Wednesday, August 12, 2009

you're welcome to whatever you need

by the side of the pool we have wild grasses
and right in front of them i planted some russian sage.

my ojibway friend uses the sage in smudges at sacred events.

because of this i watch the sage to see who visits.

sometimes its little birds,
and very occasionally it's a little butterfly.

today this little one visited.
i waited for her to settle but she flew around my head,
over my shoulder,
flew upwind (it was very breezy) and then past me but always with the plan
to settle on the sage plant.

which she did.
she fluttered from flower to flower.
calmly
using the breeze.

leaning in against it when it threatened to push her away.

you're welcome to whatever you need,
is what i told her.

___________________________________

the golden fish is hosting a meme for the very first time.

"a transformative moment."

share an experience that you knew in that moment - or on reflection - changed you.

let me know if you can share a transformative moment and on the 19th,
i'll post a link to your posting from here so we can all visit each other!

31 comments:

Delwyn said...

Hello Steven

I think your little butterfly might be a a little moth...

That flower has a wonderful colour...

Happy days

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

Steven: Your photos are lovely. Butterfly blends so beautifully with the Russian Sage. And your closing phrase "take what you need" is what mother earth says to us every day. Butterfly's do not abuse the privilege. As for we humans - that's another story.

Are you preparing for your return to class?

steven said...

hi delwyn - i'm sure it is!!! maybe someone with a keen eye and knowledge can fill me in on what is really in the picture!!! i envy people who can see something like this and say "oh yes that's a . . . . and then they can drop the latin name for the plant the little critter's on!!! have a lovely day by the river delwyn. steven

steven said...

hi bonnie, thankyou and thanks for underscoring the importance of remembering that we need only "take what we need". my children are faced with the ongoing dilemma of reconciling what they hear in the big world with what they hear at home. the big world wants them to be massive consumers and to spend and own and have. here at home we ask them to be considerate of themsleves and their planet and not to ask for so much. but it's hard for them!! have a peaceful day bonnie. steven

Unknown said...

We have so very much to learn from our First Peoples of the woodlands. There is so much knowledge to share, especially about conservation and appreciation for these woodlands of ours! Your posts are inspiring Steven. I love to visit. =D

Dave King said...

A beautiful post and a really exciting project, your Tranformative Moment. I shall have to give it some of my deep thought - I'm off to dig some out now. Can 't recall where I buried it!

Tess Kincaid said...

Ethereal pics, Steven. Ahh. Thank you for the peaceful moment.

Anonymous said...

I like sage and lavender and peppermint and lots of things and the insects like it too. The little Cabbage White thanks anyone who offers it a different taste. I was fascinated by wasps yesterday and watched them and took about 1000 pictures. Anyway, I answered your comment with mine back on the Pick a Peck of Pixels blog. Or here it is ...

Reply tp steven...

I had to go to the doctor this morning but I looked at a progression of photos for this space and didn't have time to install them. It is more amazing when you can see the plants planted and the time between then and now and how things fill in the space. A little short sighted here but the space between the boxwood and mugho pine was at one time a walk of cement patio blogs. They were removed and Nature filled the space in. It was my choice to let Nature do that and at the same time it gave a lot more room for the other plants to expand in two directions.

Tessa said...

Gorgeous photos, Steven. Sage flowers look so pretty sprinkled over a salad - and taste good, too!

Thank you so much for popping over to my place - I'm so pleased you enjoyed the Matatu adventure. They can be very scary...both inside and out!

I do apologise for not having visited your blog lately, but as you can probably imagine, I've been busy like a crazy lady with prospective buyers coming to view our house. Oh, it's a mad, mad world this selling property malarkey! However, I think I can take a bit of a breather now because we've had an offer and the house is off the market while surveys are done. Hopefully, the Surveyor won't find anything untoward and contracts can be exchanged! If this happens, we'll have to start looking around for our teeny tiny cottage.....

Anyway, now that I have more time, I’ve had the most wonderful meander through the posts I missed. Your beautiful grass shadow....oh! Thank you for showing us what we sometimes miss. Loved your post about hydrangeas, too – the white ones are my special favourite. Then came the rain and the glorious woodblock paintings by Kawase Hasui and to follow that a post to ponder over - A Transformative Moment...I’ll try and join in, if I may. And finally stormy skies....so compelling, and your handwritten journal....equally compelling. Thank you, Steven, for sharing all the loveliness.

steven said...

hi dave, thanks for your kind comments and i'm very glad we'll have your clever and insightful mind along for the transformative moment! happy digging!! steven

steven said...

hi willow, you're very welcome! i'm glad to share it. steven

steven said...

hi abe, nice to see you!! i don't take many insect pictures so i should really tell the story of how these pictures were a twenty minute experience of patience, contortions physical and mental and finally trying to shoot as many pics as possible because it was windy and things were blurry - well you know all about this!!!! thanks for posting your comment from pics and pixels. i usually make my way back to the blogs i comment in just in case there's a comment back. i'm looking into more groundcover for next spring to take care of some troublesome spots that nature fills with stuff that doesn't really work!!! have a peaceful afternoon. steven

steven said...

hi tessa, thanks for the many generous compliments and you never have to be sorry for not visiting because here it is whenever you wish!!!! selling off a house is a huge proposition and removes many of the freedoms you associate with daily life doesn't it?!! i'm so glad that you found so much to enjoy here. i truly love creating these moments and i always hope that that shows through. i'll sign you on for the "transformative moment" meme tessa but if it's a bad time or whatever then have no concern. although given your rich and fantastic life experiences i'd miss your contribution were it not there . . . how's that for passive agressive encouragement?!!! have a lovely evening. steven

steven said...

hi linda, you're so right! there's a wealth of knowledge in our native people that they wisely tap at will. my friend knows so much about the natural world and has such a deep understanding of everything else as a result of that knowing. i'm hoping to bike to his home tomorrow (50 km each way) with some of the sage. it's gonna be a hot hot ride that's for sure!!! have a lovely afternoon. steven

The Weaver of Grass said...

I shall try and think of a transformative moment for the 19th steven, so count me in.
Love the words you have written about the butterfly.

The Weaver of Grass said...

I shall try and think of a transformative moment for the 19th steven, so count me in.
Love the words you have written about the butterfly.

Chubby Chieque said...

Just dropping by and wanna say "hi" at least.

Have a nice day!

Jinksy said...

The blue of that sage is heaven on earth! Obviously, the little butterfly thought so too. I have relatives of his flitting around my garden today, and he IS a butterfly - I've been researching recently. Thanks for all your sunny comments you've been leaving on my blog - sorry the knitting made you groan! x

steven said...

hello weaver - lovely!!! i'm glad that no one's challenged the butterflyness of that "butterfly" although delwyn thinks it's a moth!!! thanks for dropping by. see you. steven

steven said...

hello jinksy - isn't it absolutely beautiful. i'd wear clothes that colour, paint my room that colour, it's amazing!!! oh he is a butterfly - hurray for good guessing and good fortune!!!! not to worry about the knitting jinksy. perhaps one day when i have more time and better focus (if that'll ever be a feature of me) then i'll give it another try. have a lovely afternoon. steven

steven said...

hey richie 2t's, thanks for dropping by and saying hi!!!! see you again soon. have a lovely evening. steven

Bee said...

Hello there . . . I saw a comment of yours at Reya's, and it made me want to throw over my biography of Queen Victoria and read Katharine Mansfield stories instead.

I have just discovered that the plant that I call "perovskia" is actually Russian sage. Thank you . . .

Alexandra MacVean said...

I love russian sage...reminds me of the home I left behind earlier this year. Had TONS of it planted around the side of the house. And I love that photo of the white cabbage butterly...there were alot of those around, too. Beautiful, uplifting post. Thank you.

Eryl said...

The sage is beautiful, I love that it is two different shades of blue: lavender buds opening in to cerulean flowers.

I can't tell a butterfly from a moth either! Though I do know that Salvia is the Latin for Sage because I have the most fantastic book on herbs.

steven said...

hi amelai, thanks for visiting. i absolutely love the colours it shows up in and the smell is amazing!!! the little cabbage butterfly - you like it - yes me too!! thanks for your kind comments. have a peaceful evening. steven

steven said...

hi eryl, i love the colour combination as well!!! see you do know lots about herbs - i knew there'd be somebody who could wise me up. thanks for that eryl!!! have a peaceful day. steven

steven said...

hello bee, it's nice to meet you. given a choice - i'd go for katherine mansfield. i love her writing and what's amazing about this collection is that it contains writing from when she was nineteen. what's even more amazing is how way out of the box it is - it just grabs you and says "see - this is what life's really like and you know it!!"
perovskia has a lovely romantic feel about it that comes much closer to this plant than "russian sage." don't change that!! have a lovely day and i hope to see you again. steven

steven said...

hello weaver, thanks for dropping by and for joining in the transformative moment meme day. what will you choose? hmmmm that's thr tough part isn't it!! have a lovely day. steven

Crafty Green Poet said...

gorgeous photos and its a butterfly, its got butterfly antennae with little rounded ends, rather than the feathery antennae that moths have.

steven said...

hello crafty green!! thanks and thanks especially for confirming that it's a butterfly - and it's that simple - little rounded ends on their antennae!!! ha!! i'll never forget that so thanks again!!! see you. steven

Elizabeth said...

Such a beautiful blue
quite magic