During my school days, our Headmistress would often urge us to notice what's around us saying, 'Even the thorn bush by the wayside is ablaze with the glory of God.' I've come to appreciate over the years that she was absolutely right.
Today I was reminded of this as I saw, not a 'thorn bush' but an ordinary drainage ditch, 'blazing' with beauty: colour, texture and pattern.
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I have intentionally adjusted the photo above with texture and colour as I contemplated the beauty on display. The red colours in the weeds to the right were actually there, and brighter. I've muted them so as not to 'take over' the image as a whole. It's the raindrop circles that particularly entranced me— the way they refracted and reflected the light.
When the sun came out after a morning of heavy rain, the light in the forest was dramatic. Intense and beautiful— light and shadow; texture and pattern; colours and hues.
Though the afternoon had been drizzly and the days fairly cool, the camellia doesn't seem to mind. She's blooming, determined spring is really arriving. I cut some and arranged them in the old white milk jug, and set them on the dining table. The next morning the sun was up before I was so I was greeted with this glimpse of beauty sunlit beauty.
Photo Notes: this piece is adapted from my original RAW photo using Lightroom and Topaz Impression.
Walking along the Bodega Ridge trail this morning, the light and colours were stunning; the views spectacular. In addition to the more obvious sights drawing our attention were the low mounds of spring green moss glowing in the sun, the lichen draped branches in the forest, and this tangle of branches, baked dry in the sun, but retaining the extraordinary shape of its previous glory as a live manzanita.
The structure of these shrubs is hard to see sometimes when clothed in their ever-green mantle. But here, stripped bare, complex interior beauty is revealed.
For more photos of Bodega Ridge on Galiano Island, click here.
The colours of the morning sun most certainly are golden. Here the arbutus and cedars display their stunning colour, texture and shapes. The warmth of the colours belies the chill of the day.
Colour and beauty are strewn everywhere— even in the depths of winter and in the unlikely and seemingly inhospitable spots— Its all right there for us to 'behold' .
During the past week of crisp weather, the frost coated most everything rendering the world in a muted colour palette. But as the sunlight warmed the places it shone, colours emerged more intensely than ever.
The photo above shows what I mean: the melting frost revealed the most gorgeous, brilliant colours of the small succulent plants that cling tight to the steep sandstone banks.
A daily glimpse of 'the shape of things', in this case: our point— sculpted by storms and tides, the underlying rock and the soil's erosion, and the logs lodged against the shore to silver with age.
The shape of the point is determined by both the underlying rock, the storms' force and what the tides bring.
...a glimpse of the afternoon light glinting on the dark water of our bay, creating complex patterns as it washes over tafoni textures. The fluid movement and dancing light is a stark contrast with the steadiness of the rock...
The nuthatch population seems to be thriving as there are many at our feeders every day. They flit so quickly its hard to 'catch' them in a photo. I'm grateful that this one paused briefly, and posed in such a classic nuthatch posture. As a bonus for this shot, we can see something of what he's caught for his lunch.
glimpses of the extraordinary amidst an ordinary day
