How we love nature (as long as it doesn't crawl on our counters!)

The peonies have started to bud. But I don't see any ants. They are needed for something in this flower's health, but with all the sterilization of our grounds, there may be few ants to be found.

I voted yesterday...early voting for the primaries in our county's libraries is really easy. I was just the 435th person to do so at our little library. But just thinking that my efforts may help get Madison Cawthorn out of the Legislature...you'd better believe I want my vote to count! Most unfortunately he is our district's representative. What a disaster!

Another topic just came to my in box...An Exo-planet. A short video follows.

The Flame Azaleas (native to North Carolina woods) have all burst into color.

And now I must make a mundane statement about the prices we're trying to live with these days. This week I finally was able to buy some water for the C-Pap machine. The grocery store has been out every time I've looked in the last 2 years. But the cost used to be a bit over $1.00...and now each gallon costs $1.50. There are actually quarts for sale also, at $1.00 each. The gallons have increased in price by 50%. I can, and have lived without using any water in my machine. That may need to be my choice again soon.

I was unable to purchase my choice of brand of toilet tissue. They have a huge stock of a brand I don't like...this store has the habit of filling shelves with whatever they happen to have, rather than stocking the variety of brands which they used to have. So I got something that is totally made from recycled materials. Yay me. I've been recycling for years, and finally am going to use one of the end products of that effort.

Today's quote:

 “If our heart were large enough to love life in all its detail, we would see that every instant is at once a giver and a plunderer.”

Gaston Bachelard 

In the shade we find...

 

A whiter shade of pale...lots of white azaleas. The grassy green in the foreground will become much taller and present us with day lilies in a few months. And of course all the azaleas will be just green bushes by then.

And there beneath the old maple tree are found the tiny precious lilies of the valley.

Today's quote:

 “The moment is not properly an atom of time but an atom of eternity. It is the first reflection of eternity in time, its first attempt, as it were, at stopping time.”

Kierkegaard 

Pearson Falls, part 2

 As I post this, I'm on the way to the dentist today. Finally (hopefully) to get a tooth extracted which was under the bridge which broke last month. Then I can come home and relax...and take some Tylenol for the pain. And nap maybe. So I hope everyone else enjoys Tues.

Some dying flowers, but some were just like them on the other side of this rock...

We enjoyed our walk, stopping to see the flowers all along the way!

Today's quote:

 "Strength of feeling, reverence for mystery, and clarity of intellect must be kept in balance with one another. Neither the passive nor the active must dominate, they must work in conjunction, as in a marriage,"

 and "I'm not very good at praying, but what I experience when I'm writing a poem is close to prayer."

Denise Levertov 

Pearson Falls trip - part one

   These photos were taken on April 27, 2022

Though it's high pollen season, it had rained a few days before, so the new green leaves just vibrated with brightness!

Helen carried her flower i.d. book, and thus named everything we saw. Surprisingly late in wild flower season there were plenty of beauties to see. (When the leaves are on the trees, there are few wild flowers in bloom.)

White rhododendron were blooming in a few places...no purple ones though!

A Cock Robin Trillium

We walked along a trail going up while the cascades of water came down the steep ravine.

This white trillium was the only white one we saw, and it was growing right next to the trail...with huge leaves!

There were fresh wood shavings along the path while the rest of it was stone steps. Not too hard to climb, and lots of railings when the ground sloped away from the trail steeply.

There's a tiny red nubbin of a flower that Helen's book identified...mainly by the pretty leaves.

Then we saw the first Jack in the Pulpit flower. Here's an upside down angle looking back towards my own feet to try to see the curve of the flower.

Looking straight down doesn't do it justice.

A very sturdy bridge, mostly stone, in two sections, took us to the other side of the stream.

But we did see more!

Tomorrow folks...

Today's quote:

Let us be gentle to each other this brief time,

For we shall die in exile far from home,

Where even the flowers can no longer save.

Only the living are healed by love.

May Sarton

Beltane

 Happy May First!

...an ancient celebration of spring from the traditions of those who honor and live with the earth seasons!

I will be joining a group of women this afternoon to dance a May Pole, enjoy the flowers, and recite some old wise words for the earth and those who love her.

Today's quote:

"Holy persons draw to themselves all that is earthly. . . .

The earth is at the same time mother,

She is mother of all that is natural,

mother of all that is human.

She is the mother of all,

for contained in her

are the seeds of all.

Greetings to you, lovely and loving Mother!"

Hildegarde Von Bingen

Her saint's day is Sept 21