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.
Wispy ears and love
Everyone should have a loyal friend –
With or without wispy ears –
To share a sunset with.
For more heart-warming shots, please visit: Camera Critters.
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.
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.
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
There’s snow business like snow business
Life doesn’t get much better than this:
Freezing mornings with glitter and diamonds;
A good long walk in the thick snow
And plenty of play and smiles.
No one snows this better than Oscar.
(OK – I know I’m on thin ice here, so snow more puns!)
For more happy animals, please visit: Camera Critters.
Feeling the joy
Oscar may be over ten years old now,
But he never loses his joy for life –
And teaches me so much
About just living in the moment.
The only sign of spring around here
Is the spring in our steps
As we rush out to play in the snow.
For more Zen, please visit: Camera Critters.
Golden cold
Who knew that the cold
Could be so enticing –
And so warmingly
Golden?
For more golden skies, please visit: Skywatch.
Chandeliers in the sky
Endless blue skies,
Beautiful snow,
A sunbathing dog –
And crystal chandeliers
Glittering in the sun.
My paradise!
For more sparkling skies, please visit: Skywatch.
And swing by Camera Critters too!
Stained glass
Nature is a cathedral
And when the sun shines through the iced trees
They are frosted stained glass windows.
The grandeur of these spires
Never fails to amaze
And the dancing light of winter
Waltzes its way into the soul.
For more uplifting posts, please visit: Our World Tuesday.
Mist, rising
The pink glow of the early setting winter sun
Enticed us outside to explore
The wonders just beyond the horizon.
It was a miracle of trees that
Seemed to float in the rising mist –
A wonder of purple and gold
Painting the fog with magic.
For more miracles, please visit: Skywatch.
Chasing the light
The skies over the past few weeks have been grey –
So I’ve been chasing down the light.
I found it framed in golden fog
Hanging over the lake;
It danced over the football field
On fairy rainbow feet.
And, there – at last -
Like a cold winter flower
It blossomed in rays of light.
For more de-light-full posts, please visit: Skywatch.
Dawn, reflected
The Christmas skies so far have been white and heavy with snow.
So, I went digging in the archives to find photos from last Christmas –
When we still hadn’t had any snow or ice:
Just a beautiful celebratory reflected sky
And a dog who was overjoyed
To take a Christmas swim.
For more festive posts, please visit: Skywatch.
And visit Camera Critters too!
Horse breath
It’s that time of year…
When breath become visible
And whiskers shimmer in the sun.
“Remember to breathe. It is after all, the secret of life.” — Gregory Maguire
For more gorgeous creatures, please visit: Camera Critters.
At the crossroads
When you find yourself at the crossroads of the future and the past,
Sometimes it’s better to stand a while and
Enjoy the present.
For more skies, please visit: Skywatch.
Leaf ballet
Autumn was short-lived and intense this year.
But last weekend I had an amazing experience.
In the distance, I saw a sunny bower of branches
And a shower of leaves dancing in the wind as they fell to the ground.
I stood under those trees and listened.
The leaves danced and twirled and fluttered down on me,
Sounding like gentle rain as they came to rest on hair, ground and an icy bench.
I like to look for the new beginnings in these ends.
Don’t leaf without visiting: Our World.
Fifty shades of…
As November kicks off, the Swedes start to dress in blacks and greys
Blending into the wintry background with colours that match their melancholic souls.
But NO – I tell you! The coming season doesn’t need more grey – it needs more colour.
Give me the colours of energy and life!
Give me vibrant yellows, vivid greens or electric blues. Give me fifty shades of neon pink if you must!
And judging by this sunset, nature agrees with me.
For more bright colours, please visit: Skywatch.
The pumpkin sky
Dawn unfurled its tender hand
To reveal a wondrous
Pumpkin sky.
For more great photos, please visit: Skywatch.
The winged sky
We’ve had some deliciously foggy October mornings
That part to reveal unexpected pleasures.
The geese honk their farewells loudly
As they sail above me in the mist.
My spirits rise up
And I let my worries float away on the winged sky.
For more worry-free skies, please visit: Skywatch.
And for more winged loveliness, go to: Camera Critters.
From heron to eternity
They dance and swirl right over my head
When I don’t have my camera with me.
But as soon as I go out with it,
They hide in the reeds
Or fly away
So that no matter how much I stalk them
I can’t get any good close-up shots.
I know these aren’t the best shots you’ve feather seen,
But maybe the herons are just trying to tell me
That every now and then, I have to enjoy nature
Through my own two eyes (and not through a camera lens).
From heron after, owl try to avoid any more bad bird puns… although I have no egrets!
For more fowl play, please visit: Camera Critters.
Beautiful drama
The autumn equinox arrived
With huge gusts of wind,
With dramatic blue clouds
And a shining path of light
Reminding us that there is balance in the world,
And beauty in all kinds of weather.
For more dramatic shots, please visit: Skywatch.
Shooting from the foot
I like to try out new (slightly crazy) ways of taking shots.
Like placing the camera near the ground and letting it focus on whatever it wants.
I don’t look through the viewfinder so have no way of knowing what is in the frame.
The results? An abstract moonscape made out of mushrooms;
A family nestled close to each other for comfort;
A rainbow captured in the soft down of a dandelion –
And the deliciously dewy grass of early autumn.
For more focused shots, please visit: Our World.
The silhouettes of summer
What is more beautiful
Than the setting of a glowing sun
On a fiery summer’s evening –
And the perfect ending
To a perfect day?
For more perfection, please visit: Skywatch.
Sailing without a wind
One evening, I was out enjoying the pink rippled effect
On the silk of the lake
When a sailboat came into view.
It was a magically, calm evening – not a breath of breeze in the air…
The lesson seemed to be this:
As we set sail across the oceans of our own lives
We have to remember that the strength lies within us
To get to our haven – even when there is no wind to help us on our way.
For more calm skies, please visit: Skywatch.
Who says what?