Nan BowlesMy husband Tom, our dog Spot and I live here along with the marsh grass, the marsh mud, a creek that flows in two directions, coyotes, marsh rabbits, and river otters, Great Blue Herons, Red-winged Black Birds, and White Egrets, marsh pinks, morning lories, loblolly and longleaf pines, tree frogs and lizards, mosquitoes, dragonflies, and butterflies. We all call the marsh home which is located on the east coast of North Carolina near the town of Beaufort. Twenty-one years of listening to community members in the marsh has opened my heart to the Earth parables coming through these plants or animals, the sun and moon. I call these stories, Earth parables because they always contain a lesson for me and for all humans. When time is taken to visit a flower or watch the lizards in my pathway, openings are created for stories and insights to come or for a moment of beauty to appear that asks to become a painting. This can happen as I am walking the land, canoeing the creek, hanging out on the dock, walking the forest trail on the edge of the marsh, or going for a swamp stomp. These stories, insights and images grow and ripen within me until they are ready to be put on paper in the form of watercolor paintings or photographs. In time they become a greeting card, with a teaching story written on the back for all to read. Read More Read Less