Sunny Day Blues

Yesterday I took a walk at French Regional Park. Everywhere I looked I saw

Sunny Day Blues

(not the sad kind of blue but the bright blue sky kind of blue).

One 

The mosquito is so small
it takes almost nothing to ruin it.
Each leaf, the same.
And the black ant, hurrying.
So many lives, so many fortunes!
Every morning, I walk softly and with forward glances
down to the ponds and through the pinewoods.
Mushrooms, even, have but a brief hour
before the slug creeps to the feast,
before the pine needles hustle down
under the bundles of harsh, beneficent rain.
How many, how many, how many
make up a world!
And then I think of that old idea: the singular
and the eternal.
One cup, in which everything is swirled
back to the color of the sea and sky.
Imagine it!
A shining cup, surely!
In the moment in which there is no wind
over your shoulder,
you stare down into it,
and there you are,
your own darling face, your own eyes.
And then the wind, not thinking of you, just passes by,
touching the ant, the mosquito, the leaf,
and you know what else!
How blue is the sea, how blue is the sky,
how blue and tiny and redeemable everything is, even you,
even your eyes, even your imagination.

   — Mary Oliver

My photos today mostly contain different shades of blue, the blue of possibility and patience, trust and transcendence, gratitude and glee.

A Cross Country Skier on one of my favorite trails

It was such a beautiful day for a walk. The sunshine and blue skies reminded me that winter will not last forever. Picnic tables near the road were covered with thick layers of snow. I felt as if they too were waiting for spring to arrive.

And the blue cast of the snow, shapes, and shadows captured my imagination.

In Winter the bare boughs that seem to sleep Work covertly, preparing for their Spring.

   — Rumi

The trees looked happy to me, patiently awaiting the arrival of springtime. I’ve noticed the lengthening daylight makes the winter more bearable. It is amazing what an hour more of daylight does for my mood every day.

What are you noticing on this mild February winter day?

May you walk in beauty.