To write requires an ego, a belief that what you say matters. Writing also requires an aching curiosity leading you to discover, uncover, what is gnawing at your bones.
~ Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice
…The shadow of each bird is speaking to me. Each shadow doubles the velocity, ferocity of forms. The shadow, my shadow now merges with theirs. Descension. Ascension. The velocity of wings creates the whisper to awaken….
I want to feel both the beauty and the pain of the age we are living in. I want to survive my life without becoming numb. I want to speak and comprehend words of wounding without having these words become the landscape where I dwell. I want to possess a light touch that can elevate darkness to the realm of stars.~ Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice
I went for a wander today. Through the woods and out to the dock, around the gardens and meadows, into the cemetery, and finally ending up in the backyard staring up at the maple and oak trees.
In the woods the loblolly pines and wild cherry trees are flowering and leafing. The birdsong and chatter is lively and quick.
Out on the dock, the water was at low tide. The low tides have been extremely low for the past few days. There are spring tides and there are neap tides, neither of which have anything to do with the season. A spring tide occurs during new and full moons. The sun’s gravitational pull joins forces with the moon’s gravitational pull, and the world’s oceans bulge (“spring forth”) more than usual. This makes the high tides higher and the low tides lower. Neap tides are the opposite (low tides are higher and high tides are lower) and occur during the first and third quarter moons. I have learned a lot about tides since moving here.
I am thinking about a spring cleanse/detox. This one with Karin Burke looks wonderful, and the cost is reasonable. Ms. Burke’s description of how we feel this time of year suits me perfectly. A spring detox might be just the thing to clear out all the gunk of winter and the election, and leave me open for something new and lovely and light. Unfortunately, April will be a very busy month so I would miss a good chunk of it. Still, there might be a way since I think purchasing it also means being able to download it. Or I could design something myself. I’ve certainly done enough spring detoxes that I’m sure I could come up with something.
I also like the idea of combining a spring detox of self with a spring cleanse/detox of home and clutter. I’ve been working on the office lately, getting it ready for painting and a little renovating. I spend a lot of time in this room. It will be nice to clean, brighten, and lighten it up. Right now it’s a bit chaotic which is the way of things when it comes to renovations. I’ve been pulling things out of the art desk, working on the back-up for my photos, and going through the closet where things got stuffed when we moved in. M has also been doing his share of lightening our load by cleaning out old files and junk in the filing cabinets.
Next week will be a good week to get the flower seeds started. I have the usual assortment of zinnias. I’m not sure what else I’ll put in the flower garden this year. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we’ll be expanding our vegetable garden. As a result, it might be best to keep the flower garden simple. The zinnias are always the main attraction for the butterflies and hummingbirds, and the winged creatures are the main reason I started a flower garden.
While I was out in the backyard staring up at the oak and maple trees and thinking about flower seeds, two Bald Eagles swooped by, startling me into laughter. I heard their playful chatter as they flew in over the marsh and wasn’t expecting them to come so close to where I was standing. It was all too fast to photograph. I did capture something of their spirit, or perhaps it’s more precise to say that they left me a gift of spirit by touching something deep within me, awakening an internal springtime of the soul. I have their picture in my memory and it makes me smile to think of them and to see that image of them flying so close together, celebrating the day.
I won’t be here for the coffee chat this week. I will be at a film festival, taking in what I think will be good films, and spending the time in between movie-watching with great friends. I will tell you all about it when the next coffee chat rolls around on April 8.
I reckon that’s about it for this wander around the ranch on this lovely spring day. Thank you for visiting and wandering with me. I’ll be back again next week with another meander or wander or whatever comes to mind.
Be good, be kind, be loving. Just Be. And have a great weekend! 🙂
A few of the 10,000 reasons to be happy: 161) Bald Eagles at play, swooping and soaring and chattering about the day. 162) The dappled light in the woods. 163) Blossoming trees. 164) Long walks on cool days. 165) Emerging.
The wonder of the Beautiful is its ability to surprise us. With swift sheer grace, it is like a divine breath that blows the heart open.
~John O’Donohue
Beautiful photos! Your mystery shrub is a China Rose. I plant one everytime I move someplace new. 😉
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Thank you, ~M. 🙂
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You’re welcome! 😉
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It sounds like you had a delightful day, Robin. The photos are lovely, and your experience with the eagles–well, amazing. Enjoy the film festival!
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Thank you so much, Merril. It was indeed a lovely day. Perfectly cool temperatures, a nice breeze, and plenty of sunshine after some morning clouds moved through. 🙂
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Lovely!
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Thank you, Carrie. 🙂
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Lovely photos! Spring is such a joy for the heart. I love your eagle story – you were blessed with their strong totem medicine! 🙂
I have to disagree with ~M above, it’s definitely not a rose. I believe your mystery plant is a Flowering Almond (Prunus triloba).
Have a great time at the film festival – looking forward to hearing your reviews. 🙂
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Thank you, Eliza. 🙂 I think you might be right about the mystery shrub. I’ve been trying to identify that thing since we moved here.
I thought the same thing about the eagles! It truly was a blessing.
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Gorgeous photos from what seems like a lovely day. Looking at them made me feel happy.
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Thank you so much, Otto. 🙂 I felt happy when I took them so I am glad to hear that was reflected in the images.
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Hi Robin. Those are lovely and intriguing quotes you opened with today. I have not heard of Terry Tempest Williams or When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice before. Something for me to check out perhaps. It’s so lovely that you wrote about tides today, for I too was standing at the waters edge and thinking about them and our vast and mighty oceans and the pull of the heavens. As I turned away to continue our walk the thought came to me that these things will stay, will continue, will be our constant – while the madmen of the world will come and go and in the end be little more than a bitter reminder of the cost of human egoism. I hope you find some lovely, uplifting movies at the film festival!
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Thank you, Pauline. 🙂 I think you would like Terry Tempest Williams’ books. She describes birds and nature so well, and there is something almost soothing about some of her writing.
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Lovely wander and lovely photos. Maybe a detox would be good, but the election results will still be here. Unfortunately, those cannot be flushed away.
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Thank you, Carol. 🙂 No, those things/people cannot be flushed away, but maybe they’ll be taken away at some point if an independent investigation is allowed (as it should be). Still, our best hope are the future elections, provided people learned some important lessons this time around.
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The top one was such a lacy show stopper – but glad I kept going to enjoy the rest.
The last one somehow reminds me of a little girl’s spring dress
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Thank you, PhilosopherMouse. 🙂
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Your photos are, as always, magical—I’d rather see with your eyes than with my own.
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Thank you so much, David. 🙂 You would need my astigmatism and some strong glasses. 😉
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A beautiful set of photos of spring! Thank you for sharing your wandering with us, Robin!
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You’re welcome, Amy, and thank you. 🙂
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Hi Robin. Nice meander. I think I will do a version of your 10,000 reasons to be happy … not sure what form it may take but I think it would be an alternative form of journaling … starting to feel like spring here … no blossomed yet but I can enjoy yours!
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Wow. You captured an amazing photo in the budding pine. Cheers Robin!
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Excellent truth
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