Friday, March 19, 2010

drawing the line


the sun
draws the line
between winter and spring

the line is fine


and sometimes
detailed


sometimes it is subtle

like a flare of morning sun
threaded through
a frozen rivulet of ice


and sometimes it
fills the skies
with departing
winter wings

38 comments:

Joanna said...

Lovely captured moments Steven (both in words and images). I especially like the first photo, and the clouds. Happy spring.
Joanna

Elisabeth said...

Wonderful dividing lines here, Steven.

What time do you make it? Your post has just now arrived on my screen. For me it is three in the afternoon. For you it must be early morning.

There is the dividing line of time for bloggers on opposite sides of the world.

I wonder whether I get in with a first comment most often because most of the northern hemisphere locals to you are still sleeping.

Dan Gurney said...

Exquisite photography, steven. The first three photos seem almost like abstract art. I like the second and third photos especially, "sometimes detailed" and "sometimes subtle."

The equinox comes on Saturday and soon winter will fade into memory. Here where I live, winter's long gone and spring is in full swing.

Aleks said...

Pure and a perfect good morning! Thank you Steven.

Pauline said...

such beautiful images, both photos and the images your words evoke. the line has been crossed here and spring is establishing itself

Dave King said...

Inspired - and inspirational. I found that exhilarating, both in the idea behind it and its execution. Brilliant.

Delwyn said...

and sometimes you give us a post of great joy...

thank you Steven...

Friko said...

how brave you are still to be singing your songs about the icy remnants of winter.
Spring cannot now be far away.

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

Well done steven!!! I love how you take the simplest things in nature and make something both beautiful and profound.

I always comment after my first read and then often go back for a second 'immersion'. When I find things exciting I tend to devour them -- then I have to go back to savour. There is much here worth savouring.

steven said...

hello joanna, thankyou. i love the photo of the ice. i notice the detailed ice a lot more as it starts to melt and disappear. steven

steven said...

elisabeth- when it's three in the afternoon for you it's midnight for us right now. i set my posts to show up very shortly after midnight so that my peeps in australia and new zealand and even southeast asia can have a look see while the sun's still up!! perhaps they take their blogwander with a glass of chablis in hand and what better time for that than mid-afternoon?! have a lovely evening (i just woke up of course!) steven

steven said...

dan thankyou. yes spring is days away here as well. we have had a very warm week with below zero temps at night and then soaring to the tens (celsius) during the day so the snow and ice are almost entiely gone but for pockets in the woods where it looks and feels like winter. it looks like it will cool down over the next few weeks but snow likely won't be a part of it. thanks for your kind comments here dan. steven

steven said...

thanks aleks! steven

steven said...

pauline i did a walk of the property yesterday and there are some signs of bugs mutliplying in the millions, a couple of tentative green shoots poking through and otherwise things are quiet. have a lovely day! steven

steven said...

dave thankyou for this generous comment!!! steven

steven said...

hello delwyn - joy sits on the wings of goodness and that's what i try to share with my posts so i am glad that there was some for you today!!! have a lovely evening. steven

steven said...

hello friko! brave is visiting my english friends whose spring has long started and whose posts fill me with impatience as i look at the beauty of their flowers and the green of their grass and you can hear the birdsong!!! soon i'll have spring dreams and visions to share here. have a lovely english day. steven

steven said...

bonnie - thankyou. i am a double visitor to some postings where - as you say - i devour and then come back to appreciate later. i have learned to appreciate the very small and the insignificant and i love to elevate it to its proper place which is as an equal to the very big and the very important because in this world everything is of the same value. steven

Golden West said...

Your third picture looks much like the Earth, taken from outer space, with coastlines,clouds and seas - beautiful!

steven said...

hello golden west - you see i think those things also! i love the landsat photos of earth and so often when i look at a patch of ice or soil or rock i see those very same images as if fractalized. thanks for dropping by and enjoy the californian sunshine!! steven

ellen abbott said...

Steven, you continue to delight me with your photographs and your words.

Barry said...

These photos are truly works of art Steven.

You need a gallery showing my friend.

Meri said...

The second photo knocked my socks off! And the words, the words. . .

steven said...

ellen that brings me it's own form of delight!! steven

steven said...

barry - i'm writing report cards all week and i'll tell you it's worthy but dispiriting work. i can't explain that but it seems somehow removed from the work my kids do.
thankyou for the praise. my dad managed to go that route - taking photographs and getting them shown. i missed all of his showings until the one his camera club put on to honour his flying away.
it is my own hope that as i flail towards retirement i'll establish some means of approaching mastery in the form and then i'll figure out a way of sharing the product in a meaningful and helpful way. for now i'm thrilled to have this chance to share what i can do and what i can think through this medium!!!
have a lovely evening. steven

steven said...

meri that picture was taken about seventy five metres from where i am at this moment. it was around seven thirty a.m. and the sun was making the eastern sky pink and a little orange and this little patch of ice was in the gutter. so of course i stopped. i had my little camera with me and so it isn't as crisp an image as i would have liked but somehow the essence of what i saw came through. i am so glad you like it!!! steven

Bee said...

I'm completely arrested by the winter wings. What a truly beautiful sky.

You really do LOOK at things, don't you.

p.s. I saw a gorgeous display of daffodils in London today. We've had sun almost all week long, and the flowers are suddenly springing forth.

hope said...

I love those wings!

And my front lawn is filled with Robins, the true southern harbinger of Spring, which arrives here on Saturday!

Have a wonderful weekend, my friend.

steven said...

ello bee - well yes, there they were hovering way up in the morning sky. i try and see this world because i think that beneath the layers of surface beauty there are riches waiting to be discovered. my mum bought a heap of daffodils today. at her old home there were daffodils that popped up all 'round her huge gardens. my friend brian and i put them in. it was a sure sign of spring! steven

Rosaria Williams said...

Stunning! I came from Elizabeth's.

steven said...

hello hope! we've started to see robins 'round here as well as chickadees and of course blackbirds and crows. the geese are coming back in the night - i hear them honking overhead in great "v's". i'm coming to the end of our march break - but the weekend - well it's still a weekend for me!! so i'll share the wishes for a good one with you. steven

steven said...

hello and welcome lakeviewer. i'm blessed to be able to see and share the lovely things all around me. i credit the rest of nature with it!!! steven

Helen said...

Discovering the wonder of your talent ~~ with chablis in hand.

steven said...

hello helen! that made me laugh out loud - i know where you must have been earlier on today!!! welcome! we're just coming out of a long winter here with little bits of something springlike in the air. however, it's always risky to say things like that because mother nature can be fickle and could just as easily toss some more snow our way! have a lovely evening with the chablis!!! steven

layers said...

I love all the different examples of 'line' in nature-- beautiful images.
and the singing stones-- wonderful.
you should check out Pablo Neruda's book of poetry called STONES FROM THE SKY.

steven said...

hello layers! thankyou - for the thoughtful comment and also for the suggestion about neruda. i've used some of his writing on this blog before - he's an insightful writer!! have a lovely day. steven

Lisa Ursu said...

You outdo yourself with each post!

ps...those singing stones have been singing since I saw them. I love those photos.

steven said...

liza thankyou very much! steven