Discovering Beauty in Everyday Life

In the back of my closet is a secret tunnel. It’s a passage meant for seekers, Fizzing, bubbling, and spinning down through the quarky nuclei of time. I often watched them swimming towards that nano-second slit. Not me, though; I had too many here who loved me, or so I supposed. And I was dizzy with life,  Smelling horses and leather saddles, Smelling dry timber and wet growing twigs, Smelling pine needles in the early morning.   And I was afraid of the dark.    I carry an inner lamp these days, with some crumpled money and silver coins.      There’s a cloud covered moon tonight I am told, And there’s nobody knows how deep it goes.  And I'll go along with the ride.

Once Upon A Time in a nearby field there lived a swarm of summer fireflies. One by one they blinked and blinked away their happy flirty evenings. One day they came upon a lonely Spirit Being, dazed and wandering round and round a nearby diamond-barked tree. “Help, please help," said Spirit Being.  "I've lost my way and I’ve fallen out of favor from the seventh sphere. I have led so many lives already, yet here on earth I shall turn into another living being of flesh and blood and karma.” Just then they heard a high pitched whirring squeal! What desperate straits could bow a string of air with such a cry of agony? Spirit Being and the swarming fireflies rushed and swirled toward the painful cries. Caught! A colony of fireflies was caught in a web of life. Bringing all his strength into his wispy fingers, Spirit Being tore and tore at the web of life. Slowly he untangled one, then two and then a thousand fireflies. “How can we repay you,” asked Queen Firefly. &q

It’s a windy day for walks along the river, It’s a harsh day for new buds. It’s a day for worms unthawing in the cold ground. Squish- squash! I saw my first Spring Robin in the greying snow, It was a fat one, fat and full of worms, prancing with the sparrows near the Bush full of wrens. I caught sight of Thimbleful near his covered bridge. He still loves Llufelbmith, still struck dumb and caring, callow in his mossy den. Dry with fall grasses. Old man winter came in bent over in a grey stubbled tree. He thinks he'll live forever, mythic in his hooded menace, ignorant of spring. Never underestimate. I love a snowy print with blurry edges. I love a hint of glitter on a card, I love the smell of summer in the wet muds of spring. Slush- Slush!

These snowy remnants of a mysterious encounter are under investigation by an elite team of Central Park trackers.  The unofficial verdict is that two happy life forms found one another and had a lot of fun. Northern edge of Turtle Pond

Our Magic Tree waits in the snow for the dark sparrows to feed

Look! There’s a painted leaf. Look! A gilded limb among the green ones. Fall, fall, the beauty of it all is so distracting! I ought to lean along the old fence of pale memories, But I am so excited! I ought to dwell among the flakes of old lost chances, But I just saw a woodpecker! I’m supposed to contemplate the decomposing ends of things, But I just remembered skipping! Oh dear, I’m at a loss of how to dread the days. My mind keeps slipping on a polished daydream, Straight to the crisply apple-buttered gourds; The red, ripe berries, Fresh tomatoes, corn and pumpkins, Pies and apples, tarty stuffing, That conscientious fall blue sky. Oh happy shining hair and denim, Oh fiery cheeks and a new wool scarf, Oh take me life, I am your sequin. Today, I can't remember how to grieve.

There are two morphs of adult female Tiger Swallowtails, a yellow and a dark one. Yellow morph's hind wings have an area of blue between the black margin and the main yellow area. There is no doubt about it. Madmoiselle Swallowtail has a gender, and she is a she, with spots as blue as cornflowers. 

I watched a butterfly today. It was  large, very busy and determined to cover every white blossom on a honey drenched bush.  It completely ignored me. I will share Butterfly with you soon, but right now I want to discuss Sunflowers. The particular sunflower under discussion is of the genus regularus ordinarus. Regularus Ordinarus has many species, including our sunflower of the common annuus species. There are 'nearly 1550 genera and 24,000 species' of sunflower*. There are so many species and genera of sunflowers that each one has its very own artist.  *http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0903a.htm

There is nothing in this world more exhilarating. It looks easy, say they! It looks dull! It will be boring, and there will be no PBS special! Oh, but these sooth-sayers haven’t tried it lately. Your mission for today: To chase a leaf. 1. Locate a place of falling leaves, preferably with an occasional breeze. 2. Begin the chase. Your goal is to chase, not to catch! Those dainty leaves are wiley.