Hello again. These past two weeks I found it impossible to function normally beyond taking care of myself. As the number of cases and deaths from the virus continued to increase exponentially around the globe, I found myself sucked into my internal world, and unmotivated to dig up my creative energies. I was doing everything I could to simply survive both physically and mentally. Lots of long walks, sitting in my swinging chair, reading books, doing puzzles, and staring out the window.I felt par...
Apr 20, 2020•22 min
I hope you all had a good week, considering the circumstances. A week where you were able to take good care of yourselves and found a way to alleviate some of the stress that you are most likely under right now. I had a week that felt like a roller coaster. Some days I felt strong and determined to tackle my list of things that I needed to accomplish, such as searching for new health insurance, filing for unemployment, and changing my direct deposit information for the IRS. It seemed that those ...
Apr 02, 2020•16 min
This past week I have found it very difficult to function, as I am sure most of you who are listening to this podcast have found as well. So, I took some time off in order to focus a bit on some self care. The entire world has been upended by a dark and invisible force. The great equalizer. A virus that is out of control and does not discriminate based on age, sexual identity, social status, political party, cultural background, educational level, race, or religious beliefs. It is replicating ex...
Mar 24, 2020•17 min
Nature was my safe space when I was a child. Whether I was sitting on the top of a mountain, hanging out by the side of a glacial lake, or lying on my back in a meadow looking up at the clouds, it made me feel as though everything in my life would someday be okay, despite the ugly circumstances of my daily reality. If I could find this much beauty in the small spaces of my immediate environment, then there must be a whole lot more beauty for me to discover somewhere out there in the big world. M...
Mar 10, 2020•18 min
Nature has its own special type of silence. When I am alone, embraced by it, there is no true absence of sound. On the contrary, you can still hear the breath of the wind as it exhales through the trees. Songbirds create a pleasing hallelujah chorus in surround sound, and the water broadcasts a relaxing symphony as it trickles, splashes, and tumbles its way over the rocks. There is even a barely audible sound when the snow falls on a still winter morning. If you turn your face towards the sky, e...
Mar 03, 2020•15 min
This episode I’m going to start things off a little bit differently. I’m going to read a chapter from my upcoming book of essays, Walking on the Edge of Crazy. This essay is titled “Of Demons and Angels.” I also want to say before I start, that I am open to all religions and belief systems. It does not matter to me what you believe, or whether you believe at all. If you are a good human being who is kind to others, then it’s not my, nor anyone else’s place to judge you. The preacher stood at the...
Feb 25, 2020•17 min
There is a seasonal creek that sits right below the cabin. It runs full and swift during the Spring runoff once the temperatures begin to rise, which usually occurs sometime in April. Several small waterfalls form and the sounds are soothing and energizing. When I’m tired or stressed, I make my way down to the creek, wander along its banks, and allow myself to be swallowed up in its hypnotic sound and motion. I wasn’t always so fond of water. In fact, it took me many years to get over the fear o...
Feb 18, 2020•18 min
Many years ago, I was involved in a search and rescue party. This was for a teenage girl who had run away from the private residential school, where I was working at the time. The school sat on 500 forested acres and was far from a highway and the nearest town. This young teen had grown up in a city and had very little experience in outdoor survival other than the few months she had spent with us at the school. However, she was well-versed in surviving some pretty horrific living conditions. She...
Feb 11, 2020•15 min•Season 1Ep. 6
I don’t know how many of you have had the opportunity to remove yourself from the light pollution of the cities and stand under the breathtaking canopy of the heavens on a moonless night. If you have not, I implore you to put this on your bucket list of must-do’s in this lifetime. Sure there are stars in the sky no matter where you live, but, there is no comparison when you take away all the competing light sources and are able to view the unbelievable number of stars that are in the sky on any ...
Feb 04, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Many years ago now, I decided to make a journey back to my home town to do some backpacking and a solo climb of one of my favorite 13,000 foot peaks. I had been living in the crowded suburbs for 24 years at that point, but took every chance I had to spend time out in the mountains that I missed so dearly. I remember the day I told my friends that I was planning this solo trip. They all thought I was crazy. They were worried about my safety regarding any interactions I might have with wildlife. I...
Jan 28, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 4
In early October of this year, I noticed a red squirrel working frantically to gather seeds from the cones of a large pine that towers over a little shed just beyond the cabin. All day long for several weeks, it would scamper up the trunk to the top-most branches and throw the cones down below. They would bounce off the tin roof of the shed and make a loud pinging noise as they hit. For a while I could not figure out where the pinging was coming from, until one morning when I walked by the tree ...
Jan 21, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 3
So, who am I? I am an artist, a writer, an educator, and a bit of a techie. That’s a simple way to describe what I do with my life, but those things are not really who I am. I do feel great joy when I am painting, or turning wood, writing chapters for a new book, teaching others how to perform a difficult task, or building a website, but all those things sit on the periphery of who I really am. I can best describe myself as a complicated human being, one with many layers that tend to hide the co...
Jan 14, 2020•14 min•Season 1Ep. 2
I sit here in a little cabin in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, just shy of the Canadian border. I am surrounded by the serenity of nature and far removed from the noise and frenetic energy of the big city. My life is not perfect, but my struggles have become greatly diminished since making a home in this place. For me, the move to the woods was a long time coming and truly a matter of sanity. If I continued to live “out there” as I call it, the already worn and unraveling threads, were dest...
Jan 07, 2020•7 min•Season 1Ep. 1
This teaser is an introduction to A Woman in the Woods podcast, hosted by award-winning photographer, author, artist, and educator, Tracy J. Thomas. Subscribe to this podcast to follow Tracy on her journey living in a little cabin in the woods just shy of the Canadian border. A Woman in the Woods podcast is launching in January 2020. Keep an eye out for the official launch date here or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest for the latest updates. Or visit my website at awomani...
Dec 30, 2019•1 min
