This is what survivors look like.
Standing stunned and tattered on their desecrated land.
Beaten into submission by an enemy much greater than they.
But who has really won here?
Winter is gone and these cattails still stand.
Archive for April, 2012
Survivors
Posted in Spring, tagged beaten into submission, contemplation, desecrated, enemy, photography, still standing, survivors, writing on April 30, 2012| 3 Comments »
Standing back
Posted in Spring, tagged background, contemplation, honour, photography, spotlight, writing on April 27, 2012| 4 Comments »
For something to stand out, other things must stand back and
not compete for attention. The more subtly beautiful the background,
the more significant the object in the spotlight appears.
There can be honour in standing back, knowing it is integral
to what is in the spotlight.
The elegance of repetition
Posted in Spring, tagged beautiful patterns, cells growing, contemplation, existence, mitosis, photography, repetition, writing on April 25, 2012| 3 Comments »
Repetition is sometimes thought of as boring and predictable,
but life itself is based on repetition – cells dividing and growing,
dividing again and then growing, on and on.
This process of mitosis is the very engine of our existence.
The fact that repetition can also create beautiful patterns
is just an elegant bonus.
Within the tangle
Posted in Spring, tagged awareness, busy mind, connections, contemplation, photography, present moment, relationships, support, tangle, writing on April 23, 2012| 4 Comments »
The mind can be a tangled place, overrun with thoughts and schemes
and memories and plans and and and.
But within this entanglement there are relationships, connections
and support. Something within your mental cacophony can trigger
a peaceful feeling, a pleasant awareness, a path back to the present moment;
just like grasses use shrubs to climb toward the sunlight
and the shrubs feed on the nutrients of the seasonal grasses.
Flower rush hour
Posted in Spring, tagged city of flowers, contemplation, perfume of progress, photography, photosynthesis, pollination, rush hour, writing on April 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »
A rush hour of flowers herds its way up a hill in a hurry
to get somewhere as soon as possible. There is photosynthesizing,
pollination and so much more to be done. Where has the day gone?
This city of flowers is energetic; the close proximity of its inhabitants
makes growth contagious and leaves the air heady with
the intoxicating perfume of progress.
A soft legacy
Posted in Spring, tagged attention to detail, contemplation, dramatic results, forceful, meek shall influence, patience, photography, strong, writing on April 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »
It is not only the strong and forceful who will leave a lasting impression
on this world. Softness, patience and dedicated attention to minute detail
can also elicit dramatic results. The work of water on rock –
ridges, waves, cracks and holes – is testament to the power of softness.
For the meek shall influence the earth.
A layered past
Posted in Spring, tagged contemplation, days gone by, hand-shorn shingles, photography, the past can mesmerize, weathered shingles, writing on April 16, 2012| 1 Comment »
If you look deeply into the past, it can mesmerize.
Take a simple roof shingled a half century ago.
Weathered, sun beaten, rain battered, coming out of the days-gone-by
in waves, hypnotically; each hand-shorn shingle a story,
an event, an overlapping layer of what was.
There are patterns from the past here that can hold your gaze infinitely,
if you let them.
A meaningful purchase
Posted in Spring, tagged contemplation, granite boulder, late afternoon forest, life on the edge, lungwort, patient bloom, photography, quiet moments, writing on April 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Somehow a sprig of lungwort has found purchase on the side of
a granite boulder painted green by the spray of corrosive lichen.
It is in the quiet moments of the late afternoon forest that
these unlikely dynamics come to light; this patient bloom
on a seemingly unwelcoming perch that results in
a dramatic portrayal of life on the edge.
Swimming stones
Posted in Spring, tagged contemplation, infuse the ocean, mammals of the sea, photography, rise and submerge, soup, stones, swim, writing on April 11, 2012| 3 Comments »
Stones on the beach rise and submerge, like the great mammals of the sea.
The comparison goes even deeper. A good percentage of sea mammals’
bodies are water, like their home environment, and one day they will
break down and infuse the ocean itself. The beach stones float in a
sea of tiny rock particles. They too will one day break down and
join the very soup in which they swim.
On their way
Posted in Spring, tagged avoiding a homeless person, begging on the street, contemplation, finally breaks down, living and dying, no judgement, photography, writing on April 9, 2012| 2 Comments »
Last year’s oak leaf lies facedown in a pool of water.
Spring shoots grow up around it, like pedestrians casually avoiding
a homeless person begging on the street. The leaf is right there
in front of them but the shoots have things to do, places to go;
even when the leaf finally breaks down and they feed off its remnant nutrients.
But there is no judgement here. The leaf isn’t any the less for dying and
the shoots aren’t any the less for living.
m1nute 