Parallax Photo: Misty Morning

(Favorites Series )

5th Place in my poll of Etsy's favorite pictures was "Misty Morning"

The non-profit I work with starts every year off with a retreat/orientation/training for the 30+ young people we will be working with for the year.

It's an intense week in July, we run workshops all day and team-building events every evening. The participants start telling us they're burnt out by about Day 3. But, there's a lot they need to know before we send them off, so, short of providing all the caffeine, snacks and mini-breaks we can fit in, there's not much we can do about that.

What they don't realize, is that the folks who are running it go back and forth between utmost empathy for their burn out... and a complete lack of it. Because, long as their days are, running a retreat means getting there early to set up, staying late to clean up, using breaks to deal with the mini-crisis of the moment, and meal-times to check in with everyone else. It's a marathon.

misty morning landscape massachusetts new england coast

My saving grace is the location, right on a beautiful New-England-at-it's-best beach. The water is cold, and often choppy, coast is rocky, and I love it. I'm a morning person, perfectly happy to be up before anyone else, and never sleep particularly well on a strange bed. Since I'm up, I manage to steal a half an hour or so most mornings to head to the beach, sometimes with my camera, sometimes a cup of coffee, sometimes nothing more than an intention of sitting and watching the waves.

There is something indescribably calming about listening to the surf, breathing moist, salty air --- and not having a single person tugging on my sleeve for something. When I read about Victorians going to the sea as a medicinal retreat, I understand completely.

Misty Morning is from one of these excursions. I had the beach to myself and could see the fog gliding down the rocky hill. It was stunning.

And brief. By the time I packed my things and headed for the dining hall, breakfast and the start of the day, the fog had burned off completely, leaving a sun jewel-tone summer day.