Tag Archives: flowers
The fantastic show
“There are some shrubs that seem to scream, ‘Look at me!’ With their showy flowers…planting just one of these shrubs can light up the whole yard…azaleas are sure bets for a spectacular flower show…Their intensity makes one stop and take notice and perhaps feel compelled to give Mother Nature a round of applause for the fantastic …
Flowers have an expression
“Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men or animals. Some seem to smile; some have a sad expression; some are pensive and diffident; others again are plain, honest and upright…” — Henry Ward Beecher On a recent visit to the Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution, I was delighted to see the beautiful …
Like life
“Do not watch the petals fall from the rose with sadness; know that, like life, things sometimes must fade before they can bloom again.” — Author unknown The cherry blossom trees of Washington DC are justly famous, but the ones I most enjoy are right outside the front door of our townhouse in Alexandria. Until …
A thousand small ways
“When we are willing to be open-minded, art and beauty come flooding into us in a thousand small ways.” — Julia Cameron I tend to think of open-mindedness as a trait useful primarily to our rational minds, vital to the examination of ideas, cultures and opposing viewpoints. Yet there are many ways our minds can be …
Poems by heart
“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” — Rainer Maria Rilke I don’t consider myself a poet, but I do like to write poetry as well as read it. When writing poems I have to curtail the number of words I use so that every single one has an …
Something is afoot
“It is a bright and chill early spring day. The air is crisp but the earth is insistent…The wind is stiff and needling. It still feels like winter, but spring itself is positive and determined. Something is afoot, and it is festive and uncontrollable and undeniable.” — Julia Cameron I’ve heard more than a little …
The gladdest thing
“I will be the gladdest thing under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one.” — Edna St. Vincent Millay Millay was one of the first poets whose work I loved, and I learned this verse as a girl. I have said it silently to myself countless times over the years. …
How happily we listen
“What can Spring say that other Springs have not already told us? And yet each year, how happily we listen!” — Joan Walsh Anglund Familiar yet always new, springtime lures us outdoors with warming sunshine, budding trees and bright blooms. Whether your March weather has been more like a lion or a lamb thus far, I …
Teach your moods
“Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes…This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyway. That …
When March is scarcely here
“A light exists in spring Not present on the year At any other period — When March is scarcely here.” — Emily Dickinson Along with a recent post about walking, I included a photograph of some trees in my neighborhood. The photo above pictures those same trees during the all-too-brief period of their flowering, usually …
Try adding some bright
“Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world. Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak. Try adding some bright colors…” — Allen Klein I appreciate people who take the time to add color to everyday life. Some people plant bright annuals that bloom in spring and …
The unceasing effort
“Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers– and never succeeding.” — Gian Carlo Menotti Humans can create stunning works of art, but the best of these only imitate, echo, enhance or complement the beauty found in nature. Art is usually made, at least in part, from materials found in the …
Simply unbelievable
“…if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy…Look at the flowers – for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.” — Osho I disagree sharply with many of the teachings attributed to Osho, but I have to agree with him …
I still hear the sound
“The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers.” — Basho At the beginning of February, it’s good to look forward to the coming of spring. It has been awhile since I’ve seen this many flowers at one time, but thoughts of them linger and build anticipation that will have …
Mad with joy
“People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.” — Iris Murdoch Go a little mad with joy today. Visit a florist or plant nursery, or just the floral department of a grocery store, and take a few minutes to see– …
To see takes time
“…in a way – nobody sees a flower – really – it is so small – we haven’t time – and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time…So I said to myself – I’ll paint what I see – what the flower is to me but I’ll paint it big and …
Doing something worthwhile
“Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile.” — Sir Wilfred Grenfell It fascinates me to watch people who are engaged in tasks at which they are not only talented, but obviously enjoying themselves. From the scene-stealing gymnasts or rock musicians, to the less flashy but no less interesting craftsmen or cooks, their absorbed focus …
Bounty enough
“We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words — to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it.” — …
Absolutely, positively, certainly
“In our rush for newer, quicker, better, we seem to be missing out on what we fundamentally crave, a calmer, gentler, sweeter and more gracious life. Is it easy to achieve such a life? Definitely not. Is it possible? Absolutely, positively, certainly, yes. (Don’t look for impossible from me; I’ve never found a solution in …
If only we tune in
I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in. –George Washington Carver How can we make the time to “tune in” today and experience God’s love through creation? Can we really afford NOT to?
Defeat Despair 