I went to England last month. It was on a whim. I thought my fondness for spontaneity would fade away after I had a kid, but it didn’t. I went on this trip alone. I have never been apart from my little mini for more than an excruciating 24 hours and I was certainly never an entire ocean away from him. This trip was one of the best gifts I ever gave myself. I have been taking a lot of risks lately.  I think I am going to keep on doing that.

When I got to Heathrow, I had to get to the central bus station to get my bus to Stansted airport, where I was to get a cab. Funny thing was that my bus was in a different bay then my ticket said, and it had a different town marked on it. With 7 minutes before departure, luck put me on the right bus…. I suppose. From the very beginning, it seemed like this trip and my destination was meant to be.

My destination was to the Arthur Findlay College. It was one of the most amazing experiences I ever had, and I am already plotting my return (I wish money grew on trees). The people there were phenomenal. If you are familiar with this place, I would love to chat about it with you, so message me

When I opened the cab door in front of the school, I was greeted by Bilbo, the school cat – he works there. I thought to myself, this was going to be a good fit for me. I had fun making this image look “spooky”, but the building was quite the contrary: it was extremely welcoming. I would eat, sleep, learn, and socialize here for the next 8 days (and I think I drank a little too much wine the first night).

I dropped my bags off at noon, but check in was at 3pm. I had time to kill and I had been traveling since 4pm the day before and I cannot sleep on a plane. I was exhausted. I stumbled into town down the dirt road I would frequent daily, with a new friend. We parted ways and I decided to explore, and I came upon these beautiful flowers.

Anyway, each morning started with a guided meditation. On this misty morning, I ditched the meditation and decided to take a walk into the medieval town before my first class. This piece of forest reminded me of a faerie land.

This dirt road was flanked by an endless yellow field of rapeseed flowers to the left and a bunch of rescued racehorses to the right.

Flowers of all different kinds lurched into the sides of the road. Birdsong pierced the cool damp air. THIS was my morning meditation.

As I meandered toward the town, I found myself stopping to take photographs, and then I slowly discovered this terrarium of a scene. It was a tiny world of rain droplets, and flowers, and miniscule creatures. I was so taken in by this tiny little dream world, I was nearly late for my first class. Here is what I saw.

All of these images were taken with an inexpensive Canon Rebel with the kit lens on it. For more nature and travel images, click HERE

Firefly Photography is now booking appointments in  Southern NH (Keene and the Monadnock Region) and Brattleboro, VT for dreamy maternity, newborn and child portrait photography. Getting married? Check out my sister business, OneLove Imagery!

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