Monday Muse - Blue Zones

Some time ago, I read about Blue Zones, places on earth where people live the longest. I discovered their website recently and have been enjoying their series of videos about Ikaria, Greece, the most recently discovered Blue Zone. It is fascinating to consider the reasons for longevity as one compares the various Blue Zones. In particular, what fascinates me is the deep sense of connection to friends and family that most of these long-lived persons experience. It is a common thread between the various regions, though they are scattered across our beautiful planet. The video is a great introduction to the study of Blue Zones.



If you have some time to explore, here is a link to the website:
http://www.bluezones.com/

The blue tab labelled "Ikaria" will take you to the series of short videos about Ikaria, Greece that I have really been enjoying.

Sunday Stroll - Sunlight

The sky was so blue and the light so beautiful today, that I took three walks. These photos are from a late afternoon walk to the lake, where sunlight was dancing over wind-tossed waves.

In the fields above the lake, there are remnants of last year's harvest... whole cobs of bright yellow corn, with the brittle brown husks blowing away... bits of honeycomb from hives that were taken away for the winter... and closer to home, ruby red lettuce has sprouted in the herb bed where seeds fell in the autumn.

Where ever you are, whatever the weather, I wish you beautiful light.

all photos by Aisling, March 28, 2010

Sunday Stroll Invitation

"Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty."
- William Shakespeare

If you have time this week for a Sunday Stroll, please post about it on your blog and then come back here with a comment etting me know that you are joining in, and please include a link to your post. You may use the Sunday Stroll button at the top of this post on your post or sidebar if you would like. I will add participant names to this post so that other strollers may walk through your garden too. I'll check back as often as my day allows and try to keep the list updated. Enjoy the day!

Look who's strolling:
Margaret at Periodic Pearls
Cloudhands At Uncarved Block
Child in Harmony

Spring Break

"Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is."
~ Thomas S. Szasz

Today is the first day of spring break in our community... I still have one course to attend this coming week because I am dual-enrolled, and my university does not have spring break the same week as my college. Ah well! I don't have much planned, and am in fact looking forward to some lazy, unscheduled time. This will also be my time to catch up on school projects, as the end of the semester grows swiftly near. Maybe, just maybe, I will also be able to catch up on reading and commenting on my favorite blogs!

Poetry Thursday - The End of March

"It was cold and windy, scarcely the day
to take a walk on that long beach
Everything was withdrawn as far as possible,
indrawn: the tide far out, the ocean shrunken,
seabirds in ones or twos.
The rackety, icy, offshore wind
numbed our faces on one side;
disrupted the formation
of a lone flight of Canada geese;
and blew back the low, inaudible rollers
in upright, steely mist."

- Elizabeth Bishop, The End of March

This is just the kind of day we are having here... wind gusts up to 30 mph, a plummeting temperature throughout the day, and moody skies above. It sounds like we have two days of this brief return to cold weather, and then Saturday may bring rain, but warmer temperatures. Welcome to spring!

A Quick Note

I've added another stroller

to the list of Sunday Strolls from yesterday,

so please scroll down to find her!

Sunday Stroll - Softly

Evening fell softly on our northern hills...

on the first blossoms of spring...
on petals falling softly open, and on petals folding softly together.

Shadows fell across the garden trail,

as golden sun spilled across the eastern hill beyond the garden.

The sun slid down the western sky,

and the world glowed.

all photos by Aisling, March 21, 2010

Sunday Stroll Invitation

" Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson


If you have time this week for a Sunday Stroll, please post about it on your blog and then come back here with a comment and a link to your post. You may use the Sunday Stroll button at the top of this post on your post or sidebar if you would like. I will add participant names to this post so that other strollers may walk through your garden too. I'll check back as often as my day allows and try to keep the list updated. Enjoy the day!

Look who's strolling:

Abbie at Farmer's Daughter

Margaret at Periodic Pearls

Cloudhands at Uncarved Block

Child in Harmony

Sunday Stroll - Emerging

Unexplained rock collections reveal that my boys have been

getting outside more often with the arrival of warmer weather.

Amid the gray and brown leaf litter left by last year's garden, bits of green are emerging.

There are daffodil shoots under the lavender.There is Sage ,

and cucumber-scented salad burnet,

hyacinth,

and tulips

The still gray treeline stands beneath cloud flecked March skies,

waiting for the official arrival of Spring before busrting into green.

Where ever you are, whatever the weather,

I wish you all the beauty and freshness of Spring Green.

all photos by Aisling, March 14, 2010

Sunday Stroll Invitation

"Walking around
an early spring garden--
going nowhere."
- Kyoshi


If you have time this week for a Sunday Stroll, please post about it on your blog and then come back here with a comment and a link to your post. You may use the Sunday Stroll button at the top of this post on your post or sidebar if you would like. I will add participant names to this post so that other strollers may walk through your garden too. I'll check back as often as my day allows and try to keep the list updated. Enjoy the day!

Sunday Stroll - Snow and Sand

My daughter and I walked down the trail to the park,

in the sparkling hours of a March afternoon.

All over town, smiling people were walking their dogs.
As we walked along the river, the mallards splashed and preened.

A maze of snow fence framed our first glimpse of the bay.
Looking out toward the open water,

dreams of warm sand and sunshine began to stir.We tried to touch the blue, blue sky...
my daughter and I.

Where ever you are, whatever the weather, I wish you happy wanderings.

photos by Aisling, March 7, 2010

Sunday Stroll Invitiation

"A light exists in Spring
Not present in the year
at any other period
When March is scarcely here."
- Emily Dickinson

If you have time this week for a Sunday Stroll, please post about it on your blog and then come back here with a comment and a link to your post. You may use the Sunday Stroll button at the top of this post on your post or sidebar if you would like. I will add participant names to this post so that other strollers may walk through your garden too. I'll check back as often as my day allows and try to keep the list updated. Enjoy the day!

Look who's strolling today:

Ruth at Musings of an Everyday Woman
Margaret at Periodic Pearls

Inspiration & Apology

"A flash a flare a wind of great wings, Heron's equally Significant Other flushes from the dry spartina leaping, a cool gray fire. Hardly the span of a tall man's arm is between us, she settles like smoke and we stand eye to eye. Now it is me who must remain, transfixed by her flame.

The Mystery of Great Blue Heron and his mate is not solved by science or by sovereignty. They appear, they vanish, they reappear. If the feel of the marsh is emptiness and even the air is still that is the time for patience. Do not hurry. Make no sound. Walking, use stealth. Watching, do not move. When Stillness pursues what is Still, all things are revealed."
~Mark Seth Lender

I am sorry for not posting my usual Sunday Stroll Invitation. We were without internet from Saturday morning through just a few minutes ago. I feel much more connected to the world now!
I heard the beautiful snippet of poetic prose copied above on the radio today from Mark Seth Lender's Salt Marsh Diary. We have herons visit our pond each year and these words resonate with me. The writer so perfectly captures the beauty of a wildlife encounter. You can visit his website here: Salt Marsh Diary or read about him at the website of Living on Earth, the NPR radio program on which I heard these inspiring thoughts.

Margaret, the diligent, strolled despite my radio-silence yesterday. You can find her stroll at Periodic Pearls.