Sunday Dinner: Observant

~

“To acquire knowledge, one must study;
but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.”

.

Marilyn vos Savant

~

~

“Have you noticed how nobody ever looks up?

Nobody looks at chimneys, or trees against the sky,

or the tops of buildings.

Everybody just looks down at the pavement or their shoes.

The whole world could pass them by

and most people wouldn’t notice.”

.

Julie Andrews Edwards

~

~

“If you want to really know something

you have to observe or experience it in person;

if you claim to know something on the basis of hearsay,

or on happening to see it in a book,

you’ll be a laughingstock

to those who really know.”

.

Jonathan D. Spence

~

~

For in the sciences

the authority of thousands of opinions

is not worth as much as one tiny spark of reason in an individual man.

Besides, the modern observations

deprive all former writers of any authority,

since if they had seen what we see,

they would have judged as we judge.”

.

Galileo Galilei

~

~

“Look around you…Feel the wind, smell the air.

Listen to the birds and watch the sky.

Tell me what’s happening in the wide world.”

.

Nancy Farmer

~

~

“Reason, Observation and Experience —

the Holy Trinity of Science —

have taught us that happiness is the only good;

that the time to be happy is now,

and the way to be happy is to make others so.

This is enough for us. In this belief

we are content to live and die. ”

.

Robert Green Ingersoll

~

~

Photos by Woodland Gnome 2019

~

~

“A journey of observation

must leave as much as possible to chance.

Random movement is the best plan for maximum observation”

.

Tahir Shah

~

~

“To see

is to forget the name

of the thing one sees.”

.

Paul Valéry

~

Transformation

~

“Be content with what you have;
rejoice in the way things are.
When you realize there is nothing lacking,
the whole world belongs to you.”

.

Lao Tzu

~

~

There is sadness in wandering along our familiar garden paths in these first few days after frost touched our garden.    Withered leaves litter the ground.  Herbaceous stems droop, their once rigid cells irreparably broken when they froze.

What was once growing a bit more beautiful each day, is now clearly in decline.  Papery brown seedheads replace vibrant flowers.    Our trees grow more naked each day.

~

~

“Do you have the patience

to wait until your mud settles

and the water is clear?”

.

Lao Tzu

~

~

But as the graceful structure of our trees stands stark against the sky, we see that next spring’s buds are already forming.    When dried leaves drift away on the breeze, the magic is revealed:  new flowers and leaves have already begun to grow along every branch.

The buds will grow more plump and full through the wintery weeks ahead, waiting for conditions to signal them to unfold into new growth.

~

~

“The reason why the universe is eternal

is that it does not live for itself;

it gives life to others

as it transforms.”

.

Lao Tzu

~

~

Our sadness in watching the garden decay touches our hearts, even as we understand the familiar process of renewal and re-growth.

Like waves on the beach, things are always coming in, and flowing out.  Like our breath, we receive and we give continually.

Trees draw their life from the soil beneath their roots and the air surrounding their leaves.  And then, after a period of growth, they willingly drop their leaves to decay and feed the life of the soil.  There is balance.

Every root absorbs moisture, and every leaf allows those precious drops of water to evaporate back into the sky.

~

~

 

“If you realize that all things change,

there is nothing you will try to hold on to.

If you are not afraid of dying,

there is nothing you cannot achieve.”

.

Lao Tzu

~

~

Nothing is ever truly gained or lost; everything transforms.  The garden helps us see this truth, and another:  Life goes on. 

No matter the appearance in the moment, life continues; and we are a part of this beautiful flickering, flaming, raging dance of life.

Our sadness springs from our clinging to one beautiful form or another.  And even that sadness can transform to joy, when we see beyond the loss of one thing to welcome what comes back to us in its wake

~

~

Let’s dance the dance of life with joy in our hearts, and embrace the magic of each season of our lives.

~

~

Woodland Gnome 2017

Golden February

~

Have you noticed that certain colors predominate in the landscape each month?  August here is always very green.  January is a study in brownish grey.  April is awash with Azalea pinks and reds.

And February is golden.

~

~

Yes, there are white snowdrops and rosy Hellebores in our garden now.  Purple and blue Violas bloom in pots and baskets.

~

Mahonia aquifolium, blooming through our winter, provides nectar for early pollinators.  By summer each flower will have grown into a plump purple berry, loved by our birds.  These tough shrubs, native to western North America, have naturalized across much of Virginia.

~

But the flowers highlighting our garden now, blooming fiercely against a still wintery brown backdrop; are the first golden Daffodils of spring, showering cascades of yellow Mahonia flowers, the occasional sunshiny Dandelion, and hundreds of thousands of yellow Forsythia buds.

~

Forsythia greets each spring with thousands of tiny yellow flowers. An Asian native, Forsythia naturalized in North America more than a century ago.  An important source of nectar, these large, suckering shrubs provide shelter for many species of birds and insects.

~

Forsythia and Daffodils line many of our public roads, too.  We found a huge stand of blooming yellow Daffodils in the median of Jamestown Road, near the ferry, last week.  Their cheerful promise of spring feels almost defiant as we weather the last few weeks of a Virginia winter.

~

Edgeworthia chrysantha, or Chinese Paperbush, fills our front garden with fragrance now that its blossoms have opened. We found happy bees feeding on these flowers on Sunday afternoon.

~

Touches of gold may also be found in the bright stamens of Hellebores, the warm centers of Edgeworthia flowers, and the bright Crocus which will bloom any day now.

These golden flowers of February prove a perfect foil to bare trees, fallen leaves and late winter storms.

What a lovely way for our garden to awaken to spring.

~

~

Woodland Gnome 2017

~

 

Wednesday Vignette: Winter Sun

~

“One can follow the sun, of course,

but I have always thought

that it is best to know some winter, too,

so that the summer, when it arrives,

is the more gratefully received.”

.

Beatriz Williams

~

~

“But only a person in the depths of despair

neglected to look beyond winter to the spring

that inevitably followed,

bringing back color and life and hope.”

.

Mary Balogh

~

~

 

“A moment of peace and silence,

breathing in and out the frigid air,

watching daylight seep into the forest,

hearing the first chatter of distant crows,

the wind sighing over the snow

and through the fir and pine branches

and the twittering of chickadees

as they flitted in little tribes from tree to tree.”

.

Mike Bond

~

~

Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

~