Watching, living, reading, being

Near Meat Cove. Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. June 2012.

Take hold of your own life.
See that the whole existence is celebrating.
These trees are not serious, these birds are not serious.
The rivers and the oceans are wild,
and everywhere there is fun,
everywhere there is joy and delight.
Watch existence,
listen to the existence and become part of it.
― Osho

Red squirrel. (Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. June 2012.)

The summer heat has been turned on here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  I don’t expect we’ll see much relief for a while.  I’ve been turning to my archives for some cooling scenes rather than taking the camera out for a walk and new pictures.

Make a splash! (Nova Scotia. June 2012.)

You weren’t thinking and you weren’t paying attention either.  People who don’t pay attention often get stuck in the Doldrums.

~ Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth

Lupine (Nova Scotia. June 2012.)

I think I’ve got a good case of the summer doldrums.  To combat that, I went out for a walk this morning and did a little work in the garden.  The lupines I took photos of when we went to Maine and the Canadian Maritimes in June of 2012 remind me that I want to try to grow some lupines here.  There are Wild Lupines in the state of Maryland.  They are considered threatened.  As host plants to the Frosted Elfin butterfly, the threat to the Wild Lupines is also a threat to the Frosted Elfin (also listed as state threatened).

(Nova Scotia. June 2012.)

I’ve been sitting here struggling with what to write.  It’s the reason I haven’t posted in the past few days.  I’m in summer reading mode, wanting to sit on the beach (that won’t happen often) or on the porch (most likely) with a good book or magazine, reading until my heart is content or my eyes get tired.  Sometimes I don’t read at all, but stare out at the trees and birds and water, watching whatever is happening outside.  A Green Heron came to visit this morning, sitting on the table on the deck.  I’m not sure what he was doing out there.  Usually we see him hanging around the lagoon.  Maybe he just wanted to say hello.

Foggy, chilly morning, just before we drove over to Meat Cove (where it was sunny and clear). (Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. June 2012.)

Clouds are moving in now, darkening the sky.  They say it might rain this evening.  I hope it does.  The farmers are hoping for it, too.  The rain we got from Arthur was good, but it’s still very dry.

Somewhere along the Cabot Trail. (Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. June 2012.)

Since this post is about as dull as ditch water, I think it’s best to give up.  Perhaps I’ll have more to write about tomorrow or next week.

Looking out at the fog and shoreline. (Cape Breton, etc., etc.)

Thank you for dropping by today.  I hope your week has been going well so far, and that you’re not finding yourself in the Summer Doldrums.  I think Norton Juster was right.  It does help, at least a little, to pay attention.  (The Phantom Tollboth, by the way, is one of my favorite books.)

Coming to shore

I almost forgot!  Bearyweather has issued a Share Something New Challenge:

I challenge you to look around this week for something “new”.  Take some time to slow down and look around your world more closely.  Venture into an out-of-the-way place in an area you are familiar with but never visit, look more closely at something you pass by every day but never really “see”,  try something new, do something new … and in a “new” post, share your new thing with us and tell us how it made you feel.  How did this  “new” thing put a little life into your life this week!

If you have time, join in the fun.  I’ve been looking around, and will hopefully have something new to share soon.  That should get me out of the doldrums, for sure.

Waterfall and fog. (Cape Breton, etc., etc.)

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

Today’s joys:  Air conditioning; cooling off in the pool; dragonflies dancing in the meadows; the shady coolness of the woods; iced tea.