Soaring spirits
We don’t know where or how our story will end,
But sometimes it’s good just to let ourselves take wing
And soar.
We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.
– Joseph Campbell
For more amazing critters, please visit: Camera Critters.
The return of the light
We celebrated the winter solstice last week:
The longest night and shortest day.
Because from here on in
The light, no matter how muted, is returning.
As I walked in the lovely light of sunrise (8.30 am or so!),
I heard a loud screeching: it was the heron
Flapping its huge wings
As it flew off into the rainbow clouds,
Reminding me that now is the time to dream and hope.
For more dreamy skies, please visit: Skywatch.
December roses
The mild grey weather of December
Sent me the gift of a perfect luminous pearl
Speaking of renewal and hope in the middle of winter.
Pink perfection
Strung with a necklace of melted snow
Tells a tale of gentleness and endurance.
A faded beauty and a rose ready to bud
Reminds us – in this time of making resolutions -
To keep the goodness of the old
While enjoying the promise of the new.
For more stories, please visit: Our World.
Heart-y greetings
It’s time to slow down
And listen to the music before the song is over.
Time to be a child again in spirit;
To give the best gifts:
Those of time and love.
May your holiday season be heartfelt and sweet!
– Only from the heart can you touch the sky.
Rumi
For more lovely skies, please visit: Skywatch.
The triumph of light
Last week was the festival of St. Lucia.
Throughout Sweden, choirs of girls and boys dressed in white and bearing candles sing lovely songs about hope and comfort. And for a few moments, we stop and listen to the message they bring.
They sing about bringing light and hope to the darkness of winter;
About warmth and compassion in the heart of coldness.
Lucia is a time of lighting candles and remembering that we are like those candles -
A small thing, but one that can light the flame of another.
And as we give light to another, our own light increases -
Spreading the beauty, no matter how insignificant we are.
It’s about remembering that after the dark, the sun returns -
Just like we do.
(Oh – and it’s also about drinking spiced mulled wine and enjoying saffron buns!)
For more stories, please visit:. Our World.
Happily ever after
Most stories end with the heroes riding off into the sunset
And then living happily ever after.
Most of my stories end with us admiring a silken sky
And then swimming off into the sunset.
Either way – it’s a pretty happy ending, don’t you think?
For more fairy tales, please visit: Skywatch. And Weekend Reflections.
And for brave creatures, swimming or otherwise, see: Camera Critters.
Dancing on the edges of time
November sent me a postcard that spoke of…
An upside down tree in a drop of rain;
Wet skies and branches blowing in the blue wind;
And the ballet of green pine needles
In a glittering sky.
November spoke to me in tones of grey and blue and green
To remind me – in the words of Tagore:
“Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf.”
For more dewy beauty, please visit: Our World.
Frosted heron
Frosted boats in the early morning light.
A heron bows to the beauty of a crisp early morning
Before flying off
And lending its own poetry to the sky.
For more flights of fancy, please visit: Camera Critters.
Of mist and rocks
At dawn, the old stone church across the lake bathes in golden light –
Amazing to think that 800 years ago, someone looked at a pile of rocks
And saw how they could be transformed into something so much greater than the sum of their parts.
And as the sun sets,
Don’t ask what the meaning of the birdsong or the setting sun is,
Just enjoy the beauty and let them be.
For more loveliness, please visit: Skywatch.
Of cobbled stones and cannon balls
A while back, I visited Stockholm’s Old Town with my daughter.
(You may remember this story from a previous visit there.)
It was a cold, gray day that did nothing to dampen our spirits or the glowing jewels of the old buildings.
Parts of the Old Town date back to medieval times (the 13th century) and the narrow alleys and winding cobbled streets give a small glimpse of life back then.
A fairly harsh world where the gutters in the streets acted as sewers and where, in winter, the cold winds still blow through the streets and cut through clothes like a knife.
As I enjoyed the faded beauty, I felt grateful for my modern comforts.
As we entered Stockholm’s oldest square, we saw a cannonball lodged in the corner of a building that goes back to the 1500s.
According to popular legend, this cannonball commemorates the Stockholm Massacre in 1520 when the Danish King Christian executed a number of Swedish nobles.
The building has been restored a number of times and the cannonball has always been put back.
Although why it now has a green mustache is a mystery…
For more glimpses into other lives, please visit: Our World.
Friendship
There’s nothing quite like a lovely long walk, a swim and a shake, and breakfast with your best buddy.
For more buddies, please visit: Camera Critters.
The gold at my fingertips
I have a confession to make: I’ve been longing for snow – or at least a hard frost.
This time last year, it was – 18 C with golden sunsets in the middle of the afternoon.
(Here’s one of my favourite pictures from last winter.)
Lately, it’s been grey and foggy with bare branches glowing pink at dawn.
But, just as I’m about to feel very sorry for myself,
I take another look at this November’s early glowing sunset
And realize that…
… Sometimes it’s easy to miss the colours of the rainbow because you’re too busy looking for the pot of gold.
For more gold, please visit: Skywatch.
Who says what?