Look up

Looking up in the woods to see the trees are greening and leafing out.

Learn to look up now and then, just in case a piano is falling from overhead.

~ Richelle E. Goodrich, Making Wishes

Advertisements

Happiness is

A male bluebird in the morning. (That’s a Christmas tree ornament he’s sitting on. We found a whole box of them in the greenhouse when we first cleaned it out five years ago.  The bluebirds seem to like them for perching.)

In flight the bluebirds are very charming at this time of year; a leisurely flip of the wing carries them along silently with just enough momentum to keep them afloat in the air, and they often sail for a long way, drifting along with open wings.

~ Dr. Winsor M. Tyler

This beautiful and singularly lovable bird divides with the Robin the grateful mission of bringing to its northern friends the welcome news that spring is at hand.

~ George Gladden, 1917

With due respect to other birds, the “Baltimore Oriole of happiness” simply doesn’t sound right.

~Steve Grooms

Written

In the sand today.

The picture alone, without the written word, leaves half the story untold.

~ James Lafferty

This post is in response to Susannah Conway’s April Love 2018 prompt for today:  Written.  Quick post today.  M and I have been out hiking and enjoying this beautiful Sunday.  I hope your Sunday is/was beautiful, too.

New Brunswick, Canada. (June 2012)

A few of the 10,000 reasons to be happy:  635)  A hike in the woods.  636)  Perfect hiking weather (cool, breezy, and sunny).  637)  Fields of purple flowers.  638)  Seeing two Bald Eagles on our way home.  639)  Sitting by the Pocomoke River.  640)  Lunch at our new favorite Chinese restaurant.  (Our old favorite is closed.  The couple who owned it — she was the waitstaff and he was the chef — decided to retire.)

High winds

Out at the Point this afternoon.

For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.

~ James Baldwin

Grounding and centering

Almost heart-shaped lichen.

With me I always carry my peace message:  This is the Way of Peace:  Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.  There is nothing new about this message, except the practice of it.  And the practice of it is required not only in the international situation but also in the personal situation.  I believe that the situation in the world is a reflection of our own immaturity.  If we were mature, harmonious people, war would be no problem whatever — it would be impossible…

All of us can work for peace.  We can work right where we are, right within ourselves, because the more peace we have within our own lives, the more we can reflect into the outer situation.  In fact, I believe that the wish to survive will push us into some kind of uneasy world peace which will then need to be supported by a great inner awakening if it is to endure.

~ Peace Pilgrim

Weathered

A weathered bedpost in the woods.

Every conquering temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.

~ William Butler Yeats

This post is in response to the Weekly Photo Challenge:  Weathered.

Age

The old oak in the morning.

Clearing blue sky
A promise in bare branches.
In winter, there are sunny days.
In adulthood, childhood can return.

…There was an old man who began an orchard upon his retirement.  Everyone laughed at him.  Why plant trees?  They told him that he would never live to see a mature crop.  Undaunted, he planted anyway, and he has seen them blossom and has eaten their fruit.  We all need that type of optimism.  That is the innocence and hope of childhood.

~ Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao: Daily Meditations