Love Is a Seed

I am an ebullient flower, smiling, reaching, toward the sun.

Gentle sunrise, settling in the whisper mist. Pensive, like a sonata. My heart beats hard happy.
"Love is a seed: it has only to sprout,
and its roots spread far and wide."
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Airman's Odyssey

Some mornings, it's impossible to choose just one...

Love, Friendship, and Compassion

"One's life has value
so long as one attributes value
to the life of others,
by means of love, friendship, and compassion."
~ Simone de Beauvoir

Heavy gray clouds, except for a patch of golden fire over downtown Asheville... An oasis, a beacon? Stunning magnet this Asheville. Tugs at the heart with irresistible charm.

Where the Gold Is

"Let whatever’s going to happen, happen. Don’t judge it before you do it. Sure, sometimes it will be terrible, but sometimes it will just be amazing. That’s where the gold is."
~ Cloris Leachman

Only 48°F on my back porch, but the sky is red with streaked clouds. Finally, maybe, a sunrise? Mist, fine damp air. Waiting for sun to break through the clouds... My nose is running. So are my feet, down the stairs, into the back yard for a different perspective... Deep breath. Glorious sunrise... Ahh, gold. I've somehow captured gold this morning...

Revelations

Clouds, center stage, are moving dynamic today. Fun to watch... And daydream...

"Revelations are found in clouds."
~ Serge Kahili King

Fog, clouds, and unmistakable sunlight... Magic revelation.

Cornerstone of Life

"When a man’s home
is born out of his heart
and developed through his labor
and perfected through his sense of beauty,
it is the very cornerstone of life."
~ Gustav Stickley

Gentle rays, glowing through heavy clouds... It is good to be home...

Breath of Kindness

"A friend is one whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart; chaff and grain alike, knowing that the gentlest of hands will keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away."
~ Arab Proverb

Walked aways down the hill with Kolo and got this shot through the locus trees... The sun just glided through the sky this morning, gentle and subdued by the thick clouds. No fanfare or bright light, just a glow and shimmer... Listen and you can hear the whisper: "Good morning..."

Eternal

"We feel and know that we are eternal."
~ Benedict De Spinoza

Brrrr in the mountains this morning... No clouds. Just the sun. Beckoning.

Focus

Those crazy clouds, playing hide & seek with the sun.

"Always remember,
your focus determines your reality.”
~George Lucas

Too cold for barefeet on the deck. But I am focused on the clouds that are breaking waves along mountain ridge. Rippling shadows and radiant energy... Bright light, strong sun coming.

America’s Best Days

"If anyone tells you that America’s best days
are behind her, they’re looking the wrong way."
~ George H. W. Bush

Woke to the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by America's Special Forces in Pakistan... A good time to reflect on the tragedy of 9/11 and its 10-year aftermath... I had to wait for this morning's sunrise to come out from behind the heavy gray skies. It did, brightly, strongly, surely... Bright gold against the hopeful horizon... Seems an appropriate metaphor for our times...

Touch Souls

"We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature trees, flowers, grass grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...we need silence to be able to touch souls."
~ Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Red silent sun hangs in the sky, like some beacon. Catch your breath.

Quite Magical

"Life is magic, the way nature works seems to be quite magical."
~ Jonas Salk

Birds singing so sweetly. Sliver crescent moon & golden sky. Beautiful new day.

Join Your Hands

"Now join your hands, and with your hands your hearts."
~ William Shakespeare, King Henry VI

Birds Sing

Vicious tornadoes. Powerful storms. Hundreds die in the south. A mile-wide tornado leveled Tuscaloosa. Here on my ridge, a wild midnight ride. We watched nearby forest trees dance Tahitian, not hula. With lightning strikes, one after another after another. Sheets of rain. Wind and thunder. My sunrise viewing chair ended up in the back field... So minor in context...
"Birds sing after a storm. Why shouldn’t we?"
~ Rose Kennedy

Outside this morning, the birds are singing...

Without Wondering

Today's prayer is made with dirt and mulch... No laptop, just shovel and clippers... Rocks, weeds, flowers, love... Waiting for the sun...

"People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering."
~ St. Augustine

Lavender sky streaked with pink cloud smears. Dawn's light, the birds are singing for the sun... I'm sitting in the garden, with this wonderful perspective....

Love One Another

Happy Easter

"Love one another and you will be happy.
It's as simple and as difficult as that."
~ Michael Leunig

Israel Kamakawiwo`ole, ♪♫ ♪♫ E Ku`u Morning Dew ♪♫ ♪♫

Masterpiece of Man

"The great and glorious masterpiece of man is how to live with a purpose."
~ Michel de Montaigne

The morning is awash with green. Rich, fertile green. The trees, mountains, everywhere. Green. Alive.

Late last fall, I cleared a section of back brush & found a poplar that today is doing wonderful. Hoping my sunrise photographs near it are good enough to post...

What's Inside

"It doesn't matter whether you're the king of a country or... a fabulous Beatle; it's what's inside that counts."
~ George Harrison

Be Good

"I demand that the world be good,
and lo, it obeys."
~ Helen Keller

Excursion Is the Same

"The excursion is the same when you go looking for your sorrow as when you go looking for your joy." ~ Eudora Welty

So many many things to be grateful for. Every where I look this morning. Blessings... Beauty.... Bright gold... red, orange. Sky. Sky! Chill, too beautiful to care about that. Sun is coming! ...Think I'll go w/ wide spring green forest, clarity to Asheville, and gold rays that seem to extend, reach, celebrate the sky.

In the Right Light

"In the right light, at the right time,
everything is extraordinary."
~ Aaron Rose

All gray sky, except for a patch of glowing light, in the middle of my mountain ridge. Think I'll run with it... Everything is extraordinary.

Ben Harper & Jack Johnson, ♪♫ ♪♫ My Own Two Hands ♪♫ ♪♫
H/T: @joanne_cooper

Make It Meaningful

Spring green, coffee, and sunrise...
"Old friends pass away, new friends appear.
It is just like the days.
An old day passes, a new day arrives.
The important thing
is to make it meaningful--
a meaningful friend or a meaningful day."
~ Dalai Lama

As I waited for the sun, I spent an hour listening to a live stream of the Dalai Lama speaking at the University of Limerick. One of the things he mentioned is the importance of a mother's love... So of course, I noticed how this morning's sun glows golden behind that mountain breast. Radiant color and maternal love...

Rises For Me

"Today a new sun rises for me;
everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it.
~ Anne De Lenclos

Infinite Expectation

"We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid,
but by an infinite expectation of the dawn."
~ Henry David Thoreau

Some sort of percolating cloud action along my ridge. Wild. Birds are loving the morning... Absolutely SpectACULAR clouds... Well, that was rather miraculous.

Growth Stage

"I began to realize that life
is a growth stage I'm going through."
~ Ellen Goodman

Wisps of blue, swirling clouds, and gentle fog in the cove. Birds question and answer one another. They fly in pairs across the sky... Life calls.

Aloha is the Way

Saying my prayers. Grateful.

"Aloha is the way I pray with gratitude." ~ Leialoha Cator

Without Problems or Pride

"I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride..." ~ Pablo Neruda

The Most and Best

"Integrate what you believe
into every single area of your life. Take your heart to work and ask the most and best of everybody else."
~ Meryl Streep

Thinking this morning's sunrise was all about clouds & shy sun... but then, a vision of light. Remarkable inspiration... And hope.

Great Good

"Love is a great thing,
a great good in every wise."
~ Thomas à Kempis

Golden sky is streaked orange. And as if overnight, lower trees are filled with leaves. New green. New promises...In these brief moments before sun crests, there is anticipation, of course, and overwhelming gratitude.

Private Literature

"Every man's memory is his private literature." ~ Aldous Huxley

Be Bold

Ahh, the power of editorial license & sun-loving joy that I can take off my shoes...

"Your motto: Be Bold, Be Free, Be Truthful."
~ Brenda Ueland

Doing double take. Our weather forecast is high of 78° today in Asheville? ...Gotta admit, this morning's Asheville sky is spectacular. Wide open blue with glorious clouds. Hollywood, where are you?

Forgiveness

"Life is an adventure in forgiveness." ~ Norman Cousins

Vast Perhaps

"I go to seek a vast perhaps." ~ Francois Rabelais

Ah, dawn. And the sweet light tickles the clouds... My home, my heart, is all quiet love this morning... Snow on the ridge, rain on my deck chair. Absolutely gorgeous with clean color clouds, birds, sounds. Morning. Sun coming...

Beautiful sunrise. Watching it, I know, everything, anything is possible...

April is a Promise

Ice on my chair... Rapid-moving clouds, left-to-right, along my ridge...

Asheville gold...

"April is a promise that May is bound to keep." ~Hal Borland

Note to self: Don't go outside barefoot when the deck is covered w/ice. (Even if you're carried away by orange glow against gray clouds.) ...Have gray clouds along my ridge, but it is SPECTACULAR gold radiating over Asheville. Stunning color and light against higher gray clouds. Wow.

Just to Live

That was more beautiful than mere words... and worth the 4-day wait.

"Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy." ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel

Light fog, surreal sky, crescent moon. Color on the horizon. Birds are singing. So is my heart... The clouds are wild magic motion. Orange red fire. Still a haze. & the air is moist. Suddenly quiet.

Grindstone

"Life is a grindstone,
and whether it grinds a man down
or polishes him up
depends on the stuff he's made of."
~ Josh Billings

Gray skies over my ridge. Cold after a couple days of Spring warmth... But, this morning, looking toward Asheville, all is golden. A haven of optimism. The mountain ridge there slopes and curves gently, a comforting, rising breast. Earth Mother. Passion. A lifeline to creativity and possibilities.

Aretha Franklin, ♪♫ ♪♫ Natural Woman ♪♫ ♪♫

One Warm Thought

"The glow of one warm thought
is to me worth more than money."
~ Thomas Jefferson

Me and the moon wait for the sunrise: Tumblr

Our Vulnerability

"Our vulnerability
is the only thing we can give to other people."
~ Leo Buscaglia

Little Luck

"All it takes is time and perseverance,
With a little luck along the way."
~ Stephen Sondheim

Sara Bareilles, ♪♫ ♪♫ Kaleidoscope Heart ♪♫ ♪♫
HT @JackieYunTweets

Image of a Cathedral

"A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile
the moment a single man contemplates it,
bearing within him the image of a cathedral."
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Sincerity and Transparency

"Perfect sincerity and transparency
make a great part of beauty,
as in dewdrops, lakes, and diamonds."
~ Henry David Thoreau