stacks (man-made patterns series)

 Interesting isn’t it?….how we love order. We stack rocks, bags of fertilizer, books, and dishes. In doing so, we find a measure of contentment and a sense of gratification. This desire I believe is ingrained in us and is a good thing. It’s been said that “order is the shape on which beauty depends”.  Sometimes, however, for reasons beyond our control we are unable to keep things “in place” like we’d like. We realize our ability to stack and order only goes so far. But, that realization too, is a good thing, especially when it causes us to lay down our self efforts and trust in grace.

                                                                                                                 

from a city garden (pattterns in nature series)

Oh I could go on

And on

Day after day

Sharing images of

Nature’s patterns

Petals, leaves

A honey bees stripes

Don’t you agree

There must be a

Reason

For such a legion of circles

Squares

And all the rest?

The two images in today’s post were taken in my new friend Ruth Ann’s beautiful backyard. How wonderfully she has incorporated patterns into her lovely private garden.  I would love to go on and on with my “patterns in nature” series but I hear new things calling. Next: man made patterns. And though they be imitations of what we see in nature, some of them are quite interesting too. 

abstract trees (patterns in nature series)

I like the patterns the tree trunks make in this image I created using slow shutter speed and camera movement. It reminds me of the fact that life is not static. Change and movement are oddly enough two of life’s “constants”. Longfellow puts it nicely:

Nothing that is can pause or stay;
The moon will wax, the moon will wane,
The mist and cloud will turn to rain,
The rain to mist and cloud again,
Tomorrow be today.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

May we learn to embrace the changes that come our way and see the gifts they hold. 

spider web (patterns in nature series)

The artist is a receptacle for the emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider web."  ~Pablo Picasso

I'm thankful today that i could witness such a delicate yet strong work of art. Posting this image brought to mind a poem i wrote several years ago:


Faith

I saw the spider clinging to the tiny thread that morning
as the wind whipped and spun it
up
and
down

round and round

later in the day, he was still there
clinging

i could barely see the thread
it looked like he was floating

in mid-air

up close (patterns in nature series)

This is a close up of a butterfly wing. The circular patterns seen here aren’t readily observed when the butterfly flits by: a reminder to me that I often miss the deeper beauty in the plants, animals and especially people that I come across every day. It really doesn’t take that long to look closer.

*Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  ~Albert Einstein

Gerbers (patterns in nature series)

Gerbers are one of my favorite flowers; such cheery creations. Today I am struck by the pattern I see in them. The fragile petals are beautiful in themselves but when connected and fanning out from the center become a thing of even more beauty. Dare I say, like people. J

seashells (patterns in nature)

“Perhaps middle-age is, or should be, a period of shedding shells; the shell of ambition, the shell of material accumulations and possessions, the shell of the ego” ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I like Anne Lindbergh's analogy. I think “shedding” is a good thing. This image serves as a reminder and encouragement of things and patterns “shed” through the years.  There is such freedom to be had when we don’t carry hard, heavy shells around. J