It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart
― Rainer Maria Rilke
spring with rilke

It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart
― Rainer Maria Rilke
And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you
because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.
Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.
– Roald Dahl
This crazy life
This crazy world
We’re living in is
Magical
1/1000s, f/5.0
Is there any phrase more ominous than “you need to see exactly what you’ve done”?
11/22/63
Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.
― Jack Kerouac
“O light! This is the cry of all the characters of ancient drama brought face to face with their fate.
This last resort was ours, too, and I knew it now.
In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.”
― Albert Camus, L’été
Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light
― John Milton, Paradise Lost
And now we welcome the new year
full of things that have never been
― Rainer Maria Rilke
New trees, new hope, a pair of robins, a family of blackbirds and assorted wagtails have made their new home amidst the olive grove (well, there are now two such trees). Nature has shown that even a brief respite from the toxic side products of human endeavour pays (green) dividends.
Let’s hope ‘we the people’ can now renew and heal as we transition to a new year, working together to heal differences and put aside toxic divisions.
(newly planted) olive tree: 1/200s, f/8.0, ISO 64
(newly planted) magnolia: 1/200s, f8.0, ISO 64
(precocious) prunus: 1/200s f/8.0, ISO 64
(ready for new residents) White House 1/200s f/8.0, ISO 64
*All images made with Nikon D850 and AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8E VR lens with limited edits in Lightroom*
Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
– Albert Camus
*my very first attempt at macro photography, made with my Nikon D850 and Nikkor AF Micro 60mm f/2.8D lens, edited in Lightroom Classic with cool light filter applied*