Fleeting beauty
There is nothing as joyful
As walking underneath the pink clouds
(Waving gently in the wind)
Of the sakura or Japanese cherry blossoms.
They remind us that life
Is intense and fleeting
As it follows the natural cycles
Of birth and death and renewal.
They flower for such a short time, like us,
And remind us that we too are as beautiful
And transient as a cherry blossom.
For more blossoming stories, please visit: Our World.
Rush hour
There’s nothing I enjoy more
Than rush hour on the lake
When water, birds and light
Become beautiful abstract art.
For more artistic shots, please visit: Camera Critters.
Spring sparkles
It was one of those perfect spring evenings
When the sun made stars out of water
And Oscar made abstract art
Out of water pearls.
On the way home, I turned around
To see my daughter caught in the fairy glitter
And become one with nature.
The setting sun
Threw its golden drops
On grass and woodland flowers
As if to say: Stop. Look. Listen.
And appreciate.
For more fairy glitter, please visit: Our World.
Dawn gold
Something woke me up far too early (before 5 am).
Perhaps it was the golden silence
Calling my name;
Or the beaver in the lake
As he swam through watery clouds.
Perhaps it was the glory
Of a new day whispering:
Do not miss a single golden moment.
For more gold, please visit: Skywatch.
Metamorphosis
Nature often holds up a mirror
To show us change as one season glides into another,
(This is winter going into spring.)
It shows us renewal and transformation through stormy phases
And, finally, softens into peace and beauty.
(All shots are of my local lake over the past couple of weeks.)
For more changes, please visit: Our World.
Beribboned
An April sunset
Of soft ribbons in the sky
That blush as they kiss
The still surface of the water.
A lone tree and I
Enjoy the sight of a double bridge
Of crimson beauty.
For more loveliness, please visit: Skywatch.
Wonderful firsts
It’s always exciting to experience the first stirrings of spring.
And even though they happen every year, it feels as if I were experiencing them
For the very first time.
It’s magical when the ice finally melts …
When the first patch of crocuses appear in the neighbours’ garden…
When we can finally get out into the woods again
And witness birds singing on trees.
Even the faded beauty of an old cottage in the woods
Takes on new beauty
And the old window
Reflects back a stately tree.
Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect. -Alan Cohen
For more fresh starts, please visit: Our World.
Burnished copper
On Earth Day, nature gave us the gift
Of big rolling skies and dramatic clouds;
Of our local jetty, finally revealed
As the ice melted away
To leave a lake of burnished copper.
The canopy of the sky
Seemed so close and so beautiful
That all we had to do was reach up
And touch it.
For more dramatic skies, please visit: Skywatch.
The Yin and Yang
A while back, my daughter received a bouquet of flowers after singing in her school show.
As they graced the kitchen table, I notice a bright beam of light leading the eye to
A bud holding the fuzzy promise of hope to come –
In stark contrast to the unfurled beauty of a tulip already in full bloom.
I took the bouquet outside
Into the gentle snow,
And enjoyed the yin of the white snowflakes
On the yang of the rich red petals.
Suddenly, my philosophical mood was broken
By Oscar photobombing my photo session.
But I guess that’s what yin and yang is all about –
Complementary forces (even if it is just a dog’s tail)
Forming harmony to remind us
That we are all part of a greater whole.
For balance, please visit: Our World.
Those big April skies
April seems stuck in the beauty of winter.
A couple of weeks ago, we enjoyed
A pink panorama of big skies and fluffy clouds.
And only a couple of days ago,
The snow cover on the lake was gone
And the cold mist seemed to make
The clouds as silver and soft as silk.
Gently, almost secretly, spring is approaching!
For more panoramas, please visit: Skywatch.
Finding rainbows
Sometimes you can find beauty in the most unexpected places.
Entering the interior of Paris’ oldest church, Eglise Saint-Germain-des-Pres, once so mighty but now eclipsed by Notre Dame,
I was struck by the beauty of a humble set of chairs next to some ancient chipped pillars.
The light from the stained glass window behind them
Transformed the chairs into miracles of colour and form
And the floor, worn by centuries of visitors,
Became a dazzling thing of rainbow beauty.
(I have to say that out of all my Paris photos, these are some of my favourites.)
“The most astonishing thing about miracles is that they happen.”
G. K. Chesterton
For more everyday miracles, please visit: Our World.
La lumiere d’oree
That golden evening light
Painted a lovely picture of tower and sky
And lampposts that seemed to throw back
Golden orbs into infinity.
For more golden light, please visit: Skywatch.
Breathing Paris
According to Victor Hugo, ‘Breathing Paris preserves the soul.’
It is a city full of unexpected sights and surprises:
Like a vintage merry-go-round
Or the exquisite stained glass window
Of the Galeries Lafayette.
It is a place where you turn a corner
To find history towering over you –
And love being locked forever
On bridges while the ancient cathedral,
Notre Dame, looks on.
It is a mix of the old and the new,
History and modern day,
Light and life.
For more historic stories, please visit: Our World Tuesday.
Plane skies
The hush of dawn at the airport.
A wooden floor of shimmering gold.
Dreams can come true too
If you fly off into the sunrise.
(Pictures taken with my mobile phone on the way to Paris.
My daughter directed and took the second photo.)
THANK YOU for all your comments.
For more happy-ever-after shots, please visit: Skywatch.
The Flatiron
As you read this, I’ll be enjoying a flaky croissant or three in Paris with my daughter (so won’t be around to visit until the end of the week).
Just over a year ago, we visited friends in another great city – New York – and, of course, I had to photograph some of its iconic buildings.
My daughter recognized it straight away.
“Look! It’s like one of those old-fashioned irons that people used to use in the olden days!”
Just imagine seeing it for the first time in a city that wasn’t yet used to skyscrapers back in 1902.
Alfred Stieglitz took a very famous photo of the building in 1903 –
And one that I tried to recreate for fun.
I’ll leave you with one of his quotations:
I have always been a great believer in today. Most people live either in the past or in the future, so that they really never live at all. So many people are busy worrying about the future of art or society, they have no time to preserve what is. Utopia is in the moment. Not in some future time, some other place, but in the here and now, or else it is nowhere.
Snowscape
When the morning light hits the trees
In just the right way;
When the blue bowl of the sky
Hangs like a silken canopy over the frozen lake;
And when the sun sets
In soft pastel purples…
Then … yes then!
Winter is a glorious place to be.
For more amazing skies, please visit: Skywatch.
Snow blossoms
There is something so delightful
About the bright light of spring
And the cold of a lingering winter.
If you look carefully, you can find snow moons
Dancing on the snow.
And instead of flowers,
We have snow blossoms
And dazzling light.
And – just as in real life –
You might be lucky to find
A diamond in the rough.
For more hidden jewels, please visit: Our World.
Expectancy
You never know what might be waiting for you
Over the brow of that hill you’re struggling to climb;
(Can you see Oscar waiting for me?)
Or what small delights await
Around the corner.
Please forgive me if I don’t get around to visiting you this weekend.
We’re having problems with the Internet, which makes it incredibly slow and painful to visit blogs at the moment.
In the meantime, pay a visit to: Camera Critters.
Perfect balance
We celebrated the spring equinox
With three days of snow.
But that doesn’t matter –
The equinox is the time when the world is
In perfect balance:
That moment when the light of day
And the dark of night are equal
All around the world.
And now, here in the northern hemisphere,
We go towards lighter times…
Even if we are enjoying the coldest ever winter this spring!
For more, balanced skies, please visit: Skywatch.
Tropical cold
I love the contrast between the cold of winter
And the humid tropical temperature of visiting the greenhouse of the Botanical Gardens.
First off, you are greeted by a vibrant
Splash of colour as you go in…
Wandering around the more temperate parts of the greenhouse
You can see signs on some of the trees:
Happy Winter! I’ll wake up again when it’s spring.
(The same could be said for some of those people who don’t like winter…)
As you walk further back, you enter different regions — much hotter ones.
My camera lens fogged up and as it cleared,
I could just make out some kind of orchid
Swimming towards me like a fish with petals.
I fell in love with the fronds
And patterns of some tropical ferns.
Before I left, I spied the delicate
Pink tutu of a flower.
“All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.”
– Indian Proverb
For more stories, please visit: Our World Tuesday
The many shades of cold
Since we’ve had fresh snow and sinking temperatures –
Down to minus 19 C this week –
I am inspired to show you the colours of cold.
Sometimes the cold is a golden fog,
Sometimes an intense orange framed by trees.
When the dawn is really cold,
The fingers of the sun paint the treetops
With frosted red.
My favourite winter colour
Has to be the diamond carpet of snow
Topped off by dazzling blue skies and sun –
It’s moments like these that lift my spirits.
For more winter/summer shots, please visit: Skywatch.
Dawn’s blush
That first blush of dawn
Is a marvel of pink and purple and cold.
The hidden birdhouse
Enjoys wonderful views from its perch.
As dawn’s blush fades
The crooked trees stand still -
And like me -
Enjoy the moment.
For more colours, please visit: Skywatch.
Frosted delight
Come and let’s take a walk through my enchanted world.
In the early morning, the freezing temperatures
Create art out of silver beeches
And the hoar-frosted trees frame
The pyramid of the swings at the end of our street.
Once out on the lake, I walk past
An enchanted red boat house
Hiding among frosted branches.
Zooming out with my lens, I see the boat house
Belongs to this summer cottage
Patiently waiting for warmer days.
As for me, I’m enjoying the last cold days
Of magical hoar frost and ice.
For more delights, please visit: Our World.
True grit, love and snow
A girl, an Icelandic horse and a snowstorm.
For me, this embodies stoicism,
Spirit, true grit
And love.
For more amazing animals, please visit: Camera Critters.
Who says what?