windows

The Word that Waved

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Has a word ever waved to you
from something you were reading,
like a kid in school, hand held high,
Me! Me! Choose me!
“Expansive.”
The word waved to me,
sat up and saluted,
highlighted itself,
and I paused,
right then,
right there,
hooked and held.
Expansive.
The word unfolds
like opening hands,
arms swinging out,
stretching,
reaching beyond.
Expansive
raises my head,
puts a smile on my face
fills me with a feeling of all’s well.
Expansive says,
“Here is the gift,
sun warming your face,
breath of air flicking your hair,
call-and-response, bird to bird,
scent of blooming and greening things,
the embrace of invisible strands
of love and goodness
weaving through the universe,
vining and twining and blooming
in small acts of generous grace
or large acts of courage and kindness.
Expansive says
there is room—
room for you,
room for me,
room for all of us
in this universe of abundant,
all-embracing
love and goodness
that flow freely
like light seeping through cracks,
like springwater bubbling up through rocks,
like breezes drifting through open windows.
Love and goodness
find their way,
refuse to be bound,
refuse to be hoarded,
grow and overflow.
They wave—“Choose me”—
for love and goodness
are forever and always
expansive.
-kh-

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:


Shadow of the week:

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Text and photos © Karyn Henley 2025. All rights reserved.

Night Has Not Fallen

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It’s early twilight,
that gray-blue time of evening
when the neighborhood eases into
the quieter hours of our day.
Chili is simmering on the stove
and the table is set,
so I sit in my rocking chair
to witness the world beyond windows,
to watch the night fall.
“Fall” is a strange way to say it.
Night doesn’t really fall;
it slips in,
seeps through bare, laced branches,
slowly veils the hills.
Tonight the sky is cloud-covered,
a full sweep of blue-gray
gradually growing violet in the east
as if heaven’s light switch
is slowly dimming the day.
It’s a peaceful drift,
moment by moment
as the sky lets go of its dusky gray
and drapes itself in a deepening blue
inviting all who pause and watch
to enter its ease,
to breathe its comfort,
to settle into the serenity of evening
and experience the magic of
twilight blue turning into velvet dark,
whispering calm to a world
that will soon settle into sleep.
No, night has not fallen.
It has snuggled in.
-kh-

 

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the week (made by sun shining through a bottle of syrup):

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

Text and photos © Karyn Henley 2025. All rights reserved.

Possibility

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I dwell in Possibility—

A fairer House than Prose—

More numerous of Windows—

Superior—for Doors—.

– Emily Dickinson –

 

Think of all the windows and doors that open when we dwell in what’s possible and move that direction. Peace is possible. Loving kindness is possible. Walk that path and watch the windows and doors open not just for us but for others as well.

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week—and shadow of the week:

 

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

Text and photos © 2022 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

Windows Open to Beauty

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“Let there be windows to your soul,

that all the glory of the world may beautify it.”

– Ella Wheeler Wilcox –

 

Nurture peace. Cultivate kindness. Carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

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

Drink the Day

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“Set wide the window.

Let me drink the day.”

– Edith Wharton –

 

(We’ve had so much rain lately, drinking the day seems almost literally possible!)

Nurture peace, cultivate kindness, and carry the calm.

 

Nature of the week:

Shadow of the Week:

If you want me to send these thoughts to your email each Sunday, simply sign up on the right.

Text and photos © 2019 Karyn Henley. All rights reserved.

WOW = Windows Open Wide

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“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.