988. becoming airborne

you learning to fly

your parents have wings… no hands

they can only watch  🦊❤️ 

 I watched a little bird learning to fly. There has been a nest yearly on my balcony for quite a while. The little  birdie was stalled in its lesson as it clung to my screen door and looked me right in the eyes.  The parents were fluttering in the background as they watched its every move. They could only watch.  It made me think of raising my own kids and also about my relationships in my life. I thought about all of the times I “used my hands” so to speak to intervene in the flow of things. Some times it worked but most times it didn’t. As hard as “just watching” can be, I think all in all it is a good strategy. 🦊❤️

987. geometry of imagination

1. 

what geometry

like a sailboat on the sea

a windless morning  🦊❤️

Every once in a while the juxtaposition of things in nature creates a magical scene that allows the imagination to voyage to places that cannot be accessed otherwise. 🦊❤️

 

986. hold on to the railings

people walking up

and then they’ll be walking down

life is a staircase  🦊❤️

I stood and watched the people walk up and down the steep staircase that was outside of my friend’s artist studio.  I thought about life on many levels.  The ups and downs. The victories and the defeats.  Enthusiasm souring to inertia.  I watched them all holding on to the railing as they went up and then down the steep incline.  Thank God for railings. We must remember to hold on to them - they help… 🦊❤️

 

985. a good day’s work

not an ant in sight

just telltale signs of labor

their work shift over 🦊❤️

There are so many lessons to be learned by observing and pondering the world of ants. Sometimes it is very valuable to look at the small things around us because that is where the big story is told. 🦊❤️

 

984. fun with fungi

there on that dead tree

look like sea anemones

or maybe… heart valves  🦊❤️

While hiking with my friend Rob through the Elephant’s Graveyard (stand of dying European Beech trees) we spotted a cluster of strange looking fungi. I took a photo and texted it to my Dong Stick teacher Paul who is also a forager.  He identified it as Dryads Saddle.  It is edible. He suggested we collect some to try because other foragers will harvest it all.  We passed on the suggestion and settled on some photos and  made observations on what they looked like.  🦊❤️

 

983. after the rains

the rains came and went

all the turtle perches gone

the smell of creek mud  🦊❤️

The past weekend brought lots and lots of rain. The Wissahickon Creek was flooded big time. The rushing waters cleared out all of the big and small tree trunks and branches that were marooned in the creek from previous flooding. The turtle sun bathing perches and Blue Heron roosts are gone. Future floods will bring more logs and branches. Yesterday the familiar smell of creek mud from my childhood days filled the air.  I stopped and smelled it fully. 🦊❤️

 

982. it grabbed me and i grabbed back

“spiritual ascent”

grabbed me and lifted me up

now it will be mine 🦊❤️

We were at an open house of a number local artist’s studios yesterday. Gloria Popek our friends has her studio in the building. When we walked around and  looked at her work, I could feel the energy that inhabits the studio. Then all of a sudden one of her pieces caught my attention and said, “I belong to you. Take me home.” And I did. The title of the work is “Skylight/ Spiritual Ascent”. 🦊❤️ (PS. Notice she is wearing a pair of Yulan’s origami earrings)