Dreamscape Jewelry Design

July 19, 2026: When a Single Word Feels Like Coming Home

When a Single Word Feels Like Coming Home

For years I’ve laughingly described myself as a “nature nerd.”

Then a dear friend Gerri sent me a word I’d never heard before.

Ecophile.

I read the definition once…
then again…
and realized it wasn’t describing someone else.

It was describing me.

Growing up in a small town in New Jersey, I looked forward all year to one special week.  Every summer my mother packed four children, three dogs, assorted pets (including a canary!), and somehow managed to drive us more than ten hours to a little cabin beside a lake in Maine.

As we headed north, each state border we crossed elevated the anticipation, until we finally reached the turnoff and slowly meandered down a dirt road. At last the cabin appeared, with the lake shimmering through the evergreen branches.

That one week each year immersed in nature gave me something far greater than a vacation.  It gave me a lifelong sense of wonder—a belief that beauty, mystery, and discovery were always waiting…

if only we took the time to look

… and listen.

When my parents moved our family to Maine during my senior year of high school, those yearly moments of wonder became part of everyday life.

Later, as a teacher and eventually as a parent, I made a promise to myself….to share this same sense of wonder with children. 

Whether teaching in my own classroom or later working with teachers through a local university, I spent my career helping others discover the natural world. Along the way I was honored to receive both state and national recognition as an environmental educator, but the greatest reward was seeing curiosity come alive in a child’s eyes.  Even today, I write a weekly “Nature Corner” blogpost for our local library’s newsletter.

Now, having the opportunity to spend 3 1/2-to 4 months once again beside a shimmering lake in Maine, has opened the doors to creative pursuits.  We named our company Dreamscape because owning this little camp beside the lake had been a dream for many years.  It also reflects the place where dreams, creativity, and the natural world seem to meet.

Today it has become far more than a summer camp.  It is where we reconnect with the quiet rhythms of nature and step away from the constant noise of everyday life.

Our jewelry designs are inspired by nature.

Every watercolor begins with something I’ve actually experienced rather than simply imagined.

Nearly every morning and sometimes late afternoon, Ron and I head out with binoculars and my camera to see what treasures the natural world might reveal. Some mornings it’s the sight of a fawn’s hoof prints crossing the woodland trail.  Other mornings it’s a tiny warbler hidden among the leaves or a glow of a field of purple fireweed catching the early light.

I’ve learned that wonder isn’t measured by size.

It simply asks us to notice.

I used to think I simply loved nature. 

Now I realize nature has quietly been shaping me all along.

It has influenced how I teach…

how I create…

how I see the world…

and even how I measure a successful day.

Perhaps that’s what an ecophile truly is.

Not simply someone who loves nature…

but someone whose heart and life has been formed by it.

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Thank you for joining me on this week’s Weekly Wanderings.

If these reflections reminded you of someone who feels at home in the natural world, I’d be honored if you shared this story with them.

Wishing you moments of beauty, serenity, and wonder wherever your own journey leads.

In peace and harmony,
Wendy Oellers-Fulmer

Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.

— Rachel Carson