nature – robin maderich – write-brained scribbler and crafter-on-the-loose

Listen to the Quiet

This is worth a watch. It is a beautiful, touching, heartrending reminder of what we stand to lose if we don’t wake up and accept the responsibility of stewardship, of caring, of realizing we are not the only ones in this world who matter.

D is for Delight

I had another D word in mind when I initially sat down to write this blog. Demented, however, would have been a rather brief but virulent topic. Instead of venting, I settled on something more, well, delightful. Something simple to maybe lift the spirit.

First, we’ll start with daffodils, those lovely harbingers of Spring. Mine are as yet mere buds, perhaps delayed by the all the snow we had recently. However, I dug up this photo of mine from a prior Spring.

C is for Constant

Like the ringing in my ears? No. Well, yeah, sure, if it helps the point.

When we are very young, the constants in our lives seem so very certain. Or maybe just my life. As a child, I had been privileged to live a life where I didn’t experience a ton of fear and insecurity. I know that was not the same for many in this country and around the world. I never expected to find myself without a roof over my head or in the middle of chaotic violence or any number of things people faced and still do on a daily basis. That would have been, in my young mind, absurd. We were fed. We played in the sun. Summers were long. Friends were everywhere. Families meant everything.

Gardens of Delight

I’m going to share a secret with you–my gardens are in horrendous shape. All of them. Yet, they still delight me, they are still filled with flowers which have returned to bloom again, as well as others I have recently planted, thriving among weeds and overgrowth and, well, you get the picture.

Again, with the peonies?

Of course. I love my peonies. I’m probably boring everyone with photos of peonies, but every year they fill the air with the most wondrous fragrance and the blooms grow more abundantly each season. I love the ethereal look of them, the way the ants industriously get them to bloom, the delicate, soft feel, the way they sit in a container so prettily… Okay, enough already, right?

I can’t help it. I love my peonies. And I guess they’re not really mine. They’re nature’s peonies, but they happen to reside in my garden.

Rainy Days and Fridays

I know the song is Rainy Days and Mondays, but it happened to be a rainy Friday when these pictures were taken. I walked around in a rain that had turned to mist, noting how green the plants have all become, how lush the ferns, how the droplets clung to the surfaces, especially the hosta’s broad leaves. The shade garden looks a bit like a secret world calling to me.

hostas have a way of thriving, even these that get more sunshine than they used to since the tree once shading them is no longer standing

the ferns weren’t this lush last year – I could hide in them now

It’s a Love-Hate Thing…

Well, sort of, anyway. The past few years, I have found driving in the snow a bit annoying, especially when the weather is unexpected, the roads aren’t cleared, cars are in places they have no business being, and a one to one-and-a-quarter hour commute from work to home can take upwards of four.

But I absolutely love the stark crystalline beauty of snow. Which I guess is the yin and yang in me. After all, how can I feel that way, when I am also so enamored of flowers in riotous bloom, the gentle new green of Spring, the flaming colors of Autumn? I suppose it’s Nature that I love, in all its glory, even at its most overwhelming.

Lehigh County – when the levee breaks…

There was no levee. I only liked the sound of it as a title, while the Led Zeppelin song played in my head. What broke loose was a raincloud of immense capacity, which caused the worst flooding of the Hosensack Creek that I have seen in the nearly two decades I’ve lived here. My neighbor said in the 45 years of his residence, flooding had never been this bad. Unfortunately, there’s more heavy rain predicted for tomorrow.

Lehigh County – After the Rain

A short ride from my home (or an ambitious walk) is a view across the valley to the hills. In this photo the hills are blue with distance, although on sunny days one might find them green with the trees that clothe them. A short downpour had just ended as I arrived and I happily climbed from my car to photograph the scene. What I like most about this photo is the water droplets still clinging to the vegetation.

Rain makes changes to the environment, both subtle and extreme. In this photo, which I took following a brief but heavy downpour, one can still see the raindrops clinging to the hardy Queen Anne’s Lace with the rain clouds visible in the background. The earth looked refreshed and rejuvenated by the rainfall, and totally inviting. I could have remained there looking out over the valley for hours.

Lehigh County – Into the Wild

As stated in my prior brief blog (Roadside Ferns – the photograph of which is above and will be used as the feature image for the Lehigh County blog), I am sharing the beauty and history of Lehigh and areas nearby. This photo is among my favorites, and was taken some years back right on my very own property. Over time, nature’s cantankerous weather has changed the path of this creek which has been listed as one of the top ten pristine waterways in the county. Though the creek and the woods bordering it are still lovely, when I look at this photo I realize I will never see this scene as it is depicted here again. I’m glad I had the camera in my hand that day.

This very primal scene of stark contrast depicts barren winter trees reflected in the pool created in Hosensack Creek by the land’s curve around a fallen ash tree. This photograph illustrates the wild beauty that can still be found.