A gutter babbles
Outside my window
Steady and earnest
Sound of water’s
Erratic counterpoint
Splashes on tires
Snowflakes
Fat and sluggish
Drift from heaven
There’s a chill
In the air today
Invasive and bracing
Soaking through
Layers of clothes
And long woolen mittens
Music dances
Inside my heart
Vintage roses bloom
Happy Monday to each of you!
Elouise♥
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 2 December 2019
Vintage Roses wallpaper found at apkpure.com
The last day of November 2019
Greets morning
With peach-colored clouds
Virtually bare deciduous trees
Stalwart conifers flexing their muscles
Almost freezing temperatures
And the weary sigh of voters
Treated nonstop to the latest scoop
Or not depending on their tastes
A waking thought jolts me
Back to this present moment
Ruled by a heart once broken
Now tenderly stitched together
A stunning patchwork of colors
Plus moody longings and
Memory-driven reveries that
Nourish my soul bringing honor
To a heart long overlooked
Now my valiant heroine who
Made it through undeclared wars
And interminable neglects
To say nothing of despisements
Not of my own making
December beckons with promise
Of peace on earth and good will toward all
I want to believe.
Do you?
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 30 November 2019
Artwork by Tarryl Gabel found at artworkarchive.com
Graceful living meets death
With or without prying eyes
Spotlights or drum rolls
Transformed into works of art
Unseen before their time
Each twist and shadow
A hint of life to come
Visible only to travelers
Who pause to witness
The miracle of life renewed
In countless deaths
Breath tripping over wonder
The camera captures moments
Never to be repeated
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 26 November 2019
Photos taken by DAFraser, November 2016, while we were hiking in the hills above Glen Eyrie Conference Center in Colorado
hoard of robins
juicy holly berries
bright morning feast
scramble for preferred seats
squawks of indignation
As heard and seen on my early morning walk, along with
If you watch the video above, you’ll need to supply your own squawks of indignation!
Hoping your Monday is/was happily filled with unexpected beauty.
Elouise♥
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 25 November 2019
Video of Robins in Portland, Oregon found on YouTube
Here’s a Happy Monday poem for everybody. My comments follow.
When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”© 2006 by Mary Oliver
Published by Beacon Press in Thirst, p. 4
Today it’s sunny, bright, very cool, and breezy. I’m just back from a morning walk beneath and near trees, many towering toward the sky.
If I were an older tree right now, I’d be cowering close to the ground. Hoping no one would notice how many leaves I’ve lost, or how bent and even broken my branches are. And did you see those ugly thick roots protruding farther from the ground when the green grass turns brown?
On the other hand, maybe passersby will see how beautiful my remaining leaves are. Or listen to the music of the wind dancing around my chilly bones. Or notice that more light flows through and from my gnarly branches when those pesky, preening leaves are long gone.
I love this poem. Though it seems to have spring, summer and autumn in mind, it works for winter as well. Especially when the wind whips through iced branches, bouncing off fragile twigs and sturdy green needles. To say nothing of new snow covering everything in a down comforter.
And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”
Happy Monday!
Elouise♥
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 4 November 2019
Image of Beech Trees in Autumn found at thurmanovich.com
This morning I met a friend at Chanticleer Garden for a late autumn walk. The weather was sunny, chilly and very breezy. D wasn’t along to take photos, so I did a quick check of the Chanticleer website for recent photos. Of the nine posted here, I chose three for this post. The photographer’s name is Linda Roper.
Because we’re having a late autumn chill (so it feels to me), trees are late showing their autumn colors. Not to worry. All those nonstop rainy days in summer produced a bumper crop of beauty. Here are the other two photos.
So it wasn’t quite this picture-perfect when we were there. But it was close! A great way to begin the day and get my morning allotment of sunshine and unexpected, overflowing grace.
Elouise♥
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 23 October 2019
Linda Roper, photographer: October 2019 at Chanticleer Gardens
snow cones perched
on back porch rail posts
reach for blue sky
yew decked out
with thick white icing
bows gracefully
oak leaves lie hidden
beneath heavy white carpet
glistening in sun
I sit behind glass
basking in wonderland
this fine Sunday morn
I took the photo with my iPad – not quite as spectacular as the real thing, but good enough. I’m enjoying an Emily Dickinson Sunday morning in Nature’s cathedral—as seen from my kitchen window, with the heat turned up.
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 11 Dec 2017
Photo taken by me from my kitchen window
breathless air hangs
beneath steel-gray sky —
birds take cover
That’s what I saw outside our kitchen window this morning. Not the little bird, but the calm before a snow storm making its way up the East Coast. Right now the first flakes are coming down steadily. And I’m going into hibernation mode!
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 9 December 2017
Photo found at pinterest.com
late afternoon sun
warms exposed tree limbs
waiting for winter
Yesterday afternoon I walked outdoors in bearably cold weather. The bright sun was low in the sky, already dropping beneath tree tops. I could feel the warmth on my face, and wondered whether tree trunks and branches also felt the warmth.
How odd that trees shed their protective leaves for winter and face wind, sleet, snow and ice with bare limbs. We humans, however, pile on layers so thick that we’re scarcely recognizable in our winter combat suits. Especially as we age.
It’s challenging to see trees accept the coming winter stripped down. Naked. All their graceful, awkward or broken architecture clearly on display. Not as a sign of aging, but of strength. Perhaps even courage?
I’d like to think so. In part because I’ve always wanted to be a tree — or at least a poem lovely as a tree. A tree with roots sunk deep into the ground, finding rivers of water in underground sanctuaries untouched by human hands. Still producing fruit in its season.
Happy Friday and happy walking!
Elouise♥
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 8 December 2017
Photo found at Shutterstock
thin whistle
of white-throated sparrow
hangs in mid-air
The first I’ve heard this December. A sign of cold weather ahead? I’m never sure how to interpret this one-of-a-kind winter song. It’s always thin and high-pitched, and often trails off as though frozen in the air. Nothing like the full-throated winter call of the tiny house wren.
Is the sparrow announcing its presence? Maintaining boundaries? Better, perhaps it’s defying all preconceptions about its stamina, determination, survival instincts and importance in the greater order of this world. Reminding me life is greater and perhaps more precious than human existence inside a pre-heated igloo full of comfort and convenience props.
I love my heated dwelling and all my squirreled-away survival rations. I adore the sound and feel of precious radiator heat on a cold morning. I willingly tolerate the heart-stopping roar of my morning Vitamix machine. It enables me to sit at my kitchen table looking out the window, listening for sounds of outdoor creatures and imbibing my half-digested breakfast. Imagining I’m roughing it.
© Elouise Renich Fraser, 6 December 2017
Photo found at Audubon.com
Telling the Truth 