bamboo for two
lunch at the Cape May Zoo
going vegan
There’s nothing new under the sun. Nature’s always been way ahead of our game, hasn’t She?
784. monkey business
There’s nothing new under the sun. Nature’s always been way ahead of our game, hasn’t She?
783. daily feast
tender mushrooms
at the edge of the wood
waiting for a toad?
Mushrooms get their nutrients by digesting, dead or decaying organic matter such as leaves, pine needles, and wood. Did you know that mushrooms are neither plants nor animals? They belong in a kingdom of their own. I suppose this all means that no matter what kind of diet you are sticking to, mushrooms are OK!
782. the game of life
earth-water-space
playing the game of life—
paper-scissors-stone
“Paper-Scissors-Stone” was a game played by children worldwide. It may still be played—I don’t know. Though this game began in China as an easy pastime, it was also a game of strategic action, of using only the hand and determining when to open it, when to cut/shoot, when to hold tight. Simple yet profound.
Early in my yoga training, I remember a teacher walking into class and saying first thing: The game of life is the game of the mind. His words have always stayed with me, and immediately came to mind when I saw this scene of natural elements—earth, water, space—in lively juxtaposition.
781. poor car🥹
OMG that car😳
ain’t worth repairin’….just shoot it—
which I did!😆
Poor car—now that’s a big OUCH!!
780. by the sea….
by the sea….
oysters, mussels, clams galore!
seafood chowder
Wouldn’t this make a fun jigsaw puzzle! 🧩 Some 40 years ago, I quit cigarettes and haven’t smoked since. The thing that saved me was making jigsaw puzzles at night!
779. yesterday’s surprise
laying low
snapdragons in the dunes
still snapping
778. today’s miracle
here comes the sun
ever day’s a miracle
giving thanks🙏🏼
777. my Ulysses
the traveler
wandering up and down
across the world
“The purpose of life after all is to live, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly, and without fear, for newer and richer experience.” Eleanor Roosevelt.
776. hangin’ out
all the kids
outside the school yard
in the zone!
775. just ask the birds
after the freeze
in love with love again
here comes the sun
*
some sour, some sweet
life’s like a bowl of cherries
just ask the birds
774. good morning
“good morning,”
said the sun, “it’s c-c-cold out here,
bundle up!”
Today’s forecast: H:34 - L:24 🥶 🥶
773. into the misty
day by day
between the sun and moon
the river runs on
*
drifting away
i hear the fog horn blow
into the misty
I love the fog. I don’t know why, but it always carries me away into quiet places in my heart and mind. Just last night I was listening to Van Morrison’s, “Into the Mystic,” a song that he wrote about being a part of the universe. He originally wrote the song as, “Into the Misty.”
772. the scene
don’t breathe
two hands, two phones
front and center
I was in a room the other day and saw a deep-sea diving helmet in the middle of the scene. Cool, I’ll take a picture, I said to myself. There you have it: two hands, two phones….but in reality there was only one phone. I scratch my head.🥴 Hmm, how’d this happen?
771. souvenir
friendly neighbors
hunkering down for winter
two chimneys
When things get you down, as they sometimes will, go outside and look around….notice something you never noticed before….take a picture and take it home….then seal it with a poem….and save it like a souvenir.
770. centerpiece
in the woods
oak leaves tumbling down
onto the fern
*
centerpiece
waiting for the holidays
red and green
The fern and the oak leaves, red and green—a perfect centerpiece just waiting for the holidays. I didn’t arrange this. This is God’s handiwork. Awesome!
769. space travelers
like two friends
in high places and low places
shining the light
It was the evening of the lunar eclipse, and the moon was full. I went out behind the house to get a picture. Hoping for a perfect picture, I was so busy focusing on the light of the slow-rising moon that I didn’t notice the distant light below moving in along the railroad tracks….but my camera saw it! I suppose I could say that my camera has a mind of its own!😘
768. why?
i can do it
i know i can do it
i did it!
*
two shoes
red and white
up in the air
*
who did that,
i wonder, and why?
click 📲
“Happiness is when what you say, what you think, and what you do are in harmony”— Mahatma Gandhi
Why do we do what we do? There’s always a reason. I think the bottom line for us all is that we want to be happy. Maybe it’s easier than we think—don’t worry, be happy.
767. to sit or not to sit
heavy feet
backpack on my shoulder—
i go on walking
At last…. A bench to sit down and rest, take a load off my back and feet. I look at all the leaves settled down on the bench….they seemed so peaceful resting there….I couldn’t bring myself to disturb them. I took a picture and went on walking.
766. turning point
stopping:
left or right or straight ahead—
which way to go?
Be like the deer. When in doubt, take time to get grounded—stop, breathe, listen to your inner wisdom. And as the holy man said, “follow your dreams, creativity and heart, and see what happens….”
765. a puzzle
sitting there
thinking not thinking
like a rubik’s cube
(“Puzzle” - 11 x 10” - Mixed Media)
In the museum the soft glimmer of silver and gold caught my eye. I sat down and lingered there a little while, intrigued—gazing at the smaller offbeat sections one by one, each one contrasting the next—what a lovely puzzle. What is this….what is it made of….is it heavy or hollow….what was the artist thinking? I wished I could take it home—instead I took a picture and painted my own little bit of magic.
764. fast friends
yesterday’s pizza
tastes better than ever—
three pigeons
*
yo ho, ho!
all for one and one for all
yum!🍕
I didn’t take this picture. A friend sent it yesterday—I thinkcit’s a great shot—with a challenge to put it into my blog.😜 Yo!
763. simple work, simple pleasures
watching paint dry
for the love of color….
and money too!
762. the lookout
her watchful eye
watching over the brood of hens
pecking away
On the grounds of Northwestern Stables at the foot of the Wissahickon Woods, a brood of hens was softly clucking their way thru the sparsely scattered grasses just outside the barn. One hen, a big one, kept a careful eye on them….and on me, too! 👁
761. leaves, leaves
leaves, leaves
brown ones, yellow ones, orange, green
all getting along
….why can’t we?
760. sun worshipper
when the sun glows
everything rises up and glows
not only the moon
759. life’s a dream
floating along
not a care in the world
just being me
*
merrily merrily
bubbling down the stream
life’s a dream
Hey, what’s that?! Whiter than white, floating steadily down the creek like it had somewhere to go. It looked to be the size of a pretty big beach ball, made me think of summer and snow cones! My mind turned to wondering what it might be thinking.
758. i love my mom
when i was little
mommy made me tea and toast
and fluffed my pillow
“Me & Mom” - 8 x 10” - Acrylic
We can’t always have what we want. Sometimes, thinking about something and writing a poem can be enough. Just the other day I was missing my mom and wrote this haiku.
757. attuned
that red chair
at the bottom of the trail
just sitting there
Looking down thru an opening near the bottom of the trail, I paused. There was something about that chair, maybe it was the color red, or maybe it was its solitude. It was just sitting there as I was standing there….the two of us….enjoying the scenery.
756. stuck!
jam-packed
one on top of another—
like sardines!
*
pile-up
like a bunch of beetles—
rear-end collisions!
*
5 home runs
Phillies are up 2 to 1–
go Phillies!
I stayed up late to watch the World Series and feeling a little foggy this mornin, stuck on the Phillies! Go Phillies!
755. Dew
tsuyu no yo wa
tsuyu no yo nagara
sari nagara
*
this world of dew
is a world of dew
and yet, and yet
Everything passes. This may be the first rule of life. The Japanese suggest that life is fleeting and it is in the world’s fleetingness that we see its beauty. We rejoice in the coming and going of things precisely because we know they will not last.
During his lifetime, Kobayashi Issa endured many hardships and experienced the deaths of parents, wives, and many infant sons and daughters. Through all of this, he continued to write simple poems about nature and little creatures. His poems are among the most loved haiku today. Here is Issa’s farewell poem:
gratitude for gifts—
even snow on my bedspread
a gift from the Pure Land