SUMMER's LAST STAND....

"This morning, the sun endures past dawn. I realise that it is August. The summer's last stand..." -Sara Baume

"One evening in August it's pitch black. It is still summer, but the summer is no longer alive..." -Tove Jannson

"Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven....they saw what seemed to be the tongues of fire that separated and came to rest...." - Acts 2:2-4

"The month of August turned into a griddle where the days just lay there and sizzled.." -Sue Monk Kidd

"The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound but do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is of everyone born of the Spirit...." - John 3:8

"August is that last flicker of heat. The final moments of fun before the freeze." -Rasmenia Masoud

"August was nearly over. The month of apples and falling stars..." -Victor Nekrasov

                                 "It is always summer somewhere..." - Lily Pulitzer

"Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink in the wild air. " - Emerson

                    "August creates while she slumbers..." -Joseph Wood Krutch

"I'm pretty sure we were meant to hibernate all summer.  Wake me up in October.." -quoteflick.com

 Photographs 2023

THE GIANTS

"For I would ride with you upon the wind,  and dance upon the mountains like a flame..." -Yeats

I saw the Giants today. I saw them ride upon the hooves of a thousand horses. I saw them run up the bare faced rock  into black clouds . They vanished beyond  the darkness. There was   a thunderous roar. The Giants came to life. 

Then silence. Such silence as I have never heard. Just the sound of snow geese , calling  from up high in a forgotten pasture where  the Giants  herded them.

Then  the mountains roared to life once more. Giants puffing and huffing  along the sky. Stretching their rock legs. Kicking  the last  patches of snow aside.

"I have found a dream of beauty at which one might look all one's life and sigh..." -Isabella Bird

Those  sleeping giants, in our dreams all of these years. Like drops of flame from the dying sun, their enchantment charms and fills our thoughts.

As rain  choruses down on the rocks,  from  the caverns  dredged out by the Giants. They who must work so hard to prepare for winter's  wrath. Their mournful calls cling.

The  mist in the end,  covered all. Taking the thunder and heat with it. The Giants blew their  breath  through the valleys, cooling the way  for the leaves to change.

Like Pompeii in the old days,  one of the Giants roared his name that could not be spoken. He despaired the coming  of  twilight days.  In his loneliness he pleaded the time of sleep. Others answered.

"I ascended the mountain to hear the voice of God, and was answered in voices from afar..." -Meeta Ahluwalia

The Giants rose one last morning, when the sky was  the colour of roses. Ready to do battle. But  there was to be no battle. The snow geese had fled. The skies settled.

Mingled rains, were banished.  The Giants  breathed one last  moment in the light.

For now there was a  snap in the wind. And the Giants  sighed  and made their way to their lairs. 

To sleep in the long nights that would be coming. Before the dawn.  Before the snow geese would return.....

"The Giants slept.  In the quiet. As darkness fell. As in the beginning. World without end.." R. Raphe 

 Photographs 2023

AUGUST LIGHT.....

AUGUST MOONRISE by Sara Teasdale  (excerpts)

The sun was gone, and the moon was coming over the blue hills

The west was rosy, the east was flushed...swallows rushed this way and that.

The maples stamped against the west 

were black and stately 

and full of rest...

And the hazy orange moon grew up and slowly changed to yellow gold

While the hills were darkened, fold on fold

to a deeper blue than a flower could hold.

For night scents, heady, and damp and cool 

On the brink of a shining pool

O Beauty, out of many a cup  you have made me drunk and wild

Ever since I was a child.

And no sorrow wholly bow one who loves you to the end?

And my eyes through which joy came

And my heart, a wavering flame

If all must leave me and go back

Along a blind and fearful track, so that you can make anew,

Something nearer your desire....

Photographs 2023. Sunsets, sunrises with smoke from forest fires....