In my travels over the hundred acres of the farm and its outbuildings, I spent a lot of time observing my surroundings. Much of the time, I was alone and so unspoken communications with wildlife encouraged me to wonder about our capacity to understand each other.

“Often I remained a few minutes in the shadows, surveying the yard beyond the cracked putty shrinking away from the glass, gazing at the winter skeletons of lilac bushes and native mountain laurel where a lonely bird might rest, tilting its head at me… as if beckoning me to spread my wings and join him as he flitted off to seek shelter from the cold that settled so deeply in those hills.”

from The Girl With the Black and Blue Doll, A Memoir of Childhood Depression