Oh glory hallelujah! The wild violets are blooming again. They show up in the wild spaces, in the lawn, and even pop up through rocks to shine their violet beauty all around the neighborhood. I love their shy beauty.

This morning I took

A walk in my own backyard

with my camera, looking for ideas for creating a photograph for the online photography class I am taking. The photo I ended up making to express something about emergence was not what I expected to make. Here it is…

There is an area of the yard under the trees that we are allowing to grow wild. In the middle of fallen leaves and a rotting tree trunk I saw a plastic bag tucked amongst the leaves as if it belonged there, a part of nature. Sadly plastic waste is emerging everywhere. Unlike the organic materials that surround it in this photograph, plastic does not break down to create anything that can support new life. It persists, only breaking into smaller and smaller particles.

I watched some videos about eliminating the use of plastic this week and now I’m super sensitized to all of the plastic I see everywhere around me. And sadly though I am doing my best to decrease my use of plastic it is incredibly difficult to do. Last night I expressed my frustration to Jon saying, “I don’t know how to live without plastic.” He replied, “Sadly, almost none of us don’t.”

Big heavy sigh. I will continue to work on it but the changes I make feel minuscule compared to the problem.

Onward, she said…back to my walk

The pine tree in our backyard (don’t ask me what kind of pine because I don’t know) created a record number of pine cones last year. Though many remain on the tree countless others are scattered throughout the yard.

This one standing tall and proud in the hosta bed caught my eye today. How is it staying so tall and vertical I wonder? But I I didn’t investigate because I feared investigating more closely might cause it to fall. Other pine cones are scattered through the grass. I even found a bunch of them in the front yard (the pine tree is in the backyard) when I mowed yesterday.

Almost every year I try to photograph the fern fiddle heads as they emerge because I love their spiral shapes. This year for a change I didn’t. But the ferns beside the storage shed captured my gaze this morning. I love the way that a dried up fern frond from last year peeks between two new fern fronds.

The ducks and geese were resting beside  the pond while I was in the yard. Though the wood ducks retreated to the far side of the pond, the mallards and geese allowed me to get quite close as long as I moved slowly. While I was watching them a train whistle sounded in the distance. One of the geese honked at the train whistle, stopping when the whistle faded. Then the train whistled again. Again the goose honked until the sound faded. Was he proclaiming his territory or simply making a joyful noise?

I re-discovered an old metal sign that was buried in the yard. We’ve never gotten rid of it but this might be the year that I actually remove it from behind the storage shed.

I find beauty in ordinary things every day, but especially in nature. Where do you find beauty?

“What you encounter, recognize or discover depends to a large degree on the quality of your approach. Many of the ancient cultures practiced careful rituals of approach. An encounter of depth and spirit was preceded by careful preparation.

When we approach with reverence, great things decide to approach us. Our real life comes to the surface and its light awakens the concealed beauty in things. When we walk on the earth with reverence, beauty will decide to trust us. The rushed heart and arrogant mind lack the gentleness and patience to enter that embrace.”
John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace

May you walk in beauty.

 


Marilyn

Photographer sharing beauty, grace & joy in photographs and blog posts. I live in the Twin Cites in Minnesota, the land of lakes, trees, and wonderful nature.

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