Living Gold

 

Live thy Life,

Young and old,

Like yon oak,

Bright in spring,

Living gold;

Summer-rich

Then; and then

Autumn-changed

Soberer-hued

Gold again.

All his leaves

Fall’n at length,

Look, he stands,

Trunk and bough

Naked strength.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week – flags at the zoo:

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Text and photos © 2020 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

An Eden Summer

 

“The times are dark but never too dark for

An Eden Summer, this flower-rich creation.”

Elizabeth Jennings

“English Wild Flowers”

 

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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Text and photos © 2020 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Warm, Brooding Days

 

“The warm, brooding days are full of life and thoughts of life to come,

ripening seeds with next summer in them

or a hundred summers.”

John Muir

 

Brood has a double meaning. It means to ponder, to think deeply. It also means protecting and preparing as a hen does when she sits on her eggs or keeps her young under her wings. So the warm days of summer are for ripening fruit and “brooding” seeds. As autumn approaches, “warm, brooding days” can also be a time of thinking deeply about life.

So keep planting seeds of peace and kindness wherever you go. Brood over those seeds, for they are “full of life and thoughts of life to come.” They hold next summer in them. They hold a hundred summers. They hold the future.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

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For my longer posts on the art of noticing, link here.

 

 

Text and photos © 2018 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

A Soft Sea

“A soft sea washed around the house,

A sea of summer air . . .”

– Emily Dickinson –

 

Breathe deeply of this soft sea. Breathe out heaviness, breathe in buoyancy.

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

Nature of the week:

PnkFthrGrss

Shadow of the Week – porch beams shadow each other:

BeamDiagShdw1

 

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

The 2 Most Beautiful Words of Henry James

“Summer afternoon – summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

– Henry James, quoted in Edith Wharton’s A Backward Glance –

 

What are your two most beautiful words? I’m partial to Henry James’s two this week, having enjoyed long, lazy afternoons for the past few days on vacation at a lake in Texas. Hot outdoors, cool and air-conditioned indoors, visiting with family and friends, eating ice cream mid-afternoon. Summer afternoon.

I wish you a vacation that frees you from the usual daily stresses this summer.

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

Nature of the week – blooming hibiscus:

BloomingHibiscus

Shadow of the Week – pool umbrella:

UmbrellaShdw

 

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

Winter Warm

“In the depth of winter

I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.”

Albert Camus

 

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

Shadow of the Week:

ShdPoin2

Nature photo of the week:

CardinalSilhouette

Text and photos © 2015 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.