A Solstice Stroll

While my four footed companion has long been accustomed to a walk in the morning, lately Jack has started asking for an evening walk as well. I try to accommodate him when possible for I think it does us both good.  Yesterday, we were out a little later than usual so when we came across these callas, I did not think there was enough light to photograph the dark flowers. However, their color and shape intrigued me.   Last night I thought they looked like heralding trumpets announcing summer; this morning I think of birds who might be doing the same thing. 

I also received this poem on the first day of summer, and the line "small silences between the leaves" has stayed with me. Yesterday morning I took a few minutes to pause between the leaves of a tree I walk by twice a month. People were waiting for me, so I could not linger as long as the poet wisely prescribes, but long enough for a smile to come to me as I walked on.  
  

This morning I am reminded to never underestimate the available light. It is always enough to guide our journeys at least a  little further on. 

To Look at Any Thing
 
To look at any thing,
If you would know that thing,
You must look at it long:
To look at this green and say,
"I have seen spring in these
Woods," will not do - you must
Be the thing you see:
You must be the dark snakes of
Stems and ferny plumes of leaves,
You must enter in
To the small silences between
The leaves,
You must take your time
And touch the very peace
They issue from.
 
~ John Moffitt ~

(Teaching With Fire, edited by S. M. Intrator and M. Scribner)

Panhala