Love says

Lovers find secret places
inside this violent world
where they make transactions
with beauty.

Reason says, Nonsense. 
I have walked and measured the walls here.
There are no places like that.

Love says, There are.

-Rumi, from Secret Places

Transactions with beauty

Lovers find secret places
inside this violent world
where they make transactions
with beauty.

Reason says, Nonsense. I have walked and measured the walls here. There are no places like that.

Love says, There are.

-Rumi, from Secret Places

Dona Gaura, Dona Joana e as Creaturas

Two views of Dona Gaura, Dona Joana
e as Creaturas

BASIL and BELLIC ENCOUNTERS

& grounding news for today

Exuberance on Queen Anne's Lace, 

basil encounters, 

vanessas, and the bellic bug

Exuberance of pollinators

Basil encounters

Vanessa virginiensis
 on silphium perfoliatum

 And the Oncometopia orbona on silphium, once again, perfoliatum...
 

The shy broad-headed sharpshooter.
A leaf-hopper, suited in color, for our bellic world?...

All ID attempts continue to be, of course, mere approximations

THE WILD CAT AND THE ILLUMINATIONS

The wild cat and the illuminations

 

"Decay is rut, rust it seems

Decay is round around the seams

Decay is something I live with

Know not"

 

 

When Gordon J. was alive, I sailed.

He died and many sailboats now rest in my front yard.

I learned not to see them… until now.

 

The old wild black cat is here and eats the food,

Sleeps inside abandoned Mestiza, our Allegra,
wild sailing horse where I learned to be very quiet, very skilled at maneuvering the lines leading to the breezes.

Where I learned to be even more to lead the vessel in stillness.

 

He shares the quarters with the wasps of Dauntless and the honeysuckled deck of Mourning Star.

He does not hiss, he just jumps off in fear at close approach.

 

Yesterday, once again,

in his patience and in mine,

we sat by the boats

tiny diminishing distance apart.

 

I told him about my friend’s week, the birthday cake at work, the storm coming, watch out for shelter, we may have Hobbes coming back to live here, you should know.

 

Of course, the camera helped me to see them, the illuminations.

 

This morning I find Xaninho, the wild cat, under the bird feeder, waiting quietly.

 

HIDDEN TREASURES

in between polka dot wasp moth

RE-VISITING THE PLANTS

A VISIT TO A PLACE I HAVE NOT SEEN


IN SEVEN YEARS...

Gall in oak, as change in physical structure

Oak in gall



Blue steel heron as protector

Trail companion Jeff Zablow, at Adkins Arboretum

Thanks Jeff,  for your company at the Arboretum trails. Searching for butterflies, finding almost none. Endless explorations in botany and wonders.

Orchids



The decomposers

Rattle snake weed

A "planted" tulip poplar flower

South Tuckahoe Valley Trail

Deep tree knees on rock and sand

A red admiral in the North meadow - the only one

and the many orchids...

SOLITUDE

When plagued by excessive solitude,

I look at this picture:

Then at this one

When all is well again,

there is this fellow,

who was there all along,

oblivious to the high emotions of the crowds…