I needed to go back to the place from which I'd started...to take a closer look. Right around me.
The April days had (literally) been filled with showers, and the days of May, regardless of promised flowers, were going to be filled with the life of our family's lives. All good things -- a graduation, May Day bouquets with my students, family visiting, end-of-the school-year responsibilities. But I have learned -- um, am learning -- I sometimes need to pull back to the quiet...before, and in the midst of, a time of all-good-things. That pulling-back doesn't just have to be in times of hard or reserved for days that are more open. I had to take a walk...to see. And be.
...and there was much to see.
Our neighbor's Native Azalea was bestooned in bright and brilliant yellow and orange...so much so, that drivers passing stopped to see its vibrant color. The Kwanzaan Cherry down the road wore a ballgown of pink, as did the vine of pastel-yellow flowers...the name of which I can never remember. The Dogwoods, dressed in pink or white, had that wonderful simplicity of grey branches, outline of simple flowers, and a touch of green leaf. This is starting to sound like the label on a California wine bottle...but, that's really how it was. Even the weedy lavender-colored flowers (are they Bluebells?) had their own greeting to spring.
With each step, with each click of my camera, I felt a re-centering, a reconnecting. What was first a bush of color became the details of the stamen and pistils and the coat of a sunflower seed left behind on a petal by a hungry bird. The play of light through the Native Azalea, the white shadows through the Dogwood when the sun went behind a cloud...all spoke of the Creator. In that moment, I was where I was supposed to be. Through that walk, I could be fully present to what was ahead.
And, so it was. A simple walk. A time to see. A time to be. And so very needed.
(To see the collection of photos from this day, please click here: https://www.wren-photos.com/client-showcase. Then select "Spring Walk.")