Finally, the Colors Begin to Come Out

Up in Shenandoah National Park we have finally started to see evidence of the Fall season. The leaves are changing in the recent sunny and more seasonable weather.

Without Him, We Labor in Vain

"Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord guards the city,
the guard keeps watch in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
when He pours gifts on His beloved while they slumber."

~Psalm 127:1-2

The Robin Family "Leaves the Nest"

Time for a "Robin Family" update. Gosh, they grow up fast! Some amazing pictures from the beginning of June:

These three quickly learned how to make noise, and to eat a lot!

They started opening their eyes...

And within a week they are out of the nest, though still carefully watched over by Mama bird. They flitter into tall grass...

Then, off "on their own," perched on their own branches. So soon!

Robins in Spring

Here's a vigilant, chirpy, and very busy robin. I wonder why? Hmmmm...

Aha! The robin (and I got tons of lovely, closeup shots of her) is caring for THE NEST!

Momma Robin is busy rustling up some LUNCH. Some folks will be grossed out by this picture, but this is just nature. This is what birds eat. And, as a fisherman of many years (though, alas, not recently) this looks very good to me. This looks like bait:

Looks like Momma has three baby robins. The furthest to our right is showing us a profile, with eye not yet opened. I hope y'all don't mind this "nature documentary" -- I'm just fascinated by all of this that's happening in our front yard. (And we're doing our best to make sure Reepicheep the cat stays away!)

Looking at Things, Truly...

Since I am 52 years old, I suppose this is my 53rd Spring season. My 53rd Easter season.

I have seen many Winters, indeed. This past Winter was, perhaps, the most beautiful one that I can remember. It was a long and contemplative time, full of unexpected surprises of beauty. No doubt taking pictures helped me to pay more attention, but it was more than that.

I spent a lot of time looking at things.

Now Spring is here with its brief, brilliant displays and waves of color. Our Valley has become a garden. And in this natural season of changes and growth in the temperate region of the north, Easter comes, proclaiming the victory of Love, the coming forth of the One who remains forever among us.

I am still determined to take pictures, and more importantly, to continue to look at all these things.

Spring

Whether it be blossom,

or budding twig,

or dark drippy patch of moss on rain soaked stone,

when we look at things,

truly,

even for a moment,

we are thrown into wonder,

and wounded

by the widening space of longing

that only grows deeper as the seasons pass.

Life runs everywhere

like flood waters washing over our thirst

and filling us

and bursting holes in our hearts so that we die.

But we are also reminded

that time's tomb cannot hold us.

For we have heard the promise.

It is the promise

that the wonder in the brief glory

of feathery flower petals

is worth seeing again and again,

even when we are old,

when the heart holes of longing are aching

and frail and beautiful,

burning open with soft fire as everything speaks,

in its singular simple way,

of the promise long held, and drawing near.

Of Lions and Lambs and Other Things

March has come to an end with a bit of the lamb and a bit of the lion all in the same day. Pleasant and windy in the morning.

We've had heat and cold, rain and snow this month, and we still wait for our first spring greens, although the buds are awakening in many places.

By the middle of the afternoon today, Spring showed one of her distinctive faces, as thunderclouds moved in rapidly and sent rain through the Valley. This should help the blooming of the long-awaited flowers.

As March and the Winter quarter of 2015 come to a drippy end, flowers are not the only things that seem "long-awaited."

Play ball!

Sculptures of Brown Forests

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In Winter I see the hills all over the neighborhood.

Here I was struck by the variations

of hues in the sky

as the clouds slowly moved on,

and the trees gently swayed

in their sparse Winter dress,

tinged with the gold of an elusive afternoon sun.

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Most of the year, these branches

would hang heavy like a leafy curtain.
But in Winter, they draw back
to reveal distant hilltops.
And our Valley becomes wild and wide and open
like a great spacious plain
filled with sculptures of brown forests.

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The creek shimmers and sparkles,

a liquid mirror of afternoon light.

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And at six in the evening

comes the surprise of sunset

red like clay as it thickens into twilight

behind the shadowy hilltop vigil

of a solitary oak.

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Sky Painting

We had some magnificent "sky painting" on this day, with contrasts of bright blue, glowing white, and thick billowy gray tones. A subtle but luminous yellow finish gilded the edges of clouds and the tops of trees.

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Sometimes, however, yellow and orange hues filled the canvas of air with sun-splashes.

Winter Beauty

Sky clear with intense brightness shining up from the snow. Cold, cutting air. My Blue Ridge mountains on this January day.

A Place to Call Home

December has arrived, bringing unusually warm weather today: over 70 degrees (farenheit).

This is a month of riches, with the freshness of Advent expectation, with great feast days dedicated to Mary, with birthdays for Teresa (Dec 6) and Agnese (Dec 21). And then, of course, there is Christmas Day and the week that follows. The secular new year arrives in the midst of Christmas celebrations. While the days are short, the house glows with light and greenery and wonder at the God who became a little child.

Even the sparse daylight can have a charm. December in Virginia often has sunny and brisk days, and the bare trees open up new vistas in the Valley, and give us the contrasting hues of branch and sky, of bark and hilly rock, and of the evergreens that now have their time of special glory.

Our Valley has a grandeur and an intimacy that I have come to appreciate more over the years. This is a great place to call home, nestled in rolling hills, and it also has heights and depths: blue green hazy peaks and tall trees and plunging stream beds where the water runs relentlessly even when it is nothing more than a trickle.

A place to call home... even as I look up at the tops of the hills and the line of the ridge marking the horizon with the faint outline of the limbs of distant trees. It is a home that fills me with longing.

Fall Has Fallen

Well, that was fast.

A couple of windy days and cool nights, and... barrroooom! Lots of empty branches. And, suddenly, it's time to get the rakes out:

Autumn Sky

Clouds and the reflection of the sun on an early Autumn evening.