Discovering Beauty in Everyday Life

The old limb covered with heavy snow brushed its twigs along the ground. A melancholy strain wound round the bitter hanging notes. I didn’t hear the fearing song for that cold night crack that separates forever the dying from the living, sleeping sap. Frost etched the story on a window pane that night. Spitting, cracking, sculpting, finally melting into dawn. Leaf by leaf and drop by drop the limb let go of its breaking burden-- and bounced back up in the winter sun. Walking along the shadow edge I was caught by the song of the happy bough Maybe I stayed a minute or so, it was cold you see, And even though my spirits lifted in symmetry I was caught that day and called away by the vicissitude of the here and now.

See the Young Man walking?  He is unaware he is passing Hero Tree in Yellow and Green, one of natures masterpieces of sustainable architecture.   Here's Yellow&Green waving in the light.  The lower right branch lost a limb, and a few small branches were lost.  The architecture of trees is amazing!  60-70 mile an hour winds for hours thrashed the trees. Here's Yellow, straight and strong after Hurricane Sandy; upright, bold, wonderful, recovered from last year's blight. Yellow is still wearing some summer green leaves at the top and holds a few yellow leaves that survived the Hurricane Winds.  And don't forget Young Blue, still strong on the window sill.  

Yellow tree is bearing up leaves still stuck along the limbs, how did they get so big? Yellow’s just a little thing compared to Yellow & Green. I had a white-light come to me once but I didn’t know at the time, so here I am earthbound and running chasing after second chances. I knew a man who found a sheep that lived three years in a Scotland cave. It could barely walk and talk and graze with so much unsheared wool. I am like a quiet morning, slowly filling the backyards up without a sound, fresh with pitted peaches canned for winter I have nothing to say to the dead anymore with their put-down trumped-up charges. Just let them be, I said once more and I let colors talk to me. East 94th Street one of two New York Kentucky Coffee Trees

Finally, Stalagmite meets stalactite but is it worth those endless boring drips? What now? There is no turning back drip, drip, drip. That day the bird flew out the window. I walked along the mica path, and there it was! Just sitting on a limb not knowing yet it was lost. Are these the holy incidents that coalesce the days into a life, with apple leaves and juniper? I saw time come to a boil the other day. They said it wouldn’t, but it did.

Just wait until the daffodils are in bloom!

The last winter leaves are letting go and falling softly away.  Take a happy look at these that remain to brighten the final days before spring explodes upon us.

 When times get tough, the best thing to do is take out your magnifying glass... Twigs Against Fifth Avenue

Incredible Winter Tree on 3rd Avenue Incredible Fall Tree on 3rd Avenue

This day last year it was clear, cold, the sun was shining, and today was an unborn dream

Free! Incredible Fall Beauty Take one Free; Get the Second one F R E E !!

Winter Aspen Tangled in a Blue Southern Colorado Sky

Our hidden Sumac is often perplexed about what is important to contemplate next Should I act innocent while I plan my escape, Or wait for security plans to take shape? Am I locked in or out? Should I cower or shout? Should I look for a file or just sit here awhile? Maybe I'll worry tomorrow instead. It's late and I'm tired and ready for  bed.

I melted away today, as though it were an ordinary thing, to lose track of all my edges. It was on an inhale, I am certain, and in a neutral sun of a day. It so happens that I found an Unexpected Ticket, kept safe for many years inside my inside pocket. Off I went, rolling and skipping, borderless and giddy. Imagine my surprise to find a stream-lit cave, hidden in a shadow. Yes! It was a spirit cave, full of painted faces, lessons learned and candy cotton, ferris wheels and reasons, candy corn and water lilies, moonlit paths (that’s where we met) and fresh blue midnights. Yes, you were there, and one more time I felt the world on fire, swollen with dreams. Central Park North in Fall

Love leaves a quiet coal that smolders in your gut Damped down and waiting for a wanton spark Waiting to ignite your ribs and seer your heart Burning wormholes through the warp and weft of minutes shooting new life through leftover bones.

Harlem Meer in the Last Rays of Summer 2011

Turn Back the Clock, by Linda Jo Calloway Reading by Jane Cecil (click  the left arrow on the bar & wait a few moments) Today's optional mini-mission: pause, listen, notice what you can hear in a few moments...

This Long Needle Pine is coping as best it can with the August heat.  These large cones appear only on the sunny side of the tree, but the trade off is they must seek shade behind the thin, wispy needles.  However, it has also been suggested that these cones are shy.  At night, when all is quiet in Central Park, they brush away the needles and bathe in starlight. Long Needle Pine behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art

I know, it’s dangerous to fall in love With that sunny leaf rolling out of its bud, With that just-so razor tipped green. How did it sneak behind the lines, becoming irreplaceable? That fragile, bendy, veiny, needy, wispy, happy thing? That little life on its twiggy wing?.  So far from Believe it or Not and Daring-Do, So far from Financial Planning, So close to my mending heart Full of its own wet and willow green.

It's barely May, yet summer has glossed the sidewalk shade trees with perfect pint-sized leaves.  Here on East 94th Street this young sidewalk tree provides a perfect canopy for a chilly sunny afternoon. North side of East 94th Street off Park Avenue