Sunday, April 10, 2011

swan song for sakura


These pretty pink petals won't be with us much longer.

(Actually, it's a dreadful title. I can't imagine anything further from the cheerful chirruping of sparrows than the melodramatic gloom associated with the 'death song' of swans. Still, it'll have to do for now.)

(That's odd. I've a funny urge to watch Pirates of the Caribbean movies now.)

;)

twinkle, twinkle


The petals are falling...

make a wish

Sunday, April 3, 2011

sakura

dream within a dream

(And now, back to our regularly scheduled broadcast.)

content

innocent

I don't know what this one is called, either. :/

too late

inquisitive

Despite its coloring, I'm quite sure this isn't a robin. Anyone know what it is?
この鳥の種類は分かりません。御存知の方、コメントで教えて下さい!

seeking



social

intrepid

your soul in neglect


This local eyesore never fails to arrest my attention whenever I walk by it. Until now, I never thought to take a picture of it, because, of course, it's so ugly. But the other day, I happened to have my camera in hand, and the scene suggested something beyond itself. Thinking it over today, I decided that while "neglect" may be an apt title for the photo, that something that it points to is, in my view, the human soul neglected.

Once that connection was made, another sprang to mind; Christopher West's analogy in many of his Theology of the Body speeches, about fallen human nature being like cars with flat tires. You can't go fast or far, and you certainly can't enjoy the trip if your car has even one flat tire. But hemmed in by underbrush and nearly reclaimed by nature, I'm afraid this car--call it a combination of fallen nature and long personal neglect of one's own soul--won't be going anywhere on its own power again.

While it lies covered in leaves and tangled branches, it will always be an anomaly. Though it may host any number of wild creatures, it will never be a mere mound of earth or a rotting stump. It was made to drive.

And the human spirit was made to soar.

the sea urchins make a new friend

"And now for something... completely different."

Time for a short break in the usual fare of flowers and twigs I've been subjecting you to for the last several weeks! I took a particularly good walk the other day, part of which brought me near the sea, and when I peered into the water, there were starfish all over the place. Upon closer inspection, sea urchins also abounded. I didn't think I would get a good shot, since the waves were a little rough, but when I passed that way again, the sun was higher and that allowed for a faster aperture speed, meaning the motion wasn't a big issue.

And, although I've put the word "friend" in the title, for all I know the urchins may be trying to feast on the starfish... I'm no marine biologist.