Monday, January 28, 2008

Winter's plumaged palette

These days are the January doldrums for me

The mid-winter “blahs”

Trees—bare boned and sleeping still

And me feeling sluggish too…

Shades of gray dominate many days

But if one looks closely

The subtlety of the season holds beauty for the focused eye…

An angry kinglet with a ruby crown,

Sassy titmouse perky gray and skulking thrasher brown

Constantly curious Carolina wrens

Bawdy blue jay rancor and self-proclaiming din

Cardinals flashing brightest red and a flicker flashing gold

Paint a plumaged palette that colors winter’s cold

Friday, January 25, 2008

The Wisdom of Others on Nature...


“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.” Anne Frank

“Nature is just enough; but men and women must comprehend and accept her suggestions.” Antoinette Brown Blackwell


“The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration.”Claude Monet

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” Frank Lloyd Wright

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you...
while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” John Muir

“Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life.” John Muir

“I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show. Andrew Wyeth

“I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.” Frank Lloyd Wright

“Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher.” William Wordsworth

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.” Alice Walker

“There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself.
Ruth Stout


"A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers but borrowed from his children." John James Audubon


"We abuse the land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect."
Aldo Leopold