Month: April 2021

“To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace.”  
Milan Kundera

• 

• 

• 

• 

Who has altered, caused destruction and ruin, polluted, littered, disrespected and disassembled so much of the Creator’s creation?

Things which have intruded upon nature ~ yes, even our homes tucked away in the woods. Many priceless jewels replaced with structures that ultimately go to ruin over time.

Do the most nourishing elements on our earth stem from the purity of the untouched? It doesn’t require much travel to witness what the plans and hands of mankind have been very adept in ruining. How can the clean, pristine, pure mountain air be replaced for something better ~ or the millions of trees which make up a forest, or magnificent rocks that create stability for mountains, or the structure of the ocean floor? Each a very specific reason for being ~

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

It's Your Earth
By Kelly Roper

It's your earth.
Will you neglect it,
Or nurture it?
Will you tend it,
Or squander it away?
The choice is yours,
But if you're going
To make a stand,
You'd better start today.

Time spent breathing fresh air, absorbing vitamins from the sunshine, drinking water trickling down a mountain rock, rolling around on fresh grass, allowing a crisp breeze to brush your skin, using the eyes to capture visual miracles, letting the ears intentionally take-in silence, giving the legs an opportunity to utilize their muscles to climb or descend, permitting the fingers to pull a fresh berry and taste it ….. nature provides each. The cost? Free.

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
 —Albert Einstein

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.
 —Henry David Thoreau

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.
 —Helen Keller

Mother Nature was entrusted to us ~ 

From a mountain girl’s heart 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Bloom ~ a beautiful process of becoming 

“Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.” Arthur Ashe

As winter’s gray sky begins to turn blue, seeds sprout to blooms and cooler days turn to warmer ones ~ a reminder to me that humans align pretty well with the typical progression of nature.

What’s been less than bright and pristine ~ things that have left us feeling cold and maybe in a time when our personal blooming (in our eyes) is minimal ~ as long as one has breath, there’s still the possibility of blooming again or maybe even for the first time.

Withered brown leaves, broken branches, flimsy stems, or timid blooms ~ possibly from too much sun, too much shade, lack of water or being overwatered, insufficient fertilizer or being scorched from the effects of over fertilizing, inappropriate placement in the environment, insufficient pruning….issues with growth always to be considered

Some flowers require very unique and specific care from an individual while others adapt and thrive beautifully simply because they’re a part of nature.

“There is a part of blooming which I did not understand, you see. You can be a flower all your life but still not understand it. Blooming is one thing; but blooming where you are planted is another. It's so easy to say, "I will bloom when I am there", but you need to be saying, "I will bloom right here, where I was planted." Because until I bloom "right here", I'm never going to actually bloom; because we cannot do it in concept, you see, we must bloom now. We must bloom here. The flower must trust.”
C. JoyBell C.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

So it is with humans ~ the responsibility rests with each to cultivate, prune, plant, re-plant, and fertilize throughout life to hopefully produce healthy blooms.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.” 

“Bloom where you are planted.” 

All photographs I took at the beautiful Young Harris College campus 4.11.21

From a mountain girl’s heart 

“Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness" Floyd W. Tomkins

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

What depicts spring and Easter more beautifully than the blossoming of colorful flowers, the growth of fresh green pasture, and the gentleness of humble animals? Each is a visible testament that our Creator has not given up on sharing beauty with us and showing us that new growth continues to occur season after season.

Whether it’s picking a single flower from the roadside or gathering an armful from a flower farm, pulling fresh strawberries from a runner, or maybe cutting the first tall grass of spring and then inhaling the fresh fragrance, or just observing the gentleness of an innocent animal and how little it asks for ~ each can bring a resurgence in our hearts and outlook and remind us that all ‘simple’ beauty is a great blessing. Sometimes enough to move us through another day. Eyes to see, ears to hear, hands to touch, the sense of smell, legs to walk.

“Open your eyes to the beauty around you, open your mind to the wonders of life, open your heart to those who love you, and always be true to yourself.”

Maya Angelou

“Now if I believe in God's Son and remember that He became man, all creatures will appear a hundred times more beautiful to me than before. Then I will properly appreciate the sun, the moon, the stars, trees, apples, as I reflect that he is Lord over all things. ...God writes the Gospel, not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.”

Martin Luther

From a mountain girl’s heart