair… the widow’s peak… the determined look on his face… the turquoise shirt. Neil loved turquoise.

Neil passed away nine years ago, at the age of 20, with a diagnosis of terminal DIPG brain stem cancer. This day’s walk brought back memories of his fun spirit. When I feel his joyful presence, like this, it soothes my grief.

Neil was a gamer! We remember him at the precocious age of 6, creating his own game - Gameopoly. We still have his construction paper game board. It’s a keeper! Still makes me smile! Check it out!

Games were “properties.” “Properties earned money. He included every game he knew how to play on his Gameopoly board… from Mario, Bingo, and Candy Land… to Chess, Soccer, and Age of Empires.

Neil handwrote deeds, made play money, and created special cards. He loved all forms of games, and this pulled it all together. He seemed to enjoy inventing the game more than actually playing it.

If you like games, I invite you to visit the “Eco-Detective & Explorers” Path on the Story Walking website. Listen to some story podcasts of other litter walks. Earth Week 2026 will take place from April 18 to April 24, culminating in Earth Day on April 22. These podcasts may inspire you to make a game out of a community cleanup event. You might want to start keeping a Story Walking Journal. Check out the journals on the Story Walking Merchandise page.

I read an informative article about The Hydration Habit. It was in this month’s issue of the Natural Awakenings magazine. Its easy to get wrapped up in work and forget to drink water. But, this is important! Dehydration strains the heart, and hear disease is the #1 cause of death. Hydration helps maintain blood volume, keeps blood thin, and supports circulation.

I recommend drinking from a reusable bottle with a screw cap and keep it ON your desk, because, with a screw cap, there is no risk of water spilling all over your papers and electronics.

Today is World Water Day, which highlights the importance of fresh water. The purpose of this day is to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. This month, the Story Walking Radio Hour presents Clean Made Simple: Natural Toxin-Free Living, with guest Beth Newberry. Beth and I discuss a class of chemicals called PFAS (a.k.a forever chemicals) which can pollute groundwater, reservoirs, and drinking water.

Do you wonder where your water comes from and how it is purified?

Check with your local water authority.

My Story Walking “Stay Hydrated” stainless steel water bottle made its debut today at the Rhode Island Holistic Healing Association EXPO. I personalized my bottle with Story Walking nature stickers. Both items are available on my new Merchandise page.

I invite you to download the Story Walking Radio Hour episode Clean Made Simple: Natural Toxin-Free Living, hear more about PFAS and other toxic chemicals, and learn how to help improve the quality of our precious water.

There are seven paths to follow when you visit the Story Walking platform. Not sure where to begin? Take a quick journey quiz. We need testers to help debug features during platform construction and would be grateful for your engagement and feedback. There is a quiz option for “young explorers” and one for “grown explorers.” I am a kid at heart and chose the “Little footsteps” option. I encourage you to invite the child/children in your life to take the “Little footsteps” quiz along with you. See if they surprise you with their answers.

Your feedback and theirs can help us improve the programming.

Walking Stories - We’re also looking for feedback on Story Walking paths and audios. We share two audio samples on the Bees, Weeds, Trees & Seeds pathway. Invite your child/children to listen with you.

Ask your child/children what they liked about the story. Ask them what questions they have after listening.

We would love to read their responses if you share them in the comments section.

Nature Journaling - Today, I tested the spiral nature journal notebook we offer on our Merch page. The dots, oh, the dots… I love them.

The dots help with spacing, measuring, writing straight, and drawing borders. Young learners will find the dots super helpful.

Learn to draw with plants. Plants are easy to draw, because they stand still, unless the wind is blowing, and they don’t run or fly away. This past week, I went for a walk around our yard checking in with the trees and plants, and I noticed that my blueberry bushes survived being buried under 34 inches of ice and snow. I was beyond grateful.

I prune stems when branches get too crowded, and I pruned a stem from one of the blueberry bushes. I held it in my hand and studies it. I counted twelve buds on the cutting. I wondered how big the buds would grow. Which buds would become berries? Which buds would become leaves? How many berries could a stem produce?

Take you children outside to look at the spring buds. Choose a stem of buds. Prune it carefully, and thank the tree, bush or plant for the cutting. Bring it inside, and place it in a glass with 4-6 inches of water. Study the stem together with your children, and work together to create a written list of words describing what you notice.

Do you know what kind of plan it is?

How many stems?

How many buds on each stem?

Do the stems grow opposite to one another on the stem or do they alternate?

What color is the plant?

Get a sheet of blank paper and help your child/children write the date at the top. Then encourage them to draw a picture that represents what they see. I used my cutting to trace an outline of the blueberry stem onto a page of my new journal. Try freehand drawing and try tracing. Which works best? Connecting with plants in this creative activity is mindful, meditative, peaceful, and healing, if you seek healing.

Preserve the stem in the vase and keep the water fresh. Watch and see if the buds change in a week or two? When a cutting grows roots, and it turns from a stem into a baby plant, this is called propagation. Many plants will do this. Watch and see if your cutting grows roots. Keep track of the mother plant outside, too.

If you are interested in trying dotted paper, please visit the Story Walking Merchandise page. Product purchases support future development of the Story Walking experience. Memberships do, too.

We welcome feedback on the curiosity quiz, the walking story audios, the shopping experience, and this post, so we can make Story Walking activities more accessible, user-friendly and fun. I invite you to restack or share this post with family and friends.

Teen & Adult Listening - This month, the Story Walking Radio Hour presents Clean Made Simple: Natural Toxin-Free Living with guest Beth Newberry. Beth and I go down a rabbit hole and talk about a class of chemicals called PFAS, some of which are claimed to make sunscreens water-resistant. We discuss labels, ingredients, doing your own research, and safe recommendations for toxin-free product alternatives… reef-safe sunblocks included.

What a shocker to read about the harmful effects many sunscreen ingredients can have on ocean life! Summer will be here before you know it, so I have to ask.

1. How often do you apply sunscreen in the summertime?

2. Do you use it at the beach, river, lake or pool?

3. What brand of sunscreen do you use?

4. What are the active ingredients in the brand you use?

In 2018 Hawaii passed a law banning sunscreens containing two chemicals - oxybenzone and octinoxate. Then in 2021, the Hawaii Senate passed a bill banning sunscreens containing two more chemicals - avobenzone and octocrylene. This was due to studies showing that all four of these petrochemical sunscreens are toxic to coral reefs and marine species.

The #1 sunscreen listed in Goodhousekeeping magazine for 2021 was Hawaiian Tropic brand sunscreen. The active ingredients in Hawaiian Tropic were listed as Avobenzone 2%, Octocrylene 5%, Oxybenzone 3%. In 2025, Goodhousekeeping was still promoting this brand. Why? Because this is business as usual:

• Magazines promote the products of their advertisers, the companies that keep them in business.

• Corporate labs conduct tests their own products for feel... non-oily... non-sticky... non-stingy. And they test the smell of the product, because nobody wants to wear a lotion that smells bad. They also test sun-blocking effectiveness of the product. There is, however, no testing for toxicity.

• Marketing agencies use the lab test findings for ad copy and promotional purposes in order to build sales and market share for their corporate clients.

The four chemicals are banned by Hawaii, because they accumulate in the tissue of the coral, causing coral bleaching and damaging DNA. Corals are keystone species, meaning they provide an essential function to other species within their marine ecosystems. Fish and invertebrates live, seek protection, and spawn within coral structures.

In New England, sunscreen chemicals have been found to decrease fertility and reproduction in fish and induce defects in young mussels. They inhibit embryonic development and damage immune systems in sea urchins. Other research shows that these chemicals can prove fatal to organisms living in freshwater ecosystems. These chemicals wash off our bodies and enter our waterways when we swim in local waters, when we take a shower, or when we rinse our hands.

Going deeper down the rabbit hole, these chemicals decrease immmunity and reduce fertility in mammals, including humans. Recent studies indicate human couples whose urine contained higher concentrations of benzophenones had a harder time getting pregnant. And, human mothers can transfer oxybenzone to their infants via breastmilk. How do these chemicals gets into urine and breast milk? One way is through the skin. This is why it’s important to read labels, dig deeper, and understand what’s inside the bottle.

Sunscreen is but one example of many personal care products that are made with harmful petrochemicals, including parabens, phthalates, PFAS, and synthetic fragrances.

This month, the Story Walking Radio Hour presents Clean Made Simple: Natural Toxin-Free Living with guest Beth Newberry. Tune in Monday at 9am and 9pm ET on the Dreamvisions 7 Radio Network livestream. Beth and I go down a rabbit hole and talk about a class of chemicals called PFAS, some of which are claimed to make sunscreens water-resistant. Think Teflon. We discuss labels, ingredients, doing your own research, and safe recommendations for toxin-free product alternatives… reef-safe sunblocks included. Time to throw out the old bottles of gunk and buy better.

Animation. Children are drawn to animation because of the bright colors, engaging sounds, cute expressive characters, and simple stories. Now that spring is arriving, Nature is starting to fill up with bright colors, engaging sounds, and cute expressive birds aplenty. I invite you to explore the Nature connection with me by first Clicking on the “Disconnect to Reconnect” image below. Please share this brand new video with the young people in your life, start a conversation, and continue the conversation outdoors. I appreciate every View, Thumbs Up and Share!

Children thrive with sunshine, fresh air and space to roam, because their bodies were made to move and explore. Outdoors is where they learn about circadian rhythm, seasonal changes and the life cycles of flowering plants, butterflies and frogs. Nature offers the best playground, and this is where children fall in love with Nature. It is a world full of miracles and wonder that sparks curiosity, imagination, inquiry and patient observation. Falling in love with Nature and with Earth changes everything, because we will protect what we love. Story Walking is about walking, writing the world we see, and weaving our experiences into our stories.

I’m Wendy, host of the Story Walking Radio Hour. Stay tuned for more!

I picked up a crumpled candy wrapper, smoothed it out, and studied it. In the center sat a small white rabbit, upon a black paint pallet with a China red shadow. I read the English words WHITE RABBIT above the Chinese words. What intrigued me most, however, was the border design on the edges. It reminded me of the tesselation art created by M C Escher.

A tesselation is a tiled pattern made of one or more repeating shapes, say a white fish and a black bird, such that the shapes fit together without any gaps or overlaps. Fish fill the white space, while birds fill the black space.

The border appeared to be a tesselation of white rabbits and shapes that reminded me of the king pieces from a chess set and cabbage plants. Altogether, the graphic componenets reminded me of the poem about The Walrus and the Carpenter, which appears in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The poem goes like this:

“‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said,

‘To talk of many things:

Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax —

Of cabbages — and kings

And why the sea is boiling hot —

And whether pigs have wings.’”

Written by Lewis Carroll, this poem tells the nonsensical story of a walrus and a carpenter who deceive a group of oysters into following them and then eat them. The poem is a commentary on deceit.

Further along my walking path, I found two more White Rabbit wrappers and a Wrigley’s gum wrapper. I was following a trail literally littered with clues. This had to have some meaning. I put on my spiritual detective hat and asked God, “Why this? Why now?” When I go Story Walking, sometimes I find secret messages in nature, and sometimes, remarkably, I find them on the man-made litter strewn along the trail. My first thought was of “wriggly rabbits,” squeezing through the fence of Mr. McGregor’s garden when they got caught eating cabbage.

Doing an online investigation into White Rabbit Candy took me down a rabbit hole. Here is what I discovered: In September 2008, there were more than 52,000 reported cases of children made sick by melamine-tainted dairy products, including White Rabbit Creamy Candy. Most of the children were diagnosed with kidney problems. The brand was removed from U.S. store shelves.

I eventually shared this story on the Story Walking Radio Hour in 2021, and then forgot about it until last month, when the Department of Health in Florida released test results of 46 candy products from 10 companies. Arsenic was detected in 28 of the products tested, suggesting the need for further evaluation.

I wondered: How does arsenic get into candy? Apparently, arsenic can enter candy through environmental contamination. Naturally occurring arsenic is present in soil and water, however, unnatural arsenic maybe introduced during the processing of food, when contaminated water is used, or through residue from discontinued practices of spraying arsenic pesticides on crops.

The published results give families clear information and specific guidelines. Among the findings 2-2/5 pieces of a Hershey’s Kit Kat is the safe consumption limit for a whole year. 2-2/5 pieces of a Mars Snickers bar is the safe consumption limit for a whole year. For Tootsie Rolls, the limit is 8 pieces.

When you stop and think about how much candy children eat, that’s scary!

We lost our son to DIPG brainstem cancer in 2017, and this realization adds to my grief, as I wonder…

looking back on all those Halloweens binges. What are the consequences of arsenic? The answer arrived in my inbox yesterday, rather serendipitously. Long-term arsenic exposure has been linked to...

• Lower IQ scores

• Learning and memory problems

• Attention and behavior issues

• Slower thinking

• Weakened immune system

• More infections that last longer

• Multiple types of cancer

I hope this cautionary research is widely shared. How much candy will your children be consuming this Easter when the white rabbit comes to visit?

Hindsight is 20/20. Forewarned is forearmed. And knowledge is power.

We can shape the market with our spending dollars.

Money talks. The withholding of money talks, too.

Please consider restacking, and help spread the word.

This month, the Story Walking Radio Hour presents Clean Made Simple: Natural Toxin-Free Living with guest Beth Newberry. Tune in Mondays at 9am and 9pm ET on the Dreamvisions 7 Radio Network livestream. Beth and I go down another rabbit hole as we dive deep into products formulated with PFAS, parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrances, and other ingredients linked to chronic illnesses and environmental pollution. Learn what to look for on product labeling and how to recognize ingredients that are health-promoting versus health-compromising. I’ll share the podcast download link in next weekend’s post.

In the meantime, read Florida’s findings here.

One morning, as my husband and I were walking along a busy bike path, a snapping turtle crawled up over the embankment and proceeded to cross in front of us. The ancient looking creature moved slowly, steadily and deliberately. It walked step by step, moving one foot forward at a time. Bikers and walkers stopped to watch in fascination until it reached to other side. We were all enchanted.

The snapping turtle family, Chelydridae, evolved in North America and has inhabited our wetlands for nearly 90 million years, whereas humans have been walking the Earth for a mere 200,000 years. With its deeply wrinkled skin and hard weathered shell, the Common Snapping Turtle, Chelydra sepentina, speaks an ancient wisdom and reminds us to slow down and appreciate the journey of life.

“Nature never hurries, yet everything is accomplished.” These wise words are attributed to Lau Tzu, ancient Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism. By slowing down, one can actually accomplish more – minimizing stress, making fewer mistakes, thinking more clearly, and acting with deeper insight, greater purpose, and more care.

Common snapping turtles live in freshwater ponds, streams, lakes, rivers, swamps, and sometimes brackish waters. They eat aquatic plants, fish, frogs, and insects. Clean water is essential for the health and survival of snapping turtles and for the aquatic species they eat. Exposure to pollutants like heavy metals, pesticides, sewage, or forever chemicals can lead to problems such as weakened immune systems, stunted growth, and even reproductive failure.

When humans get caught up in the fast lane, they come under pressure and make hasty decisions, often thoughtless ones. They lose complete perspective and become more careless. They get so caught up in their performance goals - produce more, sell more, earn more - that they fail to see the harm of their activity. Water pollution is one of many manifestations of this kind of human carelessness.

My mission as a Storywalker is to encourage people to get outdoors, slow down, be present, be mindful, and connect with the world that sustains them. Then maybe they can reflect on these experiences, learn from them, and write their own meaningful stories.

Story Walking begins when we step outside into green space. The magic of story walking can happen in a park, a community garden, or a cemetery. It can happen on a tree-lined city street, a woodland trail, or a bike path.

I took a slow walk earlier today, after attending church and before publishing this post. The air was cold and crisp, and the sky was a pure blue. I inhaled the clean air and thought about the hundreds of single-use styrofoam coffee cups that were being tossed into the church garbage this Sunday. The words “Creation Care” came to me and, at the very same moment, a leaf came flying down, and its stem struck me in the heart. It felt like a message from God saying, “Yes, these are the words you need you to convey. Creation Care.”

I stooped down to pick up the leaf and examined it in wonder. The shape reminded me of the head of a snapping turtle, with its sharp beak of a mouth and prominent nose. And this truly surprised me, because I was about to publish this post.

I walked on and caught an overwhelming whiff of dryer sheets. It obliterated the clean scent of fresh air. The snapping turtle relies on its sense of smell more than it senses of sight and sound, and I could imagine how a turtle would turn up its nose at this smell. This got me wondering, and upon returning home, I researched dryer sheet ingredients. The Environmental Working Group states that dryer sheets have all kinds of chemicals in them that are dangerous to the world around you both inside and outside of the home.

I learned a few new things today, like… avoid toxic, unrecyclable dryer sheets and make your own dryer balls, which you can reuse over and over again. Try putting a few drops of pure essential oils inside an old wool sock. Something you find pleasant - lavender or lemon, for instance. Tightly roll up the sock to form a ball. Add a few drops into a second sock. Place the first sock inside a second sock, and cuff it over itself a few times to form a larger ball. Repeat with a third and fourth sock, if needed, and roll the socks as tight as possible.

Creation Care involves making informed choices about everyday household products. I’ll be talking about this with my next podcast guest.

Take time to write about the world you see.

Step away from your screen. Right now. Go take a slow walk. For ten minutes or an hour. Tune into the outside world. Then, come back, sit back down, reflect, and share something about your walk in the comments section.

What happened?

What did you notice?

What did you wonder about?

Any ah-ha moments?

How did your mood shift?

How did your energy shift?

Just curious!

Wendy Nadherny Fachon is host of the Story Walking Radio Hour and author of The Angel Heart.

My most vivid childhood memory of springtime was watching my mother count the first robins she saw after all the snow had melted away. She would lick the pad of her right hand thumb and press it quickly into the open palm of her left hand. Then she would make a fist with her right hand and stamp it against her left palm. She would give each robin a number, starting with one and counting up from there. The red-breasted robin is the first bird I learned to recognize.

My mother never explained what she was doing, except to say it brought good luck. Over fifty years later, I was wondering about the significance of my mother’s springtime habit, which led to discovering a similar tradition called “Stamping Robins” by licking a thumb and grinding it into the opposite palm.

When I was a child, postage stamps were made with a lick-and-stick adhesive. My mother’s right thumb represented the stamp and her left palm represented the postcard or envelope. Her fist represented the rubber stamp used by the post office to confirm the date of receipt and to mark the stamp as “spent.”

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual event that happens in Mid-February. People around the world count and report the number of birds they see in their backyards over a four-day period. This helps scientists track bird populations and understand their health and distribution. Stamping robins is a fun way to start learning about backyard birds, counting and, maybe, participating in this citizen science activity.

Mom was an a second grade teacher, art teacher, and bird lover. She would have loved playing with the box of Crayon Rocks I found last week in a gift shop. 32 natural colors! Made in Kentucky Amish country! Biodegradable! Compostable and made from a renewable resource - natural soy wax instead of petroleum-derived parrafin wax. The makers combine soy wax with other plant waxes and a variety of non-toxic powdered pigments to create beautiful colors. They use a natural ground rock to give the crayons body. The color goes on smooth and blends easily, almost like an oil pastel, but without the mess.

The other cool things about these rocks crayons is their shape and grip. A special education teacher, Barbara Lee, is the inventor. Lee helped many students learn to write adequately so they could pass their exams. She figured out how important it was for children to develop a strong tripod grip early in their education process. The tripod grip encourages children to use thumb, first and second fingers and aids them in fine motor development. Read more and shop at crayonrocks.com.

For Valentine’s Day, Dean gave me an unusual gift, a mini sketchbook of handmade paper, manufactured in Sri Lanka from a mixture of elephant waste and post consumer paper. Surprisingly, it’s clean, colorless, and acid-free! The texture reminds me of elephant skin, and it is cleverly marketed as “Pachyderm Paper.” An elephant’s diet is all vegetarian, and so its poop is basically raw cellulose. The maker cleans and processes the mixture of cellulose and converts it into crafting paper that can be used for notebooks, cards and other gift items.

The Asian elephant is a vulnerable species found on the island of Sri Lanka and across India and Southeast Asia. Farmers in Sri Lanka have been killing elephants, because they interfere with agriculture. An adult elephant eats 300 pounds of roots, grasses, fruit and bark in one day. Agriculture is the dominant form of land use in Sri Lanka. Elephants and people can only co-exist where crop damage can be compensated. The makers of Pachyderm Paper plan to do this by showing exactly how elephants can be a sustainable economic resource. Read the story and support the elephants by shopping at MrElliePooh.com.

Rock… Paper… Add Scissors for small hands. Pre-schoolers learn scissor skills by watching and practicing. Parents can show their children how to repurpose paper grocery bags as art material - tearing, cutting, folding, drawing and writing. Offer kids large scraps cut from paper bags, junk mail envelopes, magazines and scraps of gift wrap, and watch them to CREATE!

Wendy Nadherny Fachon is host of the Story Walking Radio Hour and author of The Angel Heart. Tune in for the May 2026 episode, Backyard Gardening for Birds, in which Wendy interviews “For the Birds” award-winning writer and author Laura Erickson.

If you enjoyed this post, read Exploring the Language of Flowers with Children.

I paused to gaze out the window and noticed a Blue Jay looking back at me. It was perched on one of the lower branches of our old dogwood tree. As I watched, the jay flew up to a higher branch. Suddenly, it fell from the branch, back down, belly up, like it had just dropped dead. I gasped as it flipped over at the last millisecond and landed on the lower branch, back on its feet. The maneuver was quite a stunt. What amused me even more was the timing of the stunt, because I was writing an outline for a podcast interview about windows and dead birds. How could I help but interpret the performance as a message from Nature expressing approval for my choice of topic: Bird Building Collision Monitoring: Migratory Bird Conservation.

Go outside during daylight and take a good look at the windows around your home, apartment complex, or office building. What do you notice? Does the glass create optical illusions of reflectivity or transparency?

Now imagine you are a bird. Might the reflection of trees and/or sky in the window look like an extension of the outdoor landscape? Or does it appear as if you could fly right through it?

Have you ever seen or heard someone walk smack into a glass door, thinking it was open to a deck or patio? You get the idea.

My daughter gave me a timely book for Christmas - Vesper Flights by Helen McDonald. In a chapter titled High-Rise, McDonald describes birdwatching from the observation deck of the Empire State Building, peering into the night sky with a set of binoculars during migration season. She explains: “most species of diurnal birds migrate after nightfall. It’s safer. Temperatures are cooler, and there are fewer predators around.”

Focusing her binoculars on infinity, McDonald looks straight up and watches birds invisible to the naked eye fly into view. She sees an awful lot of them. As the birds pass over, they are illuminated, briefly, by, and I quote her, “this column of light cast by a building thrown up through the Depression years to celebrate earthly power and capital confidence.” A colleague standing next to McDonald consults a radar app that indicates over one thousand birds per cubic mile.

These birds are stellar navigators. They rely on the position and rotation of the stars to find their way. City lights can disorient them, draw them down and around the buildings. McDonald watches a warbler fly down and circle one of the high-rise buildings - around and around - and later she writes: “We cherish our cities for their appearance at night, but it takes a terrible toll on migrating songbirds: you can find them dead or exhausted at the foot of high-rise buildings all over America. Disoriented by light and reflections on glass, they crash into obstacles, fly into windows, spiral down to the ground. More than a hundred thousand die each year in New York.”

I wondered: How do star-guided birds navigate if the night sky is cloudy? Answer: They have a special sense called magnetoreception, which allows them to perceive Earth’s magnetic fields.

I also wondered: How do electromagnetic fields (EMF), emitted by 5G/6G technology and related infrastructure, affect bird migration? How about spinning wind turbines? So many questions. More research needed.

For my February Story Walking podcast, I interviewed Elaine Carlson, a Chicago resident who volunteers with Chicago Bird Collision Monitoring. For the past nine years - every spring and fall – Carlson has spent early morning hours recovering migratory birds that collide with Chicago’s downtown buildings. She has also responded to hundreds of hotline calls from concerned citizens: running out of the door, net in hand, to scoop up stunned and injured birds from balconies, parking lots, and city streets.

Carlson has rescued well over 1,000 injured birds and documented over 1,500 fatalities. Some of her stories are dumbfounding. She describes the causes and offers up actionable solutions.

Listen to the podcast, Bird Building Collision Monitoring: Migratory Bird Conservation, explore the resource links to see videos and data, and learn more about ongoing research and preventive action.

Help monitor live birds this week, February 13-16, 2026. Find out how at Great Backyard Bird Count.

Go on a bird walk, and record observations in a nature journal.

Wendy hosts the Story Walking Radio Hour every Monday at 9am and 9pm ET on the Dreamvisions 7 Radio Network. Access more episodes at storywalking.com.

There is a magical plant known by the scientific Latin name Lamprocapnos Spectabilis, which sounds like a powerful spell one might pronounce with the flick of a wand. The words means shining, vapor, and spectacular. This miraculous plant springs from beneath the ground to light the way out of the darkness of winter. Tiny green buds emerge one by one, like a string of lanterns. They grow until they glow with a brilliant whiteness.

The shape of the flower begins as a tear drop. Then a heart-shape swells above the tear. And, finally, the flower sprouts a pair of wings. I call this flower Angel Heart, because it continues to unfold and reveal a story of sadness, comfort, love, and rising spirit.

The Angel Heart is a storybook that features this flower to introduce young children to the rich symbolism of nature. When we are at a loss for words, flowers can express emotions, messages, and meanings. This rhyming picture book lays the groundwork for emotional association, visual literacy, and early poetic structure.

NeuroLaunch, an online library of mental health information, supports the value floral expression:

“Unspoken emotions find their voice in the captivating world of floral symbolism, where every petal and hue whispers a tale of love, joy, sorrow, strength, or friendship. It’s a language as old as time, yet as fresh as a newly bloomed bud. Imagine walking through a garden, each flower a silent storyteller, ready to unfold its narrative to those who understand its secret code.

“In our fast-paced digital age, where emojis often replace words, understanding the nuanced language of flowers might seem quaint. Yet, there’s a timeless beauty in this form of expression that resonates even now. It’s a reminder that sometimes, the most profound messages are conveyed not through words, but through the delicate unfurling of a petal or the vibrant burst of color in a bouquet.”

The Angel Heart begins with moonflowers, white flowers that open at night and reflect the light of the moon. Moonflowers can symbolize reflection, stillness, lightness of being, or something else entirely. What do you feel when looking at these white flowers on a black background? Does it remind you of anything? Children will have their own unique responses.

Week 1 of The Angel Heart Teacher’s Lesson Plan leads children in exploring the language of flowers through an Emotion & Flower Match-Up activity. The teacher provides cut-outs of different types of flowers. These can be clipped from seed and flower catalogs, garden magazines, or printed from online photo archives like pixabay.com or pexels.com. The teacher also prepares cut-outs of emotion words - happy, sad, calm, silly, loved, peaceful, grateful, overjoyed, special, excited, uplifted, comforted – and shows how to match a word with a picture. The students can look through the pictures and match at least one of them with a word.

To expand upon this, I suggest bringing a seasonal bouquet of flowers to school, asking the students for words that describe the bouquet, and helping them list those words on a blackboard or whiteboard. Through the week, stems can be presented to students along with expressive messages.

My Flower, My Feeling is another creative activity where students can express how they are feeling by drawing a flower on a note card and naming it. They can consider sharing their feeling by giving to card to someone else.

“In a world that often feels fast-paced and impersonal, the simple act of giving or receiving flowers can create a moment of connection, a pause for reflection, a spark of joy.” ~ NeuroLaunch

Flower Nature Walk is an outdoor activity in which students are encouraged to look for flowers or leaves and describe their “feeling.”

February is Heart Health Month, and The Angel Heart by Wendy Nadherny Fachon supports heart-healthy learning and can be purchased from Amazon and other online booksellers. The Angel Heart Teacher’s Lesson Plan will become available this Spring for the 2026-2027 school year. To learn more about The Angel Heart curriculum, please contact Ann Connely at partners@worldwidepublicists.com or 979-232-2401.

Wendy Nadherny Fachon is host of the Story Walking Radio Hour and author of The Angel Heart.

A crescent formed by the curves of a longleaf pine bundle dangled before my eyes, reminding me of a Calder mobile. I had been reading The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling, and was out story walking in search of an interesting subject to practice some drawing and journaling techniques. Nature journaling begins with noticing details and describing them.

The pine bundle was one of three held together with spider-fine thread. The tops of two bundles were attached to the tip of a thin slip of bark, and a narrow seed pod of some sort seemed carefully placed to create space between the two bundles. The entire assembly hung suspended by a single thread from above, and it twirled ever so slowly with the slightest puff of air. I watched the curved pine bundles spiral around in one direction and then back the other way.

I noticed a pattern of threes. Three types of materials. Three pine bundles each with three needles. Three threads stretching between the upper bend and the lower bend of one bundle. A thread wrapping three times around the longest bundle before attaching to the sheath of the bottom-most bundle.

Three prompts guide John Muir Law’s method of natural journaling:

I notice...

I wonder...

It reminds me of...

So after noticing, I wondered. How had this kinetic sculpture come into being? Clearly, a spider was involved in its creation. I imagined the spider had threaded the pieces together somewhere up above, before it tumbled down into place.

Did the spider sit above and watch the assemblage drop? Or did the spider grab hold and ride the assemblage as it fell?

How long would the mobile remain there? Would a gust of wind tear it away? Or would the added weight of a freezing rain pull it all down to the ground?

Everything about the spider’s creation - the balance, the shapes, the use of space, the ability to rotate - reminded me of the mobile sculptures created by the famous artist Alexander Calder.

GET CRAFTY!

Start Nature Journaling

Take a walk to look for a subject.

Materials:

two 8-1/2” x 11” sheets of white copy paper clipped to a book

sharp pencils

eraser

Instructions:

Complete these prompts:

I notice ___________________

I wonder __________________

It reminds me of ____________

Do you prefer drawing or writing? Try recording your observations and thoughts combining both drawing and writing.

Share your journal pages with others.

Make a Nature Mobile

Bring the outdoors inside. Take a walk with a paper bag and collect things you find on the ground - branches, twigs, pine cones, pine needles, seed pods, fallen leaves, feathers, etc.

Materials:

nature findings

cotton thread, string, twine or yarn

scissors

sewing needle, optional

Instructions:

Research “nature mobiles” online for inspiration

Tie your nature treasures onto the sturdy stick so that they dangle down.

Slide the strings across the stick to balance the elements.

Find a place to hang your mobile.

Play a Creative Game

Describe your mobile in writing.

Swap your description with a friend.

Draw the mobile described by your friend’s description.

See how closely your drawings match the original sculptures.

Try Drawing a Mobile from Different Perspectives

Children have incredible superpowers - curiosity, eagerness to learn, playfulness, and unlimited imagination.

When I was inspired to develop the mindful practice of Story Walking, back in 2009, I had to reawaken my “inner child,” and “just be,” like a kid.

I walked everyday, around my neighborhood or along a local trail, observing Nature with a childlike awareness. I slowly relearned the power of curiosity, wonder, playfulness, and imagination. I played games with Nature, asking questions and seeking answers. I assumed the role of a nature detective and noticed mysteries unfolding all around me. I made metaphorical connections. I photographed many of my discoveries, as evidence of mystical magic, and turned my findings into magical stories. And this is how I developed the mindful practice my husband termed Story Walking.

If I find myself overwhelmed by something or someone, I escape outdoors with my inner child, and we go story walking and connect with Nature. We might go amble for 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or longer, or we might just go out and sit somewhere peaceful.

1) Slow down and just be... be quiet... be still... close our eyes... and find a state of inner calm. When the outer world or my own life situation overwhelms me, I need time to sit mindfully, peacefully, and patiently.

There is a well-known quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” Consider the weeks needed for a seed to sprout and produce a flower or the years required for an acorn to become a full grown oak tree.

2) Pay attention... open your eyes and ears ... look around... listen... watch closely... notice everything... and study the details.

Physicist Albert Einstein said, “Look deep into nature and then you will discover everything.” By using all the senses, including the senses of intuition and humor, one cultivates curiosity and playfulness, which leads to inquiry, discovery and imagination.

3) Rest and reflect... What did you see? What did you experience? How does it make you feel? What does it suggest?

Poet William Wordsworth said, “Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher.”

Generally, I return from my walks refreshed, relaxed, and often with a sense of resolve. Nature has a mysterious way of providing the distance, space, and clarity we need in times of uncertainty. This is the way of Story Walking.

And, the more we immerse ourselves in Nature, the more we fall in love with Nature. This is also the way of Story Walking. We find our Oneness with Nature.

In 2019, I joined the Dreamvisions 7 Radio Network platform and launched the Story Walking Radio Hour, where I share my stories and invite other people to share their stories. Most of the people I interview spent a lot of time in Nature when they were children. They grew up to become conservationists, biologists, farmers, gardeners, nature writers, nature illustrators, science teachers, environmental lawyers, citizen scientist volunteers, and more. My podcast listeners are nature lovers, school teachers, parents, students and people eager to learn how they can take action to help protect Earth and her natural resources.

I teach a little bit of Story Walking, share a lot about how to help Nature, and encourage parents and teachers to take their children outdoor adventuring.

Play at Story Walking - Set aside time to go for a slow walk. Bring along a paper bag to collect interesting things that are lying on the path or sidewalk – an odd-shaped leaf, a seed pod, a pretty weed, a feather, a curious piece of bark, or even pieces of litter printed with pictures or words. Pick up whatever captures the imagination or sparks a moment of inquiry.

Create a word bank using the things you notice. Use the word bank to write a journal entry, story or poem. Add photographs or drawings. Cultivate your curiosity, playfulness, and unlimited imagination.

To learn more, listen to my January 2025 Story Walking Radio Hour episode, Nature as Teacher: Stories and Reflections from Nature Journaling, and enjoy!

Walking through our woods, I noticed a strange pair of purple eyes popping out of the leaf litter. Funny! My first thought was: Looks like Nature is watching me. I wondered what lay beneath the litter, besides beetles, millipedes, grubs, and worms. The eyes looked like wheels, so I guessed it might be a toy truck.

I picked away the leaves and uncovered a girly-colored toy truck. The head of a unicorn was mounted atop the chassis, and it had a snarling face. The phrase “buried anger” came to mind.

I imagined Nature watching me, wondering what I was going to do with this remote control Sparkle SMASH monster truck. What kind of nature story might I write about it? I pondered the challenge. The children living next door often lose balls in our woods, which is understandable. Their candy wrapper blow under the fence. This situation, however, seemed different. Maybe a brother got angry at his sister and decided to hide the toy in the woods. That is one plausible story, yet my imagination wanted to spin something more imaginative

* * * * *

Once upon a split rail fence, there sat a fairy. The fence surrounded and protected her sacred woods. She would bask in the warm sunlight, close her eyes and listen to the soothing sounds around her – the rustling of the leaves in the wind, the songs of the birds, and the gentle humming of the bees.

One day, the fairy’s peace was disrupted by the slamming of a door. She opened her eyes and watched a young boy run out of the house next door. She sensed he was... upset. He stopped running and placed a toy on the ground. Then he set it in motion. It zipped around on the grass and passed close to the fence, making a high-pitched whirring noise. The fairy winced at the sound and placed her hands over her ears. She noticed the toy was a truck and watched in wonder as it headed straight for the – she winced again as the toy truck smashed into the trunk of the old oak tree and flipped over.

The fairy watched the boy stomp over to retrieve the poor little truck. Now she sensed he was... mad. He placed the truck back on the ground, fiddled with a gadget he held in his hands, and set the toy in motion once again. It zipped around and around on the grass, making the same high-pitched whirring noise. With her hands still covering her ears, the fairy watched the truck whiz by the fence. This time she noticed the body of the truck was designed to resemble the head of a unicorn. Then she watched in wonder as it headed straight for a – she winced a third time as the unicorn smashed into a big boulder and flipped over.

The fairy watched the boy stomp over, even more furiously, to retrieve the poor little truck. Now she sense he was... fuming. She thought to herself, “This is getting out of control. I need to stop this!” Truck in hand, the angry boy set the wheels in motion again and dropped the toy back on the ground. It landed with a bump and zipped around and around the yard, making the same high-pitched whirring noise. The fairy watched and waited patiently for the truck to come back around and alongside the fence. Then she flew into action.

The fairy jumped atop the truck as it whipped by. She grabbed a tight hold of the unicorn’s horn and leaned hard to the right. She rode the unicorn under the split rail fence and headed straight for a tangle of leaves and branches. Then she leaned hard to the left and flew up and away from the vehicle just in the nick of time. She watched the mini-truck flipped onto its side. Then she flew back down and buried the truck with leaves, leaving two wheels exposed, in such a way that they resembled a pair of pop eyes.

She stood back to admire her clever work. Then she hid behind a fence post and waited to see what would happen next. She watched the boy. He just stood there with his mouth wide open. She sensed he was... surprised. She wondered what he would do next. Would he come search for the truck? “Come into my sacred woods,” she thought, “and see what I’ve done with your anger.” The boy just stood there, with his eyes popping out of his head. She sensed he was spooked. He was hesitating. She sensed he was confused... uncertain... and afraid. The rage was gone. It had been replaced by a mix of other emotions. Suddenly, the boy turned and ran away, back to the house, and the fairy laughed.

* * * * *

I returned the toy to the neighbors yard, along with two golf balls, and a small blue rubber ball. I imagined a young boy, full of raw emotion and lacking the words to express his discontent. I thought of children living in homes where anger may be forbidden, where expressing frustration is met with punishment or dismissal. What happens to all those big, scary feelings?

Anger is a valid emotion and not one to be buried. I grew up in a household where expressions of anger between siblings had consequences. I struggled with anger, because my parents failed to model healthy anger expression. They hid their arguments, quietly, behind closed doors. As a result, I grew up suppressing my anger, which was unhealthy. What does a healthy response to a disagreement or a perceived injustice look like and feel like?

Three weeks ago, in my post Parable of Three Birdies, I pointed out how an angry response to another person’s carelessness or transgression tends to escalate a conflict, while a calm response can help diffuse a combative situation. Anger is complicated. We must treat it with respect. We might respond by saying, “Clearly you are upset. Can we talk about this after we both calm down?”

If we push our anger down completely, it gets buried deep within our psyche. Over time, this suppression can become a habit that follows children into adulthood. Do you ever smile when you’ve been hurt, and say “it’s fine” when it’s not? It takes courage to stand up for oneself and say what you really feel. The boy in my story took his anger outside to express it. Was this a good way to handle his emotions? What do you think? How do you express your anger?

For more nature-inspired stories, listen to my January 2025 Story Walking Radio Hour episode, Nature as Teacher: Stories and Reflections from Nature Journaling.

Creative writing prompt: Can you relate to the fairy in quirky tale? Imagine your are Nature or a fairy watching people. What does you notice happening and how do you respond?

One Sunday morning illuminated a spidery spectacle and stopped me in my tracks. I paused to consider the unusual webwork. The threads were laid down in groups of five. They reminded me of staves on a sheet of music, waiting to be filled with notes. The day before, I had written a poem. The first verse was there at the top of my mind.

I followed a single thread with my gaze, and imagined the spider’s process of weaving - up and around, over and under, back and forth and back again.

I wondered: How far did the spider walk while spinning this remarkable creation?

Then I thought about the second verse.

What can we learn by watching a spider weave its web? Intelligence and ingenuity. I thought about how spiders walk and weave their webs as they go along. Like spiders, we walk through our lives and weave our stories as we go. Our choices shape our lives.

Spiders teach us about choices and the importance of living in the present moment. There is no point in getting stuck in the past. We are unable to change the past, however, we can learn from past choices. There is no point worrying about the future. The future is unknown, yet choices made in the present moment affect future outcomes. The best we can do is to be mindful of our choices and to take time to consider multiple options.

After I shared these thoughts with my husband, he wrote the following:

“Life is what happens in the present. With intelligence comes the ability to contemplate the past and anticipate the future. Wisdom dictates what you do with that ability.” - Dean Fachon

Spider, in her wisdom, teaches us to be patient, to sit in stillness, to listen, to contemplate, to wait.

Life happens. A flying insect becomes entangled in the unseen. The web transmits a signal to Spider, and her next choice is clear. It’s instinctual. She moves into action. The perfect web gets messy. Suddenly there is a gaping hole.

Life is like that.

Like when someone you love dearly has been dispatched.

You feel rudderless and adrift, for awhile.

And this is where Spider teaches us about Resilience.

Spider webs have spoken to me in the past and a new web was sending me another guiding sign. I was mesmerized by its expression of vibration radiating out from its center. It reminded me of the ripples created by a stone dropped into a pond. It reminded me of choices, words and actions and how they send ripples out into the world. I thought about the ripples our son created before he died, positive ripples that continue the spread beyond our seeing and knowing. I thought about musical vibration and knew that my poem, about Story Walking, was destined to become a song.

I reached out to Robert Sherwood, who produces podcasts for the Dreamvisions 7 Radio Network. Robert is also a singer, songwriter and composer, who plays many instruments. After spending several years in Los Angeles, he moved to rural Western Massachusetts, set up his dream studio and began recording his own music, free in every sense of the dreaded “commercial straitjacket.”

As we talked about putting the poem to music, Robert imagined piano with a touch of guitar and a quality of spaciousness. After he worked out the melody, I asked what he thought of the idea of making it a male/female duet. He loved the idea and invited Teresa Lorenço, Joni Mitchell tribute vocalist, to sing it with him.

We will be introducing The Path of Wonder (Story Walking Song), on the syndicated Dreamvisions 7 Radio Network, and it will play at the end of my January 2025 Story Walking Radio Hour episode, “Nature as Teacher.” Listen here.

Wendy is host of the Story Walking Radio Hour and founder of StoryWalking.com, where she is building a collection of nature-inspired tales and sound journeys that turn storytelling into acts of restoration. In 2026, Story Walking will be adding podcast subscriptions featuring industry experts, as well as eco-inspired merchandise including journals, postcards and explorer bundles for budding naturalists. We have chosen products that will inspire kids and their families carry curiosity and wonder into daily life.

Cardboard loom weaving with natural fibers, sycamore branches and bark, by Wendy Nadherny Fachon

One of the requirements for earning the Girl Scout Pen Pal badge was to write at least four letters to a “pen pal.” I was ten years old, and my mother suggested writing to my Great Aunt Flo, who was 87 years old and lived two hours away. I borrowed my mother’s stationary and began, “Dear Aunt Flo, I am trying to ern a ‘penpal’ badge for Junior Girls Scouts and I want to know if you will be my penpal.” I described a Girl Scout meeting that involved a sled race, building a fire in the snow, drinking hot “coe-coe’',’ and eating cookies. I also drew a map of the race course. Aunt Flo wrote back to me immediately, and then I wrote back to her.

We wrote to back and forth until Aunt Flo passed away at the age of 101. In her last letter to me, she wrote “You see how my lines run off the edge of my paper. It tells you my eyes are not going to let me write letters as I want to. I shall have to send my messages by transfer of thot thru the air.” She was in Illinois, and I was living in Boston. She was preparing to be spirited away and wanted me to know that she would stay in touch. She lives on in my memories and in my heart, and, occasionally, she whispers guidance to my soul.

What I remember most about Aunt Flo’s letters were her reports of the Purple Martins returning every spring from South America. They nested in a martin house outside her bedroom window. A martin house looks like a mini-condominium complex mounted 30 feet above the ground on a tall pole. Further back in time, Natives Americans hollowed out gourds and hung them from poles for martin nesting. The martins reciprocated by eating the bothersome flies and mosquitoes. This species has come to symbolize conservation and stewardship and also embodies the symbiotic relationship between mankind and nature, reminding us of our responsibility to protect and nurture all of life.

I also remember Aunt Flo describing the walks she took down to the Vermillion River. Martins prefer nesting in open areas nearby river corridors, where they have access to fresh water and flying insects. Aunt Flo also wrote about the various activities organized by the Evenglow Lodge, her assisted living community. She was a retired librarian and kept the Evenglow library well-organized.

In case you were wondering, evenglow refers to a soft, even light or glow, often associated with the gentle illumination seen during twilight or sunset. Evenglow is a compound word, combining “even” (an archaic term for evening) and “glow” (from Old English glōwan). Its etymology ties it specifically to the light associated with the ending of the day - gentle blend of warm, muted oranges, soft purples, and pinks. Evenglow has a magical quality and brings a sense of calm and tranquility. I can imagine my aunt watching the martins perform their aerial acrobatics on a warm summer evening.

One of my fondest memories of Aunt Flo was from my earliest years. I would sit on her lap and beg her to tell me the story of Rikki Tikki Tavi. Nobody could tell that story the way my Aunt Flo could tell it..

After Aunt Flo passed away in 1983, her executor found all the Pen Pal letters she had saved in old candy boxes, and he returned them to me. Aunt Flo dated the ones I had neglected to date, and, in the end, gifted me with the stories of my life, recorded between the ages of ten and 23.

These handwritten letters are something special, and I highly recommend snail mail correspondence. It is an entirely different experience than texting or emailing. Although communication is less immediate, it offers the thrill of anticipation. Letter writing is a creative handicraft. It is a mindful, reflective and responsive practice, as well as a wonderful way to wind down at the end of the hectic day or a busy week. Finally, it is both exciting and gratifying to open a mail box and find a friendly letter instead of a medical bill or pieces of junk mail.

How to Become a Pen Pal

Fulfill the Pen Pal Badge Requirements from the 1963 Junior Girl Scout Handbook:

• Practice writing the following 6 letters to someone you know – or an imaginary friend:

  • Thank you note for gift or visit

  • Letter giving interesting news

  • Letter telling of a project you participated in (could be a troop/school project)

  • Letter with something funny for a sick friend

  • Invitation to attend a meeting or party

  • Letter to either a younger or older person than yourself

• Share the practice letters with friends/family/troop and get feedback to improve format, grammar, or layout of the letters.

• Correspond with a pen pal (relative, friend in another city/state, friend you don’t see regularly anymore). Do the following 4 things:

  • Exchange hobbies & main interests of your pen pal.

  • Write about something from your Girl Scout [or other learning] experiences.

  • Include sketches, photos, or printed pictures about the topics you write of in at least one of your letters.

  • Tell your pen pal something special about where you live (history, people who live there, industry/occupations, beautiful/interesting locations).

• Practice wrapping a package to postal requirements – including addressing them correctly and using the right label.

• After you correspond for at least 4 letters, and feel you know each other well, decide what was interesting, valuable, and if this was a successful activity.

Envelope stamp price is 78 cents; postcard stamp is 61 cents.

Changes in 1977 Worlds to Explore Junior Badges and Signs, the last two activities were edited.

• Practice wrapping a package to postal requirements – including addressing them correctly and using the right label. Find out how to pack a fragile object. AND Learn the different costs for the different speeds and special services USPS has for mailing packages.

• After you correspond for 2 or more letters, and feel you know each other well, decide what was interesting, valuable, and if this was a successful activity.

Sadly, the Pen Pal badge was discontinued in 1980.

Wendy is the author of The Angel Heart , host of the Story Walking Radio Hour and originator of the Story Walking platform, which is undergoing a redesign and will be offering new sound journeys and “Snail Mail” postcards for 2026.

If you wish to learn more about Purple Martins, visit the Purple Martin Conservation Association.

ACT 1: Looking out the kitchen window, I noticed a male Northern Cardinal standing stage left on our picnic table.

This songbird is a brilliant red color with a pointed crest atop its heads. It has black face mask and black throat.

Cardinals tend to be bullies. Sometimes, it puffs up it chest and cries, “Birdy, birdy, birdy,” to tease smaller birds, like the Tufted Titmouse or the Black-Capped Chickadee. If it wants to rule over the bird feeder, it may flap at other birds as if to say “Get off! This is my food.”

ACT 2: A Blue Jay flew in from stage right and landed on the picnic table across from the Cardinal. It took an unfriendly hop toward the Cardinal, as if to challenge it to a fight.

A Blue Jay is mostly blue bird, and it also has a pointed crest atop its head. It has a white mask and belly, a black collar around it neck and beautiful wing and tail feathers of blue, black and white.

A Blue Jay is a bigger bully than a Cardinal. This cunning bird can cry like a hawk in order to scare other birds away from the bird feeder.

ACT 3: Suddenly (poof!) the Blue Jay stopped, frozen still. I wondered why, and then I noticed something resting in stillness between the two quarrelsome birds. It was a white badminton birdy. Yes, with its smooth round head pointed skyward and a skirt of white plastic feathers. It reminded me of a white dove. The Peacemaker.

“Birdy, Birdy, Birdy. Three birdies,” I mused, “Well look at that! Red, white, and blue!”

The badminton birdy reminded me of the Mourning Doves, which are often the first birds to arrive at our bird feeder in the morning. Larger than both the Cardinal and the Blue Jay, the Mourning Dove is a soft beige color with small black spots on its cheeks and wings.

This morning, one Mourning Dove rested quietly on the feeder tray, and six more Mourning Doves sat on the ground beneath the feeder. Seven doves in all.

The calm these birds radiate is powerful, in a quiet and gentle way. Unperturbed by the quarrelsomeness of other birds, they respond with serenity. They show us what harmony looks like. They teach us that the peace we seek already resides within our hearts. It is the Peace of God.

Peace is always a choice. When we feel upset or angry, we can choose to stop and sit still for a moment...

calm our heart and take a deep breath...

and slowly let it out...

let it out and relax...

because anger only causes more anger...

like war only causes more war.

Instead we can settle into peace and calm.

Have you ever noticed how calm defuses anger and gives people time to think and work things out? Have you ever noticed that?

I wondered if this brief picnic table performance was staged It was short, sweet and straight to the point. I seemed like a magical story gifted from Heaven… perhaps written by our Creator(, carried down by Angels… and presented through Nature’s own actors... before my very eyes, so that I could share it with you. I wonder!

Birds are, in fact, messengers from Heaven. The Cardinal represents Hope and Renewal, the Blue Jay represents Clarity and Truth, and the Mourning Dove represents Peace and Love, the most potent forces. This holiday season, let your love shine and let others love you. This is a true story. If you like this, please share it with your own holiday message.

Backyard birdfeeding tip from Wild Birds Unlimited

Wishing you a holiday full of love, light, joy and peace!

Wendy is the author of The Angel Heart and host of the Story Walking Radio Hour on the Dreamvisions 7 Radio Network. She loves to enchant children and their families with stories of God’s Nature. She has been watching her backyard birdfeeder from the kitchen window for years! Do you have a bird feeding tip or backyard bird story to share? Pop it into the comments section.