How wonderful it is to enjoy the natural beauty, mysteries, and activity of the summer season!
Let us blessI do love the sunsets, the crops moving like waves across the fields, the glistening lake water… but I also love to look into the small worlds that make up these larger worlds - to see what lies “through nature's curtain” so to speak. I love how the curtain invites me to peek around or through and see what mysteries can be found in the space beyond.
I often find myself wanting to paint nature’s smaller landscapes. I’ve just finished an acrylic painting of one small portion of the garden at Old’s College, where one of our sons studies. So I share it with you along with several earlier watercolour paintings.
To end off the blog is John O’Donohue’s, In Praise of the Earth. I believe that somehow this love of the earth deep rooted within has come from my forbears. In O’Donohue’s lyrical and deep Celtic spirit I find words that resonate with my inner eternal spirit. From my English Granmother I inherited inspiration along with practical necessity to use nature’s herbs, vegetables, and flowers with thankful appreciation. From my Scandinavian father, I gained an abiding love for and of such things as wood grains polished to perfection as well as the realization that beauty can be an integral part of all things utilitarian.
To end off the blog is John O’Donohue’s, In Praise of the Earth. I believe that somehow this love of the earth deep rooted within has come from my forbears. In O’Donohue’s lyrical and deep Celtic spirit I find words that resonate with my inner eternal spirit. From my English Granmother I inherited inspiration along with practical necessity to use nature’s herbs, vegetables, and flowers with thankful appreciation. From my Scandinavian father, I gained an abiding love for and of such things as wood grains polished to perfection as well as the realization that beauty can be an integral part of all things utilitarian.
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| Garden at Old's College . 1 |
The imagination of the Earth,
That knew early the patience
To harness the mind of
time,
Waited for the seas to warm,
Ready to welcome the emergence
Of things dreaming of voyaging
Among the stillness of land.
And how light knew to nurse
The growth until the face of the Earth
Brightened beneath a vision of color.
The growth until the face of the Earth
Brightened beneath a vision of color.
When the ages of ice came
And sealed the Earth inside
An endless coma of cold,
The heart of the Earth held hope,
Storing fragments of memory,
Ready for the return of the sun.
And sealed the Earth inside
An endless coma of cold,
The heart of the Earth held hope,
Storing fragments of memory,
Ready for the return of the sun.
Let us thank the Earth
That offers ground for home
And holds our feet firm
To walk in space open
To infinite galaxies.
That offers ground for home
And holds our feet firm
To walk in space open
To infinite galaxies.
Let us salute the silence
And certainty of mountains:
Their sublime stillness,
Their dream-filled hearts.
And certainty of mountains:
Their sublime stillness,
Their dream-filled hearts.
The wonder of a garden
Trusting the first warmth of spring
Until its black infinity of cells
Becomes charged with dream;
Then the silent, slow nurture
Of the seed’s self, coaxing it
To trust the act of death.
Trusting the first warmth of spring
Until its black infinity of cells
Becomes charged with dream;
Then the silent, slow nurture
Of the seed’s self, coaxing it
To trust the act of death.
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| Lakeside Garden |
The humility of the Earth
That transfigures all
That has fallen
Of outlived growth.
That transfigures all
That has fallen
Of outlived growth.
The kindness of the Earth,
Opening to receive
Our worn forms
Into the final stillness.
Opening to receive
Our worn forms
Into the final stillness.
Let us ask forgiveness of the Earth
For all our sins against her:
For our violence and poisonings
Of her beauty.
For all our sins against her:
For our violence and poisonings
Of her beauty.
Let us remember within us
The ancient clay,
Holding the memory of seasons,
The passion of the wind,
The fluency of water,
The warmth of fire,
The quiver-touch of the sun
And shadowed sureness of the moon.
The ancient clay,
Holding the memory of seasons,
The passion of the wind,
The fluency of water,
The warmth of fire,
The quiver-touch of the sun
And shadowed sureness of the moon.
That we may awaken,
To live to the full
The dream of the Earth
Who chose us to emerge
And incarnate its hidden night
In mind, spirit, and light.
To live to the full
The dream of the Earth
Who chose us to emerge
And incarnate its hidden night
In mind, spirit, and light.
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