Suddenly Sumac

I took a walk yesterday in a part of French Regional Park that I haven’t visited for awhile. I was too late to see the full slope of vividly orange/red sumac color that I’ve seen in past years. But there were plenty of sumac trees that were brilliantly lit and they were spectacular none-the-less.

Other colors were also appearing and I fell in love all over again with this beautiful world we live in.

It feels like every tree in the area decided to start turning to bright gold/orange/russet/burgundy just this week. What joy, when I let myself simply soak it all in. And what a pain when I get caught up in dreading when the leaves all fall and winter sets in. The seasonal changes each year are my personal reminder to stay in the present moment because the turn of the cycles is inevitable just as the turn of the seasons in my life are inevitable.

Turtles all the way down

The first photograph I made on my walk yesterday was of a tiny painted turtle about the size of a cottonwood tree leaf.

Look at the beauty of this little creature! The colors in its shell and the shiny gloss of its shell astonish me. The infinite beauty and creativity of life fill me with joy and wordless oneness.

Before the Beginning

Mystery infuses
every phase
of growth —
the first green
shoot to push
its way above
the dirt, leaves
and buds, blossoms,
fruit, and seeds,
even the dried
stalks that rattle
in the cold season —
each stage is
equally honorable
What was present
before the beginning
will be there
after the end.

— Danna Faulds