Partners in Place

"This first wheel is large enough to fit on the door of my refrigerator. I used it to help me notice the plants, animals, and microclimate during my first year in my new little house and yard in a new neighborhood and watershed. The center of my wheel has all four Madison lakes and the spot where my house sits in relation to them. As I completed the wheel, I also started to celebrate the solstices, equinoxes, and cross quarter days that correspond to traditional holidays and special moments in my year."

In the next photo, Joan is putting her previous Wheel of the Year aside and beginning a new one for the coming year. At this point, she is full of intentions!

"By the end of the year, I had not made one single entry on my wheel! So, I decided to do a retrospective wheel. I selected photos to create a photo collage and consulted my date book to fill in many details. I used the double wheel in the center to note how the feeling and quality of each season was present in some way, obvious or hidden, in all the other seasons. When I stepped back to look, I noticed that instead of observing plants and animals, I observed myself-this female mammal-as she participated in a full year of travel, deaths of dear ones, and the national election. This retrospective flooded me with compassion for the woman I was observing and with gratitude for all the complex relationships in my life."