Delightful December

Last night the snow fell.

Scampering around like a family of frantic field mice,

we pulled shovels from the back of the shed,

removed forgotten items from the yard

and added twenty minutes extra to

tomorrow's travel plans 

to deal with the

"weather."

After everything was done,

I stayed to watch the snow coat the branches of the trees

until they were as beautiful as a freshly iced cake.

The plunging temperatures caused some

to pull up the collars of their coats

and stamp an annoyed dance

onto the icy ground with their heavy boots.

I chose to watch

the golden light spill from the windows

of the houses onto our street.

It looked so cozy;
all these families gathered for a hot evening meal,

while their humming furnaces
sent soft plumes of smoke

into the darkening sky.

This frozen, wet stuff...

It's just rain, really.

Is it more annoying

because it's going to stick and stay?

Surely snowflakes

are a form of enchantment;

falling, frozen stars,

light as air,

each one sculpted, unique, miraculous.

They gather here and there

with an artist's flourish

and make something new from what was old.

Or, they melt and freeze again,

allowing us glimpses into other worlds

that only winter can help us find.

Whichever way you choose

to view it,

I welcome the snow

and all its wonder.

Love Trumps Hate

Oh Donald Trump.

I was in shock, like much of the world, to discover that he won the election. I mean how in the name of all that is good, sane, decent, civilized, honest, intelligent and human did this happen? Especially at a time when our floating blue and green planet needs our care and protection the most.

Fortunately or unfortunately (depends how you look at it) I was in an unusual situation when I heard the election results.

I was hooked up to several monitors in the intensive cardiac care unit in one of our city’s most wonderful hospitals while doctors searched to find the source for the “heart attack” I appeared to have suffered last Saturday night.

Yes, this was before the election results

so I can’t blame Donald for that!

Luckily, strangely (just like life) the enzymes in the blood test that declared with almost certainty that my heart had suffered a traumatic event and been injured were proved wrong by the best tests science has to offer.

Five days later, on a sunny Wednesday afternoon
I walked out of the hospital, heart-healthy and free!

The first thing that struck me, waiting outside to be picked up by my children, was how blue the sky was. A crisp November breeze rushed up to fill my lungs and the setting sun caressed my cheek with a mother’s love.

This world is so beautiful.

I wanted to skip, jump, sing, dance.

I was healthy!

I was home.

I was loved.

My husband never left my side in the hospital (sleeping the first 2 days in a chair, and the rest in a cot) and my children spoiled me each day with their time, homemade meals, fresh clothes, board games and stories.

My epiphany: Donald Trump’s win changes nothing.

The world existed before him and the world will exist after him
because there are billions of people who know and cherish
what really matters...

* LOVE *

Family, friends, health, home, nature, the sun, moon and sky.

At home, looking out my kitchen window, it felt like I’d never left, never been terrified for my heart, my life. I watched the giant yellow maple in our backyard shower the ground with its sunshine-yellow leaves…

With everything that had just happened to me I followed the urge to be there, right under it, head turned up to watch the leaves
dance through the air on their way to the ground,
to be part of that beauty.

We are surrounded by magic…every day.

Donald Trump can’t ruin that.

I, and billions of others, won’t let him.

And whatever he does ruin, we will fix.

Continue to believe in magic and magic will continue to exist.

Autumn Rays

Is there such a thing as a solemn autumn?

How can that be

When trees decorate themselves with baubles

And colourful clouds

Swirl among their branches

When water glows with lights

From somewhere

Deep within

And lemon-yellow leaves wave to us

from crisp blue skies

The forest may darken earlier in the day

But lights are left on for us to find our way as the sun

Wishes us goodnight

And the Autumn winds play a song

Only the heavy-headed grasses can hear

There is no time for solemn days

When the world is painted gold.

Dragonfly Dreams

I live in the middle of suburbia.

A land of sidewalks, paved driveways and every now and then

a teensy, tiny greenspace.

We looked long and hard to find our house

and chose it because of its12,000 square foot lot

 in a well-treed neighbourhood.

But, was I going to find dragonflies here?

Of course not...

That is, until I planted my garden

and they began to visit

regularly.

Even then, a dragonfly pond?

Can you even build one just for dragonflies?

It turns out, you can :)

It took us a few years of experimenting and educating ourselves

before we recognized the Pond Dragons (dragonfly larvae)

that scuttled along the muddy bottom of the water.

This is the first year I saw them emerge...

from my pond...

my Dragonfly Pond.

I am over the moon and beyond happy.

In the first photo:

I rescued a dragonfly from the rising pond water.

Its wings had not yet hardened enough

for it to fly away.

In the second photo:

Something twinkling in my apple tree caught my eye.

It turned out to be a dragonfly drying its wings

in the sunlight.

In the final photo:

- Best of all -

I witnessed several dragonflies

laying their eggs in the moss near the water

which means...

more dragonflies will be born in

Dragonfly Pond!

Dragonfly dreams do come true :)

Bare Beauty

Have you ever noticed a tree standing

naked against the sky,

how beautiful it is?

There is a poem, there is a song.

Every leaf is gone and it is waiting for the spring.

When the spring comes,

it again fills the tree

with the music of many leaves,

Which in due season fall

and are blown away.

And this is the way of life.

~ Krishnamurti ~

Only The Crow Knows

I'm

wondering

why that branch

the one that barely holds your weight

that leaves you tossing in the wind

until you can hold on no longer

until you fall

into the currents

of the great

white

sky.

Use Your Imagination

The colour of springtime is in the flowers;

The colour of winter is in the imagination.

~ Terri Guillemets ~

Les Grandes Dames de l'Hiver

The Grand Ladies of Winter

all dressed up

for the Ball

Oh, The Drama!

Never a dull moment!

I took this shot

right before the sun was swallowed up

by some very dark clouds.

I call it:

Cloudy With A Chance Of Snow

Yellow

It's been a Yellow kind of day :)

Patience

Ah snow!

Lit by the sun

against the bright blue sky,
You're dazzling!

I wait

patient as a dove

fluffed and ruffled

quiet and still.

I know you won't remain much longer.

A few days of warm temperatures

and you'll be

a beautiful memory.

The Rings of Time

Trees are the ultimate story tellers.

Hidden between their rings of time are tales of: injury, drought, hardship, growth, peace, insect invasions and forest fires.

Dendrochronology, the study and interpretation of tree rings can tell us everything we need to know about a tree's history.

When I came across this fallen tree I couldn't help stopping to count its rings.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered it is about the same age as I am;

Middle age for me, but quite young for a tree.

Its bark,

A roadmap of life,

 Filled with light and dark, highs and lows,

Reflects a beauty that comes with time and age.

The tree's stump tells us the final part of this story.

You can see why it had to be cut down...

It remains in the ground,

a marker for a tree that held this spot for fifty-some years.