December’s Bare Beauty

So quiet and subtle is the beauty of December that escapes the notice of many people their whole lives through. Colour gives way to form: every branch distinct, in a delicate tracery against the sky. New vistas, obscured all Summer by leafage, now open up.

Flora Thompson

Missouri Mist

It is morning in Missouri.

Overnight a fog crept into the field

where I slept,

soaking the earth,

dripping from the barbed wire,

clinging like diamonds

to a tuft of grass caught there,

coating the trees - delineating

every darkened limb

against the blue grey sky.

I walk into the mist

along a lonely farm road

and these bare beauties

emerge one by one-

disappearing

as I pass

quietly,

cloaked in solitude.

December 7, 2022 - lonely drop from barbed wire

November 29, 2022 - Fennville, Michigan. It has been gray and cold today. I decided to look for small beauties - like these berries and the dried buds and wildflowers that follow.

November 29, 2022 - Dried before blooming

December 3, 2022 - Sun setting through a fallen pine limb

December 3, 2022 - Fennville, MI - The golden sun was out again today, after a few days of clouds. When it set, I saw a pretty little fallen limb of pine on the beach and thought I would like to see how it would light up the needles if I could get a picture through them. It was windy, and I had to kneel in the sand, but I really liked the result.

December 8, 2022 - Robber’s Cave State Park - Oklahoma. This is the first night I’ve been able to see the moon at night on this trip. Haloed and hallowed. I love the way the bare limbs seem to be reaching out for it.

subscribe here

Mind the Rain

Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.

Langston Hughes

10/26/22 - Rain clinging to a limb, reflecting the trees.

The tree in autumn

I feel

cold water

sliding

over my bare skin,

clinging briefly

to my outstretched limbs,

then falling -

soaking the earth

beneath me.

Nourishing

my roots.

I drink

deeply,

drunkenly,

falling asleep.

10/26/22 - Bare trees held by a raindrop.

All winter long

I rest,

naked and cold -

dreaming

of beautiful green garments

i will wear

in spring.

The evergreen clings to the raindrops in its needles.

Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.

John Updike

If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.

Loren Eiseley

I stopped for the sky this morning. It was raining but the sun was shining in the east and the light was golden. Parked my car on the shoulder. to look and get a picture. The wet pavement reflected the whole sky - doubling the magic.

When I turned back to get in my truck - to the west - this is what I saw:

Of Monsters and Ghosts

A world in which there are monsters, and ghosts, and things that want to steal your heart is a world in which there are angels, and dreams and a world in which there is hope.

Neil Gaiman

Be hole, be dust, be dream, be wind

Be night, be dark, be wish, be mind,

Now slip, now slide, now move unseen,

Above, beneath, betwixt, between.

Neil Gaiman, from the Graveyard Book

Happy (almost) Halloween! I decided to do things a little differently this week - No poem from me; because I found this beautiful little verse by Neil Gaiman from the Graveyard Book (which is a fantastic book to read and/or listen to, by the way) which was just the right mood: a little fanciful, a little dark. Hope you enjoy it and the pictures.

10/14/2022 - Gravestone on the Front Lawn

It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.

J. R. R. Tolkien

10/11/2022 - A silent walker on the sand

10/23/2022 - The Lady of The Tree - Arms outstretched

10/27/2022 Another Tree Creature - ensnared by a vine

October 21, 2022. I love all its phases, but I particularly love to see a bright crescent moon; because if you look closely, along the edges, where the darkness meets the light, craters are more visible than when the moon is full.

Rhoda Lewis

Photo Journal