i thank You God for most this amazing day

I THANK YOU GOD FOR MOST THIS AMAZING

Photo I took in 2013 at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

     
                                          i thank You God for most this amazing

                                          day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

                                          and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything

                                          which is natural which is infinite which is yes

                                          (i who have died am alive again today,

                                          and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth

                                          day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay

                                          great happening illimitably earth)

                                          how should tasting touching hearing seeing

                                          breathing any–lifted from the no

                                          of all nothing–human merely being

                                          doubt unimaginable You?

                                          (now the ears of my ears awake and

                                           now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

-- e.e. cummings (1894-1962)
#poetry #gratitude #thanks #Nature #nola #Episcopal

Poem found at: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2013/10/26

And here is a GORGEOUS choral composition written by Eric Whitacre (b. 1970) sung by The Stanford Chamber Chorale and the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, under the direction of Stephen Layton. * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMbSY7b0fuM

An Afternoon in NOLA City Park

Sometimes in the winter and often in the spring, I LOVE to take some time out and go to City Park (New Orleans) to chill amongst the beauty! 

I semi-regularly go to the walking track near the NOLA Museum of Art and actually exercise, but avoid it like the plague in summertime because it's approximately one billion degrees and a million percent humidity here. If that sounds like it's an exaggeration, it's not.....it's completely true.

                               

Anyway, before I moved to NOLA, apparently most of City Park was comprised of golf courses and while there has only been one in the almost ten years I've lived here, post-Katrina, they are now being re-developed. So, a giant swath of the park will no longer be the lovely, natural, and free area I've known it to be. 

                        

It always makes me so happy to drive through the Harrison Avenue cut-through and see people out playing with their dogs or kids. On some Tuesdays after my St. Paul's staff mtg and in my way to UNO, I stop and sit for a little while with my morning coffee. I haven't been able to in a while since I have lessons now on Tuesdays, but I do still steal some Friday afternoon time or weekend time to go and read in some of my favorite spots! 

                          

I've been soooooooooo happy over the years to see the lovely Spanish moss returning to the trees! Though I was a new resident after hurricane Katrina, I noticed its absence and it struck me as rather odd for this Savannah / sub-tropical climate area. 

City Park helps me relax. It gives me (and countless others) a place to be out "in the wild" without driving outside city limits and while being relatively (and arguably) safe because roads are nearby, it's reasonably populated, and one still probably has cell phone service. 

                       

I love the place. While it's exciting (and brings the city tons of revenue and glitz, I'm sad to have seen the start of rebuilding the golf courses. I have no idea how many of them they're planning to rebuild, but I surely hope there will be some of my favorite places left when it's all said and done!

PS. Two weeks ago, a whole field was covered in giant, beautiful thistle! 

                         

i thank You God for most this amazing

                                   I THANK YOU GOD FOR MOST THIS AMAZING

City Park, NOLA in March 2015

                                        i thank You God for most this amazing

                                        day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

                                        and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything

                                        which is natural which is infinite which is yes

                                        (i who have died am alive again today,

                                        and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth

                                        day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay

                                        great happening illimitably earth)

                                        how should tasting touching hearing seeing

                                        breathing any–lifted from the no

                                        of all nothing–human merely being

                                        doubt unimaginable You?

                                        (now the ears of my ears awake and

                                        now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

                                                                   -- e.e. cummings (1894-1962)
                                        #poetry #gratitude #thanks #Nature #nola #Episcopal

Poem found at: http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2013/10/26 
And here is a GORGEOUS choral composition written by Eric Whitacre (b. 1970) sung by The Stanford Chamber Chorale and the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, under the direction of Stephen Layton. * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMbSY7b0fuM

butterfly I saw at UNO on a pretty purple flowering bush

Thistle at NOLA City Park, March 2015

The Angel Oak on John's Island, SC

Today, my Mom and I went driving around John's Island, South Carolina and to Kiawah Island, where we used to live before it became one giant golf course. In fact, when we moved there from Columbia, SC, there were still wild horses on the island, two thirds of it was undeveloped, and the Vanderhorst Plantation was still standing and accessible. Kiawah is still absolutely gorgeous, but not a place I would ever EVER want to live again. Too isolated, too expensive, and too....elite for my personal taste. One the way back toward Charleston, we came upon Resurrection road and decided to explore that. It featured a gigantic, plantation style home and a few other houses on the water. It also seemed that the forest around it was filled with blue, beautiful hydrangeas! Cool! I'd nevertheless seen them in a forest before.

After the road ended, we had lunch off of Maybank Highway and then turned back toward Bohicket road turns into Main road. There, along Bohicket road, lies many a dusty dirt road, leading off to either water, farm, or someone's home. The Angel Oak is off of one of these roads. Once down a ways, you park along the roadside and THERE IT IS!!! 

The Angel Oak is by no means the largest of the oldest tree in the US, but one of the largest live oaks around the US and is an astounding gigantic and ancient tree! It's 1500 years old and is about 65 feet tall. It provides 17,000 feet of shade. In a Carolina summer, one greatly appreciates ANY shade! You can read more about The Angel Oak HERE or even HERE (This site has glorious photos!)

I'm not normally a fan of wooded areas (too creepy quiet and isolated for me), but rather, I adore large, open green spaces and beaches or having a view on an edge of a mountain. 

Anyway, The Angel Oak was actually so big that it provided sunlit spots in between its shadows and SUCH a large area that it felt breezy and open. It was SO INVITING! Also, the people there today were all pretty quiet and everyone was amazed so it was a nice, bonding experience of smiles with my fellow humans :-)

I thought that it might be nice to capture some video of this giant oak since pictures cannot do it justice! Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/-6DjxLn11jY