Portal to Peace

Relinquish your troubles to the natural realm

Dec 28, 2025

My siblings and I have a running joke about signaling when we are in trouble. Obviously we can’t be together every minute of the day, but in the unlikely event that someone messes with us or one of ours, we will get medieval on their ass without hesitation. However, first we gotta know there’re shenanigans afoot. The signal is going wide-eyed and blinking twice. If we’re texting it’s just the words ‘blinking twice’. This after our freaky radar makes our hair stand on end (aka no text response within 37 seconds, despite a rapid increase in the number of texts sent) and we’ve already digitally shouted “is Timmy in the well?!” or “have you fallen and you can’t get up?!” or “are you trapped under that damned dresser you were moving?!”.

But sometimes it’s a minor skirmish with the universe, for which we go to plan B - the woods. Our dad used the woods like a cocktail of xanax, hypnosis, and seek-a-word served with a side of enforced marching, that cagey wizard. He literally walked us for hours on a Sunday afternoon simultaneously teaching us about the forest, quieting us for several hours, and wearing us out. No wonder we were so healthy then👀.

Nowadays when life is a bitter brew, when I need to move and make my blood pump, when I need a hard reset, I go to the woods. We finally got there last week and although it was a less remarkable day photographically, the temp was a balmy 48 Fahrenheit and the hike tired me out and brought my heart and brain back to center. As a bonus, there are also a couple very interesting sunrises. I hope you take time to immerse yourself in nature’s glory several times a week, no matter the weather, because it’s the largest source of free therapy on the planet.✌

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Bren’s Buzz | Cori Bren | Substack

Happy New Year!

I’m always fascinated by the magical portals created by nature. I can’t resist their siren’s song and don’t understand how others do.

Even in the colder, grayer winter landscape, colors pop like fireworks attracting birds and the elusive shutterbugs.

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The birds were obsessed with this thicket of berries resembling miniature cocktail cherries. I wonder if these ever ferment, causing a wee, friendly flash cocktail party.

As we wander these trails, I’m constantly amazed at the infinite changes that occur throughout the year. I imagine that every second of a full annual seasonal procession is paparazzi-worthy. I certainly capture something new every time, like what looks like the spidery offspring of the Alien caught under the ice - alright, alright don’t get pushy it’s probably a shadow on the top of the ice or brush underneath. Why must you ruin my fun?!

The ice itself was a ‘winter wonderland fashion show’ I had to capture. Hubby was boot skating on it despite my concerns.

Don’t go to the mattresses. Go to the woods and tell all your loved ones to go too.

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I love to look to the sky at all times of the day and night, staring in awe at what happens in the daily solar/lunar cycle. On this warm day, the sun was friendly and the sky’s blue was incredibly brilliant against the forest drapery.

The woods and fields and ponds and streams are all full of rocks in Pennsylvania. Both the moss and I find these rocky sideshows entertaining.

There’s more where this came from, including some funny nature mixes about aliens, witches, and such linked below and found under the Nature tab on my site.

We’ve lived in this area for going on 5 years and I’ve taken 100’s, maybe 1,000’s of pics of sunrises and sunsets. There’s something in the air here (literally?) that makes them brilliant most of the time. And yet, this week I saw two different phenomena for the first time ever. Maybe in the past I’ve simply not been present enough to notice such gifts.

First, on Monday, there was a ‘teacup’ sunrise, which is what I call an enclosed sunrise captured as it first peeks over the tree line east of us. However, in this case, a few moments later I captured a pink, cotton candy froth over the top that reminds me of a halo and which I’d NEVER seen before. It was dreamy…

Then I turned 180 degrees looking back over the roof of my house into a sky so blue I almost couldn’t stand to look. Venus was hanging out in this blue velvet club winking saucily at us mere earthlings. For the record, I zoom in on sky-bound sites just enough to provide perspective, because I find a single object, like Venus, boring when displayed against a featureless background.

Two days later, on Christmas eve morning, I got another surprise, this one even bigger. Same morning sunrise venue, much different outcome. This one looks more like a monotone rainbow which would require a panoramic shot to create a single pic, for which I had neither the training nor the time to bother with. I’ve captured it in a series of photos for your viewing pleasure.