Category Archives: nature

spring chickens.

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the kinder, who are spring chickens, check out the other spring chickens

and the other spring chickens check out the kinder. 

“the sun’s not yellow, it’s chicken!”

-bob dylan

wild mushrooms.

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mushrooms are one of my absolute favorite foods

and it’s soon time for the elusive morels to appear

luckily i have this handy chart to help.

no time to write more

i’m off to find a sasquatch den.

“on the subject of wild mushrooms, it is easy to tell who is an expert and who is not:

the expert is the one who is still alive.”

-donal henahan

no mow.

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(landscaper waiting patiently)

the city has introduced an initiative

asking residents

to let their lawns and parks

grow to one foot tall before mowing

to benefit the struggling pollinator population

the landscapers are standing down.

 

“the grass is always greener once you don’t have to mow a lawn anymore.”

r.k. milholland

nests.

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robin’s nests created by the kinder using natural materials 

clay, twigs, pinecones, clippings

any robin would be happy to raise her babies in one of these beautiful homes

 

“wildness we might consider as the root of the authentic spontaneities of any being. it is that wellspring of creativity whence comes the instinctive activities that enable all living beings to obtain their food, to find shelter, to bring forth their young; to sing and dance and fly through the air and swim through the depths of the sea. this is the same inner tendency that evokes the insight of the poet, the skill of the artist, and the power of the shaman.”-  thomas berry

 

listen, earth sings.

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May be an image of flower, nature and body of water
 Claude Monet’s gardens in Giverny, France
 “Spring has returned again.
The Earth is like a child
that knows poems by heart;
so many poems, so many verses,
patient toil winning her prizes at last.
Strict, the old teacher.
We loved the whiteness in the old
gentleman’s beard,
its bright snow.
Now when we ask what the green,
what the blue is,
Earth knows the answer,
has learned it.
She knows.
Earth, you’re on holiday,
lucky one: play now!
Play with us children!
We’ll try to catch you.
Glad, joyous Earth!
The gladdest must win.
Every lesson the old teacher
taught her,
all that is printed in roots
and laborious stems:
now she sings it!
Listen, Earth sings.”
– Rainer Maria Rilke
“The inspiration for this sonnet came from
a visit to Ronda, in southern Spain, in the
winter of 1912-13. Rilke had overheard a
group of schoolchildren singing in the Convent
of Santo Domingo, accompanied only by a
triangle and tambourine. He didn’t know what
their song meant, but the light-hearted
animation of their singing is reflected in the
cadences of the second and third stanzas.”
on international poetry day

follow your eyes.

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we went to see the dinos

and along the way

we peeked inside of a magical drawer

filled with beautiful eggs and nests

what wonderful surprise

there’s always something

you don’t expect to discover

when you go to a museum.

“don’t go to a museum with a destination. museums are wormholes to other worlds. they are ecstasy machines. follow your eyes to wherever they lead you…and the world should begin to change for you.”
– jerry saltz

driftwood.

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a piece of driftwood

mixed in 

among the vases and mirrors and tchotchkes and other home decor items

and while i’m a fan of natural found materials

i was not really motivated to spend $39.99 on this

but i do now have an idea for my summer job –

beachcomber.

 

“i imagined your stick, washing in the waves for hundreds of years,

turning to driftwood

smooth and hard like stone.

i imagined a little girl finding it on a beach so many years later.

saving it on her shelf,

where she put the things that made her feel like the world was magical.”

– ava dellaira

rock out.

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when you’re little

 walking around the museum

 see a big old bumpy boring rock

walk around to the front of it

 find an amazing, amazing surprise

that is inside of it

you just have to touch it

 there are no words.

“sometimes the most shocking surprises are the most beautiful surprises.”

-lori wilhite