You Had Me At Hello

Summer...

You had me at hello

You swept me up in your intensity

And the crazy-hatted party goers

you brought to my garden

You arrived dressed in eye-popping colours

Against a backdrop of glorious greens

With the summer comes the sun

And with the sun comes the heat

June, July and August whizzed by

in a colourful, shimmering mirage

Trumpets blared sweet summer's song

filling my senses with their heady perfume

While the fish grew fat and happy

in the pond

So many moments to enjoy

So much beauty to drink in

Some scenes almost too beautiful to believe

That this is reality and not just a dream

In my garden, summer has been gentle,

Fluttery

Feminine

Fringed

Filled with colourful hues,

Stately colour shapes

And bold colour wows!

Autumn is on its way

and when I look back

This will have been a Summer

I will never forget!

Oh Spring, Where Art Thou?

It appears Spring has been hijacked by Winter,

and is refusing to leave.

Fresh snow continues to fall

discouraging the tulips that have optimistically

poked their heads out of the cold, hard ground.

The forest remains bare-branched and empty.

The only things out to greet me on my walks

are last year's weathered flowers

And the joyous sound of birdsong welcoming

a Spring that has yet to arrive.

The sun assures us it is doing it's best

to move things along,

Casting the most lovely glow on anything

brave or hardy enough to make it through the winter.

And so I admire what fall has left behind;

A gift given once but appreciated twice.

"Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yes, patience...

And so I will continue to admire

the longer days and (slightly) warmer temperatures.

While I wait for Spring to truly arrive.

Winter Feathers

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 ~

Although the sun's heat is far away

The little birds that flit through the coldest days of winter

Keep me happy and warm.

Love Is In The Air

My usual parade of flower pictures

is being interrupted today

for a grand display

of love

~ tra-la-la ~

It took weeks (or maybe minutes) of courting

before she allowed him

to get this close

to her

In no time at all

I will be photographing

their adorable, misbehaving

flying toddlers.

I can't wait!

On The Wings Of Spring

Flying in ahead of Spring

before the snow has left the ground

birds arrive

to fill the air with their

wishful songs.

They rummage through the dead leaves

that cover the sleeping garden

in search of bugs and other goodies

invisible to my eyes.

The backyard is filled

with their silly antics,

their chatter and squabbles

as they argue over nesting spots

and rights to my feeders...

but mostly they gather in noisy families

to celebrate the end of winter.

Only The Crow Knows

I'm

wondering

why that branch

the one that barely holds your weight

that leaves you tossing in the wind

until you can hold on no longer

until you fall

into the currents

of the great

white

sky.