Will you row beside me on a lake layered blue
To glide past the mountains in calm solitude
Through ripples of water, a quiet bouquet
just thoughts, without words in a silent buffet
Where worry dissolves with each stroke of the oar
And Nature brings peace, and the soul it restores
— by C. Dennis-Willingham
Funny how, when a friend comes to town, you experience your home city with new eyes. So, when my friend Derick came to town, I broke my routine and did something I hadn’t done in a long while.
We hiked up Mount Bonnell, and viewed the Austin skyline.
Then off to Contemporary Austin Laguna Gloria to visit nature and sculptures. And nature through sculptures.
We followed the paths …
And discovered a beautiful mermaid …
solitude,
and a renewed passion for nature.
Oh, and as a friend once told me in Florence, NEVER FORGET TO LOOK UP!
Houston, Texas (photos) is about three hours south of here (Austin). Those poor souls are struggling for survival.
While some people are receiving the help they need, others are still stranded in their homes waiting for rescue.
Meanwhile in Austin: Last week this creek near my house was cracked and bone dry. This is what it looked like today:
Let’s hope Hurricane Harvey dries up for the folks in Houston and surrounding areas.
In this case, Harvey is not the name of Jimmy Stewart’s imaginary rabbit in the film by the same name.
In Austin, where I live, we are only seeing peripheral proof that the storm exists.
But the folks south of here are experiencing the full-blown power of the hurricane.
Stay SAFE out there and whatever you do …
An FYI:
What are the hurricane names for 2017?
Atlantic hurricane names for the 2017 season are: Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irma, Jose, Katia, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince, and Whitney. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30.
Eastern North Pacific hurricane names for the 2017 season are: Adrian, Beatriz, Calvin, Dora, Eugene, Fernanda, Greg, Hilary, Irwin, Jova, Kenneth, Lidia, Max, Norma, Otis, Pilar, Ramon, Selma, Todd, Veronica, Wiley, Xina, York, and Zelda. The eastern North Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15 to November 30.
If I were a cow
I would roam beneath a mountain
and drink from a cool stream.
If I were an Arrowleaf flower
I would grow on a mountain hillside
and smile proudly at the hikers passing by.
If I were the remains of an old mining cable
I would stare at the mountains
and remember a time
when miners depended on my strength
to transport their coal.
If I were a wooden bridge
I would keep walkers safe as they crossed
and as they stopped in my middle
to admire the the mountain stream view
And if I were a mountain
I would look to the clouds and smile.
Although I love a beautiful mountain lake,
for me, there is something about a running stream,
always moving,
never stagnant,
always changing,
going somewhere new.
So happy I hiked in Colorado long enough to see it!
My daughter introduced my granddaughter to life outside of a song or a book.
My wee one knows that a cow says “moo.” So …
Now, she’s met a cow.
He stays silent. He doesn’t moo.
What’s wrong with these grownups? Do they just make crap up so we can repeat what they say?
<shrug> If you lead a horse to water, you can’t make him thirsty. 🙂
… this tree could speak. Yes, this is ONE tree, not a cluster. I imagine it to be between 300 and 500 years old. If it could talk, it would tell me about my great-great grandparents who immigrated to America from Germany in the 1840’s. It would tell me how it watched as my grandfather, and later, my mother, took their first steps. It would fill this mind with my more of my family’s personal stories.
I learned a new word- timely since I took this photo yesterday after leaving the gym. Evanescent (Weekly photo prompt): The beautiful word rolls off my tongue and down the rainbow toward a pot of gold.
The hail
ripped through my okra,
oh what a storm,
the cucumbers, too
but the onions survived
and so did the corn!
Carolyn Dennis-Willingham 