Tag: plants

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #907 – The Peace of Wild Things

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The Peace of Wild Things

BY WENDELL BERRY

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
It is always a draw to me as to where we find peace in our story. May you find some today!
 
monos en theos † jas L

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #903 – Nice looking acorns Dude!

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A sure sign that fall she be a heading our way. Hard to believe with temps in the mid – high 90’s. Then with the humidity in the 70’s, it is enough to make your acorns sweat…..peace out & what up…..jas L

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #902 – Beauty so simple

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Marigolds
A garden of marigolds….orange, yellow and rust,
Bright, soft and rich, touched with golden dust.
Quiet and regal, sun kissed and fair,
Basil -citrus fragrance that mellows the moist air.
A thousand smiling marigolds, a thousand smiling suns,
Sweet nectar, ambrosia, for natures gentle ones.

Woven into garlands, yellow with tips of red,
Woven into memories with many a words unsaid.

Love’s hopes of an Indian  bride, clad with marigold,
With dreams wrought ‘n promises, her heart dearly holds.
Tearful farewells to soldiers, who traverse through destiny’s doors.
A garland weaved with love for  those, from across the seven shores.
And when the body is but a thought, as life grays and  olds
Wrapped in a hearse of love, their love, with weeping marigolds.
An offering so humble, yet flowers a Goddess  wears,
Auguring celebrations, with a soul’s heartfelt  prayers.
Orange, yellow, rust..to love, to pray, to mourn,
Golden, sun kissed, blessed.. marigolds that life adorns.

Nishu Mathur, India

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #876 – Worthy of a West TX Plant

150418jwthistle©_6071 copy     I found this hardy looking weed growing all by it’s lonesome. There was not an inch of the six foot fellow that did not have a thorn warning off all intruders. I felt it was a plant that very much reminded me of my old home in Southwest Texas. It could hold it’s own with the Cholla and Prickly Pear.

Despite the thorny first impression, I was moved by the blooms gentle Sunflower type movement  that slowly followed the East to the West arch of the sun.

It’s monochrome pale green lended itself to a black and white conversion  worked via NIK Photo Efex Silver 2 software in post production.

Watch out for the thorns today! †††en theos.    jim

 

 

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #866- Autumn falls

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My Autumn Leaves

“I watch the woods for deer as if I’m armed.
I watch the woods for deer who never come.
I know the hes and shes in autumn
rendezvous in orchards stained with fallen
apples’ scent. I drive my car this way to work
so I may let the crows in corn believe
it’s me their caws are meant to warn,
and snakes who turn in warm and secret caves
they know me too. They know the boy
who lives inside me still won’t go away.
The deer are ghosts who slip between the light
through trees, so you may only hear the snap
of branches in the thicket beyond hope.
I watch the woods for deer, as if I’m armed.”
                                                                  BRUCE WEIGL
Along with the coming of November comes our first frost…
stay warm & young at heart…†…monos en theos…jim

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #865- Finding Contentment

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“To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion….In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.”

William Henry Channing

A powerful manifesto to live by…†…monos en theos…jim

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #839 – Sometimes, things get all tangled!

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I am sure that someone can tell me what this plant is. But what I like about it is that it shows how nature can be all tangled.

I am most often finding the nice symmetry of a seemingly perfectly laid out pattern of a butterfly or flower. Nice neat order. It is a comfort to me to find that disarray can be the true nature of things.

I try way too hard to keep it neat and clean. I am drawn to the repetition of design, while all the while things inside me seem to be flying off in all kinds of directions and endless dead ends.

Oh what comfort it is to find a certain calmness in natural disorder. One has to learn to embrace the chaos.

monos en theos…†…jim

 

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #838 – Change, Why is It so Hard?

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We have yet to have any really cold or fall like weather, yet the leaves seem to know it is time for change.

I can say it. I can feel it. I can listen to Sam Cooke tell me that “A change goin’ to come”. But, why is it so hard. I sometimes wish I could adapt to my surroundings and change like the leaves.

Yet despite the want and the know, I cling to what I am. I most often feel that I don’t quite fit in. Not from the lack of trying. I feel like a river that has been dammed.

“You don’t have to fear change. What you need to fear is things remaining the same. When that happens, life has stopped.” Melody Beattie

monos en theos…†…jim

Shades of Gray from Grayson Co, TX #837 – A new day, a new start

 

14-09-20water_5597 copy“And suddenly you know: It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.”

Meister Eckhart

It is my birthday today and I am trying to present myself with the gift of a new start

remove all the stumbles and falls of yesterday

listen to the dreams,

live at least one of them out

Know that it is never too late

sprinkle one’s self awake

New Years day in the midst of September.

monos en theos…†…jim