MISTER WHISKERS

Mister whiskers with green eyes.

Its is a comforting feeling that overcomes me,

while watching the cat kneading a fuzzy blanket.

Eyes closed, zoning out to all but the sensation

of blue fur on paw pads

Cocooning himself in the layers and folds

He teaches me the pleasures 

Of what Italians call

dulce far niente  

The sweetness of doing nothing. 

 

I love to sit with his body curled into the

Fold of my legs and the blanket

The panes have that look of frostbite about the edges again

Nothing could pull me from the sweetness of the bed warmth

Instead it is best to lay there and read; us two -

Utterly companionable in moments of quietude

Us two

Not so dissimilar. 

 

Stretching kitty in a soft blanket.
Kneading cat on fluffy blanket.
Cat yoga - Mr Whiskers stretches like crazy.
Sleeping cat. 

MIDSUMMER

Midsummer midnight bonfire with the stars and a full moon.

MIDSUMMER MAGIC

Midsummer is the meeting point

of sun and moon

fire and water

waxing and waning

light and dark

 

Early to rise, I witnessed the sun play out its crescendo this summer. I watched as it set on the longest day, while the full moon competed with the light of our bonfire. 

My ancestors would have celebrated this night, mourned this night. For they knew that with light comes dark, with summer comes winter. The two are inextricably linked, and never more so than on this day: the day of the longest sun. 

The longest day signifies the peak of life in full bloom - when all the plants have put forth their energies, flowering and fruiting. Yet in the same breath we may speak of the longest day as the beginning of the darker months, the time when all the world seems to recede in upon itself, conserving its strength for the year to come. It is a time of two halves, each holding the tail of the other. Death and life go hand in hand.

Suppose you had asked a wise woman of the elder days:

'Is it possible to be both happy and sad at the same time?'

In her reply she may have told you of a midsummer's night - when the villagers would gather to eat and dance and send hoops of fire down the hillsides, while Druids gathered in stone circles around the allegorical bonfire, celebrating and mourning and giving thanks.

 

. To be happy and sad at once is to be thankful .

I am grateful for the waxing and waning of the year;

much like sitting and thinking of a person I miss in my heart,

the contemplation of the seasons fills me with gratitude

for all my blessings -

those sweet fruits the world offered me in the summer. 

 

Midsummer bonfire.

...FRUITS OF THIS SUMMER...

Strawberries thieved from the gardens of another. 

Barefoot dog walks. 

Yoga on the front lawn. 

Hole-in-the-sky days of endless blue.

Russian sage.

Over-ripe watermelons. 

Planting hundreds of flowers in the hot sun. 

Dry desert cracked dirt. 

Waking with the sunrise. 

Late night cups of tea. 

Snakes in the long grass. 

Being surprised by red legged grasshoppers. 

Signs from above. 

A fox chattering at midnight amongst the petunias. 

Epiphanies. 

 

Full moon gif.
Midsummer night sky lit by a bonfire.
Midsummer stars and a blaze of light.
“... And I am out with lanterns, looking for myself.”
— Emily Dickenson

ALPINE FLOWERS

Mountains and purple subalpine larkspur flowers beneath an aspen forest.

 

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF FLOWERS

- an interview with Pamela Soltis

"Currently the angiosperms are by far the largest group of plants and the most important from an ecological standpoint. They inhabit all sorts of environments. They make up the majority of a lot of different habitats, such as grasslands (all the grasses are flowering plants), most forests except for the boreal forests, and most terrestrial habitats on the face of the planet. They provide food sources and shelters for the organisms that live in these habitats. On a more personal note to humans, they provide us with most of our food and, in certain areas, a lot of our shelter materials."

ON GRATITUDE

 

Brenda takes with her a small bag woven in rich patterns, filled with ground millet, following traditions passed down to her in knowledge. When she comes to a place that she feels is special, she dips her hand into the bag and scatters the millet with a message of gratitude, giving thanks to the environment in her own way.

I have felt incredibly thankful, while walking in the wild woods of Colorado. I have seen all manner of plants, waterfalls, dead trees surrounded by the creeping vines of new growth, and tiny animals. I have dipped my hands into water, my feet too, letting my gratitude take off downstream like a ribbon caught in a flood. 

I will be eternally grateful to the Earth for her generosity, and not least of all, for the wildflowers.

 

columbine

alpine aster

red desert paintbrush

purple mustard

penstemon

alpine buttercups

chiming bells

clover

creeping thistle

subalpine larkspur

marsh marigolds

subalpine paintbrush

fairy slipper

silvery lupine

catnip

 
Booth Creek Falls Trail in Spring.
Alpine flowers in the mountains of Colorado, Booth Creek Falls in Spring.
Ranunculus Ficaria - a bright yellow many petaled alpine buttercup.
Shrine Pass Trail.
Wild red and yellow columbines in an alpine environment. 
Curvy aspen boles in a forest.
Walking barefoot on the trail.
Wild clover and alpine buttercups
Shrine Pass trail in Spring.
Subalpine paintbrush - purple alpine flowers.
“The way of the priestess is not easy, for you must die a thousand deaths to be one with the Goddess - she who flowers ten thousand times.”
— SARAH DREW
Desert paintbrush flowers, Shrine Pass, Colorado.
Desert paintbrush flowers in a field of Shrine Pass.
Mertensia Chiming Bell flowers.
Mertensia Chiming Bell flowers, alpine environment.
Marsh Marigold - alpine flowers
Small stream and Marsh Marigolds, Shrine Pass.
Giving thanks to the water.
Ranunculus Alpestris - white alpine buttercups.
Clouds reflected in a pond, in the mountains of Colorado.
Flower shadows on a mossy rock.
Booth Creek Falls, Colorado. 
Chipmunk in the underbrush. 
Alpine Aster purple daisies and red Desert Paintbrush flowers.

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING:

 

www.actionbioscience.org - interview with Pamela Soltis