In Search of Spring... in Which we Pause to be Grateful for the Beauty Around Us
I don't know if it's due to general weariness or a lack of inspiration... but sometimes the idea of sitting down and writing some "serious" treatise on the intricacies of the human mind... or another episode of "As The Steemit Turns"... just exhausts me.
They are a bit prosaic, but cherry blossoms ARE very pretty
Life, sometimes, is just freakin' exhausting.
It gets exhausting in the sense that I feel like I am paddling my kayak upstream... and whereas I am a good paddler, and when I paddle hard I gain ground... the instant I stop paddling (because maybe I just want to sleep, or look at the landscape, or just fucking REST) it feels like I start sliding backwards towards the waterfall into the abyss.
And so, at moments like these, I try to break state.
Protection Island, from the top of our street
When I was maybe eight or nine, I first rejected the notion of "religion" and used the phrase "Nature Is My Church."
I think I said it — and still say it — because there is so much beauty around us, and often so much ugliness in the way people treat each other, all in the name of... GOD.
Forsythia in bloom, further down the street
And so, I walk in the great outdoors, and appreciate the moments of beauty, even those some part of my psyche is aware that my little kayak is slowly sliding backwards on the current.
Because. I. Just. Need. To. REST.
It has been a very long, cold and wet spring here.
So far, this month, we have had ONE day where there wasn't measurable rainfall. ONE day of 17.
It's still winter up there... some years, the snow is almost gone by mid-April
Up in the mountains, they usually start packing up the snow removal gear at the Interstate pass around the beginning of April. This year...? No so much. In fact, there was another 14" (35cm) of new snow up there, last night. The year's total has passed 500" (that's 12.7 meters of snow...), and it's still growing.
Around here it is lush, beyond belief.
I love the vibrant bright colors here... they give me hope, somehow
I need to mow our patch of lawn, but it keeps raining all the time... so we have a verdant meadow filled with dandelions.
Anyway, this post isn't about anything deep and meaningful-- instead, I am just sharing some spring photos from the brief period of SUNSHINE we enjoyed today, sandwiched between this morning's torrential downpour and this evening's pervasive cold drizzle.
My neighbor's azalea thinks it's spring...
In a sense, this is a mini version of @lyndsaybowes' popular #walkwithme series. Hope it's OK to do it like this, Lyndsay!
Have a marvelous day, all!
Hope you got your taxes done, if you're here in the US and believe in doing that sort of thing!
Peace, out...
How about YOU? Where do you find your moments of peace and relaxation when life seems overwhelming, and you're just TIRED? Do you find nature healing? Or is it just a place with a lot of bugs? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
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Created at 180418 01:13 PDT
Great pics and nice colors ! :)
Thank you!
oh goodness @denmarkguy I had a good laugh at this -
Not at your expense, but simply because it is so TRUE!!! I lived like that for 17 years of my life, and really does leave you broken tired
Life is so much "go go go" and it can really become SO overwhelming. It is so imperative that we MAKE the time to "STOP". If we don't respect that, we will find out the hard way through things like illness, mental and emotional breakdowns, heart attacks and worse.
I have learnt now, that taking time out to slow down and appreciate the goodness of life, is within itself a replenishing act and not a waste of time as so many people seem to view it.
For me, I would have to say that I am on the same page as you in that respect.... nature is my number one go to.... That and music. Music is key in my world..... oh, and let me not forget wine, because someone that knows me is BOUND to chirp... hahaha ;)
Hah! I have on a number of occasions told people that "Music is my mind-altering substance of choice." And that really is true; I can't imagine living without the almost constant audio backdrop; the soundtrack of life.
Some years ago, there was actually a "movement" started around "Voluntary Simplicity" as a response to the endless complexification of modern life. I tend to fall increasingly into that corner... don't get me wrong, I love the comforts of life and art and things, but less is definitely more... more and more.
Wine is an incentive to chillax... sunsets on a warm day are best enjoyed with wine.
Oh yes, I totally agree @denmarkguy.... thats why I love living in Cape Town... plenty of both to enjoy... (being wine and sunsets... hahaha)
You know when I need to rest I go in our backyard where we have a Cabana and some plants. I'll get some ice tea or water and just chill back there. It is a very small yard ( as most Texas neighborhoods are) but it's quaint and cosey and it really lets my Mind unravel.
Anyway @denmarkguy don't feel guilty at all. We all need to just rest. It may seem like your going backwards in that "Kayak" but I think it may be your Mind playing tricks on you.
I would say you are one of The Steemians ( imo) who is going great places with Steemit. By most standards you already are.
But I think you will keep moving up and beyond.
Keep on keeping on and thanks for your high quality Content :)
Thanks for the encouragement @robertandrew; appreciate it!
I do make a point of getting out and about, and I find it to be very healing. Sometimes I just get caught up in recognizing just how much I end up being on the "hamster wheel," even as a self-employed person.
It's funny, your words remind me of the places I lived when I was in Texas (for almost 20 years) and even though there is SO much space in the Lone Star State, it seemed like we always lived in neighborhoods where the houses were six to an acre. Go figure!
As for Steemit, I enjoy the community and the interaction... and try to avoid having any delusions that this is somehow my "work" (as some people sadly do, and end up very disappointed). With very few exceptions, people here are blogging, not working. So I just plug on and try to do my best at that!
You are ahead of we in coastal New England Cape Cod, as I see now, as I type this, the bobbing wet heads of our daffs, still tight in bud with only the slightest slice of yellow to give hint of their colour.
Today we have rain, yesterday it was warm and sunny. We seem to get one day warm sun, next day cold wet, etc. I was hoping to get more mulch spread today, but that has now gone on tomorrow's list, Nature doesn't like lists.
We have had such a cold Winter this year too and temperatures colder than in my own living memory; funny old thing: weather.
I hope you enjoy your moments between the raindrops.
Enjoying it as best I can, Donna!
We seem to be having a little bit of a respite since I wrote this, and I'm grateful. Started mowing our lawn, which is proving a challenge!
Last year at this time we had already mowed our lawns twice this year they have not as yet needed it. The cooler Spring is actually fine with me as it is giving me time to get thing done before the plants really start to bolt. I was just laying my last mulch yesterday and the hostas were just beginning to peek their little shoots out of the ground.
HA! I felt my soul leave my body a little there. I spend literally every day behind my screen, people don't enjoy nature enough. I genuinely feel like visiting a beach or even just a short walk can rejuvenate a person.
Where in the U.S. is this? You make it sound like you live in Alaska with how cold it is—that or Maine. Thank you for sharing the scenery, for God knows this is the closest I'm getting to a hike today c:
Mahalo,
@shello
Hi @shello, I'm in northwestern Washington state, on the Olympic Peninsula. It doesn't really get super cold here at sea level-- it's just a pervasive 35 degrees and rain all the time in the winter, with a few occasional snowfalls. But once you get above 4000 feet, it has been the eternal winter this season. Yikes! The snowfall total at Stevens Pass currently sits at 510" this year...
Yeah, it's important to take some technology breaks. I think we go a little stir crazy if we don't.
Hey there @denmarkguy,
Northwestern is right, you're almost in Canada already! (I looked at a map to see where you were) 35 degrees sounds like a frozen tundra to me, when I was living in Massachusettes it was around 40-60 a lot.
THAT'S A LOT OF SNOW. I'm freezing balls at 70 degrees now, don't know how you do it xD
It really is. I think we were all a little crazy already, but the immersion in tech doesn't help the cause. You are a mountain man in my eyes now c:
Mahalo,
@shello
We're slightly ahead in the Deep South. I have spent most of the past four days on my knees pulling out the "not flower" things coming up in great profusion. At least I'm closer to the earth and can feel and smell the richness of warm earth.
It could be worse! So far, so good.
Ah yes, the "not flower things" are doing extraordinarily well around here-- we seem to be growing an exceptionally fine crop of stinging nettles this year. But I think I get what you mean... there's something rather peaceful and nurturing about getting out there and "getting your hands in the dirt."
The politically inconvenient climate change has moved the average temperature zone northward from us over the past decade and we're struggling with new, invasive grasses and weeds that have reached the bothersome stage. It's always something!
all that global warming is getting to you izit?
Oh, we're totally in the middle of global warming. My buddy at the University of Chicago says we're in a 15,000, or maybe 17,000(?) year warming cycle.
We're also in year two of an 11-year mini ice age, related to sunspot activity.
Cycles happen.
Have been, for millions of years.
Now... humans creating BS? That's a whole different thing...
we're seventeen thousand and twenty years into a seventeen thousand year warming cycle?
Todd threw a bunch of science speak at me to suggest that global warming is "real" but "Global Warming" is also a political football that has little to do with actual science. But I think you already know that...
Anyway, as I understood it, we're in a warming cycle that started with the melting during the last ice age which ended 12,000-ish years ago. So we have another 3000-5000 years of warming to look forward to. The "mini ice age" thing is a bit of a misnomer, but a "quiet sun" can reduce global temps by about 1 degree. I tend to trust him from the angle that he has no political interest, he's just a climatologist and cares about numbers and stuff.
it's called an 'inter-glacial'...and it started off 'warm' (melted the glaciers didn't it?)...and oddly enough has been cooling ever since..
of course there are cycles...it gets warmer, then cooler...but the warm HIGHS have been getting consistently lower and the cold LOWS...have been too.
It might be that we're coming to the end of the interglacial...or already have.
or...in a more understandable format complete with helpful historical annotations
from a bit longer perspective.
when he said global warming is 'real' he left off one word.
it's real PROFITABLE...all those grants and things.
it's a cash cow.
This was out in the field behind my house about 10 days ago. But it's all melted off now. But snowed just a bit two days ago. Yep, that global warming has got me down! Oh, and as far as the creek you are paddling up. Is that Shit Creek by chance? Had to laugh at the remark, "As the Steemit Turns" . I'm going to be bold here and attach another pic. This is where I go for refuge just about every day. The Carson River. Very few people go to this little nook I've found. Why? Well, hell, they have to walk a half mile and theres no nice paved path. Amazing. But good for me. Nature: this is where I feel most at home, most whole, and sane and at peace. I don't do well with our crazy culture and frenetic people dashing madly about. I do love Steemit simply because I can write and somehow be more here, show parts of myself that I don't in... what?, reality? But Steemit is reality too. Anyway, today my daughter is getting married up at Lake Tahoe, on the beach. Cold but she doesn't care. It's going to happen. Many blessings. Don't put the paddle down.
enjoy spring... the time when everything gets charged with new energy... even the rocks seem more alive at this time of the year*.
Amen!
Yeah, it just a "coming back to life" thing.
The fact that I work in a basement situation with no windows also makes me more appreciative of the light.
Thanks for this nice post! I do find walking in general quite meditative and relaxing, but the best thing is to have a good hike in the woods. Also taking (and making) photographs is something that helps me a lot.
Nature is definitely a good meditation for me, as well... I do a lot of what I call "walking meditations."