renew

"It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit."
~ Robert Louis Stevenson ~

opened in bloom

“No creature is fully itself till it is, like the dandelion, opened in the bloom of pure relationship to the sun, the entire living cosmos.""
- D.H. Lawrence ~

seed humility

“We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate --- thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising."
- Maya Angelou ~

grace

"For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."
~ Wendell Berry ~

canvas

“The world is but a canvas to the imagination.”
~ Henry David Thoreau ~

my dog

"He is my other eyes that can see above the clouds; my other ears that hear above the winds. He is the part of me that can reach out into the sea. He has told me a thousand times over that I am his reason for being; by the way he rests against my leg; by the way he thumps his tail at my smallest smile; by the way he shows his hurt when I leave without taking him. (I think it makes him sick with worry when he is not along to care for me.) When I am wrong, he is delighted to forgive. When I am angry, he clowns to make me smile. When I am happy, he is joy unbounded. When I am a fool, he ignores it. When I succeed, he brags. Without him, I am only another man. With him, I am all-powerful. He is loyalty itself. He has taught me the meaning of devotion. With him, I know a secret comfort and a private peace. He has brought me understanding where before I was ignorant. His head on my knee can heal my human hurts. His presence by my side is protection against my fears of dark and unknown things. He has promised to wait for me... whenever... wherever - in case I need him. And I expect I will - as I always have. He is just my dog."
~ Gene Hill ~

music

"There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it."
~ Minnie Aumonier ~

a thousand fresh scents

"In the country, the rain would have developed a thousand fresh scents, and every drop would have had its bright association with some beautiful form of growth or life."
~ Charles Dickens ~

freedom

A horse loves freedom, and the weariest old work horse will roll on the ground or break into a lumbering gallop when he is turned loose into the open."
~ Gerald Raferty ~

tremble

"And the wind, full of wantonness, wooes like a lover
The young aspen-trees till they tremble all over."
~ Thomas Moore ~

poetry

"The poetry of the earth is never dead."
~ John Keats ~

tricks

"It is sad that Nature will play such tricks on us poor mortals, inviting us with sunny smiles to confide in her, and then, when we are entirely within her power, striking us to the heart."
~ Nathaniel Hawthorne ~

glorious ladder

"When we had reached the last step of this glorious ladder, it was difficult to get down again without stumbling."
~ Lord Byron ~

points

"The shortest distance between two points is under construction."
~ Noelie Altito ~

substance

“In some photographs the essence of light and space dominate; in others, the substance of rock and wood, and the luminous insistence of growing things.”
~ Ansel Adams ~

darkness

“The wind began to moan in hollow murmurs, as the sun went down carrying glad day elsewhere; and a train of dull clouds coming up against it, menaced thunder and lightning. Large drops of rain soon began to fall, and, as the storm clouds came sailing onward, others supplied the void they left behind and spread over all the sky. Then was heard the low rumbling of distant thunder, then the lightning quivered, and then the darkness of an hour seemed to have gathered in an instant."
~ Charles Dickens ~

arch

"Why do you speak to me of the stones? It is only the arch that matters to me."
~ Kublai Khan ~

storm crossing

"Sky half cloudy. Great warm, soothing, magnificent mist-sheets are upon the mountains this morning, bathing the tree buds and myriads of quickening seeds with a gentleness of gesture and touch that has no word symbol on earth. How indescribable in texture they are, and how finely do they conform to the sloping and waving topography of the hill-bands!"
~ John Muir ~

invisible current

"The sky was a midnight-blue, like warm, deep, blue water, and the moon seemed to lie on it like a water-lily, floating forward with an invisible current."
~ Willa Cather ~

tiny glitters

"...we might as well face the truth that to researchers of the future, poking about among the ruins of time, we shall all be tiny glitters."
~ James Thurber ~