Happy New Year!

This clematis sent up two fireworks of her own in the fall,

the end of the year for her.

She sleeps away the winter waiting for her rebirth in the spring.

While our part of the world

is covered in a layer of ice and snow,

we plan,

prepare

and dream

about how we will spend

the next 365 days.

Happy New Year to all!

Winter apples

This bounty of glowing apples

 contrasts beautifully

with the leafless grey tree branches.

Capturing the moment with my camera,

I wonder why these apples have not fallen.

Nature continues on.

Luckily for us she is not consumed with why.

The royal Fleur-de-lys

This symbol, historically representing French royalty, is said to signify perfection, light and life.

I like the way it brings an ancient mystique to my barren winter garden.

Shine the light!

You're just standing there,

nothing special, overlooked,

 and then the sunlight finds you...

Wow, now you are spectacular!

Winter's magic wand

Winter waves a magic wand over the land, and behold, everything is more beautiful!

Your shadow speaks

The reputation of a man is

like his shadow:

it sometimes follows

and

sometimes precedes him,

it is sometimes longer

and

sometimes shorter

than his natural size.

French proverb

Protect your dreams

"Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."

William Butler Yeats

Take your dreams and prepare them for the cold.  Wrap them in burlap so they don't get crushed by the snow.  Tie them up tight so they remain intact and keep their form.

Once the storm has passed and the season is over, release them into the universe where they can become a reality.

Mr. Hitchcock would approve

The twisted tree branches against the dark grey sky create a sinister backdrop for the crow sitting atop the chimney.

"There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."

Alfred Hitchcock

Hey, rebel in the back, get in line!

The pond plants have been placed in the empty vegetable garden, their winter home, for more than a month.

Everyone seems to have understood what this hibernation is all about, except the one rebel in the back.

Maybe it knows something we don't!

A certain slant of light.

Leaves float in an icy bath,

their rich gold colours preserved

from the first day they fell.

The light shifts.

The leaves are now rotten and dark.

Perception.

I love it!

Uh-oh, someone kicked the wasp's nest!

   So, here we are, a week before Christmas and Montreal is snow-less!  I took this picture today.  Notice the green grass...


   This is a dream come true for many Montrealers and they are deliriously happy to have finally received the one thing that is always on their Christmas list - No Snow.  

Photo taken December 2010.

I remain suspicious,

nervous

and concerned.

Bring on the snow,

please.

Faded love

Faded love letters,

Written from the heart,

The only remnants of

Young lovers grown apart.

Carpet of gold

Summer has passed but

the weather is still fair.

The leaf-laden trees

are now almost bear.

The leaves, once bright and green,

Look withered and old.

They lay upon the ground;
A carpet of gold.

Rosemary Danielis

Be open to the sun

The windows of my soul

I throw wide open to the Sun.

John Greenleaf Whittier

Falling from my heart

When

you were here

my heart

was in bloom.

Now

the leaves

are falling,

falling

from

my

heart.

The tree of love

is bare,

as bare

as my heart.

From: Falling Leaves

By: David McMinn

Brighten your day

A leaf fluttered in through the window this morning,

as if supported by the rays of the sun...

Anais Nin

Crimson Sky

Every leaf speaks bliss to me,

Fluttering from the autumn tree.

From: Fall, Leaves, Fall   By: Emily Bronte

Thanksgiving!

The year has turned its circle,

The seasons come and go.

The harvest all is gathered in

And chilly north winds blow.

Orchards have shared their treasures,

The fields, their yellow grain,

So open wide the doorway,

Thanksgiving comes again!

http://www.spritzels.com/poems/thanksgiving-poem.html

In honour of the first Snow of the year

The sun that dim November day

Had failed to kiss the clouds away

From quiet Nature's furrowed face,

Where autumn tears had left their trace.

And, by and by, on fields of brown

The feathered flakes came floating down

From Heaven to this world of ours,

Like spirits of departed flowers.

And fast and faster through the night,

Till Morn arose on meadows white,

And o'er the landscape lightly stepped

Where tired Nature, smiling, slept.

First Snow-Fall  By: Albert Bigelow Paine

In the Land of Ladybugs

In the Land of Ladybugs,

what traffic laws apply?

I see no roads to mark their way

or signs that clarify.

If they should meet

on a one-way street,

who decides who goes by?

If one should park

in a crook-necked bend

does anyone ask why?

In the Land of Ladybugs,

if a problem does arise,

you simply open up your wings

and fly off to the sky.

Rosemary Danielis

Stand tall

So here you stand now;

What more lives, and strange happenings will you see?

How strange and petty our human squabbles seem to be!

Will those squabbles destroy the Earth and, ultimately, you?

Or will you stand tall as our world births anew?

From: The Tree - A Poem

http://blogs.ubc.ca/liamsca/

Even seeds have style!

Punk rock seeds sporting their own mohawks - such rebels!

Be Bold!

Nature ends the year with an explosion of royal colours, perhaps to fill our eyes and hearts with enough inspiration to last the whole winter long.

Here comes Winter

On the coattails of burnt-orange shades of Autumn - Here Comes Winter!

Even ants go house shopping

Once a little sugar ant

made up his mind to roam -

to fare away, far away,

far away from home.

He had eaten

all his breakfast,

and had his ma's consent

to see what he

should chance to see

and here's where he went:

From the poem:  The Ant Explorer   By:  C Michael James Dennis

Better be merry!

How long,

how long,

in infinite

Pursuit

Of This and That

endeavour or

dispute?

Better be merry

with the fruitful

Grape

Than sadden after none

or bitter,

Fruit.

Be Merry With the Fruitful Grape
By: Omar Khayyam

Avalanche

High up
a front of flowers
cascades down
plashing from leaf to leaf
spawning further falls

I dew, do you?

     Let your
           life
               lightly 
                      dance
     on the 
             edges
                   of Time
     like dew
              on the
                    tip
                       of a leaf


Rabindranath Tagore

Blue skies, nothing but blue skies...

Blue skies, Smiling at me

Nothing but blue skies

Do I see

Blue Skies - Irving Berlin

The apple of my eye

Youth is like spring,

an over-praised season

 more remarkable for biting winds

 than genial breezes.

Autumn is the mellower season,

and what we lose in flowers

 we more than gain in fruits.

Samuel Butler

Life is light

Light gives of itself freely, filling all available space.

It does not seek anything in return;

it asks not whether you are friend or foe.

It gives of itself and is not thereby diminished.

Michael Strassfeld

Cotton Candy Dreams

I was born with wings,

I was born from a dream;


Where the clouds were made of cotton candy.


The sky looked noon
but the stars shone through.


The air was perfume,
angels sat on the moon.


I was born to take flight,
soar through the sky,
not sitting around waiting for my last goodbye.

By: TruthFromWhispers

Hold on to this moment

It's the end of the summer,

but we'll see it all again,

so hold on to this moment 'till then.

"End of the Summer" by Theory of a Deadman