Beautiful pictures Renée. Thank you as always for your exquisite sensitivities and taste. Your pictures once again remind me of how stunningly beautiful a place I live in; and never to be taken for granted. "I don't have to go to sacred places in far off lands. This ground I stand on is holy. Here in this little garden I tend my pilgrimage ends. The wild honeybees, the hummingbird moths, the flickering fireflies at dusk, are a microcosm of the universe. Each spade of soil, each seed that grows, is full of miracles. And I toil and sweat, and watch and wonder, and am full of love living in this place; for truth and beauty dwell here."--Mary de la Vallette.
Ed, "stunningly beautiful" touches at the heart of it. Doesn't it? And, as the poem you offer shows us, we need not venture to far off lands to encounter the sacred in places. "This ground I stand on is holy." Every ground, Earth's ground and the place of our belonging.
So beautiful, Renee. I am reminded of my home state of Montana and its moniker, "big sky country." Ivan Doig, who grew up in Montana, wrote a memoir called This House of Sky, which I think of often in reference to that place.
Your home place is a beautiful place to call home. Thank you for turning my attention to Ivan Doig's memoir. I have just read a few pages. It looks to be a beautiful book and appeals to my naive sensibilities about the rugged Western landscapes.
Ok Renee, first of all couldn’t be more delighted to see more images, of course they are magnificent. Then I honed in on Blue Ridge Mountains and then the song Take Me Home came in, which is a song that I can’t listen to without crying and then it reminded me of when I connected with John Denver. Where is this going? The vastness of it all and the fact that nothing else matters, we are interconnected and that’s all we need to know and remember. And we are remembering. We can be here, we can be up in the mountains, by the lake, sat underneath the rainbow. We are everywhere. John would nod sagely at this!!! Ok it’s going to be one of those wandering days……..I shall enjoy. Louise xx
I celebrate your wandering ways. If rippling mountain ranges and words about a country rode have anything to show, it is that life is not intended to be lived in linearity . . . and maybe, just maybe, when we let go of the straight and narrow, we come to see as you have shown us here, how so very interconnected we are . . . how so very interconnected all is. 🙏
Rippling mountain ranges make me think of them being alive Renee, which of course they are. I'd love it if you could tell me what area you are in and I'll see if I can take myself there in my mind and report back. It feels like a place that is calling me. 🙏
Louise, these images are from the area of the Blue Ridge Mountains from Mount Mitchell (the highest peak east of the Mississippi River) to Looking Glass Rock.
Julie, "majesty" captures poignantly the essence of being touched with such immediacy by the sky on Friday. These whispers and soft touches live on in the body for days. . . .
Magnificent! These are images in which we can immerse ourselves. Panoramas of nature to touch the nerve of our being. Thank you for sharing this perspective of our beautiful world 💕🙏
In Vietnam, where I am now, people go cloud hunting in the early mornings. To see how the rising sun transforms the sky and clears it of haze. A beautiful habit.
Claire, thank you for sharing this. As I shared in a Note on your comment, this practice leaves me breathless in its beauty. It speaks of an inner orientation to the mysteries of aliveness.
Beautiful pictures Renée. Thank you as always for your exquisite sensitivities and taste. Your pictures once again remind me of how stunningly beautiful a place I live in; and never to be taken for granted. "I don't have to go to sacred places in far off lands. This ground I stand on is holy. Here in this little garden I tend my pilgrimage ends. The wild honeybees, the hummingbird moths, the flickering fireflies at dusk, are a microcosm of the universe. Each spade of soil, each seed that grows, is full of miracles. And I toil and sweat, and watch and wonder, and am full of love living in this place; for truth and beauty dwell here."--Mary de la Vallette.
Ed, "stunningly beautiful" touches at the heart of it. Doesn't it? And, as the poem you offer shows us, we need not venture to far off lands to encounter the sacred in places. "This ground I stand on is holy." Every ground, Earth's ground and the place of our belonging.
So beautiful, Renee. I am reminded of my home state of Montana and its moniker, "big sky country." Ivan Doig, who grew up in Montana, wrote a memoir called This House of Sky, which I think of often in reference to that place.
Emily,
Your home place is a beautiful place to call home. Thank you for turning my attention to Ivan Doig's memoir. I have just read a few pages. It looks to be a beautiful book and appeals to my naive sensibilities about the rugged Western landscapes.
It is beautiful!
Ok Renee, first of all couldn’t be more delighted to see more images, of course they are magnificent. Then I honed in on Blue Ridge Mountains and then the song Take Me Home came in, which is a song that I can’t listen to without crying and then it reminded me of when I connected with John Denver. Where is this going? The vastness of it all and the fact that nothing else matters, we are interconnected and that’s all we need to know and remember. And we are remembering. We can be here, we can be up in the mountains, by the lake, sat underneath the rainbow. We are everywhere. John would nod sagely at this!!! Ok it’s going to be one of those wandering days……..I shall enjoy. Louise xx
Louise,
I celebrate your wandering ways. If rippling mountain ranges and words about a country rode have anything to show, it is that life is not intended to be lived in linearity . . . and maybe, just maybe, when we let go of the straight and narrow, we come to see as you have shown us here, how so very interconnected we are . . . how so very interconnected all is. 🙏
Rippling mountain ranges make me think of them being alive Renee, which of course they are. I'd love it if you could tell me what area you are in and I'll see if I can take myself there in my mind and report back. It feels like a place that is calling me. 🙏
Louise, these images are from the area of the Blue Ridge Mountains from Mount Mitchell (the highest peak east of the Mississippi River) to Looking Glass Rock.
These photos make me a bit homesick--but in the best way...as always, in my eye, this is God's Country...
Brenda, a little whisper of home to you out there on the other side of this continent from these mountains living in you no matter where you are. . .
Beautiful and majestic pictures Renee! I feel the whispers in the winds, the soft touches of the mist, the embrace of the sky.
Julie, "majesty" captures poignantly the essence of being touched with such immediacy by the sky on Friday. These whispers and soft touches live on in the body for days. . . .
Magnificent! These are images in which we can immerse ourselves. Panoramas of nature to touch the nerve of our being. Thank you for sharing this perspective of our beautiful world 💕🙏
Veronika, thank you for immersing . . . and allowing these panoramas to "touch the nerve of our being." Such a beautiful phrase.
In Vietnam, where I am now, people go cloud hunting in the early mornings. To see how the rising sun transforms the sky and clears it of haze. A beautiful habit.
Claire, thank you for sharing this. As I shared in a Note on your comment, this practice leaves me breathless in its beauty. It speaks of an inner orientation to the mysteries of aliveness.
Loved especially the first one. I'm a fan of mist.
David, thank you. I am, too. There is surely a reason that mist, mystery, and mystical are sound kin.
Gorgeous photos!
Thank you, Kathleen!