On a winter day

If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.
~Hal Borland

Ice "fossils"

When I saw these patches of ice, they reminded me of fossil imprints on rocks. This first one looks like the skull of some prehistoric being.

This could be a snake, perhaps a relative of Apophis, the giant serpent of Egyptian myth that the sun god, Ra must fight every evening on his journey through the Duat. Ra and the other gods must win the battle each night, or the sun will not rise the next morning.

And this may be a fish-like creature, perhaps a forerunner to the great fish that swallowed Jonah.

What "ice visions" do you see?

Four birds

This way...

 And that way...

And as they say:
"Birdes of a feather will flocke togither."
~ John Minsheu, The Dictionarie in Spanish and English, 1599

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

― Emily Dickinson

Holiday aftermath

Gingerbread gone wrong

Once going by too fast, time is now perpetually stuck at 8:15

 

The wind was rapidly increasing as I took this photo. Thunder rumbled, lightning arced through the clouds. We barely made it in the door before hail and sleet burst from the sky. It must have been a post-holiday phenomenon; thunderstorms are rare this time of year.

For 2012....

May your new year be bountiful,

peaceful,

uplifting,

and not too scary.

Happy New Year!

Light

Was it light?
Was it light within?
Was it light within light?
Stillness becoming alive,
Yet still?

A lively understandable spirit
Once entertained you.
It will come again.
Be still.
Wait.

Poem -- Theodore Roethke
Photos -- © 2011 M. Owen

Season of light

In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary. 
 ~Aaron Rose

Geese in action

In flight

 On water

On ice

Random sightings

 

All that we see or seem 
Is but a dream within a dream.

~Edgar Allen Poe, "A Dream within a Dream"

Look to the sky

Amazing scenes in the sky lately. 

Have a wonderful week!

© 2011 M. Owen

Found items

As light as....

Not being a "tool" sort of person, I can only guess what this would be used for. Anyone else know?

Party, party!!

Always found during Fall.

The nature of things

A marvelous harvest moon

Garden spider in stripes

Ring-around-the-rosy?

Who could resist this face?

All photos and copy © 2011 Mary Owen

Gathering of leaves

Such glorious fall days ~

Feathery mix

I wonder what bird left this?

Northern Flicker annoyed at our interruption.

Why a duck...

Cattails (Typha) on the wind

Something completely different

While attending a concert at the local philharmonic, we came across a couple of unusual phrases in the program guide:

"The piano plays short fragments that coagulate into the main theme of the finale..."

(Thank god the fragments coagulate; we certainly wouldn't want the finale to bleed to death)

"After the customary recapitulation, the composer launches an enormous coda..."

(Our cat has been known to launch an enormous coda from time to time)

A few scenes we came across during the weekend--

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil?

 

As always, your comments welcome...