Discovering Beauty in Everyday Life

I'd like to be underwater again to swim in the shadow of lilies I like that purple one over there, with the crinkly leaves and the curled up sun, And shadows weaving the roots

Is there anything more enticing than a garden path after a summer rain?

Oh, it's great to return to my home all clean, but Where is my dubious, shady patine? It's great to be back in my pond alright, but Where are the greens and the darks and the light? Where are the dabbles and dribbles and tears, Engraved in my gossamer over the years? I'll start over, I guess, and in no time at all I'll be dripping and messy and ready for fall! Our beautiful lady of the secret waters--returned after being scrubbed

One moment ago, this lampost was teetering on the brink! This happens every now and then, when conditions are aligned. Fortunately for all of us, a bevy of blossoms were floating nearby and came to the rescue just in time!. Secret Garden, Central Park

So far we don't know too much about Ripple,  but here's how we met....... I was happening to glance to my left on the way up 5th avenue, when my pointless progress was arrested by an insistent and very demanding TWEET. I turned around, and there was the unmistakable puffy, tweety, happy presence of Ounce. Ounce hopped and tweeted, and off we went up 5th Avenue and into the Park near the Harlem Meer. I thought Ounce was after a favorite bathing bowl, but it’s too early for fountains. Before I knew it, Ounce was tweeting and fluffing and hopping, and who floated over but Ripple! Ounce introduced us, and off they went for a ride on the Meer! I tried to get a photo, but Ounce kept moving around, and then there was the glare of the sun. I can’t tell you how much fresh air can be packed into a walk. Ounce on 5th Avenue Ripple floats in the Harlem Meer

It may seem as though the secret garden is an idyllic spot for calm and serenity, but even in paradise there is strife. Our brave photographer was sitting quietly among the berries and the fall lilies, watching Ounce an lots of friends playing in the Sparrow Bowl, when all at once, Red Cardinal came swooping down, scattering sparrows right and left!   Perhaps this swooping was innocent enough, but our brave photographer was so stunned by the chaos that Ounce was entirely forgotten!  Ounce  was furious, and a furious, wet sparrow is a dangerous thing.  Ounce dive-bombed a couple of times and practically drown trying to save the sanctity of the sparrow bowl.  Amazingly, as stunned as our brave photographer was, the footage was still in the cloud! Conservancy Garden, October 2016, from daylight into evening Central Park

Catbird and Cardinal play in the red autumn water.  Ounce couldn't help joining in.   Hey! I know it's blurry, but it's a start!

Ounce has developed a Characteristic that is not altogether happy.  Ounce does not like to share. We know already how much Ounce Loves water.  But look how the entire bathbowl is, in the opinion of Ounce, reserved for sole occupancy.  Of course Ounce finaly gives up and flees! Our amazing photo-journalist has captured this revealing video.  Click the play arrow, and then click the squarish thing on the bottom right of the video for Full Screen!  Don't forget to come back.... \ If all else fails, click on the link below https://youtu.be/Oe6jyvQ_Dlc

I wander through the apple shadows, stepping into the secret garden Fall chrysanthemums are stiff with color Grasses are drying their stalks for winter Is that an orangy goldfish there or a patched up dappled catfish? Either way, I let it sink amid the leaves and lilies. I close my eyes and feel a quiet melting in my frozen solar plexus I may have dozed, I'm never sure A puddle full of splashing sparrows wakes me up. There's something familiar about that tweet! “Ounce?” "Ounce!" “You’re wet and cold! you’ll catch a chill!" Come here!“ I don’t know what made me scold that way It’s just I miss Ounce so and didn’t even know it. Embarrassed by my burst, I try to slink away, when I feel a small wet weight upon my shoulder -- “Ouch! You bit me!" Before I can move a retaliatory inch Ounce settles down for a soggy shoulder nap, and There isn’t anything else to do Except to take a leafy walk in the golden speckled afternoon.

Mourning Dove rests at evening in the Secret Garden sparrow pool Mourning Dove in Secret Garden

 Ounce is playing in his favorite water bowl of all time, the Secret Garden Burnett fountain. Granted, sometimes Ounce travels near to large bodies of water, but really the preference is for small, contained spaces with a few close friends. Despite an argument now and then (especially with larger birds: Ounce is a little Alpha), Ounce loves having friends over.

For months now, Ounce has been trying his best to live in the city. The new light poles with their crossbars here in New York proved too seductive for even our Ounce! Building a nice nest inside a street pipe was irresistible: new, highrise, amenities -- but the noise! Horns, Traffic, and the Pigeons! It was just too much. Well, Ounce is finally back in the park, but it's winter. You know how Ounce is with water...it's impossible to stay away for long. The other day we walked a little too close to Ounce's favorite sculpture swimming bowl. How disappointing, and after an entire summer of city life. Of course it's winter, and although the elements provide a little water sometimes, even gossamer metal is cold this time of year.

I once was a flower of spirit & elan I can’t remember when I was part of a cluster of beauty you see But I didn’t see it then I think I had a sweet bouquet But I can’t remember when My beauty faded, like it does I regret it now and then I lost my petals and fell to the ground I’m not sure what happened then Somehow this summer I came back again But I can’t remember when! Snowball bush in the Secret Garden -- 2013 Mission for the day: 1. Select a time when you should be doing something else 2. Breath deeply. In......Out. Iiiiiiinnnnn..... Out... 3. Picture a clock in your mind. (how many of you pictured an alarm clock with a bell on top?) 4. Now think: Tick! jump! Tock! jump! Tick! jump! Tock!! 5. Finally, recall the quiet, sweeping second hands of old...... tiiccckkkktocccckkktiiccckkkktocccckkk May you be blessed sweeping petals and slowly changing things, ( was a bloom with esprit and élan,)

Nature comes up with the most incredible things! What are the lily pads doing with fuzzy strings around the edges? Where did that purple and blue come from? And that sun filled center? It’s unbelievably creative and beautiful. No wonder those biologists have so much fun-- Flora, Fauna, Wow!

It was a perfect day for butterflies: sunny but not too hot, crisp and clear with fall touching the secret garden.  I took Butterflies to the garden by bus, and the moment their wings felt the sun they opened at rest for the first time in their lives.  I wanted to take a photo of their leaving the safety of the netting, but when I opened the top they fluttered out. When I turned to look back they were gone.  The third one sat a moment on the edge and vanished away.  Split Wing, the last butterfly, was last to think of leaving.  Finally, it too fluttered away as gracefully as any and went away in a peaceful flutter. Their photos here are when they are still resting on the bottom in their netting home.  Each took a last nourishment for its journey, a final sip from the orange slices and blossoms filled with sugar water. 

Just once you held my hand, and that was really all it took.   I let a momentary incident take on the flavor of a life,  just in case there is no writing on the wall. The Secret Garden, Central Park in New York City