What a difference six months makes!

for Six Word Saturday

Winter won’t go gentle into spring

Not everyone knows when to leave

And for those who don’t like “frames”

for Six Word Saturday

An egret flying in four seasons

It’s time to pair six words for Saturday with a photo.  A few weeks ago I had only my iPhone when I spotted the first egret of the season.  It was very shy and even though I was at quite a distance, as soon as I stopped, it took off.  Needless to say, the resulting photo was less than stellar.  But I played around with some editing and came up with something I thought was fun and looked like the same egret during four various season.  I could have called it “Making the best of a bad shot”, but that’s seven words and Type-A people like me always try to follow the rules.   🙂

Autumn’s faces

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.
[The Autumnal]
~John Donne, The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose

A week ago, autumn arrived for me when I slipped into flannel-lined jeans to bundle up for the Saturday morning farmers market.  Officially, I think it arrived last night, when I donned flannel pajamas and then, this morning, flipped the “Heat” switch on the thermostat to “Auto”, albeit with the temperature set quite low, just enough to take the daunting chill from the air.  I’ll turn it down again tonight for perfect sleeping temperature.

Seven Day Nature Challenge, Day 7…seasons collide

Winter-spring, spring-winter.  Back and forth.  As I type this, we’re having high wind blasts and periodic snow showers, gloom and bright sunshine.  Spring is a time when all weather bets are off and winter vies to hang on just a bit longer.  Spring will out eventually.  In the meantime, we’ll find scenes like this one.

For the last day of the challenge, I invite any of you who love nature to feel free to participate in this challenge.  I hope you’ve enjoyed the photos and, because nature is mostly what I photography, you can rest assured that the challenge will continue most days of the week at “This, That, and the Other Thing.”

I’m leaving for a mini-road trip today and not surfacing much on the internet until Monday night (then work all day Tuesday, so…)  I thank all of you who stop by to view and especially to take the time to comment and conduct a conversation, even though my part of the conversation may be absent for a time.

Content

Sitting in a sun-drenched kitchen
   at a table clothed in Provençal linen
   steam rising from my tea,
I sip,
   warmed and content,
gazing out upon drifts of powdered snow.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Seasons…goose-stepping into spring

In NE Illinois, we’re having a spring day in the middle of winter-getting-ready-to-transition-to-spring.  The park trails were quagmires this morning and to say the wind is “gusty” is to understate what it’s doing. But it does get me in the mood for spring, even though I love winter and would have enjoyed more snow.

I typed this intro while waiting for the Photo Challenge theme to be posted and what did it turn out to be?  “Seasons.”  Too funny.  Maybe I should set up as a psychic.  🙂  Here are two photos I took this morning with my iPhone while slogging through the mixed season slop.

Here’s a leftover leaf from fall lying in a spring puddle of melted winter snow.

There are a lot of mixed up geese hanging around right now.  I don’t know if they didn’t leave (some didn’t) for winter or took the wrong flight and are back early.  But there are hundreds of them on the river right now.  Here’s proof they can leave something more interesting than poop.  The melting snow and mud doesn’t bother them at all.

 

 

 

Exquisite moment

Exquisite moment
  Drizzle morphs to pristine snow
Birds puff up feathers

Weekly Photo Challenge: Change…of seasons

“Change” is the theme for this week’s photo challenge.  Change of seasons is an obvious response at this time of year, but as I’m seeing that change every day as I walk, I decided to go with the obvious and just try to find a less-than-obvious photo.  Remember, on the opposite side of the world, the season-changing photo would be some spring flowers.  🙂  Enjoy your weekend.

Be the change that you wish to see in the world.
~Mahatma Gandhi

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
~Leo Tolstoy

Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
~George Bernard Shaw

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.
~Mother Teresa