A Brief Walk In The Woods

Midsummer eve (June 23) was a quiet, almost uneventful day save for the traditional celebration to welcome the Midsummer in the Nordic lands. Families and friends gathered together for a picnic somewhere. The streets were devoid of people and vehicles, the homes equally quiet as if everything froze in time. 

Hubby and I drove away the day's ennui by taking a walk in the woods, somewhere not far from the city. 

It was meant to be an ornithological trip, but it turned out to be a botanical one, photographically speaking. 

Actually, the whole area teemed with different kinds of birds, but we couldn't see them as they were concealed by the thick foliage. We only knew that they were there through their calls and songs that resounded in the woods.

To allay my disappointment for not being able to see and photograph the birds, I diverted my attention to the forest's flora, which I also love to explore. My eyes are always captivated by the minuteness of the mosses and lichens, and I keep macro-shooting the same kinds every time I see them.☺❤

Considering these creations, the big and the small, also works wonders on one's well-being, just like any hobbies do. 

So glided this day by. The otherwise dull day became sprinkled with bits of sunshine that I gleaned from this short walk in the woods.

When we came back home, this 22 degrees solar halo graced the sky.

On my way to find a location for a better vantage point, I saw this bird, probably a Eurasian nuthatch, already resting for the night in its smug little home.

As the night deepened, the solar halo gradually emitted an upper tangent arc that stayed in the night sky for quite a time. And that wrapped up this day.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has even put eternity in their heart....
I have come to know that everything the true God makes will endure forever."
- Ecclesiastes 3:11, 14

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And Then Came Summer

Spring has glided by after staying almost unnoticeably. Its telltale signs were not as striking and sweeping as they should be. It snowed for the most part of the season, hindering the vegetation from budding and the buds from popping out. ( check out Crazy May to see how spring looked like) As it inched closer to its end, all the leaves and flowers suddenly burst forth.

And then came summer. ( Summer solstice this year was June 21) . With all the warmth and sunshine, the young greens of spring rushed to deeper, mature greens as the summer flowers broke out. The succeeding days came to be mottled with the vibrantly colorful blooms of both spring and summer, like two generations in juxtaposition.

Then out of the blue, most of the blooming bushes and trees that I'm fond of became wrapped up in a plethora of blossoms in sundry colors. Their deliciously sweet scents floating in the air invigorate me as I walk around with a spring in my steps.

At this time too, the air reverberates with the songs and calls of birds in a delightful choral crescendo. Sometimes when hubby and I take a little walk in the woods in search of new birds, although we can't see the birds due to the denseness of the foliage, we can actually hear the whole forests singing in a pleasant ensemble of  assorted birds.

Of course, our birding activities keep in stride with the heightening bustle in the ornithological sphere. We keep moving about, mostly in the evenings, to the woods, lakes, ponds and riversides to see about the new birds around our city. (I'm going to write about the development of my birding endeavors in my future blog.)

Needless to say, but I say it once more, that summer nights are awash with the light of the sun that doesn't sink below the horizon. Oh, yes, it's bright all night long! No sky luminaries are visible during this season except the sun by night and the moon by day. The other way around, huh? If sleep were not necessary, we would have 24-hour outdoor activities to take full advantage of all the lights that this short season spills out.

Midsummer's eve, June 23, came charmingly with this fringed sun halo looming steadily in the sky from around 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

The following day was Midsummer, which was ironically a gloomy and rainy day. That was supposed to be a day full of sunshine and colorful flowers and all the lovely things that are quintessential of a true summer, but it didn't go well this year. The weather remained unaltered the day after. And then the following days came round to the real spirit of summer.

And so marches the summer on. And so goes my summer watching on as I march with the season. And I respond wholeheartedly to its pleasant call. And I believe that these gifts in nature that our loving Creator lavishes on us are a nourishment for the soul.

My life is still and will always be at one with the marvels of creation. My life story keeps being written mystically by the constant changes of the natural world. My love for our Creator, my appreciation and gratitude for his daily gifts that abound all over us define who I am.

"The day belongs to you, also the night.

You made the light and the sun.

You set up all the boundaries of the earth;

You made SUMMER and winter." 

- Psalm 74:16,17

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Floral Bliss