Dog, reflected
Take a gorgeous end-of-summer sunset,
A dog
And mix with the reflected sky.
Repeat often for joy and smiles.
For more reflections, please visit: 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.
A beautiful start
Tiptoeing out with my best buddy
To savour the dawn of a beautiful new day
And seeing this…
Renewal for the soul, don’t you think?
For more purple in the sky, please visit: Skywatch.
I’m down with a bad cold, so also hooking up to: Camera Critters.
Advice for living
Oscar’s top three tips for living:
Live as if someone left the gate open;
Make your own joy;
And remember that life is a great adventure.
Follow these tips and you’ll get along swimmingly (literally)…
You’ve got to jump off the cliff all the time and build your wings on the way down. — Ray Bradbury
For more wisdom, 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.
Double dose of golden
There’s gold in the August sky
And a golden in the water.
Life doesn’t get much better than this!
For more golden moments, please visit: Camera Critters.
Golden wings
Sometimes
The evening comes
Softly
On golden wings.
For more golden shots, please visit: Camera Critters.
A bench in the sun
As the sun sets in a blaze of glory,
There is no better place to watch the play
Of cloud and light
Than on a bench in the setting sun.
For more blazing skies, please visit: Skywatch.
Into the boundless
Forget the years, forget distinctions. Leap into the boundless and make it your home! — Zhuangzi
It’s summer and time
To throw yourself into the blue
If you’re a dog called Oscar.
For more boundless shots, please visit: Camera Critters.
Sun star
When the sun shines
And twinkles like the star it is…
That can only mean one thing:
The ice has melted
And the lake is now a golden bowl of water.
For more stars, please visit: Skywatch.
Doing what he does best
No matter how cold it gets,
In frost or snow,
Oscar is always ready to dive into rainbows
And swim in waters of reflected skies of blue.
After all, there’s nothing more satisfying than
Doing what you love.
For more adorable creatures, please visit: Camera Critters.
Skimming the blue
If you want to fly, you have to give up the things that weigh you down.
For more soaring shots, please visit: Camera Critters. And Weekend Reflections.
This side of the rainbow
I don’t need to fly over the rainbow
When I can be here
Soaring in the sky with the lone heron
In the silence of dawn.
For more great pictures, please visit: Skywatch.
The dragonflies of summer
The dragonflies of summer grace us with their presence for such a short, sweet time:
A sister with sunlit neck,
A jewel with golden wings,
The bitter-sweet shimmer of beauty glimpsed
Uplifting us for a second
Before it – like summer – starts fading into the blue.
For more jewels, please visit the new home of: Our World.
And remember – you can join the Our World community on Facebook too.
A slice of heaven
If I were to cut open the pie of heaven
And serve myself a slice
It would be a glorious golden canopy
Served with a dollop of dog, laughter and kids.
For more beauty, please visit: Skywatch. And, of course, Camera Critters.
I’m away at the rented summer cottage (or just relaxing at home) and playing with the anklebiters and my niece and Oscar and just enjoying life, so I’m posting a little less. Only two more weeks of summer holiday – so have got to make the most of it!
Remember to click the photo to see the larger (better) version!
Swimming into the sunset
What better way to celebrate the long light evenings of a Swedish summer
Than enjoying the sunset
And then diving into the broken yolk
Of the golden sun – at ten o’clock in the evening?
For more golden moments, please visit: Camera Critters.
Flight of souls
Is there anything more peaceful, more spiritually uplifting
Than feathered hope taking wing?
If you could untie your wings and free your soul, you and everyone around you would fly up like doves. — Rumi
For more serenity, please visit: Skywatch.
And if you love water, please check out Jillsy’s latest challenge!
Bottoms up!
It’s a wonder the way a duck can transform itself
From being a clown in the water
To a poem of flight and song in the air.
Don’t let the fear of falling keep you from knowing the joy of flight. — Lane Wallace
For more graceful creatures, please visit: Camera Critters.
Humble reeds
Have you noticed the way water reflects the sky
As blue silk
Or how the sky lends even unnoticed reeds
A golden glory that is all their own?
One of the miracles of nature is the fact that even
The humblest of places are filled with beauty.
Just as in life.
For more humble beauty, please visit: Skywatch.
The disappearing act
Going from solid to liquid.
Going…
Going…
Gone!
The transformation from one state to another reminds me that change can be beautiful.
For more skies, please visit: Skywatch!
Misty reflections
Rich autumn colours with pools of gold;
The mist wrapped tenderly around the trees like a warm scarf
While they admire their perfect reflections;
The pastel clouds rising up to greet the blue hour of a new day.
Have you ever seen a more delicious sunrise?
For more deliciousness, please visit: Skywatch.
Diving in to meet yourself halfway
Let yourself be silently drawn
by the stronger pull of what you really love. — Rumi
This picture reminds me of the way we should, perhaps, live our lives: with joy, mouth open, eyes full of expectation.
Diving into the unknown and expecting wonder.
For more creatures, visit: Camera Critters
The chimes of spring
It’s been a wonderful winter: long, snowy, crystal cold.
We’ve delighted in waves frozen solid, red barns buried under snow and empty jetties.
But now, it’s going.. slowly and reluctantly, winter is receding…
Losing its grip little by little, it bids us farewell with the chiming of hundreds of little bells as the ice breaks up and clinks cheerfully together.
And then one day, the chiming is replaced by the cheerful hellos of birds greeting each other after a sunny winter in Africa or the Mediterranean.
The ice has become the matter it came from: water.
And – oh! – the glorious sun dazzles the senses and soothes the soul.
As George Eliot once wrote: “The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.”
To seize more golden slices of life, please visit: My World!
Lilac wine
Spring in Sweden is the colour purple. A riot of purples ranging from delicate pastel lilac to deep maroon.
Lilac
The explosion of flowers meets its match with the dizzying fragrance of the lilac bushes as they droop under their burden of perfumed petals.
Looking up, you are surprised by the budding of the fir cones.
They hang from the branches like a luscious bunch of decadent maroon berries.
And, of course, no spring – or summer – here in Sweden is complete without long, light days and sun glinting on water.
This is the sagging jetty that we share with the ducks, swans and the Canadian geese.
Now, if only the rain would keep away so that spring can keep its purple promises…
You can join in the fun at: That’s My World!
So – what colour is YOUR spring?
Who says what?