Woods walk with my mother-Carmel, New York, 1967

This piece speaks to a reclaimed memory of a woods-walk I took with my mom in the Hudson highland woods of Carmel, New York.  Cast-off birch tree paper, Star moss, tiny pearl-like mushrooms and British Soldier Fungi decorated the landscape under foot.  Escarpments of lichen-covered, grey stone broke the earth’s surface like whalebacks. During our walk, my mom and I collected bits of moss and clumps of ferns, special stones and particularly interesting branches and transported them to our courtyard gardens at home.  We planted a “Healy Garden”, named for our friends in Carmel.  Many years later, I still find the smell of cut wood and wet soil grounding.  The same minutia, the details and textures that I remember from that walk still resonate for me today; they are still rich and precious.