light-hearted traveling

From Song of the Open Road:

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,

Healthy, free, the world before me,

The long brown path before me leading me wherever I choose.

…Strong and content I travel the open road.

Walt Whitman

I’m traveling through west Texas, going places where cellphone and internet connections are weak or nonexistent. It’s magical, but not conducive to a long post. As I write, I’m sitting outside a state park office where there is a little wifi available. I have so many things I want to share! But it can wait. Thank you for being here!

Spring Promise

I am going to try to pay attention to the spring. I am going to look around at all the flowers, and look up at the hectic trees. I am going to close my eyes and listen.

Anne Lamott

Texas Storksbill

Spring Arrival

Leaving behind a chilly wind,

And a little frost last night,

winter went away.

In the morning,

spring would arrive

with dewy promise.

I woke early-

going outside -

the roosters crowed,

and the sun rose

through cloudy skies.

I searched for signs:

Budding of trees,

Blooming of flowers,

Singing of birds,

Greening of grass,

And just like magic,

they were there,

and there I was

again to see it -

With wonder

And gratitude.

Prairie Verbena

Blossom by blossom the spring begins.

Algernon Charles Swinburne

Dandelion and Henbit Deadnettle

Bunch-flowered Daffodil and a camera-shy green insect

Bluebonnet

Salvia

Anemone and Prickly Pear

Golden Crownbeard and a contented bee

Grackles ignoring the signs…

All of these photos were taken in Texas - in case you are wondering about the change of scenery.

Thank you for being here once again. I wanted to remind you of my challenge a few weeks ago:

I have a challenge for you! I’ve been playing with perspective all month - on and off- sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t; but it always makes me see things differently; and it’s fun. So, my challenge is this: take a picture of something ordinary. Your toaster, your coffee maker, some tracks in the snow, a shadow that falls on your wall… anything; but take it in an unusual way. Then, if you like it - share it with me! I will post a gallery of the images in a future blog! Send them to rhodatude@gmail.com and make sure to include a little description of what it is and how you took the picture.

(click here to see the entire original post) - please submit photos by April 1, 2023 if you want your photos to be included in my April 5 blog post. I hope you are having a lovely spring so far. See you next week.

Looking Up

When you look up at the sky, you have a feeling of unity which delights you and makes you giddy.

Ferdinand Hodler

A woodpecker  

shuffles up the dead palm tree,

pausing and knocking,

picking out her morning meal

in tiny bites.

She shuffles and knocks

pauses and eats,

up and up,

until gradually

she’s circling

the frondless tip -

where she stops

and lifts her head

to the blue sky.

I spent a week looking up, and this is what I saw:

Seagulls flying overhead, calling.

The noisy green parrots looking down -

wondering what I was looking at.

Crows that alight anywhere,

mourning doves who do not approve of crows.

And then the moon,

the moon,

the waning moon.

Looking up was another assignment from the Zen Camera book by David Ulrich. He meant it more generally, as in keeping your head up and looking around you, observing your surroundings rather than burying your face in your phone, or getting lost in your thoughts, but I decided to take it literally for this week. So, here’s to looking up!

Thank you for being here!

Once you have tasted the taste of sky, you will forever look up.

Leonardo da Vinci