one last rose

rosy and bright

cheer-up pansies

pansy in purple and white

~happy valentine's day~

I hope yours was short, sweet, sincere, happy, genuine, and angst-free.

The most fun I had for the holiday, or even the whole week, was cutting and pasting together my own cards. I love arts and crafts.

shazam

I don't have a tripod, but I was psyched when I figured out how to do the "exploding flowers" trick. Yes, the first day of spring according to the lunar calendar has come and gone, and there are flowers like this all over the place, but we also had a "snow warning" this weekend-- even as far south as Shikoku. I have to say I haven't seen any of the white stuff yet today.

simplicity

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.

H.D. Thoreau

water

the water of...

When I was young,

we used to have fairy tales read to us--

as many children do.

In several Russian fairy tales,

the hero first rushed headlong

at the obstacle in his way

and was chopped into pieces

and left for dead.

But the animals he had befriended

would bring him back:

one flying to fetch

the water of death,

another flying to find

the water of life.

The water of death

sprinkled over the pieces

brought his body back together;

the water of life

revived his spirit.

And then, of course,

wiser to the ways of his foe,

he would try again

and win.

water guardian II

music magic

This is a song that takes me back to childhood days in sunlit classrooms with wooden floors and the smell of chalk dust in the air. Really a wonderful movie, too.

water guardian I

ablaze

(...though admittedly, this photo looks a bit greener and darker on the blog than it does in my picture viewer. Come on, blog! Where's the passion? Where's the oomph? Where's the fire?!)