1886. savoring

 

as light as pure air

limoncello layer cake

lost in savoring 🦊❤️

We attended a memorial luncheon in a small, quaint, Italian restaurant yesterday. I think it was the best food I have ever eaten. I am not a “foodie”. I eat plainly and am not a raver about food I’ve eaten. But yesterday was different and the pinnacle of my raving was the limoncello layer cake. I found myself sitting between bites in a savoring daze, wishing that the piece of heavenly cake would last forever. 🦊❤️

1885. picture perfect

the perfect picture

a black cat and a pumpkin

so halloweeny 🦊❤️

 We coaxed and coaxed a friendly black cat we encountered to stand near a pumpkin. No luck… until we walked away then she sidled up to the pumpkin.  Just like a cat!!! 🦊❤️

1884. all saints day

 

maybe we’ll be saints

if we just love our neighbor 

as we love ourselves? 🦊❤️

Today is All Saints Day that remembers souls who have been elevated to proclaimed Sainthood by their good deeds, sufferings and miracles attributed to them after their deaths. Today is a great day to practice to be a Saint no matter how unsung. 🦊❤️

1883. empty

 

on an empty bench

an empty jar and lone leaf

filling empty time 🦊❤️

This morning my footlocker of haiku photos and ideas was completely empty. I had to fill this blog space with something… Here it is. 🦊❤️

1882. gold beyond gold

 

in the golden meadow

you redefine what gold is

glowing beyond glow 🦊❤️ 

When you see excellence… you will know it. 🦊❤️

1881. all is relative

 

atop the fencepost

a teeny tiny forest

tender to the touch 🦊❤️

I love pondering the relative nature of all things. What’s big is small and what's small is big and it goes on forever and ever in both directions. 🦊❤️

1880. crown jewels

 

standing at your feet

i embrace your regal form 

your crown glistening 🦊❤️

“My” Cucumber Magnolia tree never, ever ceases to inspire me and amaze me with its ever changing impressions that it leaves on me. Thank you… 🦊❤️

1879. the circle

 

oh you green phoenix

rising up from a dead stump

how high will you fly? 🦊❤️

A little Maple seeding sprouting from the decaying hulk of a once towering tree. New life is born in what is no more. Everything is in the circle of coming and going. Ain’t it grand? 🦊❤️

1878. like the “dude’s” rug

 

such a perfect tree

to complement this gray sky

on this chilly day 🦊❤️ 

Yesterday Yulan and I were dragging on our hike. It was a short one with a brief stop at Tommy the Cat’s old homestead. Our standard line when we are there is “No more Tommy”. Just about everything on that hike was slow, creaky, dreary and chilly. Some  days, everything ties itself together - just like the Dude’s rug in the cult movie the “”Big Lebowski”. (Sorry if that reference is lost on folks who have not seen the movie. ) 🦊❤️

1877. turn, turn, turn

it’s that time of year

when the frost turns green to brown

and lost gloves turn blue 🦊❤️

 As temperatures start to find their way down, it’s time to start spotting sad lost gloves here, there and  everywhere on the trail. 🦊❤️

 

1876. still number one

 

nothing so profound

as roadside memorials

“you're still number one” 🦊❤️

Every day for months I pass this roadside memorial. I think that I intentionally go that way because it so profoundly illustrates so many things about life and living. It is always refreshed with new flowers or little decorations by family as the old ones lose their glisten. Such a vivid expression of perpetual love and perpetual grief for a life lived and the suddenness of how life can end.  Today is his birthday. He is still number one… 🦊❤️

1875. “quoits anyone?”

 

from a twiggy hob

there hangs a bright orange ring

“hey! quoits anyone?” 🦊❤️

You never know what you might see on the trails. Just like this ring dog toy hanging high up in a spindly dead tree. Were the squirrels playing Quoits? Do you know what the game of Quoits is all about? 🦊❤️

1874. my sugar maple

 

it’s that time of year

yellow and orange and red

my sugar maple 🦊❤️

Isn’t it funny how we become attached to things that are bot really ours and claim them as our own. Such is the case with  my Sugar Maple Tree that adorns my balcony. 🦊❤️

1874. drawing us in

as the sun goes down

we trek up into the woods

sun beams light the way 🦊❤️

Dusk is a magic time in the woods. The magnetic sun draws us in. 🦊❤️

 

1873. waiting game

 

i sat on a bench

waiting for the wind to drop

a single walnut 🦊❤️

And not a single walnut did fall to the ground! 🦊❤️

1872. the living and not

 

stop… take a deeeep breath

smell the wonder of it all

the living… and not 🦊❤️

Today the trails were a feast of smells.  The mingling of the living, the dying, the dead and the getting ready to be born was enchanting. 🦊❤️

1871. changing the shape of things

 

woods shape’s hard to change

yet when i soften my mind

the world seems to change 🦊❤️

In the grove of Japanese Maples we saw a group of young students sitting silently on the ground, writing on tablets.  Their teachers stood watching.  Yulan asked, “Are the kids writing haiku?” The teacher said, “No, They are coming up with ways to change the shape of wood which is hard.”  Yulan told the teacher that for some reason she thought they would be writing haiku. She told her that we write haiku.  Then the teacher asked me to quikly come up with a haiku that she could share with the children regarding changing the shape of wood. Today’s haiku is what I composed when put on the spot! 🦊❤️ 

1870. dr. seuss

 

with bamboo clapping

a new dr. seuss character

making its debut 🦊❤️

When I saw this along the trail I could not help but think of Dr. Seuss.. 🦊❤️

1869. faux furnace

mornings chill and dark

the fall into fall deepens

my fake stove warms me 🦊❤️

 I love fall. Morning are dark and night’s chill linger into start of the day. My little fake stove makes it all the more wonderful. 🦊❤️

1868. lazy looking

 

on this blus’try morn

red’ning tree full of sparrows

with soft gaze they’re there 🦊❤️

Warning: What follows may be politically incorrect. 

As I sat lazily looking out of my window wondering what I should write about in today’s post, the rusting Maple tree came alive suddenly.  Handfuls of  hidden sparrows started conducting a  “Chinese Firedrill” as they moved from branch to branch then disappeared again - proving again that a patient soft gaze often reveals what’s below the surface of things.  A good strategy to employ in this era of artificial intelligence and fabricated reality.  🦊❤️

1867. airworthy

 

i watched from above

how perfectly you spun ‘round

floating down, down, down 🦊❤️

There is a Sugar Maple tree right beside my balcony. As the leaves fall, the balcony is covered with “seed helicopters”. I started picking them up and released them one at a time from the balcony. How perfectly they spun to the ground  I could not help but ponder the amazing perfection of their design and how brilliant was their delivery system that takes them to earth for propagation. 🦊❤️   

1866. battling

 

battling to the death

two fierce forest behemoths

nightmares made of this 🦊❤️

During our hike today, Yulan spotted this fierce battle between two tree monsters.  What a Halloween sighting. She was kind enough to let me use the scene for my post today!! 🦊❤️

1865. design

 

on the forest’s floor

nature’s designs on display

like this mushroom’s spots 🦊❤️

There is order even in the midst of chaos.  Just look at the forest’s floor. 🦊❤️

1864. slower than molasses

i would love to be

a slug for a single day

only one speed… slow 🦊❤️

 Today is a beautifully rainy day. It’s a perfect day to shift to slow and just creep along one step at a time.  🦊❤️

1863. through all kinds of weather

 

off the beaten trail

there’s a very special tree

that’s our secret place 🦊❤️

Many years ago I made ceramic tiles with images that represent Yulan and I. We put them on a tree well off the beaten path in the woods. The tree is surrounded by vines and thorns and poison ivy. Our tiles have “matured” as a result of being out there in all kinds of weather - just like us. It’s our secret place that will be inhabited by us long after we are gone. We all need a mysterious secret place to hang out at.  🦊❤️

1862. becoming one with….

blending perfectly

like a grasshopper on grass…

… or a katydid 🦊❤️

I love hiking with a grasshopper… or maybe a katydid!! 🦊❤️
 

1861. hallowed ground

 

once stood a tall tree

time and weather took their toll

sawdust is its ghost 🦊❤️

The field was littered with many trees that had fallen over the years. I used to enjoy slaloming through them as I made my way to the trails.  Today, all that was left were lines of sawdust where the trees had been  cut into sections and hauled away. 🦊❤️

1860. gobble, gobble

 

a plump turkey tail

its fungi feathers blooming

real feast for the eyes 🦊❤️

The trails are teeming with fabulous fungi.  Turkey Tails perch on rotting logs like blossoming flowers reminding me that everyday is Thanksgiving Day. 🦊❤️

1859. lunch ala ikea

 

assembling a lunch

swedish meatballs and salad

lingonberry too 🦊❤️

Lunch at Ikea is always a treat. The little Swedish flag flies high on its namesake meatballs.  🦊❤️

1858. simple definition of a tree

 

digging deep in dirt

reaching into emptiness

they call it a tree 🦊❤️

Tree: A bridge between earth and space.  🦊❤️

1857. paradox of the burl

 

if our woes grew burls

we would look like this gnarled tree

full of precious bumps 🦊❤️

Burls are bumps that sometime grow on certain trees as a result of  the trees being injured, parasitic attacks, fungal infections and other known and unknown negative impacts. The burls can grow quite large and can look very unsightly and quite grotesque. The paradox is however that burls are highly sought after by woodworkers because of their exquisite grain patterns and are worth lots of money. While our woes may look pretty ugly, if we look inside them there just may be many beautiful things to be learned that are worth their weight in  gold.  🦊❤️

 

1856. crunch, crunch, crunch

 

crowding out the sand

a treasure trove of seashells

crunching underfoot 🦊❤️

Along the shore line every few yards is a new landscape. The most interesting are the scenes of gazillions of crushed shells that crunch underfoot. Hard on the feet but interesting to the ears. 🦊❤️

1855. looking beyond “knowledge”

how can we not see

a majesty beyond what

we think that we know? 🦊❤️

The older I get, the more that I know that I do not know.  Freedom to believe… 🦊❤️
 

1854. eternal optimist

sea and sky are one

no space for the sun to rise

no matter… she waits 🦊❤️

 It’s 6:51 AM. The sun is due to show its blazing head now… but the heavy clouds from lingering from last nights rains crowds out it appearance.  Nonetheless Yulan is at the ready to capture the moment that never comes. She is the consummate optimist. 🦊❤️

1853. fortune telling - lost fortunes

 

a town full of slots

cigarette smoke and lost bets

atlantic city 🦊❤️

We are spending the weekend at a friend’s place a few miles from Atlantic City. We decided to go to AC after a late breakfast to take some photos for our blogs and to check out the boardwalk and casinos. Unfortunately the prosperity and improvements promised to the city when the casinos were being proposed not only didn’t come to fruition, the decay and decline seems to have accelerated. 🦊❤️

1852. like icarus

a seagull streaks through

fiery sunset clouds like a

winged meteorite 🦊❤️

Seagulls at sunset are out of this world…. 🦊❤️
 

1851. fall is for shedding stuff

 

under autumn skies

a maple tree sheds its green

followed by its leaves 🦊❤️

***

under autumn skies

a maple tree sheds its leaves

danny sheds his locks 🦊❤️ 

Inspired by the shedding of green and leaves by the trees, I decided to shed my hair. 🦊❤️

1850. stark contrast

 

mid the changing leaves

the ghostly white sycamore

haunting in contrast 🦊❤️

In fall, every day that passes brings with it new contrasts on the old that makes it all new. 🦊❤️

1849. solitary dancer

 

hanging on a thread

pirouetting round and round

dance golden leaf dance 🦊❤️

For three days straight I passed by a solitary golden leaf  spinning round and round from an invisible strand of  spider webbing. First this way… then that way… then back again. Happy is the person that does what they love when no one is looking to cheer them on!! 🦊❤️

1848. lean on me

 

when i was falling

you stood tall and oh so firm

now we stand as one 🦊❤️

I marvel at the sight of tall trees that have been in the midst of tumbling to earth for some reason of nature and are stopped dead in their trajectory downward by another tree.  Often the rescuing tree is knocked askew by the sudden impact. Both trees, from that moment forward stand together in mutual support of each other.  We are all trees needing a another tree to fall into for support.  TIMBER… 🦊❤️ 

1847. a smile

 

how many people

has this smiling face greeted

and brightened their day? 🦊❤️

A smile today will do more to change the course of time and brighten it than will an angry face or words.  🦊❤️

1846. a panoramic day

 

what a day we had

oodles of eats and realness

richness of it all 🦊❤️

We had a wonderful bar-b-que behind Yulan’s apartment with her neighbors. A breath of fresh air even with the smoky wood fire that was burning. Every half hour or so a train roared by on the tracks adjacent to her building. It was perfect!!! 🦊❤️ 

1845. dots

 

red, yellow, green, pink

and don’t forget the orange

brief trip to heaven 🦊❤️

I have been resisting the urge to buy a box of Dots candy at our small local movie theater for way too long.  So last evening we went to the movies and without hesitation I scored a big old box of Dots. I opened the box and searched out an orange one (my fave) and savored its texture and its taste. I was in heaven. I ate half of the box, closed it and walked into the lobby and threw the remainder into the trash can.  It was a wonderful experience… then it was time to let it go. 🦊❤️