Wild flowers growing with reckless abandon at the side of the road
Nature always finds a way of inserting beauty into the most unexpected places.
Wild flowers growing with reckless abandon at the side of the road
Nature always finds a way of inserting beauty into the most unexpected places.
Focus is everything.
In photography, it is the difference between a good shot and a great shot.
The same is true for life.
Focus is what makes the difference.
It's always a choice.
My yard is currently covered in these:
And also these:
It is literally covered in dandelions
in various stages of birth, growth and death.
They are beautiful.
I looked up the definition of 'weed' and found it to be simply this:
"A weed is any plant out of place."
These particular plants do no harm to their surrounding environment.
And, for example, they can be harvested for both food and medicine.
Every part of the dandelion is edible.
So it's not so much that these plants have no intrinsic value,
but the fact that they are displaced and plentiful makes them unwanted.
Wild, prolific, plentiful and.... out of place.
Rich in resources, but unharvested and therefore unappreciated.
In that way, we are kin...me and the dandelions.
So today I am paying a little tribute to this beautiful spring rose.
I recently discovered a new word: komorebi
It is a Japanese word that refers to "sunlight shining through the trees"
which refers to "the sun peaking through the leaves" instead of the branches or trunk
This morning I went out into nature to look for colour inspiration for painting, and I was struck by all the many small lives that exist together to make a forest.
Right now there are new green shoots turning up everywhere. Small little lives, that are just beginning their journey.
It made me think of how many small lives exist in each of us, and how delicate they are when they first begin to emerge.
We are the same.
When we finally went back inside my mother would always greet us with big hugs and bury her face deep into our hair and inhale deeply.
Today smelled like fresh air and sunshine.
It was a rough winter and the signs of struggle are everywhere.
As the snow continues to melt it begins to reveal the damage:
months of snow and ice have ravaged the forest leaving branches torn, splintered and bare.
Eventually another layer of beauty will begin to emerge: lush, green, soft and full.
Covering over, filling gaps, softening edges. Transforming.