Showing posts with label nature photograpy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nature photograpy. Show all posts

Friday, May 29, 2026

Spring's Gifts: Rain, Garden Flowers, and Nature's Beauty

On non-rainy spring mornings, I often receive a beautiful sunrise photo from my son, who enjoys taking early morning walks. 

Sunrise in Northern Virginia by Derek Varsalona

This photo reminded me of a poem written by John Clare. (The Rural Muse: Poems (Whittaker & Co., 1835) in the public domain.)

The Spring comes in with all her hues and smells,
In freshness breathing over hills and dells;
O’er woods where May her gorgeous drapery flings,
And meads washed fragrant by their laughing springs.
Fresh are new opened flowers, untouched and free
From the bold rifling of the amorous bee.
The happy time of singing birds is come,
And Love’s lone pilgrimage now finds a home;
Among the mossy oaks now coos the dove,
And the hoarse crow finds softer notes for love.
The foxes play around their dens, and bark
In joy’s excess, ’mid woodland shadows dark.
The flowers join lips below; the leaves above;
And every sound that meets the ear is Love.

This Memorial Day weekend, the rain continually drenched my gorgeous peonies. Our Memorial Day patio picnic with the family turned into an indoor event. When the rain took a quick pause, my 6-year-old grandgirl learned how to fill different types of vases with what was left of my cherished peonies.  

Before the Rain

After the Rain

I took one of the lines from John Clare's poem (see below) and created a Golden Hinge Poem introduced by Patricia Franz. 

Fresh are new opened flowers, untouched and free.
Are they nature's perennials sharing their
New budding gifts of glee? 
Opened petals of pink and soft white share
Flowers swaying in fashionable wear.
Untouched, they stand with dignity,
And pose for all to stare
Free from life's responsibility.
Draft, CVarsalona, 2026

Digital art of peonies by CVarsalona

Thank you to Mary Lee Hahn at A(Nother) Year of Reading for this week's Poetry Friday Roundup. She is setting up a summer picnic with "yummy offerings for today's potluck". 

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Opening a New Door - Spiritual Journey

It's Spiritual Journey Thursday with our host, Bob Hamera (aka arjeha). He reminds us that when God closes one door, He opens another. It is up to us to recognize the new door and go through it. Thank you Bob for the questions you provided for us to be aware of the roadblocks in our life and proceed with steadfastness.

After mulling over Bob's questions, I mentally listed the abrupt challenges that occurred during different seasons of my life. While these times were difficult, I hung on to hope. New pathways to renew life evolved. Each time gratitude filled my heart. God was with me through every challenge.

Walking on the Edge of Darkness

Life moves in seasons.
Sometimes I walk
Joyfully along the road.
Other times I trip,
Lost in a tangled maze 
Darkened by mishap.

Sunset's shades close.
Tears puddle.
Heart blackens.
Wonderings wander
in a swirl of heavy clouds.
Where is the light? I often ask.

Doubt jumps in but
Faith widens a pathway
Shimmying in silence
Under an inked sky.
Sometimes, a path is unclear.
I pause to recalibrate.

Stars gather with
Enough brilliance,
Leading the way
To a bright new day.
Only the Master Artist
Creates new walkways.
draft ©CVarsalona, 2025

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 30: 31) 
With this promise in mind, I send a song of gratitude into the universe.
Logo designed by Margaret Simon

Thursday, September 22, 2022

Autumn Arrives

There she was immersed in sunlight just waiting for the warm breeze to move her onward. Hiding in the brush, she was caught between the end of bright summer days and the first breaths of autumn. I spotted her among the bushes and thriving flora along the trail.

©CV, 2022, autumn digital art

Some wildflowers of soft yellow and bright purple stood tall in anticipation of Mother Nature's entrance. Sunset was not yet upon the scene, so the tiny visitor was easy to spot. Alongside the trail was her large counterpart, a unique token of autumn. 

Fresh and untouched, two leaves, different in structure and color found their home along the creek, pausing for a short stay in the afternoon warmth. I chose the larger one to create a bouquet for my front porch, a tribute to Mother Nature's changing of the guard when the sky darkens earlier. 

one single leaf, then
two caught between two seasons
paint a new canvas
©CV, 2022, haibun
©CV, 2022, autumn digital art

There comes a day each September when you wake up and know the summer is over and fall has arrived - Ann Rinaldi, writer

Soon the leaves will fall and drift by my window.

Autumn Arrives

Shorter and shorter now the twilight clips.
The sunset hangs on a cloud.
Now watch this Autumn that arrives in smells.
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Falling from the autumn tree.
Be close to the trees
As they whisper together.
The first winds of autumn,
A golden storm of glittering sheaves,
Of fair and frail and fluttering leaves
Sing a song of seasons!
©CV, 2022, Cento poem

Cento Lines Credited to the Following Poets:

Line 1: Alice Cary, Autumn 
Line 2:         Sarojini Naidu, Autumn Song
Line 3:         Elizabeth Jennings, Song at the Beginning of Autumn
Line 4-5:    Emily Dickinson, Fall, Leaves, Fall 
Line 6-7:     Katherine Towers, Whim Wood
Line 8:        Saigo, Winds of Autumn 
Line 9-10: Sarojini Naidu, Autumn Song
Line 11:        Robert Louis Stevenson, Autumn Fires

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I pause to look back at my six Autumn Galleries of Artistic Expressions. Take a  journey with me to see the galleries filled with poetry, digital art, nature photography, and inspiration.

2014  -  Finding Fall

2015   -  Autumn's Palette

2016   -  Autumn Venture

2017   -  Autumn Ablaize 

2020 -  Abundant Autumn 

2021 -  Bedecked in Autumn

2021   -  Bedecked In Autumn(comprised of three previous sections: Unveiling of the Bedecked in Autumn Gallery, A Slice of Bedecked In Autumn Gallery, In Praise of Autumn)

 

So many poets, writers, artists, photographers, family, and friends added their talent to my galleries over the years. Perhaps, you would like to find your name and offering, or you might enjoy taking a brief look through the gallery on a fall afternoon.

Have a Happy Fall!

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Since it is Poetry Friday, I'm adding my post to the Poetry Friday Roundup. My longtime professional friend and author, Rose Cappelli is the host of Poetry Friday this week. She is sharing her birthday poem to her 3-year-old granddaughter that starts a new, yearly tradition. Join me at her blog, Imagine the Possibilities, to read the poem and learn how the tradition had its roots with Jacqueline Kennedy.