“Every spring is the only spring – a perpetual astonishment.” -Ellis Peters
“Can words describe the fragrance of the very breath of Spring?” – Neltje Blanchan
“Come with me into the woods where Spring is advancing, as it does, not matter what, not being singular or particular, but one of the forever gifts and certainly visible.” – Mary Oliver
Click into any image to see a full scale version and to start a slideshow…
“Raise your words
not your voice.
It is rain that grows flowers,
not thunder.”
-Rumi
The Columbia River Gorge, bonds Washington and Oregon, and has draped them both with overwhelming power and beauty. And the Gorge and its waters have touched my soul.
I long to spend more time here. There is a depth to be penetrated over time, in the inner and the outer realms. Rich tapestries of greens, radiance of waterfalls, myriad wildflowers, mysterious forests, sumptuous grand canyons, all endlessly beautiful. They touch the deepest part of me.
Every turn holds a wonder – a sometimes quiet and often times shuddering exuberance of majesty. Hidden wonders everywhere waiting to be explored.
Yes, I need more time here.
“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: What is soft is strong.”
-Lao-Tzu
“Water is the one substance from which the earth can conceal nothing; it sucks out its innermost secrets and brings them to our very lips.”
-Jean Giraudoux
A few facts about the Columbia River Gorge (from the website for Foundation for Water & Energy Education; http://fwee.org/environment/what-makes-the-columbia-river-basin-unique-and-how-we-benefit/):
(*You can click onto any individual image to see a full size version, and then click the right hand arrow to see all images in full size.)
“The summer night is like a perfection of thought.”
-Wallace Stevens
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
“Then followed that beautiful season… Summer….
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.”
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“
“The Amen of nature is always a flower”
-Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Click onto any image for a full sized version, and to view each photo individually in full version by hitting the arrow…
“The breath is coming in and out now, whether you believe you are worthy of it or not.
The earth is unconditionally supporting you. She is holding you whether you believe you deserve to be held or not. Rest in her presence.
The breath will be gone at some point, usually much sooner than we’d all like. Breathe deeply now. Breathing is only now. There is no “breathing in the future.”
“No matter what is happening in your life – maybe you have lost hope, you’re confused, your heart is broken, or an old dream has died. Or even if you’re experiencing some joy, some peace, if things are going okay. It is not an ordinary moment. It is never ordinary inside your heart.
The only thing we know for sure is that we will be returned to the vastness soon. Let us not forget what is most important, never apologize for the yearning in our hearts, and not wait any longer to be fully here.
Let us renew the vow we once made to not abandon ourselves, our emotions, our vulnerability, our bodies, our sensitivity. With the sun, the moon, and the stars as our witness, we will no longer pathologize pure feeling and the longing that has been placed inside us.
Let us take a risk on this new day, like a flower who cannot hold back any longer from erupting with color, with fragrance, with life, with her song. You are this flower. Attune to what is truly happening here. This world needs you now more than ever. Please don’t forget what you are.”
-Matt Licata
“Can words describe the fragrance of the very breath of Spring?”
-Neltje Blanchan
Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen – that stillness becomes a radiance.
~ Morgan Freeman
“Let yourself fall in love with nature. Visit new places and discover your own back yard. Spend more time outside watching sunrises and sunsets. Make time to star gaze. Stand barefoot in the beautiful earth and reconnect your soul. To the energy that created you. You are a part of a magnificent universe. Take the time to be present with it all. Allow nature to feed your soul. Those who wander will never feel lost.”
-Carly Marie
Visit new places
and discover your own back yard
Spend more time outside watching sunrises
and sunsets
Make time to star gaze
Stand barefoot on the beautiful earth. To the energy that created you. You are a part of a magnificent universe. Take the time to be present with it all. Allow nature to feed your soul. Those who wander will never feel lost.”
“And above all watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.”
-Roald Dahl
