The Place Where Evening Gathers

I cannot tell you how simply stunning the October Sky was tonight. Nearing twilight, I looked up and saw a gathering of evening coming together as sure as you please. Just like the lyric in this song, ...."Where morning gathers." I did look, "forever," and thought I saw, "What time may never know."

It wasn't just evening that gathered, either. All day nature was shouting out with it's beauty everywhere I looked. It doesn't get more beautiful than this.

Calling Out Your Name - by Rich Mullins (Listen)

Well the moon moved past Nebraska
And spilled laughter on them cold Dakota Hills
And angels danced on Jacob's stairs
Yeah, they danced on Jacob's stairs
There is this silence in the Badlands
And over Kansas the whole universe was stilled
By the whisper of a prayer
The whisper of a prayer

And a single hawk bursts into flight
And in the east the whole horizon is in flames
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name

I can feel the earth tremble
Beneath the rumbling of the buffalo hooves
And the fury in the pheasant's wings
And there's fury in a pheasant's wings
And it tells me the Lord is in His temple
And there is still a faith that can make the mountains move
And a love that can make the heavens ring
And I've seen love make heaven ring

Where the sacred rivers meet
Beneath the shadow of the Keeper of the plains
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name

From the place where morning gathers
You can look sometimes forever 'til you see
What time may never know
What time may never know
How the Lord takes by its corners this old world
And shakes us forward and shakes us free
To run wild with the hope
To run wild with the hope

The hope that this thirst will not last long
That it will soon drown in a song not sung in vain
And I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And I hear the prairies calling out Your name

And I know this thirst will not last long
That it will soon drown in the song not sung in vain
I feel thunder in the sky
I see the sky about to rain
And with the prairies I am calling out Your name

 

Songwriters: Richard Mullins

Calling Out Your Name lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

I Found Walden

...and crows, at the library sale last week.

The crows did not cooperate with taking photos. They kept inching away from me as if they knew I wanted their picture. Mischievous little things. The book looks old, but it's actually from 2017. I am planning on collecting copies of Walden whenever I find them, no matter the age, just because I love that book and they look so pretty on the shelf all lined up. "Walden," Walden," "Walden," and so on. Know what I mean? It sort of gives me thrill when I see them all lined up in a row on the shelf, ...sort of like Matthew and his grubs ...

Anne Shirley: Do things ever give you a thrill?

Matthew Cuthbert: Well, I don't rightly know.

Anne Shirley: There has to be something.

Matthew Cuthbert: Well, now, um... I suppose it kind of gives me a thrill to see those ugly white grubs that spade up in the cucumber beds.

Anne Shirley: I suppose I can imagine that.

Off Her High Horse

my bones ache for the changing,

for the shift in seasons that is taking

longer than it should.

while there is a slight color change, and nights are now cool,

the rest is delayed in its arrival and it is causing

the ache that holds me captive now.

summer won't let go and the shift holds,

the wheel goes around and spins,

without stopping.

my ache grows deep and I can only take so much more.

Next week, maybe things will change,

Because rain will be knocking on my door,

and knocking summer off her high horse.

Welcome Home

I'm officially flipping the light switch on for fall.

{Is it too early?}

She knows her way well, without the light, but since she's my old friend, it's just a welcome home.

We have lots of catching up to do.

My Season is Coming

There was a little gift for me on my car today when I left work. Dropped on my windshield by Gaia (Mother Earth).

(not my actual leaf though)

It was like when you get a small note on your car about a special this or that offer. In this case, I was being reminded that fall is coming, {like I would forget that}. I can already feel fall in the cooler mornings, there are crickets singing outside the window each night, and thunderstorms are beginning to gather.  Nature knows the signals of a season change, and all creatures, plants, animals, and earth, wind, and fire follow it right on schedule. I'm loving this anticipation of what awaits, grateful to be reminded that my season is coming.

Not Only Does God Create Daily Beauty, But So Can We

Even bookplates can be beautiful.

I read this quote today and it made me think of all the places and things that hold beauty in life.

 “I think everything in life is art. What you do. how you dress. The way you love someone and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in, and all your dreams. The way you drink your tea and how you decorate your home. Or party. Or grocery list. The food you make. How your writing looks. 

And the way you feel.” 

-Helena Bonham Carter

What else? A breath in winter, words brought together in a special and meaningful way, a meal presented with care, helping someone, an arrangement of flowers from the garden, plaited hair. Many things are beautiful and not only does God create daily beauty but so can we.

Their Beauty

I am loving these words from Mary Oliver and having fun creating some word art from them.
The trees outside are indeed thick and lush with green leaves, and they do flutter their beauty at you to call you over. Kind of like a kid showing you their tricks.

Put on Your Bonnets

Fantine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a new Andrew Davies production coming to PBS in the future, (think Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth's Pride and Prejudice), that I have really high hopes for. It is after all my favorite book and it needs to be well done to erase the 2012 version from my mind (this could have been so amazing, but it fell short). Here are the latest publicity stills from the upcoming Les Miz.

Valjean

Javert

Looks to be a good season in the autumn of 2019, perhaps. PBS/BBC has also adapted Jane Austen's unfinished book, "Sandition," that is currently airing. So put your bonnets on and get ready for some serious period film watching.

Necessary

The offerings of summer are the little beauties we can only dream about in the mid-winter cold. Now they are abundant and everywhere you look. Summer begs us to rest, to see what's out there and not just pass it by.

To pick flowers and make bouquets.

To gaze at the warm-blue ceiling-sky.

To feel soft grass between bare toes.

None of it is wasted or idle,

In fact, it is necessary.

The Weeks of June

I am always thankful for the weeks of June.
They are peaceful and restful days.
Every last one of them.

And since all this loveliness can not be Heaven, I know in my heart it is June.     

Abba Woolson

What Is Nature?

What is nature but the intelligent and nurtured creativity by the hand of our God.

We crave it.
We need it.
It exists for our own nurturing and well being.
It's also the work of an intelligent being,
With an eye for detail and beauty.
It is for everyone and surrounds us,
Yet I think we often take it for granted.
It's a gift that we should ponder more often.

The Blooms Won't Last Long

This is the first spring in the new home and there is a brilliant surprise that I just discovered. Someone had planted white peonies in the backyard. I am loving this little surprise, I know the blooms won't last long, but they are so beautiful right now.
How can you go for nearly half of your life and never know these beauties? Then all of a sudden they are everywhere. Even in your own backyard.

Art by Viktorija Lapteva

Feather From A Crow

Today I found a crow feather. It is simple and beautiful. I read some Native American meanings of feathers that I share here.

A feather from a crow 

symbolizes balance~

The generalized meaning of feathers signified honor, and connected the owner with the Creator and the bird the feathers came from.

When a feather falls to earth, the Native Americans believe it carries all of the energy of its former attachment on a bird to 

a living being

 

Feathers are perceived as gifts from the sky, the sea, and the trees.

Feathers arrive unexpectedly, but not without purpose. 

 

  Art by Ann Faison

Roses On the Mind

Got roses on the mind after seeing this pretty new art ~

 

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.
~Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Afternoon on a Hill"

Tulip Girl

Pretty much I love everything about this. The flow of the dress, the wind in her hair. The flowers. Stunningly beautiful. Also check out the running through tulips video here. For more loveliness, visit the instagram page here.