One Touch of Nature

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One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.

~ William Shakespeare

Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.
~ Kent Nerburn





If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be messed-up.
~ Mitch Hedberg





I have my own views about Nature's methods, though I feel that it is rather like a beetle giving his opinions upon the Milky Way.
~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle





The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.
~ Ernest Hemingway





And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
~ Anais Nin





There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with.
~ Harry Crews


 


All nature's creatures join to express nature's purpose. Somewhere in their mounting and mating, rutting and butting is the very secret of nature itself.
~ Graham Swift

And now, without further delay, here are the Posts of the Week. The icon below is yours for the taking if if your blog post is named as a POTW.

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READERS' CHOICE

Recommended by: Joeh
I Am a Tangle
by Therese
at You're Doing it Wrong

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PHINE PHOTOGRAPHY

Avenue de l'Opéra
by Daryl
at Through My Eyes

Hay and the Dragonfly
by Daniel
at The Pixel Collective

Texas Rat Snake
by TexWisGirl
at The Run*A*Round Ranch Report

The Painted Sky
by Leah
at The Goat's Lunch Pail

A Time of Quiet Joy
by Kerri
at A Little Piece of Me


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YOU'LL LAUGH

Focus Group Barbie
by Kerry
at Ed and Reub

Lunchbox Love
by Amy
at She Writes

A GOOD READ

The Tree
by Sandi
at Holding Patterns

August 15, 1969
by Cloudia
at Comfort Spiral

instincts, i got them
by Brian
at WaystationOne

Forty is the New Seventy
by Bone
at If You Only Read One Blog This Year

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CREATIVE FUN

Ingenuity
by Solarity
at Living With the Sun


JUST PLAIN GOOD

How Did You Change Your World?
by Rosaria
at Notes, Tales and Observations

 
A Little Hard Work
by Kat
at Seeking Sanity


What is a Friend? 
by Linda
at Ye Olde Crones Gazette

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Please drop by their blogs for a visit and leave a kind comment if you have the time. Also, please feel free to add your own choices (for any blog except this one) for a specific blog post in the comments section below, where others can see them.

Thank you

My Soul is Sunshine

In the garden, my soul is sunshine. ~ Proverb

Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little sunshine. ~ Jeffrey Glassberg

This little beauty was flitting about from flower to flower but paused here and there allowing me to photograph it.

We were so far back in the woods, they almost had to pipe in sunlight. ~ Roy Rogers

A brand new growth of pine needles. They're as soft as a kitten's ear.

What is it about a beautiful sunny afternoon, with the birds singing and the wind rustling through the leaves, that makes you want to get drunk? ~ Jack Handy

This gull was photographed from across the creek. Look closely and you'll see that it's making a meal of one of the trout which never made it all the way upstream, this spring. Look even closer and you'll see that the gull only has one leg. His left seems to end abruptly right below the joint. I only noticed this once the photos were uploaded.

I never knew how soothing trees are - many trees and patches of open sunlight, and tree-presences - it is almost like having another being. ~ D.H. Lawrence

This is the field across the street from Frank's place. You can see the park bench in the background. I just liked the way the sunlight was illuminating the tree.

Love comforteth like sunshine after rain. ~ William Shakespeare

This little baby robin was keeping his mama busy searching for worms and feeding him. His little "cheep, cheep!" sounded an awful lot like "feed me!" I'm certain that his mama thought so too.

Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. ~ Hans Christian Andersen

I'm not sure what these flowers are but they're about as tiny as the nail on my pinky.

Sunlight is painting. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

A brand new red maple leaf caught within a shaft of sunlight.

Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you. ~ Walt Whitman

You might have to lean back from the monitor to see the human profile in this image. This was what I saw, one evening when looking through the curtain on Frank's back door. Does he look a bit foreboding? Worry not, it was just Frank's older son standing on the back deck talking to his dad.

Science has never drummed up quite as effective a tranquilizing agent as a sunny spring day. ~ W. Earl Hall

Bunnies are incredibly cute creatures. Not terribly bright. But darn cute. This little guy was dining on grass and weeds. You can see that we caught him frozen in mid munch.

Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul. ~ Luther Burbank

What more is there to say about these Bleeding Hearts? I think Luther pretty much covered it all.

I'll have more photos in a few days. Thanks always for joining me.

A day without sunshine is like, you know, night. ~ Steve Martin

Elusive

Elusive Butterfly lyrics by Bob Lind.

You might wake up some mornin'
To the sound of something moving past your window in the wind.

And if you're quick enough to rise
You'll catch a fleeting glimpse of someone's fading shadow.

Out on the new horizon
You may see the floating motion of a distant pair of wings.

And if the sleep has left your ears
You might hear footsteps running through an open meadow.

Don't be concerned, it will not harm you
It's only me pursuing somethin' I'm not sure of.

Across my dreams with nets of wonder,

I chase the bright elusive butterfly of love.

Wings and Furry Things

A couple of weeks ago, Frank and I went on our first fishing outing of the season. We went to a pond which we visit each spring, and where we usually encounter one of the area's sweetest residents. She's a lovely white and grey feline who has learned to recognize that fishing rods mean she might soon be lucky enough to dine on a fresh fish dinner.

On past visits, this feral beauty has been visibly pregnant and she's made it quite clear how urgently she need to obtain nourishment for herself and her growing babies. For all we knew, she may have been expecting another litter this spring, or perhaps she just knew that she needed to get her meals, and to hoard some of them when she could.

Shortly after our arrival, she came out from the shelter of an abandoned building and made sure we were aware of her presence.




The fishing wasn't spectacular where we were so after a while, we crossed the road and made our way behind the building, where we knew we'd be able to catch some chub for her.

She met us out back and waited patiently.


It wasn't long before each of us had several tugs at our respective fishing rods. One by one, we unhooked several small fish, killed them swiftly and brought them to our hungry friend.

At first we couldn't get too close to her and had to toss them her way.

After a few feedings, she decided she would swat them out of our hands and eventually she gently took one chub right out of Frank's hand, as seen in the small inset image at the start of the page.

We later moved on to a different area and spent a pleasant afternoon watching birds, clouds and bobbing floats. We went home with no fish, fewer worms and a few fond memories.

Below are a some photos of a few other creatures which we encountered over the next few days. I hope you enjoy them.


Bunnies are beautiful critters but I don't think they rank too high on the intelligence scale. Frank pointed this cutie out to me. It must have figured that standing stock still meant that he was invisible to me. He allowed me to approach fairly closely without twitching a muscle.




Finally, when I stepped over the too-close line, he hopped a full six feet away, and stood still once more - his back to me this time. Silly wabbit!




Another not-too-bright but beautiful creature is the mourning dove. In his current and very amusing post, Frank agrees with me about this bird's IQ. Go ahead and read his entertaining tale about a mourning dove and a chipmunk. I don't mind waiting till you get back.





A far more intelligent bird is the crow. If you doubt that for one moment, have a look at this video and you'll see what I mean. There's a 30 second commercial before the crow video begins.




Perhaps this guy was off to his workshop in order to craft the right tool for a job.




These American Goldfinch are still coming into their breeding plumage and appear a bit patchy before sporting their full summer gold.




And speaking of gold, look at the beautiful yellow patch on this white-throated sparrow's head. He has a curious expression rivaled only by...




.. this beautiful male cardinal. Ever watchful and calculating, this guy made sure I didn't come any closer while his partner helped herself to the feeder nearby. A bunny could sure learn from these birdbrains.

Back soon with more photos.

Urban Creatures

Just a few critters found at and around my home and Frank's abode. City and town dwellers we may be, but there are still interesting creatures to be seen.


This fine specimen of a Felis domesticus resides with me, and can often be seen sitting on the front deck, watching the world go by. He's also known as Skittles.





This fluffy little cutie seems fearless - or perhaps stupid, in the presence of humans and other living things. Hopefully he'll continue to be one of the latter for a long time to come.





Looking up rom the still waters of a pond was this little frog. He and several others let out an occasional croak as if to challenge being found. He posed nicely for the camera.





Another one of the Night Heron's regular visits. This shot was taken from across the pond.





Busy as a bee, he was - flitting about from flower to flower...





But this one moved at a snail's pace.





And this shell-laden beauty didn't move much faster.





This tiny, red dragonfly caught my eye as I made my way around the pond. So many lovely creatures. We humans enjoy sharing our space with most of them...





But some.. we just don't.

Come Walk With Me

It's no surprise to most of you that I enjoy walking, particularly when I have my camera along. With or without company, I usually find something or other that I deem photo-worthy. I'd prefer the company though, so won't you please join me as I wander around the park? I'll be right with you. I just need to shut the patio door first.




Wait! Come see. There's a tiny bunny out in the back yard, eating grass. It's been a regular visitor for the past month or so. He's grown quite a lot, but still rather small as you can tell by the hand-sized rubber balls behind him. I'm glad to see he's continuing to survive - seemingly on his own. (please click to enlarge)





Since we've stepped into the back yard, let me show you the lovely blossoms on my plum tree. Hopefully we'll get to the fruit before the raccoons do this year. (please click to enlarge)





Watch your step as we head back inside. There a small green insect walking along the track of the sliding door. Google tells me that it's a Six-spotted Green Tiger Beetle. His colours sure look beautiful in the sunlight. Hey! I heard that comment about my eclipsing the sun when I bent over to take its picture! (please click to enlarge)





Stepping out the front door, these Grape Hyacinths catch my eye. I hope you don't mind if I stop to take a picture of them. (please click to enlarge)





Look up. There's a beautiful Robin singing in that tree. I wonder if this lovely tune is for her mate. (please click to enlarge)





Or is she letting her unhatched young know that she'll be back to her nest soon? (please click to enlarge)





The Crab Apple trees are in full bloom. In the autumn, some of the fruit will be quite tasty. (please click to enlarge)





The sun is low in the sky, and shadows are growing. (please click to enlarge)





Let's leave a peanut for some lucky squirrel to find. (please click to enlarge)





As night falls, the lamp post shed enough light along the path for us to make our way back home. (please click to enlarge)





Looking up, we can see new spring leaves illuminated by the amber glow. (please click to enlarge)





The branches make interesting shadows on the wooden dock below. (please click to enlarge)





Lit only by the street lights, a neighbour's tulips brighten up the darker tones of night. (please click to enlarge)





The night is getting chilly. Come on in and I'll make some Chai. (please click to enlarge)


I hope you enjoyed our walk.