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Showing posts with label sunrise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sunrise. 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". 

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Summer's Enduring Beauty

Beauty is
silent eloquence*-
 a soft, gentle breeze
wisping across a rippling lake,
a brilliant sunset quieting a busy world,
a calming sunrise morning greeting dawn 
a washout rainstorm offering a bright rainbow,
or just small, flitting flakes dancing in a winter sky.
Each season, nature as an artist, mixes new hues;
splashes living colors before our eyes, inviting
us to notice, wonder, and adventurously
seek endless joy.   Venture onward. 
Pause; soak in earth's beauty.
Be thankful for
the bliss of 
life-living
moments.
©CV, 2019
*French proverb

*******
When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon,
my soul expands in the worship of the creator. 
-Mahatma Gandhi
*******

Join me on a virtual tour of exquisite sunset and sunrise beauties that will be featured in the upcoming Embraceable Summer Gallery.  Notice the different shades of sunset or sunrise colors in each of the skies.  Each photographer beautifully captured sunset's evening presence or morning's wake-up delight.

-#chazchaz from South Africa via Al Dhalla
-Rachel Murat, Cayuga Lake, NYS
-Laura Toledo, Southold, NY
Sunrise Morning

It is my hope to dazzle visitors with the beauty of each unique sunset and sunrise. Perhaps, you will even be inspired to create a poem to accompany one of the photos.  

Now, take a moment to pause and listen to Audrey Assad's version of For the Beauty of the Earth, one of my favorite songs of praise.

Give praise to God for "He hath made everything beautiful in its time".
-Ecclesiastes, 3:11

Thank you to the contributors of the Sunset and Sunrise Beauties Collection who shared a nature photograph of a beautiful moment they witnessed.  Their nature photographs will be featured in my upcoming gallery, Embraceable Summer.  

Contributors to the
Embraceable Summer
Sunset/Sunrise Beauties Collection
#chazchaz
Kumud Ajmani
Al Dhalla
Les Buchanan
Rachel Murat
Laura Toledo
Carol Varsalona
Rita Wirtz

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Each month the Spiritual Journey Thursday community comes together to write on a particular topic chosen by the host.  This month's host is Karen Eastlund who is recounting all things worthy of praise in her blog post, October's Beauty.   Please stop by her blog site where everyone is posting links to their offerings.  Then, consider finding your go-to-happy spot tomorrow and sharing a photograph, image poem, inspirational thought, or artwork with me for my next gallery, Abundant Autumn.