Month: May 2016

What’s Waiting to Be Seen

Posted by

“[S]ee what is all around you just waiting to be seen.”

P.T. Barnum

 

I’ve been learning to paint with watercolor, and I’m especially intrigued by the paintings of Yuko Nagayama. Her first point of “Watercolor Wisdom” is “Don’t just look at something. Observe it! Observe and get a feel for it.” Observing may involve touching, squinting your eyes to more easily see light and shadow, and appreciating shapes.

So this week, observe what’s around you waiting to be seen.

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

Nature of the week – Observed these flowers, had to paint them:

A&S5.24.16

Shadow of the Week – scissors and spiral on my desk. (I’ve been writing a lot.):

spiralShdw

 

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

With Quiet Eyes

Posted by

I will be the gladdest thing

Under the sun!

I will touch a hundred flowers

And not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds

With quiet eyes,

Watch the wind bow down the grass,

And the grass rise. . . .

– Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Afternoon on a Hill” –

 

Pause sometime this week to look at nature with quiet eyes. Watch the play of the wind and the shift of the shadows. Let the shape, color, and scent of a flower imprint on heart and mind. Hold it. And carry this calm.

Nature photo of the week – bellflower:

campanula1

Shadow of the Week – leaf on leaf:

LfonLfShdw

 

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

Now Trending . . . or Now Tending?

Posted by

“Where you tend a rose, my lad,

A thistle cannot grow.”

– Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden –

 

Tend is short for attend. Meaning pay attention.

Peace is found more often by paying attention not to what’s trending but to what needs tending. Sure, sometimes they’re the same. But be aware. Pay attention. Nourish peace, cultivate loving kindness, carry the calm. And tend the roses.

Nature photo of the week – tiny beauty blown off a pine tree:

smPineCone

Shadow of the Week – from flowers on my deck:

DkShd5.8.16

 

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

WOW = Windows Open Wide

Posted by

“All the windows of my heart I open to the day.”

John Greenleaf Whittier

I love windows, all shapes and sizes. I love open windows when the day is mild and breezes drift in. I love sleeping by open windows, especially when insects serenade the darkness and distant trains call out on their journey through the night. I love to wake up to a view of dawn out the window, whether I find its light trickling down winter-bare branches or turning green leaves into morning gold.

myb'rmwindow

Then there are windows not-so-literal windows, open to our minds, our hearts, our souls: sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch – our senses. Yesterday, my family opened a window by listening to an episode of Fresh Air that explored the sounds birds make. It was amazing to hear these birds (one, a lyre bird mimicked the sound of a chain saw perfectly!). All we could say afterward was WOW.

Windows Open Wide. Windows Open to Wonder.

Open wide to wonder this week. Where do you find it?

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

(And if you’re a mom, Happy Mother’s Day!)

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

YlIrisWtrfl

Shadow of the Week – morning coffee:

CupShdw

 

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