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HeartWood
A blog about cultivating
creativity, connection and contentment
wherever you are

Last Wednesday Wisdom for April 2018

4/25/2018

15 Comments

 
On the last Wednesday of every month, I serve up a potpourri of advice, inspiration and other tidbits I've come across in recent weeks. This month -- this week, in fact -- finds us commemorating both Earth Day and Arbor Day. In the spirit of those two observances, here's a collection of quotes about nature and the planet on which we live.

As a bonus, I'm including at the end of this post, some of my favorite nature shots from our recent visit to the Southwest.
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Love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need -- if only we had the eyes to see.
-- Edward Abbey
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Find your place on the planet, dig in, and take responsibility from there.
​-- Gary Snyder
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The Earth was small, light blue, and so touchingly alone, our home that must be defended like a holy relic. The Earth was absolutely round. I believe I never knew what the word round meant until I saw Earth from space.
-- Alexey Leonov, Russian cosmonaut
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The universe is composed of subjects to be communed with, not objects to be exploited. Everything has its own voice. Thunder and lightning and stars and planets, flowers, birds, animals, trees -- all of these have voices, and they constitute a community of existence that is profoundly related.
​-- Thomas Berry
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The earth is a living thing. Mountains speak, trees sing, lakes can think, pebbles have a soul, rocks have power.
-- Henry Crow Dog
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When I get sick of what men do, I have only to walk a few steps in another direction to see what spiders do.  Or what weather does. This sustains me very well indeed.
-- E.B. White, One Man's Meat
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Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter.
​-- Rachel Carson
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Nature repairs her ravages -- but not all. The uptorn trees are not rooted again; the parted hills are left scarred; if there is a new growth, the trees are not the same as the old, and the hills underneath their green vesture bear the marks of the past rending. To the eyes that have dwelt on the past, there is no thorough repair.
-- George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss
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What is the use of a house if you  haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?
-- Henry David Thoreau
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Loyd: "It has to do with keeping things in balance . . . It's like the spirits have made a deal with us . . . The spirits have been good enough to let us live here and use the utilities, and we're saying: . . . We appreciate the rain, we appreciate the sun, we appreciate the deer we took . . . You've gone to a lot of trouble, and we'll try to be good guests."

Codi: "Like a note you'd send somebody after you stayed in their house?"

Loyd: "Exactly like that. 'Thanks for letting me sleep on your couch. I took some beer out of the refrigerator, and I broke a coffee cup. Sorry. I hope it wasn't your favorite one.' "
-- Barbara Kingsolver, ​Animal Dreams

And now, for a little more nature appreciation . . . 
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Saguaro National Park
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As close as I care to get
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Soaking up the sun at Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
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Even in a desert, the diversity of life forms amazes me
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Saguaro are like sculptures
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Sleepy prairie dog at Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. (Or perhaps just bored with all the tourists?)
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Beauty as far as the eye can see
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Early spring flowers growing among the rocks in Sabino Canyon
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Sabino Canyon. It's hard to gauge the scale of the rock slabs until you see the people strolling and sunning on them.
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Moment of reflection, Sabino Canyon
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My best guess is pyrrhuloxia (desert cardinal)
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Swirly saguaro
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Sabino Canyon, a true oasis
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Evening on the road between Tombstone and Sierra Vista
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Spooky tree, Chiricahua National Monument
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Chiricahua vista
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Chiricahua
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Chiricahua
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Lots o' rocks
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Sunset from Tombstone
15 Comments
Nita
4/25/2018 06:59:04 am

Nature is definitely a healer for me. Thanks, Nan! You found some great quotes and your photography is a treat. I love your perspective. :)

Reply
Nan
4/25/2018 11:51:10 am

It's the best healer for me, too, Nita.

Reply
Colleen link
4/25/2018 09:14:35 am

Amazing photos, Nan! Don't know how you got those animal shots. Those are great. And the spooky tree I had to stop and stare at for a bit! :O)

Reply
Nan
4/25/2018 11:52:29 am

Thanks so much, Colleen. It helped that the animals were accustomed to people.

Reply
Marsha Reeves link
4/25/2018 04:19:58 pm

Thank you for including the quote from Henry Crow Dog. Our responsibility as humans is to listen and pay attention and sing along when we can. That is how our own healing comes about. When we really experience being part of this tiny blue marble.

Reply
Nan
4/25/2018 05:00:20 pm

Beautifully expressed, Marsha. Thank you,

Reply
Trina Hance
4/25/2018 04:37:59 pm

Thank you for sharing your amazing photographs. If only more people could appreciate nature in the same manner you and many others do, I feel the world would be in such a better state.

Reply
Nan
4/26/2018 02:19:39 pm

I agree that the world would be a better place if everyone appreciated and respected nature. Not everyone even has the opportunity to experience nature, and that's a tragedy (along with so many other tragedies of unequal opportunities).

Reply
Kathy link
4/25/2018 06:10:38 pm

Yeah, I get to visit again as I only browsed thru the beautiful pics.

Reply
Nan
4/26/2018 02:16:44 pm

You are welcome to come back as often as you like. No charge for return visits.

Reply
Sue Schneider
4/25/2018 11:29:01 pm

Once again I was taken on a lovely journey of quotes and images from the Southwest. Thank you.

Reply
Nan
4/26/2018 02:20:06 pm

Thanks for coming along on the journey, Sue.

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Kathy Misak link
4/29/2018 03:33:08 am

Sunday morning, my 1st time through on the quotes, giving pause, savoring. Pics, 2nd time. Thanks, Nan

Reply
Laura Bailey
5/8/2018 06:29:42 am

Thank you for sharing these beautiful photos. I especially love the sunsets, and spooky tree. I have not spent much time in the desert--it's amazing. I didn't realize how spectacular it is. As a side note, I can really relate to the prairie dog.

Reply
Nan
5/9/2018 08:39:24 am

Yes, I often feel like that prairie dog! The desert really is amazing. And there's so much more that I haven't even shown here.

Reply



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    Nan Sanders Pokerwinski, a former journalist, writes memoir and personal essays, makes collages and likes to play outside. She lives in West Michigan with her husband, Ray.

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