Flowers and Macros

Toad (2-3 years old)

Tortoiseshell Butterfly

 

 

Newly emerged Frog

 

 

Spider macro - ok, yuk but still amazing 

 

Chain links

 

Begonia

 

Dahlia

 

Buddleia

 

Red Water lily

Secret

There is a part of the garden

Not even the dog has found
Secret, undiscovered terrain
And I shall never tell its location
At night its secret paths are lit
With the moonlight and lamps
Arias about starlight and loss
Float on the warm evening air
On scents of honeysuckle and freesia
And I am within Elvendom
Where love waits ever wanting

Tynemouth Flowers

Macro close-ups taken by Nick with a canon 650D (what a good camera can do)

Alates

In the heat of the fading day

Three weeks earlier than last year
Alates fly out in honeymoon swarms
To live a whole life in a day
Swallow dodging and making love
Till prisoning earth reclaims the females
Leaving nothing behind but wings and males
Homunculus frogs hop on dusty roads
Move by stealth into the shorter days
Upon these heady green days of heat
And if the world can usurp time so
Am I three weeks older because of it?

Cosmic Horizons

I made a tray of muffins

I think there were twenty four
No two were exactly the same
So I baked more
One billion to be exact
Fixed variables
Endless space
And unlimited numbers
Means identicality is assured
In some of them  
Perhaps hundreds of them
Slice upon slice
Of repetition and cake

Garden July

Frog

Find the frog in the picture below

Migration

So the conjecture goes

One beat of a wing
As a hummingbird gathers nectar
May cause waves
Halfway across the globe
If the theory were true
What of a Monarch's migration?
All the way from America to Mexico
If it were true, that act alone
Would surely take the Earth
Beyond the gravity of Pluto

Cormorants

A pair of Cormorants in the sunshine around the lake. One is drying wings in the sunshine which is very common with these birds.

Mercurial

Mercurial so you think me
Yet I am older than the earth
Younger than tomorrow; wiser than hindsight
I delineate the boundary of time
There is no quill with feather enough to write
My steps to a half delivered dance
For why would folly seek solace?
When destiny call me by name a fool
For in these pages there is nothing
But the unfolding of gentle things

Soar

But do not look long into my eyes
Hope revives only long, dry, dreams
And when the remains of day fail
Save all your desires for tomorrow
Soar away as a bird of free chance
To take rest upon time's caprices
For you are perfectly able to fly
And I may never catch you again

Clouds

 

The warring clouds gather thickly overhead
Summer sunlight fades under a grey watershed
No creature may stir; in torrents naught can fly
There is nothing so elemental as a storm in July
The lightning bolts and mighty thunder cracks
Bounce from distant hills; let the sound roll back
Fierce they fight till there are only fading rumbles
Then all again is peace and out the sun tumbles

Salvia

Oh, Salvia the summer Queen

In cottage border often unseen
Purple spire from green rosette
To flower till September set
Solace is given to the humble bee
Beauty the gift for you and me
With a nectarous elixir it espouses
To nurture progeny of royal houses

Write

I write to let the ghosts awake

Live a better life in the world I make
You asked me once if words were friends
They could be colleagues if it depends
When we live such a small, small life
The fantasy world is the surgeon's knife
It cuts away the monotonous pain
Of nothing to give, but everything to gain

More Pond Pictures

The count of dragonflies (from the empty nymph cases) is now at 20. I think that's enough pond pictures for a while unless some of the adults return.

Flowers and Animals

Elderberry

 

 

Flower Seat

 

Evening Primrose

 

Rose

 

Zoom on hare (looks almost painted)

 

Vivid sky

 

Still think that burger looks good?

Reporting

Hatching plots of despicable intent

More undesirables spreading dissent
Landmark cases held at European court
But not a whisper of any do you report
Celebrity, royals and a film star's retort
These are the news items you import
 
Perhaps it's me; though I hardly think so
Only the real news is all we need to know
So drop the gossip and self-promoting fluff
Or I'll go somewhere else; I've had enough
If you persist in pedalling news that is weary
I may begin to believe in conspiracy theory

Pond Life

We're up to 16 empty nymph cases now - wow! So had to take some more pictures.

 

Guess they left some of the tadpoles - they are just sprouting the back legs now

 

Red Demoiselle near empty casing

 

I like this picture a nymph has emerged and then another has crawled up and emerged upon the empty case.

Wagging

Two brown eyes set in silky fur

Sit on the hearth and look into air
The little dog with the cutest face
Patiently waits; knows his place
But not for nought is my resolve flagging
We all know which tail does the wagging
He plays his hand and wins the game
Every contest the result is the same
He may demur and hide if I holler
But it's definitely me who's wearing the collar

Mr Juncker

 

Mr Juncker has won the vote
For those wishing to keep the EU afloat
But most of us are so past caring
The whole debate was getting wearing
If Mr Cameron wants this reform
He best remember to do no harm
We're fed up of this tiresome debate
About this and that and the bloody rebate
The vision is bigger than individual hearts
The EU is better from the sum of its parts
I like Mrs Merkel for she seems quite able
Let's drop the attitude; get back round the table
The world is too small now to go it alone
Britain no longer commands a global throne
Why is it so hard to make our politician see?
The EU brings only freedom to you and me

Scripts

Scripts and flowing text

Stream across vast media
Words are a cipher of being
All is written; all is told
Thought is being mapped
Like mariners lost at sea
Learned to map the stars

Pause

My consciousness stops
Pauses on precipice edge
And without reflection
I descend light as air
Slower than water
Like a leaf adrift
That is shook down
By an autumn wind
And though I always awake
I can't believe
How peaceful it all is
To fall without a care

The day after solstice

Chemtrails or X Trails (look it up)

We all love a good conspiracy theory

 

Jack Key's reservoir that was

 

 

Dappled

 

Darwen Tower nearing sunset (love the shadow)

Nymph

Birthed in water

I am of the aeschna
A fearsome sprite
Voracious predator
Nightmare nymph
Of woodland ponds

 

I emerge into high summer

Become an gleaming jewel
Glittering cobweb wings
Upon iridescent abdomen
A broach fit for any Queen
But first you must catch me

Yesterday watched dragonflies emerging out of the pond. I never actually saw one split out of its casing but counted at least 12 nymphs dotted around the plants and grass by the pond. How do they all know to emerge on the day after the solstice. Nature is simply amazing is it not? I just emailed the Dragonfly society to ask if they could confirm the species. I think they are Southern Hawkers. The nymph lives for up to 2 years in water before emerging as a dragonfly for 6-8 weeks in summer.

 

Bridge

Flowers fill sunlight hours

On a high summer crossing
Passing day wither the sun
Though not yet the heat
Walk over day to night
In fragrant layers of colour
And wish for a full moon
On this blessed solstice day
So the night and day merge
And only our shadow is seen
On scented, rainbow bridges
Set fair beneath a starry sky

Fold

 

The dark enters the world
A serpent that folds and slides
About remains of the day
Until all light is trapped
Within its obsidian coils.
Then who may keep you safe
Within the spirit of the light
If not I

Butterflies

Lest we might consider

In our bitter fields
Stripped of growth
There is hunger for justice
Lies now pour out
Like butterflies
Velvet soft and pretty
Angels in a summer sky
And we never remember
Beauty makes us forgetful
Till the winter comes

Diplomacy

There is a cooler wind now

Streaming along a cloudy sky
From the east it comes
To drive out the heat
And awaken us into reality
That a storm is coming
And it cannot be stopped
Humanity has failed
Because diplomacy did not