Wind is a Wit

Tokens of autumn that will soon be left on my doorstep, and everywhere. The wind longs to play with them, to move them about, to toss them in the air. Apparently wind is a wit.

 

Holding My Breath

Holding my breath for autumn, 

Looking to tree and sky, 

Knowing she's on her way here soon, 

My soul waives a calming sigh . 

"It Is Beautiful"

 Last night, in the middle of the night, there were beautiful storms surrounding the house. The thunder woke me up, the lightening starred the show, the sound of the rain brought softness and comfort, and I was completely wrapped up in the moment of it. Rainstorms, especially these kind of really dramatic ones, have always been one of my favorite experiences, I truly adore them. The storms continued in the morning, and these special words were heard in my day, from a child, just experiencing such a storm for maybe one of the first times in his little life. He said while looking out the window, "It is beautiful." I couldn't agree more. 

Autumn Dreaming

 

My autumn dreams just about now. I know it'll be awhile before the color changes and leaf drops reach the valleys, but it always comes fast, and before you know it, it's here. For now, I'm just dreaming of collecting fall bouquets, stealing glances at the mountains, and wishing I was running on the forest floor like this. The joy that autumn brings isn't found as fully in any other season for me. I truly wait for these special days all year long. The thing to remember is that autumn dreams do come true. 

A Feeling Inside

  

 Autumn awakens me and restores my soul, one leaf at a time. Just the whispers of her arrival are enough to stir a feeling inside that welcomes all that she brings. I can breathe, I feel the flutter of every leaf in the secret corners of my soul, and it's all beautiful to me. Her decadent colors fade into the landscapes that are painted in my mind. The way she arrives slowly, but confidently, and knocks on the back door to make the loveliest changes to the trees I adore, then gifts the ground with her offerings, speaks bliss to my wind-blown, season-changing heart. And I feel everything she touches, every breath she catches, and every picture she paints, until the very last leaf falls.

Just a Girl and Her Love of Trees

 Photo by Martin Wimmer

There Is Beauty

Summer is fading, and more than ever I need the natural beauty right now. Sometimes there just isn't time enough to walk through meadows and gather bouquets, or sit under a tree listening to the birds. Sometimes it's all you have in you to look out the window and find the beauty there, or enjoy a breeze that blows by in the moment. But this I do know for sure, that no matter where we are, there is beauty waiting to be discovered. It's everywhere. It's in the sky and clouds, the trees in your back yard, nature's songs playing in your ears, and even a glance up at a mountain can bring something unexpected. Right now, that's enough to get me through. 

 

Sometimes A Cemetery

 

One of my favorite places to visit when I need a quiet moment away is a small cemetery nearby that is on the mountain, and overlooks the valley. It's a little woodland all on it's own with a variety of wildlife running through, when things get quiet, which can happen if you catch the right times. I've seen wild rabbits playing there, quail running across the road, squirrels darting fast with their bushy tails behind them, and heard birdsong in the still morning. 

Sometimes a meadow. 

Sometimes a mountain. 

Sometimes a woodland. 

Sometimes a cemetery. 

There Comes a Time

 There comes a time when the grass in the meadow becomes long, too long, and it flows like a river in the summer wind. That is when I want to travel the meadow floor the most, with the wind catching my hair in wild tangles, and flowing through the grass impulsively. The soft touch of the breeze lingering on my face. It's like being in another time and place, where you can forget everything else, and just live in that luxurious moment. Barefoot and without plaits is best. 

And forget not 

that the earth delights 

to feel your bare feet 

and the winds long to 

play with your hair  

~Khalil Gibran

 

It Waits For You

 

Gather every meadow bouquet that you can this beautiful time of year. It waits for you. 

One At A Time

 

At one with nature, one tree, one pond, one reflection at a time.

To the Tree Outside My Window

  

To the tree outside my window.

I see you waving at me in moonlight, 

As the midnight breeze blows by.

Thank you for standing watch in the night. 

Meadows Lead to Woods

Everyone knows that meadows lead to woods. So they are part of the woodland world. I love what they have to offer along the way. Some of the best art work is in meadows, such as these Pre-Raphaelite beauties. Walk through the meadow. What will you find?

Dream of Trees

 It's 4:29 AM and I cannot sleep. Usually when this happens, it takes a bit of distraction before I can get to sleep, hence this post. If I were a bird, I could sleep in the trees. If I were a fox, I could sleep under trees. If I were asleep, I would dream of the trees. Good night.  

Wildly Out of Tune

 

At church, 

the choir today was wildly out of tune. 

It made me smile out loud. 

The choir in the woods, though, 

is always perfect.

 

Gentle Days

Today has been so still and quiet outside, much like walking here, in bluebells, {think UK forest}. See me there by the rock, stretched out, drenched in the stillness. I can hear the birds and not much else. The trees rustling every now and then. 

Breathe in, breathe out, these gentle days.
   

 

 

 

Look at the Trees

Does an orchard count as the woods? I visited a little fenced in orchard today, probably a bit too late in the season since the blossoms were waning, but I had gone out to find another little spot near the mountains that I had visited a few years ago with some pretty little trees in a grove, way out of the way. That part of the road was closed today, but I'll try to find it again in the fall. On the way to that road was the orchard.  I grew up in a city full of orchards many of which are now gone, so I always love when I find them. 

"I say, look at the trees." ~ Edna O'Brien 

 It looked a bit like this

 

Just About Now

             Me, in my dreams just about now, except barefoot.

That Moment

 A few weeks ago, I was on a highway road near a mountain crossing for deer, and came upon a deer that had been hit and wounded just a minute or two before, but was still alive. It tried, but could not get up, and just laid in the road. As I passed the deer, who was in the left lane {I was in the right lane}, I could see out of the corner of my eye on the right side of the road, the mate of the fallen deer. He looked on with concern, but was very still and quiet, not moving at all. As I passed him, I made eye contact with him in that moment.

This really shook me and as I finished the drive to work, I shed tears the rest of the way. When I was able to, I called and reported the wounded deer in the road so that it could get help as soon as possible, even just to be out of the pain it was in. I still have not traveled that road to work since that day. It's a beautiful stretch of road in the river bottoms, but I won't go that way, at least for now. Probably in concern for not wanting to be in a situation of harming a beautiful, innocent creature, but also, the memory of it makes me very sad.  

My heart breaks for those deer who did nothing wrong at all. It makes me sad for a fallen world where the creatures that I adore so much can be harmed in any way. It is something that I just cannot understand why it is allowed to happen in the natural world. I cannot tell you the number of times I have cried my eyes out for an animal, any kind of animal, whose heartbreaking story has come my way or affected me. 

I'll never forget those deer. 

  

Visits to the Woods

Sometimes my visits to the woods have to be virtual, just because things get busy and life gets in the way. Today was such a day.