She woke in spring, in green fields filled with warm sunlight and the sound of birds singing, from some deep slumber like Sleeping Beauty. She didn’t know what had changed, but there certainly had been no prince’s kiss to rouse her. She lay there for a moment, unsure of what had happened.  At the edges of the field, the wind rustled the tops of trees and the fog receded into the dark woods, slipping away like her dreams and memories.

So she wandered the woods. Had she a mirror, she would have seen all the changes. She noticed her hair first, going from red to a deep chestnut brown as the day wore on. It happened every day with the sun and stayed darker for longer periods of time as the days passed. If the river had been still enough, she would have watched her eyes move from green to blue whenever she was near it.

At night, she lit little fireworks in the air and stared at the stars long enough to see the whole of the Milky Way. This went on for months, until autumn arrived. Her hair took on the color of the changing leaves. One evening, while she was lost in the moon, a strange feeling came on quickly: some story was unfolding as winter quietly approached, but she was unsure what it was.

She closed her eyes and listened, and it was then all her memories flooded back: this place was hers, this time was hers. She was connected so deeply, she could no longer deny her power. And so she began her adventure.

{all photographs by Teresa Q, used with permission}

She woke in the middle of the night. The mountains she hadn’t seen in months were calling to her, pulling her toward them like a gravity in her blood. She packed, and early in the morning, she began her drive. This time, she’d need an airport and she was there before it opened. When it did, she booked the first flight she could. There was one to a big city, another on a smaller plane to the peninsula. She rented a car and drove to the cabin by the lake.

How could a place that she’d never really been to, that she’d only seen from afar call to her this strongly? But there she was in late autumn in the mountains drowning in tall trees. She didn’t remember when her life was so still and quiet, when it was just her and the sky, the sun, the stream, and the earth. In the afternoon, she drove into town for some food and supplies. Town was tinier than a city block, but the locals were friendly and they made her smile.

She spent the next few days wandering the woods, sitting and breathing, feeling the whole world in herself.

{incredible photographs by Quentin Bacon}