Quickening
Dead trees draw life
when the days expand and the sun
fulfills its promise, oft delayed
by the clutch of ice.
Clotted, gnarled, knotted twigs
on the trees sense sap and the death
of death. They stretch, begin
to puff green on the end.
We sing new songs
of a Life laid down for rebirth
when Easter is the Spring
and the branch is Christ.
— Mark A. Noll
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Every new birth is a miracle. I saw two yesterday:
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After a long and silent winter, I’m pleasantly surprised by the sounds and activities of spring in the woods. Here I’m just showing you the photos, so you can’t actually hear any sound. But from the images, you can imagine the cacophony there.
The sky is busy, and the woods, actually noisy. Birds beating one another to nesting sites, usually in old tree trunks. All of them are vigilant guarding their own. Avian and human traffic collide. And it looks like the biggest in size makes the loudest calls. No, not me. Canada Geese own the woods.
They’re ubiquitous, their calls dominating the air. And of course, they have the right of way. I nearly got hit by this one:
Another standing tall, scouting for nesting site, or maybe guarding one:
They are all vigilant when it comes to protecting their nests:
I know how much it means to them… Here, a couple gazing out into the late afternoon sun from their front porch:
More are still flapping their wings to better trunks, or maybe just enjoying an evening dip in the setting sun:
In the meantime, there are others making lesser but more melodious calls, like the Robins, happy that winter’s finally over:
or the Northern Flicker, charging with renewed energy:
Some quietly sharing:
or enjoying the (relatively) warm(er) breeze like this Nuthatch:
The European Starling is not just another black bird. A closer look you’ll see the shiny plumage, and their calls are much more pleasing than those of the Geese:
But the major attraction in the woods is, again, the Owl Family. I’m amazed how they would come back to the same trunk for nesting, and that Papa Owl always stands on guard from a distance, his sharp eyes watching over his own.
I’m mesmerized by his calmness and cool attention. If he needs to, Papa can fight off a Canada Goose with his talons. But he knows when to use force, and when to just placidly stand guard.
This is the old tree trunk he is watching quietly from afar:
A closer look you’ll see Mama Owl nesting in there. I’m told by fellow birders that two Owlets have been seen poking their downy heads out partially. But after a long while waiting, craning my neck up, I can only see Mama:
I’ll have a better chance of taking a family photo once the Owlets fledge.
Canada Geese begin to converge near the Owl’s nest, trying to draw our attention with their jealous squawks.
As the evening sun sinks below the horizon, I can see this Goose making its nest not far from the Owl Family. And I know too, Papa will be keeping watch throughout the night, feeding and protecting his very own.
Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.
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ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY ARTI OF RIPPLE EFFECTS, APRIL 2014.
DO NOT COPY OR REBLOG
The last few days have been the warmest, welcome sign that our waiting is finally over. Just a few degrees above zero, but enough for me to venture out to the woods and go on my first birding walk. I had to tread squeaky, slushy paths of melting snow and ice.
Here are some views. These photos were taken just last Friday April 4. Melting icicles dripping into the icy creek. Yes, this is spring for us. No flowers yet, not even green grass. But this is promise enough:
Last fall they dominated the sky, but I’d missed the Canada Geese through the long, silent winter. Surprised to find these two here enjoying the cool spot, weren’t bothered a bit by my intrusion:
Up close and personal… Welcome back!
The Chickadee never flew away. But I’m sure she’s glad with the warming up:
The Bohemian Waxwings stay in the winter and moves north after the cold. But the Cedar Waxwings’s arrival from the south heralds spring:
Silky fine spring look worthy of any fashion magazine cover:
More spring birding photos coming up on Saturday Snapshot.
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All Photos taken by Arti of Ripple Effects, April, 2014.
Do Not Copy or Reblog
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Continuing with the theme of doors and windows, let’s hop over to the UNESCO city of Bath. I was there twice. These are a few photos I took on those trips.
The beloved author Jane Austen lived there from 1801 – 1806 after her family moved from her birthplace Steventon when she was 26. Their first address was 4 Sydney Place:
In their last year in Bath the family moved to 25 Gay Street:
Down the road to No. 40 is the Jane Austen Centre:
The Great Pump Room was a social hub in Austen’s day. Her observations there must have inspired her satirical descriptions of high society in Northanger Abbey. Now an elegant restaurant:
Austen used Bath as the setting for her novel Persuasion. Milsom Street was a vibrant commercial area of shops and businesses in those days as in now. The first time Anne Eliot saw Captain Wentworth again was when he passed by a shop on Milsom Street.
Here’s a modern day shop window, Milsom & Son, a music store:
No, Jane would not have stepped in there to shop for CD’s or DVD’s. But she would likely have gone into this place, Sally Lunn Bun, the oldest building in Bath dating back to 1482 and a business that was present in Jane’s time. There’s a Kitchen Museum in the basement of the restaurant:
How can I resist showing you what’s inside the door and window:
You might like to explore more of Bath in my other posts Jane Austen’s Bath and Bath’s Persuasion in which I recorded my walking tour using the novel Persuasion as a guidebook.
Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. Click Here to see what others have posted.
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By now, I’m sure many of you are tired of looking at white and greyish stuff, be it snow, or its liquid form. Let me take you on my escapade to Provence, France, and continue to bask in some warm colours.
This time, we’re looking at windows and doors. Again, they are photos from my trip to Avignon and Arles in the summer of 2010.
Now here’s the trick: Choose a photo. Look intensely at it for one minute then close your eyes and let the image imprint in your mind. When you reopen your eyes, I’m sure you won’t see white. Let’s just dream a little dream of warm summer daze.
Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.
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ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY ARTI OF RIPPLE EFFECTS.
DO NOT COPY OR REBLOG
The snow and cold persist. I’ve to revisit Southern France to assuage cabin fever. Here are more photos from my Provence travels in the summer of 2010.
Avignon, the historic centre of Western Christendom in the Middle Ages. Its Palais des Papes, or, Palace of the Popes, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Medieval Gothic architecture was designed as a fortress and palace, residence for the Popes. Six papal conclaves were held there in the 14th century.
Signs pointing to others historic monuments:
The Bridge of Avignon, Pont St. Bénezet, or Pont d’Avignon, was built between 1177 – 1185, rebuilt in 1234 after it was damaged in a siege by Louise VIII, King of France. It was an important crossing over the Rhone River. Only four arches now remain:
Not all serious history though… Right outside the Palais Des Papes, I saw an elephant doing Yoga:
A closer look:
And in the town centre, this beautiful merry-go-round:
And puppeteers getting ready for a skeleton show:
Snap back to reality… no elephant in the room or dancing skeleton. And it’s -16C outside. Just let me hop back on that merry-go-round…
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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of Metro Mommy Reads.
CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.
ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY ARTI OF RIPPLE EFFECTS.
DO NO COPY OR REBLOG
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Blowin’ through the jasmine in my mind…
I caught myself singing it. Is it just me, succumbing to these Walter Mitty moments more and more this winter? Humour me, let’s take a minute to just zone out of this persistent cold. I’m sure the warm breeze will revitalize you.
Here are some photos I took last summer. Now, imagine seeing…
A Pelican scratching its itch:
A deer playing peekaboo with you:
Mushrooms growing out of a tree:
A Chickadee take flight:
A white spider on a yellow flower:
Black butterflies on white flowers:
An angler fishing at dusk:
It’s February already, can spring be far behind?
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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.
ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY ARTI OF RIPPLE EFFECTS.
DO NOT COPY OR REBLOG
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It’s January 25, and we’re deep in winter. I don’t need any more photos to remind me of our seasonal deal, snow and ice. Saw the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty a couple of days ago. And Oh, how I need to unleash the Walter Mitty in me now, and let my mind zoom off to distant lands, warm, temperate, and colourful.
So here I am, travelling back to the summer of 2010, taking a road trip in Provence, France. A cure for cabin fever: I breath in the warm air, feast my eyes on colours and relive a most memorable family vacation.
We took a day trip from Avignon to Vaison la Romaine and Chateauneuf du Pape, passing through vineyards, stopping by markets.
A vineyard beside a 12th Century chapel in Vaison la Romaine:
A street market. The colours … what a contrast to our wintry white and grey:
I like the kid here. What was he looking at?
Or here, the yellow rose. Imagine opening your front door and be greeted by a cheerful, yellow rose:
And the fan here. Just looking at it can cure cabin fever. Let your inner Walter Mitty take you for a ride:
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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.
ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY ARTI OF RIPPLE EFFECTS. DO NOT COPY OR REBLOG.
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The movie Inside Llewyn Davis strikes me with its overall atmospheric tone colour. The almost black-and-white, cyan greyness that shroud the scenes convey a pervasive sense of melancholy. While I was seized by the gloominess, I also saw the beauty in the cinematography.
And the snow. During his trip to Chicago, Llewyn has to tread through snow on the streets, without a winter coat, without proper shoes. His socks are soaked through.
I took these two snow photos just recently. At first I wasn’t pleased with their lack of colour. But after watching the movie, I’ve come to appreciate them more. These are all colour photos, not black and white:
Without any green, trees can still be beautiful.
O the beauty of greyness.
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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.
Photos in this post taken by Arti of Ripple Effects. Do Not Copy or Reblog.
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CLICK HERE to read my review of the movie Inside Llewyn Davis.
The House of Christmas
by G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936)
There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand
Than the square stones of Rome.
For men are homesick in their homes,
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay on their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honour and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.
A Child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost – how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky’s dome.
This world is wild as an old wives’ tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.
To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.
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“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:14
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(Photo taken by Arti of Ripple Effects, Sept. 2010. All Rights Reserved.)
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I don’t have to dream of a white Christmas. I’m living it. Today is the first day of winter, but we already have a few blizzards, and record snowfall.
In June we had our hundred-year flood. And now we have our hundred-year snowfall. According to records, the last time we had this much snow in just 16 days was in 1901, 112 years ago.
You might think life is arduous up here, but I tell you, it can be idyllic. Except for the traffic jams in and out of shopping malls at this time of the year, we’re a relatively happy lot. What more, being so close to Nature, I’m always delighted to see how contented our neighbours in the wild are, oblivious to the hustle and bustle of the Season.
Here are some photos I took in the last few weeks.
Snow-covered river banks:
Proof of life (and I don’t think they’re all human footprints):
Did they ever show you how to identify a Mallard’s track in scouting? No? Here it is:
Galore of duck activities:
… or inactivity:
Icy landing:
I was elated to see something else other than the common Mallard. At first I thought it was a Sandpiper, but when I checked in my bird book later at home, I learned that it was a Killdeer. Amazing, for they are supposed to be in the American south by now. Guess somebody wants to linger a while longer in the snow and ice:
Traffic jam in the sky. Not quite a perfect V? You have to cut them some slack, they are Mallards, not Canada Geese.
A solitary walk for this buck crossing the icy river. No jam here:
And deep in the snow, a few good folks had left some bird seeds. For the Woodpecker, it’s always tempting to go for fast food rather than to peck wood, especially when there’s no line-up:
What’s Christmas without a little snow?
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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.
All photos in this post are taken by Arti of Ripple Effects, December, 2013. DO NOT COPY OR REBLOG.
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At first, what drew my attention were the birds on top of the distant trees, sillouetted against the predawn sky. What were they?
Must be the hardy European Starlings, I thought. My birding instinct prodded me to get out of the house to find out, at 7:30 am, in -13C temperature.
As I got closer, their buzzing sound reminded me that I’d heard them before, in flocks, making sounds almost like cicadas, but lighter, more metallic and electric. By then, morning had broken. Indeed, they were not Starlings but Waxwings.
The sun shed its glorious light and I was much gratified to see that all those plump bellies were not Cedar Waxwings which I’d seen in the summer. From their grey pot belly, I could tell they were Bohemian Waxwings. Of course, they will be spending their winter here. The Cedar Waxwings had all gone south.
What attracted them to our neighborhood? My stalking skill led me to find out. Ah… berries:
It was a delight watching them feast on these frozen fruits for breakfast:
Got it!
Soon, washed by the glowing sunrise, their greyish plumage began to change into a magnificent color. No CGI (computer-generated images) here:
Just pure magical realism:
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Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads. CLICK HERE to see what others have posted.
ALL PHOTOS IN THIS POST TAKEN BY ARTI OF RIPPLE EFFECTS, NOVEMBER, 2013. PLEASE DO NOT COPY OR REBLOG.
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Ripple Effects 