a la O'Keeffe

The tenderness of season's change

White buds, dot the pear,
delicate, pink, peach blossom,
fresh, green lilac leaves.

Killarney National Park block of the month

Last evening

The wrens are calling,
the full sap moon soon to rise,
dove wings are whirring.

Fading glow of dusk;
It's time for evening vespers
before the night time's hush.

Inspired by watching the Van Gogh biography, no doubt

Magnolia blossoms are popping out all over the town!

52 weeks of nature art, week 12

Sky Totem

A collaborative fiber piece in celebration of spring

From Rumi

The Guest House 

This being human is a guest house. 
Every morning a new arrival. 

A joy, a depression, a meanness, 
some momentary awareness comes 
as an unexpected visitor. 

Welcome and entertain them all! 
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows, 
who violently sweep your house 
empty of its furniture, 
still, treat each guest honourably. 
He may be clearing you out 
for some new delight. 

The dark thought, the shame, the malice, 
meet them at the door laughing, 
and invite them in. 

Be grateful for whoever comes, 
because each has been sent 
as a guide from beyond.

Spring - vernal equinox

"This body is not me.  I am not limited by this body.  I am life without boundaries.  I have never been born,  and I have never died.  Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars, manifestations from my wondrous true mind.  Since before time, I have been free.  Birth and death are only doors through which we pass, sacred thresholds on our journey.  Birth and death are a game of hide- and seek.  So laugh with me,  hold my hand,  let us say good-bye,  say good-bye, to meet again soon.  We meet today.  We will meet again tomorrow.  We will meet at the source every moment.  We meet each other in all forms of life." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh, Chanting and Recitations from Plum Village 

52 weeks of nature art - blossoms

Gifted and photographed by my wonderful husband

A good Day...

in the new studio

Mid-March

One pale, pink, flame of
tree blossoming at back of
bare cemetery.

Re-visiting

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird

By Wallace Stevens

I

Among twenty snowy mountains,   

The only moving thing   

Was the eye of the blackbird.   

II

I was of three minds,   

Like a tree   

In which there are three blackbirds.   

III

The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.   

It was a small part of the pantomime.   

IV

A man and a woman   

Are one.   

A man and a woman and a blackbird   

Are one.   

V

I do not know which to prefer,   

The beauty of inflections   

Or the beauty of innuendoes,   

The blackbird whistling   

Or just after.   

VI

Icicles filled the long window   

With barbaric glass.   

The shadow of the blackbird   

Crossed it, to and fro.   

The mood   

Traced in the shadow   

An indecipherable cause.   

VII

O thin men of Haddam,   

Why do you imagine golden birds?   

Do you not see how the blackbird   

Walks around the feet   

Of the women about you?   

VIII

I know noble accents   

And lucid, inescapable rhythms;   

But I know, too,   

That the blackbird is involved   

In what I know.   

IX

When the blackbird flew out of sight,   

It marked the edge   

Of one of many circles.   

X

At the sight of blackbirds   

Flying in a green light,   

Even the bawds of euphony   

Would cry out sharply.   

XI

He rode over Connecticut   

In a glass coach.   

Once, a fear pierced him,   

In that he mistook   

The shadow of his equipage   

For blackbirds.   

XII

The river is moving.   

The blackbird must be flying.   

XIII

It was evening all afternoon.   

It was snowing   

And it was going to snow.   

The blackbird sat   

In the cedar-limbs.

Nature art - sea urchins

Black, gray and white forms -
Japanese printmaker came
with last night's snowfall.

March haiku

Flashes of bright white -
rafts of snow geese floating on
blue-gray whipped waters.

Winter windfalls lie
on sere grass by broken trees
as March winds blow.

Last years leaves flutter
on mostly bare oak branches
in the stark March light.

Lakeside, frost burnt green,
the cedars wobble and sway
by the sparkling cove.

Branches all silvered
by the strong, slanting, sunshine,
yet no hint of spring.

March madness

Raucous chorusing,
shallows trembling and jumping,
Froggy free-for-all.

Nature Art reviews

You can see some of the fun nature art, including  some of mine at Louise Gale's blog.
http://louisegale.com/2016/02/week-5-shells-wrap-up-52-weeks-of-nature-inspired-art/

Ready for the March DIY challenge

So nice to see my embroidered heart design highlighted in the DIY Craft Challenge for February.
http://adventures-in-making.com/february-diy-challenge-roundup/

Lifebook Week #10