Posted in Spring, tagged contemplation, fully spent, layers of interest, lived well, perfect form, photography, rain, sun, wind, writing on May 30, 2012| 2 Comments »
If at the end of your life you arrive fully spent, then you have lived well.
If you are whipped by the wind, burnt by the sun, lashed by the rain
or otherwise well marked by the experiences you’ve weathered,
then you have taken all that life has given you and used it
to add layers of interest to your once blandly perfect form.
Posted in Summer, tagged blossom, contemplation, delicate beauty, lady slipper, marvel at sight, photography, show of colour, writing on May 28, 2012| 6 Comments »
This lady slipper will soon bloom into a spectacular show of colour and form
that will stop travellers in their tracks to marvel at the sight.
But even now, before the blossom, there is a
delicate beauty worthy of appreciation.
Celebrate subtle beauty as well as the spectacular.
Posted in Spring, tagged apple tree, contemplation, experience the now, fungus, photography, sensory occurrences, writing on May 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »
At what point does this situation change from being a tree bearing some fungus
to a mass of fungus on a dying tree? These seemingly static points of change
are the content of our present moments and they show us how to experience
the now. It does not occur from instant to instant, but instead,
as a flowing trail of sensory occurrences.
Your now is as big or small as your awareness allows.
Posted in Spring, tagged contemplation, debate, destiny, ferns, graceful, light of day, nature or nurture, photography, writing on May 23, 2012| 1 Comment »
As these ferns see the light of their first day, their destiny becomes apparent.
From spores under the cover of forest detritus,
the young plants scramble upward, wet and colicky,
far from the graceful, mature ferns they will grow to be, but on their way.
The nature or nurture debate is all but moot here.
They will become what they already are.
Posted in Spring, tagged contemplation, lazy, logical reaction, need to survive, photography, value judgements, writing on May 21, 2012| 4 Comments »
One of the nice things about the natural world is that
human value judgements don’t really apply.
It can’t be said, for example, that plants are lazy. If they take the
path of least resistance, there is undoubtedly a good reason for it.
In fact, all organisms tend to do what they need to do to survive.
And what one individual might perceive as laziness in another
might actually be a logical reaction to that person’s environment.
Posted in Spring, tagged contemplation, eat plants, how life works, how we survive, photography, primary interaction, sun's energy, whatever you eat today, writing on May 18, 2012| 4 Comments »
This is how life works. The sun shines. Plants use the sun’s energy to grow.
Some creatures eat the plants to survive. We eat the plants and
some of the creatures that eat the plants. This is how we survive.
It all starts with the sun and the plants. Whatever you eat today,
take a moment to trace it back to this primary interaction.
Posted in Spring, tagged Clouds, contemplation, negative events, opportunity, photography, silver lining, world turned upside-down, writing on May 16, 2012| 4 Comments »
Negative events in our lives happen and can strongly impact us.
In fact, we can feel as if our world has been turned upside-down.
But often, when the clouds from the sky are hurled down at our feet,
that is the time we have an opportunity to find their silver lining.
Posted in Spring, tagged all that you can be, contemplation, forest, most beautiful flower, photography, show yourself, stand true, tallest tree, writing on May 14, 2012| 5 Comments »
It doesn’t matter if you are not the tallest tree or the most beautiful flower
in the forest. All that matters is that you show yourself
to be all that you can possibly be within the form you have;
and that you stand true to your being.
We can all be giants, we can all be beautiful, in our own way.
Posted in Spring, tagged blue flag iris, contemplation, design committee, dream up concept, exotic colour, form and function, keep us humble, photography, surreal, writing on May 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »
A blue flag iris unfurls into a surreal, melting spill of form and hue.
It is at once spectacular and incomprehensible with its splatter
of a shape and exotic colour. Imagine a committee designing
a flower such as this. Who could possibly dream up a concept
this seemingly haphazard that works in both form and function?
Flowers must exist to keep us humble.
Posted in Spring, tagged contemplation, drought, feel its energy, granite, lichen, photography, slow burn, spontaneous combustion, vibrant blaze, writing on May 9, 2012| 2 Comments »
A rock bursts into flames of lichen. These licking flames scorch the granite
surface in a slow burn that simmers over years of constant combustion.
Strangely, it is drought that extinguishes such a vibrant blaze.
Water only heightens their intensity.
You can hold your hands to such a fire and feel its energy.
m1nute 