Little grasshoppers of different sizes hopped away when I tried to take their portraits.They seemed grateful that I didn’t pursue them. It was early in the morning and the light was dim. I felt grateful to get a couple of photos that weren’t blurred.
sitting on lemon
balm and mint you flee swiftly
grateful grasshopper
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
Bright Blessings, Namu Amida Butsu, Namaste
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
~ Raven
A hot and windy day so far with ladybugs making new ladybugs 😉 Also aphids in the first photo and another lone ladybug cruising along.
we are so grateful
for ladybugs and others
who help us garden
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
Lovely Ladybug Blessings, Namaste, Namu Amida Butsu
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
~ Raven
A beautiful sunny today. The pollinators were out and a I had lovely chance to photograph the flowers. The above photo shows us a little perspective. I hope you like the pretty purple iris.
buds are prominent
then recede to deep purple
a nice May iris
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
the sage and the bee
come together sweet blossoms
May pollination
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
a rolly polly
pillbug tours the leaves and ground
sometime called sowbug
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
beefriending iris
buzzing around and looking
bee has adventure
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
Bright Bee Blessings, Namu Amida Butsu, Namaste
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
~ Raven
I woke up to snow this morning and had to wait until first light to take some photos to
share with you. It was swiftly melting and I discovered how challenging it is to take photos in the gloaming dawn. It is also my anniversary today for the 28th year I’ve lived with my husband. We celebrate 26th years of marriage in August. Here is his gift.
I love it! So cute and I so enjoy the dandelion and little pollinators and refreshing innocence. When we met I wanted him to be my playmate and would sing him a little song my grandfather (the one in my photo in the “Cultivating Compassion and Kindness (About)” page of this blog) would sing to me, called “O Little Playmate“. I’m grateful to have found the little video in the link to share with those of you who’d like to check out the song.
o dearest playmate
you came out to play with me
and make sweet music
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
I feel so very grateful to you, o husband of mine, even in the cold rain and snow 😉
together for years
so very long yet so short
the passage of time
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
adventures we’ve had
exciting sometimes scary
nature comforts us
~ Raven Ariana Simons ©2017
Like every couple we’ve had mixed blessings through out the years and it takes work to make a coupleship and a marriage. I appreciate that we both have love in our hearts, work on gratitude, compassion, and kindness. Strive to forgive. Appreciate Grace, Mystery, and Beauty. Love our family, pets, friends, and the creatures in our yard (that star in most of my photos) and the world at large, while appreciating trees, fungi, soil organisms, water, air, and all that keeps us alive on mama Earth. Work on realizing mistakes are information and opportunities to learn and grow (great because we both make lots of mistakes). Love to play and create. Love lifelong learning. Desire to foster creativity in others when we have a chance and do other acts of Service.
Happy Anniversary, Hubby, may we enjoy many more years together and continue to be blessed with double celebrations (insert heart here)!
Bright Snowy Blessings, Namaste, Namu Amida Butsu
Our hearts give thanks to the Grace in the Universe!
~ Raven
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
~ J. R. R. Tolkien
Owl at the aviary on 3/30/14.
Click here to go to the past photos for March 20, 2012, 2013, and more 2014.
Friday, March 20, 2015 – Did you know that today is The International Day of Happiness? I found out about it today and it also happens to be the vernal (spring) equinox, where we are poised in the northern hemisphere of our planet of equal hours between day and night. Spring equinox is often referred to as the “first day of spring” though where I live we have been having above average temperatures for a while now. Other parts of the US are having snow and colder temperatures than average. It is so very critical that humans begin to understand how important nature is to us and that we are part of it. What we do on our planet effects all. Today’s spring ambassadors are blossoms and pollinators … a love story.
‘In Beauty may I walk
All day long may I walk
Through the returning seasons may I walk
Beautifully will I possess again
Beautifully birds,
Beautifully joyful birds
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk
With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk
With dew about my feet may I walk
With beauty may I walk
With beauty before me may I walk
With beauty behind me may I walk
With beauty above me may I walk
With beauty all around me may I walk
In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk
In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk
It is finished in beauty.
It is finished in beauty.”
~ Navajo Prayer
“Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.”
~ John Lennon
“each and every day
I wait for my wee free friends
together we share”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
Bright Spring and Bee Blessings, Namaste, and Namu Amida Butsu ~ Raven
“Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying ‘End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH’, the paint wouldn’t even have time to dry.”
~ Sir Terry Pratchett
A neighbors’ violets on 3/18/14.
Click here to go to the post with past photos of March 18, 2012, 2013, and 2014.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015 – We are getting close to the spring equinox and the mild days are bringing lots of blossoms. Today it was partly cloudy and breezy. You can see a fluffy cloud at the top of today’s post and the wind was blowing blossoms from the trees.
“The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it’s as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture has started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all yourself from the clues.”
~ Sir Terry Pratchett
“The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.”
~ Sir Terry Pratchett
“flying here and there
blossoms dance upon the breeze
March wind is playful”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Chickadee on 3/19/14.
Click here to go to the post with past photos for March 19, 2012, 2013, and 2014.
Thursday, March 19, 2015 – Today was very sunny with blue skies. I went and took some photos of an ornamental quince in full bloom. This one does not live in my neighborhood and I didn’t see a single pollinator of any type.
“The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they’ve found it.”
~ Sir Terry Pratchett
“blue skies and pollen
open beautiful blossoms
where are all the bees?”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
Namaste, Bright Spring Blessings, and Namu Amida Butsu ~ Raven
“sweet spring is your
time is my time is our
time for springtime is lovetime
and viva sweet love
(all the merry little birds are
flying in the floating in the
very spirits singing in
are winging in the blossoming)
lovers go and lovers come
awandering awondering
but any two are perfectly
alone there’s nobody else alive
(such a sky and such a sun
i never knew and neither did you
and everybody never breathed
quite so many kinds of yes)
not a tree can count his leaves
each herself by opening
but shining who by thousands mean
only one amazing thing
(secretly adoring shyly
tiny winging darting floating
merry in the blossoming
always joyful selves are singing)
sweet spring is your
time is my time is our
time for springtime is lovetime
and viva sweet love”
~ e. e. cummings
Forsythia on 3/16/14.
Click here for the post to photos for March 16, 2012, 2013, and more 2014.
Sunday, March 16, 2015 – A warm day with partly cloudy skies. The neighbor’s ornamental plum is blooming and growing leaves so fast that they blossoms are already falling. Yesterday they were mostly buds with a few blossoms open. The early tulips are directly beneath the tree and the box elder bug is on my Oregon grape.
“The sun just touched the morning;
The morning, happy thing,
Supposed that he had come to dwell,
And life would be all spring.”
~ Emily Dickinson
“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.”
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
“blossom unfolding
coaxed by warm weather and sun
gilded with pollen”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Thai chili pepper blossom on 3/16/14.
Click here for the post to photos for March 17, 2012, 2013, and more 2014.
Monday, March 17, 2015 – Today was another unseasonably warm day that started off clear and sunny and developed into clouds. I saw my first butterflies, a checkered white (no photo of that one) and an orange one that I think is a silver bordered frittilary. If you click on the photos you can see that one has a ladybug at the bottom of the dandelion where the orange butterfly is sipping nectar. I also have my neighbors’ Buddha dressed up for St. Paddy’s Day and if you look closely at the horizontal photo you can see a jumping spider photo bombing his hat. A dove and a robin grace the day, along with tulips, plum blossoms, and a honeybee bum (at the top of the page).
“Describe plum-blossoms?
Better than my verses…white
Wordless Butterflies”
~ Reikan
“butterflies dancing
dear dandelions blooming
sip nectar my love”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
Namaste, Namu Amida Butsu, and Bright Spring Blessings ~ Raven
“Now when the primrose makes a splendid show,
And lilies face the March-winds in full blow,
And humbler growths as moved with one desire
Put on, to welcome spring, their best attire…”
~ William Wordsworth
Cedar waxwing on 3/7/14.
Click here for post with photos from March 7, 2012, 2013, and more 2014.
Saturday, March 7, 2015 – Today was a day full of birds staking out territory and I even saw a tussle between a couple of male starlings, though I was only able to get the “sing off” before they went after each other. I also have a cute blue jay who seemed to look on in an incredulous way.
“Spring makes its own statement, so loud and clear that the gardener seems to be only one of the instruments, not the composer. ”
~ Geoffrey B. Charlesworth
“as the jay looks on
male starlings fall from the tree
engaged in battle”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Crocus on 3/8/14.
Click here for post with photos from March 8, 2012, 2013, and more 2014.
Sunday, March 8, 2015 – I saw my first flower flies (hoverflies) today and the first mason bee (osmia) and a cute little honeybee gathering pollen.
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt
“a fine sunny day
as pollinators emerge
from their winter’s sleep”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Seagulls on March 9, 2014.
Click here for post with photos from March 9, 2012, 2013, and more 2014.
Monday, March 9, 2015 – The crocus are still in bloom, the aspen catkin buds lengthen, and the Oregon grape is also coming into bloom. We also had a lovely sunset which is stars at the beginning of this post.
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
~ Rachel Carson
“cheerful spring flowers
food for the insect people
brings hope to my heart”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
Bright Bee Blessings and Namaste ~ Raven
“Perfumes are the feelings of flowers, and as the human heart, imagining itself alone and unwatched, feels most deeply in the night-time, so seems it as if the flowers, in musing modesty, await the mantling eventide ere they give themselves up wholly to feeling, and breathe forth their sweetest odours. Flow forth, ye perfumes of my heart, and seek beyond these mountains the dear one of my dreams! ”
~ Heinrich Heine (today’s quote and poem, not including my haiku, from The Quote Garden.)
Snowdrops on 3/6/14.
Click here for the post with photos from March 6, 2012, 2013, and more 2014.
Friday, March 6, 2015 – I waited for the sun to rise over the mountains this morning to share with you these portraits of yellow spring blossoms 🙂
“When the winds of March are wakening the crocuses and crickets,
Did you ever find a fairy near some budding little thickets,…
And when she sees you creeping up to get a closer peek
She tumbles through the daffodils, a playing hide and seek.”
~ Marjorie Barrows
“over the mountains
then through the trees the sun peeks…
spying on blossoms”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Our hearts give thanks for the Grace in the Universe!
Namaste and Bright Spring Blessings ~ Raven
“A day of spring —
wherever any water is,
in darkness lingering.”
~ Kobayashi Issa
Honeybees collecting crocus pollen on 3/2/14.
Click here for photos for March 2, 2012, 2013, and more 2014.
Mourning dove on 3/3/14.
Click here for photos for March 3, 2012, 2013, and more 2014.
“precious raindrops fall
Tuesday, March 3, 2015 – Today it snowed and we are on track with our song theme. I have also added some haiku from a Japanese master, Kobayashi Issa. I learned a little about him today at a book club meeting that I am new to. Here’s a link where I found some of his poetry 🙂
“Seeming as though
“cold snow is falling
water in another form
some love, some avoid”
~ Raven Ariana Simons
Here you can listen to the beautiful rendition of “Rain and Snow” by The Lonesome Sisters
Rain & Snow
Traditional, arrangement & last verse by Debra Clifford
Well I married me a wife, gave me trouble all my life
Run me out in the cold rain and snow,
rain and snow, run me out in the cold rain and snow
She came on down the stairs throwin’ back her yellow hair
and her cheeks were as red as a rose,
as a rose, her cheeks were as red as a rose
she came into the room where she met her fatal doom
and I aint gonna be treated this old way,
this old way, and I ain’t gonna be treated this old way
I shot through the head and I laid her on the bed
and I ain’t gonna be treated this old way
this old way, and I ain’t gonna be treated this old way
Her baby cried all night I know that what I done ain’t right
the wind howls her name oh so low,
oh so low, the wind howls her name oh so low
Debra Clifford © 2004
The Lonesome Sisters Lyrics
Sarah Hawker & Debra Clifford
lonesomesisters.com
Grace and Mystery 