Far Away in the Sunshine

“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.

I may not reach them,

but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead.”

Louisa May Alcott

 

Follow your highest aspirations . . .

and nourish peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature photo of the week – a fringed tulip – from my Wednesday Walk at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens:

FringeTulip

Shadow of the Week – I did not set this up but found it exactly like this on my deck after a windstorm. The shadows are few, but it’s appropriate for today. Happy Easter!

twigCross

Text and photos © 2016 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

 

The World In Your Hand

The World In Your Hand

Happy First Day of Spring!

“When you take a flower in your hand

and really look at it,

it’s your world for the moment.”

Georgia O’Keeffe

 

Nourish peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature photo of the week – my world for a moment:

Ckwd3.9.16

Shadow of the Week – birdhouse on the deck:

BrdHsShdw

Text and photos © 2016 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

The Spring-Turning Sun

“And the sun felt warm upon his face like a hand with a lovely touch.”

Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

 

May you feel the lovely touch of the Spring-turning sun this week.

 

Nourish peace,

cultivate loving kindness,

and carry the calm.

 

Nature photo of the week – sunrise through leaves that lasted the winter:

sunrisethruredlvs

Shadow of the Week – the sun paints a heart shadow on a silver-gray trunk:

HrtShdwTrunk

Text and photos © 2016 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Detritus: Close Encounters of the Small Kind

I have a friend who sees beauty in the bits of nature that most of us pass by or trample over and sweep away – chips of dry fallen leaves, torn and faded petals, tiny feathers, bits of broken rock, mini-twigs – detritus. I can hear my friend saying detritus with a gleam of passion in her eyes, a love for the detail most of us never even notice. Detritus. She sees beauty in it and draws its intricate patterns slowly, carefully, lovingly with the sharpest pencil lead and the finest-tipped pen. She’s an artist.

A piece of detritus appeared in my kitchen window this week, hanging there like a small suncatcher. When I took a closer look, I saw that it was a leafy lacework more or less the shape of a star a quarter-inch wide. It had ragged, irregular outer edges and framed an open center, a circle evenly trisected by miniscule spokes that made the tiny object look like a star-framed peace symbol. An almost invisible spider-silk holds it in place, and it sways ever so slightly in the breeze. I got the sharpest pencil I could find and drew it. Then I let it be.

detritusSketch

Notice the tiny beauties this week. Draw them? Nourish peace, cultivate loving kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature photo of the week – detritus, the real thing:

Detritus

Shadow of the Week – indoor coffee plant, leaf-on-leaf shadows:

LfShdw1

Text and photos © 2016 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.