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Sparkling Diamond Rain Drops – A Gallery of Photos

June 3, 2014 Joyce Leave a comment

“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.”

-Langston Hughes
“A rainy day is the perfect time for a walk in the woods.”

-Rachel Carson

The sweetness of rain showered the earth all day with nurturing. I learned to love the rain while living in Hawaii and have continued to love it since. On an island where fresh water is a life force, the rain is always a blessing. The Hawaiian language shows the respect and honoring for rain in its more than 100 words of description for the gift of falling water. “Awa” is a mist or fine rain, “Kawa” is for heavy rain, “Ililani” for a storm, “hikiki’i” for rain that comes at a slant. Earlier in this blog, I enjoyed writing about the Eskimos many names for snow, and my 200 names for Love. It is this honoring of the essence of things and of taking the time needed to notice, acknowledge and feel the nuances and differences, that bestows the rain, the snow and love with such depth and breath.

During a brief respite between showers I found sparkling diamonds of rain drops scattered everywhere!

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So many ways of seeing, feeling and honoring the rain!

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Little Wonders (There are No Weeds) – A Gallery of Photos

May 27, 2014 Joyce Leave a comment

Ruth Bebee Hill, in her book of the Lakota, Hanta Yo, first introduced me to the nonexistence of a “weed”. I was in my twenties when I first read her words and hadn’t thought of a weed in just that way before. In her dedication to authenticity, the author translated the entirety of her book to the Lakota language from English, then back to English again for publication (this has since been disputed). She stated that she had a deep sense that she had not captured the essence of the Lakota experience on her first try in English, and in learning the language, and therefore the worldview and conceptual landscape the culture lived in, she was able to give the reader a more true feel and understanding of the life and connections of the Lakota (ethnologists again disagree). No word for “weed” exists in the Lakota language (this I believe they do agree on!). They do not have a concept for a throw away or non-respected plant in their world. There is an honoring of all that is given as useful, unique and sacred. This is a good way of living on the planet.

I captured these images (slideshow will load below) in my yard and woods. Not planted and unplanned, these living wonders are gifts given by nature. Beautiful and appreciated beyond measure. Certainly not “weeds”.

Sweet Breathing

The Most Beautiful Place on Earth

May 23, 2014 Joyce Leave a comment

“This is the most beautiful place on earth.
There are many such places. Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary.”

-Edward Abbey

This is the most beautiful place on earth. These words by Edward Abbey come to mind this morning, this perfect morning, at home. “There are many such places”. And there are. I have been away from home for ten days and have seen many of these most beautiful places – Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Craters of the Moon, The Nez Perce Trail, Capital Reef… Landscapes so varied and divine as to be overwhelming. Wondrous.

But no less wondrous are the home woods… deep forests and tall trees, raven conversations, deer family visits, chipmunks, dandelions, luxuriant green carpets, stone song, bees buzzing, one perfect sky-blue butterfly, tiny wild violets, the sunlight on the new maple leaves…

Yes, there are wonders everywhere. Beauty. Connection. Spirit.

Home holds me. The most beautiful place on earth.

Sweet Breathing

Night Music

May 2, 2014 Joyce 2 Comments

There are places where you can love the night. Under the big sky, when cares are far away, as calm peace absorbs the day. Stars to get lost in, time does not work as when sunshine warms. Alone with yourself. The dog breathing. The stars and night breathing too. And the trees. The moon hidden.

Night wonders deep and satisfying.

“I want to live my life so that my nights are not full of regrets.”

-D.H. Lawrence

“What hath night to do with sleep?”

-John Milton – Paradise Lost

“Late, by myself, in the boat of myself,
no light and no land anywhere, cloudcover thick
I try to stay
just above the surface,
yet I’m already under
and living with the ocean”

-Mewlana Jalaluddin Rumi

City Beach, Frozen Lake, Mountains with Lights

“Life is grace. Sleep is forgiveness. The night absolves. Darkness wipes the slate clean, not spotless to be sure, but clean enough for another day’s chalking.”

-Frederick Buechner, The Alphabet of Grace

“The world rests in the night. Trees, mountains, fields, and faces are released from the prison of shape and the burden of exposure. Each thing creeps back into its own nature within the shelter of the dark. Darkness is the ancient womb. Nighttime is womb-time. Our souls come out to play. The darkness absolves everything; the struggle for identity and impression falls away. We rest in the night.”

-John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Here’s to the night and the promise of a new day dawning…

(written at 3am!)

Night Sky with Clouds

Sweet Breathing

Holding on to Winter

March 10, 2014 Joyce Leave a comment

It snowed all day today, March 10th.

This event was met with dismay by every other human that I know – but not by me!

Why can’t I get enough snow? I’m not ready for winter to be over…

(I haven’t said this out loud to any other person).

The writer, Rick Bass
understands what snow can mean, does mean, to this human be-ing (me). I was reading his Winter (notes from Montana) this afternoon as the big flakes fell steadily and silently down.

Continually. Rhythmically. Silently. Magically.

Bass writes from his perspective as a native Texan of his first Montana winter and his immersion in snow:

“I’ll never get used to snow – how slowly it comes down, how the world seems to slow down, how time slows…                                       I don’t mind the cold. The beauty is worth it”.

“I watch individual flakes; I peer up through the snow and see the blank infinity from which it comes;                                                    I listen to the special silence it creates.”

“I stand outside in the snow for long periods of time, in the middle of it, looking out: I cannot believe I am so rich,              getting all this snow….                                                                        Everything’s so quiet.”

“It’s more like an afterlife. I never dreamed I would live in a hard country away from people, with such quietness.”

Re-reading, then typing his words, helps me to understand why I’m hanging on to winter and to snow. I crave more of that special silence, that feeling of richness, that comes in the sweetness of falling flakes and under the snow blanket they create. Even with the slowing of time, the season went so quickly, too fast.

Spring will come and I will relish the unearthing and the rebirth all ‘round. But not yet. For a few more days let me feel all the depth, serenity and solitude of winter.