Garden Flight & Landing

I've watched you now a full half-hour;

Self-poised upon that yellow flower

And, little Butterfly! Indeed

I know not if you sleep or feed.

How motionless! -not frozen seas

More motionless! and then

What joy awaits you, when the breeze

Hath found you out among the trees,

And calls you forth again!

~William Wordsworth

Just as the bird sings or the butterfly soars,

because it is his natural characteristic, 

so the artist works. ~Alma Gluck

Nature's Teacher

A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust. ~Gertrude Jekyll

On every stem, on every leaf...and at the root

of everything that grew, was a professional

specialist in the shape of grub, caterpillar,

aphids, or other expert, whose business it

was to devour that particular part. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

Garden Dreams

In my garden there is a large place for

sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my

garden of thoughts and dreams. The

thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and

the dreams are as beautiful. ~Abram L. Urban

The greatest gift of the garden is the

restoration of  the five senses. ~Hanna Rion

Strangers in Solitude

There are no strangers here; 

Only friends you haven't yet met.

~William Butler Yeats

I never found a companion that was so

companionable as solitude. ~Henry David Thoreau

Point of View

It's not what you look at that matters, 

it's what you see. ~Henry David Thoreau

What do you see? What do you really see? How many times do we miss the significant details because we were distracted. Technology is at our fingertips and we bury our lives in the comforts of its persuasion. We hide in its anonymity. We forget to communicate with each other. We do not see one another. Life becomes people just passing by. Take time to notice...observe...and experience each other and everything around you. ஐ

Nature will bear the closest inspection. 

She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view 

of its plain. ~Henry David Thoreau

In Our Reflections

I love those who can smile in trouble, 

who can gather strength from distress, 

and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the

business of little minds to shrink, but they

whose heart is firm, and whose conscience

approves their conduct, will pursue their

principles unto death. ~Leonardo da Vinci

What do we see in the mirror? A reflection? An image? A face staring back at us...unrecognizable? Or do you see a person? Full of life, energy, and happy? Just a thought. Reflections sometimes distort the view. A wave ripples across the water or a bubble warps under the glass. The image is not the original only a facsimile. So can we trust the reflection looking back at us? When the water is still and the light bounces just right the real image focuses in. The true image...the soul. Look through the glass into the heart and listen to what it is saying not what you are seeing. ஐ

The real man smiles in trouble, gathers

strength from distress, and grows brave 

by reflection. ~Thomas Paine