Gentleness

PHOTO FRIDAY

Thursday evening as I sat down at my desk, I noticed Photo Friday was upon me.  I was contemplating whether I should even try taking part.  I feel out-classed in talent and eye. The submissions are so wonderful and I look forward to being inspired by them. 

 My husband came in and said, 'Stand up, look at the sky.' 

 It was getting darker earlier now, a sad forerunner of 'The End of Summer.'  As the sun was sinking fast.  The moon was rising in the east.  We had a full moon this evening and the sky had that wonderful green glow that show up briefly  layered between the pink and blue; the word gentle came to my mind. That was enough. I grabbed my camera and headed for the door.

 Turning it on, the camera opened then automatically closed.  Open, close.  On, off.  Sigh.  So I took my very old falling apart cell phone -probably the first one made with a camera option - and opened the front door.  (that is my excuse for the rustalica below.)

Ah, gentle end of the day.     Gentle air.   Gentle twilight.

Ah, moon....lighting us this eve                  help us breathe more gently

Moon flowers fragrant in the dimming light

and your soft reflections                on my window sill

Gently moon                                              calm and bright 

                            Good night                                                           moon

Length of Moon

And then the golden hour will tick its last 

and the flame will go down in the flower.

A briefer length of moon will mark the sealine 

and the yellow dune.

Then we may think of this yet 

there will be something forgotton 

and something we should forget. 

It will be like all things we know.  

A stone will fail, a rose is sure to go. 

It will be quiet then and we all will be quiet. 

 But there will be less to say.  

                                                      Ama Bontemps

Photo Friday - END OF SUMMER

As I work knee deep in flora, snipping off dead blossoms from the abundance of perennials still  growing around me and gathering vegetables from the garden, I feel an urgency. 

Get things done.  Snip, trim, water and gather the bounty, go, go, go; get it done.  

I am never ready for the end of warm weather…not ever that I can remember.  

So there is always a bit melancholy  for me in the cooler evenings and shorter days.

Each year I take pictures of my yard in October & November to remind myself, yes, there is loveliness in autumn. 

But still.

And now 

as I look around me, I notice the same urgency in the bees buzzing around me.  

I am used to bees. 

In fact, I leave my herbs to flower out this time of year just for them.  

They are usually friendlier and a bit slower than they are today.  Now they are wild! All kinds of bees. Bees I have never seen before are under my arms, around my elbows, buzzing near my knees as I work.

We are the same, these bees and I - trying to get as much done as possible before the wind turns chilly and the rains come. 

 I am chuckling out loud as the bees, usually paying little attention to me, are now checking out my head and blouse.

 “No, I’m not what you want.”  

They are frantic.  Not just the usually gentle honey bees, but the Bumbles are faster and more irritable than usual too.  There are a few species I’ve never seen before.  I run for the camera.   Some black and white stipped ones.  

It seems they don’t like the end of warm days either.  

I know in a few weeks their fervor will end as they slow.  In fact, they will be moving very very slow - crawling instead of flying.  At least one or two Bumbles make their way into the house, confused-like. 

  I, like them,  slow down in cold weather.

I don’t want summer to end. 

  

 I’d like to hibernate - fall sleep until the warm weather & sunshine & flowers appear again. 

Here are some other images I captured today....holding on to summer..............

Allium

Oregano 'Kent Beauty'

Smoke bush

water skipper

                              So for now, I determine to enjoy  these warm days. 

                                  There is much to celebrate in the here and now.

               

`````
Late summer 
when the bees get dizzy
the heat is getting cooler
nights are getting longer

The patio lanterns
glow all evening
Kim Mitchell on the radio
us kissing on the lawn

Lawn chairs out
twigs pointing to the fire
marshmallows getting hotter
getting cozy moving closer

Laughing, telling stories
of the August adventures
and plans for September
as the fire slows its flickers

There stands us
a couple of summer romantics
holding hands – take it in
hoping summer never ends.    Sarah Cotnam

contrasts; Old and New

Old and New

Upon first sight, this photo may not seem very impressive, until you understand where I was standing; On the very top of Mount St. Helens.  The volcano.  It erupted in 1980...close to my home, where we became covered in it's 'ash' (cinders) which filled our streets and noses.  

Part of our family went back there yesterday.  And on this hillside I was struck how it looked like a graveyard of old trees long ago blown over by the pyroclastic blast and, only now, 32 years later,

being replaced by small trees.  The very old, the very new.

The crater as it looks today.  Someone said that was a vent cloud.

There were herds of elk at the basin. Life has so very slowly returned on it's own

thirty-two years later.

A picture of Toutle River basin and the hills that have been replanted by man.