red on red
irresistible to birds
hot stuff
Red on red on red. They make me think of the Red Hots candies I ate as a kid. I can’t help but wonder if these berries are sweet hot or spicy hot….next time I’ll take a bite!
1171. midnight moon
icy moonlight
has me shivering
but beautiful
*
dark the night
the moon lights up
a pearly sky
No matter how cold the night, the moon in all its splendor forever stops me bold. I pause to gaze with wonder at its hold on me and on every other thing alive.
1170. holding on
the tree next door
its orange leaves so lively
cheers me
1169. flying high
out of line
falling into line
over the line
There’s something to be said for imperfection. A stillness occurs when things are perfect but when they are not, they appear more interesting. Our everyday lives can come more alive with curiosity and even wonder as we go beyond just looking to engage with seeing. We can see things that we didn’t see before….as if seeing things for the first time. There is a delight in this.
1168. raincatcher
empty bottles
twenty-two on a bench
ready for rain
Today there’s rain in the forecast. Here’s a do-it-yourself rainwater harvesting system that's ready….and it’s safe, simple, easy, and affordable!😆
1167. everything everywhere
leaves turn brown
and grass still wants to be green….
and so it goes
1166. joy to the world!
everyone
all together now:
let’s purr!
*
remember to purr
if you want to be happy—
just purr it!
It’s Christmas, and all at once all the kittens begin purring….Wishing everyone, everywhere, a Verry Purry Purry Christmas!
1165. it’s Christmas Eve
all lit up
on Candy Cane Lane
for Santa
It’s Christmas Eve!🎄In Oreland, all the neighbors on Garth Road light up the street for Santa!🎅
1164. camera shy
little fish
in the blink of an eye
playing me
Yesterday I went to the library and stayed there for the longest time in front of the fish tank, mesmerized, just watching and waiting for a perfect picture, but the little yellow fish just wouldn’t be still, like he was having too much fun playing peekaboo! 😘
1163. together
feeling the chill
the naked trees lean in
together
It’s winter now. Saying goodbye to autumn, the trees lean in closer together.
1162. a little magic
here and there
between heaven and earth
a little stardust
At my feet, a sprinkle of stardust on the leaves. Every now and then, slowing down and looking here and there, I catch a little glimpse of life’s magic. Where do things come from?
1161. doggone it!
holy pagoda
9 stories up high to the gods…
ho-ho!
Riddle: What do you call a dog who designs buildings?
Origami is so much fun. Just paper and hands, folding and folding. The possibilities are boundless. This little pagoda is 10 inches tall, made of nine square pieces of paper, 3 inches then smaller and smaller….each tier is stacked on top of another, no glue, no scissors.
A barkitect!🐶
1160. silver bells
fallen tree
covered over red and green—
in a christmas mood
Biding time until I can walk in the woods again, listening to Christmas music and scrolling through old pictures. I found this tree, dressed in holiday style—the only thing missing are silver bells.
1159. acceptance
restless
can’t sleep, unable to read
all night rain
*
flowers
on the window sill
listening to rain
It’s okay. Some nights are like this.
1158. trading places
waiting
for the sun to simmer down
the moon and i
Barely there, thin sliver of winter moon waiting patiently for the sun to go down and stars to light up the night.
1157. getting her D’s
sunny day
four legs and a nose
under cover
Every cat knows that we all need vitamin D for strong bones and muscles, healthy moods and immunity, and we can get it naturally from sunshine. So everyday Mikey finds a sunny spot to soak up the D’s. She also knows that too much of anything—even a good thing—is not a good thing! 😽
1156. finale
belly dancer
swirling out onto the stage
one last time
End to end, a garden snake curls and swirls, so like a belly dancer, gracefully slithering its way through life, true to its nature in death as in life.
1155. left and right
meniscectomy
my right knee waiting my turn….
will her left be next!
I had my knee done last night. More than 850,000 knee replacements are made each year, with full recovery times of a year or more. I’m thankful that my knee needed only repair of the torn meniscus, and that this morning I am up and walking comfortably on both legs.🙏
1154. the geese
unmistakable
the sound of geese overhead
i look up
Every time I hear the sound of geese flying overhead, I stop and look for them. Sometimes I even wave.
1153. a thrill!
hey, look:
out there in the meadow
a snowy owl!
“Hey, look at that bird—it’s big! It’s got to be a snowy owl!” I said. What a thrill! You hardly ever see an owl. They’re night creatures. Owls are something you hear about or talk about or read about but you never actually see an owl. So when I spotted that owl across the meadow, we got excited. “No, that can’t be,” Dan said. “Oh, yes it can. Look at that big head, and the tail feathers hanging down. I once saw an owl here in the woods, sitting in a tree; it was probably sleeping.” “Hmmm.” Dan and I stayed there for the longest time, raptly watching.
A day later, it was still there, it hadn’t moved. Oh, well. Funny, how only the idea of something can capture the imagination and give you a thrill. After all, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
1152. ode to feet
two things
stop me every time—
my feet
*
standing
on my own two feet….
feeling tall
*
hands down
my favorite way to travel—
on my feet
*
two things
i can count on….
my feet
*
wherever i go
there they are….
my feet
*
my feet
walk, run, jump, hop, kick
amazing!
I love my feet! 26 bones, 33 joints, over 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments, all work together in our feet, allowing us to walk, run, jump, hop, kick. Amazing!
1151. his world
rain pouring down
and the hawk just sits there
getting drenched
When rain comes pouring down, sometimes there’s nothing to do but get wet.
Unmistakable, the size and silhouette of a hawk, and how it just sits there, no matter what, waiting with all the time in the world, his world.
Chilly morning and so much rain, no sign of life in the meadow but the hawk, who floats alone, with careful feet carefully hooked tight on a slender branch of pine, perched there almost all the way to the edge, riding the gentle waves with the easy eyes of a natural killer ever alert for any sign of life to strike like lightning.
Yes, life is awesome and vulnerable and beautiful, but the truth of the way of Nature is not nice and cozy, but neutral and tough. After all, the business of Life is life itself, and without death, there can be no life.
rain pouring down
the hawk just sitting there
biding it’s time
1150. “otsukimi”….moon gazing
pausing to rest
by the old evergreen
the silent moon
*
i hear the streams….
my favorite Christmas song
silent night
Tsuki ga kirei desu ne — translates to: “The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?” The Japanese culture, known for its more polite and humble way of communication, uses this phrase, “The moon is beautiful, isn’t it?” as a subtle and poetic way of saying, “I love you.”
1149. totem
no longer green, yet
still standing tall and proud—
totem of the woods
“When you are in doubt, be still, and wait; when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage.” Chief White Eagle
1148. chickens!
chickens!
you can’t have just one—
like potato chips
*
just yolking!🐔
Scrambling to put a post together….this is the best I could do this morning.😘
1146. ripples
sand
does what it does—
ripples
*
all over the world
in the desert, on the beach
sand ripples
*
wind comes, wind goes
ocean comes and ocean goes
in ripples
*
wind and water give way
time after time to ripples of
stillness
Everything changes, nothing stays the same, like ripples and footprints in the sand.
1145. Sunday ritual
pancakes steaming hot
melt the butter in a flash—
it’s sunday
Every Sunday, we have pancakes for breakfast, two pancakes with one egg. I like my egg over easy. Our favorite syrup is maple syrup from Vermont. Sometimes we have bacon too, two strips of bacon. I always eat one and a half strips of bacon and give the other half to Dan. We love our rituals.
This post is inspired by the movie, “Paterson.” It’s a Jim Jarmusch film set in Paterson, New Jersey. It stars Adam Driver as a bus driver who lives a simple life and writes poetry and lives with his beautiful wife, who loves black & white. Dan and I have watched the film five or six times. It’s is our favorite movie.
1144. souvenir
what’s this?
washed up from the sea
a fishy fish
*
the yellow fish
with a ring thru its nose
a lucky charm
Stopped dead in our tracks. There it was belly up on the beach, a yellow fish with purple fins, and a touch of white….and a plastic ring thru its nose! Where did it come from? Dan brought it home for a souvenir.
1143. step by step
the little black cat
keeps up with them step for step
smiling all the way
We saw them approaching from up ahead and said to ourselves, “Hey, is that a cat on a leash?!” Well, that was a cat all right but there was no leash.
The cat was simply walking along with them, waving its tail in and out thru their legs, stopping from time to time to roll over on the ground. She was the cutest thing, all black with brown whiskers, a little cat wild in the woods, rubbing up against our legs, rolling on the ground, head-butting for pets on her head, meowing and looking up, wagging her tail and smiling….and so were we.
No, she wasn’t ‘their’ cat. She had simply popped out from the woods onto their path and was following them along. They intended to take her to an animal shelter for care and adoption. 😻🙏
1142. “cheese!”
hey guys, look: people!
hurry up, let’s all line up and
say, “cheese!”
Taking time out from butting heads—a favorite playtime activity—these billy goats pose for a picture and say “cheese!”
At the beginning of the fence line, there’s a handy dispenser filled with goat kibbles for nibbles. Drop in a quarter, and out comes a small handful of grains for a treat to feed the goats. These goats sure know how to work the crowd to get a treat!
1141. birds in the sky
from nowhere
to who knows where
black birds
*
exciting at first
then a little bit scary
then nothing
Like birds in the sky, feelings and thoughts come flying in from nowhere then fly away to who-knows-where.
We think all the time, that’s just what people do. We think….and we feel. Thoughts and feelings go together. We’re convinced by them….we hold on to them…too long, sometimes. Can we let them go to just fly away like birds in the sky.
1140. everything
summer grasses
sun shines….sky opens up….
everything sings
The thing I love about being by the ocean is all that sky…. and the sand and the sea and the shells washed up on the shore and the seagulls and sea urchins and ocean fishes and sand crabs and sand dollars and the grasses growing on nothing but air and sunlight and I wonder if I could do the same.
The thing I love about being by the ocean is everything.
1139. life is story
a hawk
cooly grazing on airwaves
looks down
*
the creek bed is dry
and the hawk circles down
for a closer look
*
deep in the wood
the hawk slowly settles down
and waits…
“The Hawk” — 12x9” — Watercolor
This painting is from a photo I had taken on a recent walk, and it doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever done, though I remember wanting to paint and do something different. Usually, I begin with a drawing, but not this time. The first go round with this was disappointing, and I wanted to quit. But I didn’t. I kept working it. I kept working it, until it slowly began drawing me in. When it was finished I showed it to Dan, who told me that he felt a hawk looking down into this scene in the woods.
It’s interesting how one thing can lead to another.
1138. monkey see monkey do
simon says:
hang right, drop down, now turn
reach up, sit down
maybe Rocky and Rockette!
1137. go fly a kite!
sign….what sign?
i don’t see any sign—
go fly a kite!
Some birds prefer to stay under the radar and go about their business doing just what they do, living simply and simply living. That’s my kinda bird!😘
1136. time and time
time and weather
and the energy of the sea
that’s sand
*
searching for shells
miles and miles on the beach
finding a rose
*
three days by the sea
fresh air and sun, seagulls fly
feeling free
Just thinking. If I go to the beach from time to time and take my time just walking, looking around, listening, lingering here and there, breathing it all in….if I do all that, maybe I’ll have more time.
1135. being there
taking it in
ocean, sand, clouds and sky
it’s alive
Not much to say….just being there is enough.
1134. waiting….
waiting
for the tide to come in….
hoping it doesn’t
*
closing my eyes
holding my breath….
will it or won’t it
Taking a risk is more fun than playing it safe.😘
1133. wish
i go for a walk
and look up at the sky
wish i could fly
Taking a little time to dream and wish and wonder, just a little time…
1132. free-floating
watching them
4 ears 4 eyes and 2 noses
watching me
The New Math! 🧮 Today’s lesson: 4 + 4 = 1 and 1
Fun with math: math-e-matics…cat-e-matics🙀…meow-e-matics😽…purr-e-matics😻
1131. ginko stinko
down on my knees
to take a good picture….
oh no, it’s ginko!
Focusing on the soft curve of the cobblestone border, I wasn’t paying much attention to where I was kneeling, until a woman passed by and commented, “That’s really something isn’t it—all that ginko.” Only then did I take a good look and see the fan-shaped leaves and orangey-golden fruits. Oh, no! I quickly straightened up and made my way carefully over to the sidewalk. Later, when I got in the car, my nose told me I hadn’t stepped carefully enough. Soon as I got home, I took off my shoes before stepping inside to wash the soles of my shoes, but the smell in my car lingered there another day or two.
“Ginkgo Stinko” is a cheery hoot for those familiar with the stinky smell of crushed ginko fruits, which are often described as being like rotten butter or vomit or dog poop!💩🤥