1080. where is it?!

chip-chip chuk-chip

chuk-chuk chuk-chip chuk-chuk

chip-chip chip

Now there’s a tongue twister! Trying saying that one three-times-fast! 😝😛😜 

Walking through the woods, we hear that unmistakable sound: chip-chip…chuk…chuk-chip…Where is it?! Those little critters are nearly impossible to find, they blend right in to their surroundings.

 

1079. the good earth

fertile landscape,

beginnings and endings—

mother earth 

Just on the other side of the old stone bridge and the busy street with cars and trucks speeding by, all that green catches my eye. I stop to gaze, admiring the view. All that green….before too long, it will disappear….everything changes.

 

1078. shoutout to Sadhya

still life

with a red tomato—

and cat….

*

still life

on the windowsill

shhh….

tomato, cat, and green leaves

who’ll make the first move?

Yesterday, thanks to Sadhya, I learned a new word: ‘faffing’.  I love it, the sound of it, the feel of it:  f- f- f- faffffing!   It means like, doodling, or fiddling, or monkeying around, amusing one’s self. It’s a fun word. Sometimes when I’m looking at a photo, working with ideas and words trying to think of what to say for my blog, I find myself faffing around, like with this one. Thanks, Sadhya!😘

1077. potatoes

boiled, mashed, or fried 

it doesn’t really matter….

i like them all,

red ones and purple ones too….

hey, mom, here’s to you

 

She once told me that during the war, pretty much all they had to eat was potatoes. My mother loved potatoes. I think of her often.

1076. a moment in time

I

AM A

ROCK

*

haiku 

are moments in time—

blip…blip…blip

A haiku moment in time….but wait a minute—

What is time? Is time real?  Is time really an illusion?  Buddhism says there is really no such thing as time. There is really only Now.  Einstein said, “The past, present and future are only illusions, even if stubborn ones.” Is this rock only one of those stubborn ones?🤔

1075. autumn rain

let’s go for a walk

in the rain, nah…we’ll get wet—

so what!

*

red leaf

floating down the river x—

going for a ride

*

on the water

out of the water

floating away

Ahh, yes….nothing like going with the flow. 

1074. challenge

so much to see—

not knowing where to look first….

puzzled.

What is this? Wouldn’t it make a challenging 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle! 🧩 

1073. down-down-up!

today’s pose

from the yogi on the beach:

headstand!

*

one - two - three

hands down, head down, legs up—

don’t sink!

From the long-lost best-seller, “Yogi On the Beach”— Don’t get stuck in the murky muddle of muddy mud! Better to check things out than to stick your head in the sand and sink!

1072. open window

open window:

the soft murmur of crickets

before dawn—

the early train whistles by

and the cat sits up to listen

Early mornings are a favorite time of day….before the sun comes around, when the world is still asleep, when the air is soft and quiet. It’s easy to just sit and listen.

 

1071. my old friend

up there—

a slice of moon through the trees….

peek-a-boo!

 

After-dinner walk at dusk, walking alone….and yet, I wasn’t alone. Wherever I went, she followed along! Autumn Moon.🌙 

1070. autumn sundown

burning bush

beginning to burn—

autumn sundown

These leaves are a sure sign of summer gradually coming to and end with cooler temperatures. Days are shorter now, leaves on trees are fluttering and slowly falling to the ground. Autumn sundowns are bright. Commonly known as burning bush, the leaves on this shrub bloom green in summer then turn to shades of fiery red as autumn deepens.

1069. it’s a game

a game of ‘cat & me’—

waiting to see

who’ll make the first move

There’s Rico!🐈   Unlike dogs who seem to always enjoy being out, rushing about, ever sniffing things out on their own, this cat stays in and is almost always willing to team up and be a purrfect partner for a good game of ‘Cat & Me!’

1068. all together now….

let’s tweet,

pass the word along:

plant more trees!

 

“Tweet” - Origami Bird Mobile - Paper

(wren, heron, redwing, swan, goldfinch, crow, bluebird, crane, owl, pheasant, kiwi, and two hummingbirds—each folded from one square of paper, 3” to 8”)

“How many different origami are there?” asked the young girl. ”I can’t say. I don’t know, but I will say there are more than 200 ways just to fold a bird.” That was 20 years ago at summer camp when I was teaching the art of paper folding. Today there surely must be more.

1067. tennis ball

trailblazing 

in the middle of the trail

green tennis ball!🎾 

*

obeying the signs

to please stay on the trails:

green tennis ball!🎾 

*

tennis ball🎾 

in the middle of the trail—

where’s the dog?

👀 Eyes open, always on the lookout, like Pocahontas! 
 

1066. morning meditation

meditating 

on the morning glory—

autumn butterfly

 

In no hurry to leave the morning glory, the little brown butterfly and I lingered….paying attention, on purpose, in the moment.

1065. the gleaners & i

blackbirds 🐦‍⬛

one by one by one by one

getting their fill

like squirrels and acorns

it must be near autumn

On the way to the library, all those black birds on the lawn pecking down into the green grasses…that’s a picture….hmm, curious….what are they eating? I wondered. I pulled the car over to snap a picture.

BTW “The Gleaners and I” is a wonderful French documentary film inspired by the painting, “The Gleaners,” by Jean Francois Millet.

1064. charlie

after the rains

the sun lights up the sky

with color

“You’ll never find a rainbow if you keep looking down.” Charlie Chaplin.

1063. crow dance

up on the roof

dancing to his own beat:

that crow

 

Like a circus barker, that crow caws once…twice…and once again, then does his dance on top of the dance studio.

1062. again….

at the stop sign

runners speeding by

in the rearview mirror

 

School’s in again and young runners from the nearby college are back in training again. It would be fun to run again! Ohh, to be young again…to run again….to (fill in the blank) again!!!😆

1061. rain in the morning

stayed in bed

listening to the rain falling 

on leaves

There was a time I enjoyed staying in bed when it rained, with a book, but yesterday it was lovely to linger in bed simply listening to time passing by….taking in the soft music of rain falling, the gentle waves of wind now and then, and the easy rhythm of breathing in and out.  After the rain, he gave me one shiny red and green leaf for my journey home. 

1060. alone

quiet morning

only my shadow

and me 

 

Alone, but far from blue, me and my shadow, only us two….and the flutter of leaves for company.

1059. sunflower

sunflowers

holding on to the end

end of summer

 

“Good people are those who love flowers, even when they’re old.” How comfortable it is to be a little tired, a little dry and stiff around the edges, yet tender still, still seeing and hearing everything, but a little softer now and sometimes quiet, responding more slowly, and slow in standing not quite so tall, and yet…. how comfortable to just be myself more than ever. 

1058. in the stream

in the heat

cool as a feather 

floating down stream,

a feather…

cool!

*

a feather

reminding me to let go—

tiny buddha

Watching the feather, I could almost hear it saying: Hey you, slow down…relax…chill…let it go…just go with the flow.  Sometimes all it takes to make things easier is to use a softer, lighter hand when handling things.  

1057. in the garden

in the garden

two bumblebees

play peek-a-boo

Yesterday’s hot end-of-summer sunny skies filled the gardens with light. There were flowers in bloom everywhere, taken over by butterflies and dragonflies and tiny insects and bees of all kinds. It was more than enough to make you feel grateful to be alive. 
  

1056. first day of school

the school bus rolls in—

parents clap, children climb in…

summer’s over

 

The first day of school brings a mixture of ‘yays’and ‘boos.’  I read that Mary Oliver, as a young girl didn’t care much for sitting at her desk in the classroom all day; so she played hooky escaping into the woods. This later led to a lifelong passion for solitary walks in nature. She went out early every morning and walked in the woods or the ponds or the beaches—searching, discovering, learning, and writing poems and essays inspired by nature rather than the human world. Mary Oliver was a well loved award-winning, best-selling American poet. As for me when I was young, there were no woods nearby, so I just hid out in the basement! My love of nature and the natural world came later in life.

1055. keeping cool

a young deer

keeping cool in the shade—

beating the heat

 

Today’s forecast: Another day in the 90’s! Today’s weather tip:  Eat lightly…go easy on exercise…spray yourself with water…Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate! 

Think I’ll find a shady place to go for an easy walk this morning and bring along a squirt bottle to spray myself with water to beat the heat!

1054. Labor Day

young girl’s delight

reflected in her eyes:

fireworks!💥

*

eyes so bright

outshining all the stars:

fireworks!💥

*

end of summer

looking on the bright side—

fireworks!💥 

 

Every year I look forward to the Labor Day holiday when the North Hills Golf Club lights up the sky with displays of fireworks. Thousands of bright twinkling lights exploding high up in the noisy sky, boom-boom, over and over, my eyes grow big and bright with laughter and delight. I become a young girl again.

1053. hey bro!

hey bro!

sticking out your tongue at me—

is that you?

My brother’s name, Yulin, means the Chinese mythical giraffe. A trip to the zoo means that I’ll get to hang out with him again—talking, teasing, dreaming, laughing, giving me the tongue! I only have to figure out which giraffe is him!

1052. oh, well

morning dew

waiting for me to stop

and take a picture!

I tried and tried to get a clearer picture but couldn’t. Oh, well…another one for the ‘oh, well pile.’😘

1051. true story

Elvis & Luna

grazing in grassy pastures

forever

“Elvis & Luna” - 9x8” - Origami Mixed Media

“I adopted Elvis, a 3000 pound Swiss steer, sparing him from the slaughterhouse. Elvis loved people, and he loved me, especially after I started bringing him apples and carrots. I read him poems in the pasture, fed him chocolate donuts and bananas. I loved to sit out on the hill with him and look at the other cattle and cows down in the valley below. I often thought how he must have felt he had it pretty good….he had a girl, Luna, a beef cow for company, plenty of grass, fresh water, hay, and people who loved him…”

Excerpt from, “Going Home: Finding peace when pets die.” Jon Katz retired from a career in journalism to write about animals. Here he draws on personal experiences, together with stories from fellow pet owners, and philosophical reflections, to honor the animals who have graced our lives. Most of the stories are about dogs and cats; this one about Elvis, especially captured my creative attention.