Iris

Cholla buds

Daffodil

Claret cup

Red yucca

1092

It is one thing to die into a dead world and, metaphorically speaking, leave one’s bones to bleach on a desert lit only by a dying star. It is another thing to die into the actual world, which seethes with life, with agency other than our own, and, at the very least, with endless possibility. For those of us, which is probably most of us, who—with or without drugs or religion—have caught glimpses of this animate universe, death is not a terrifying leap into the abyss, but more like an embrace of ongoing life.

~Barbara Ehrenreich, Natural Causes

1089

It’s the awareness of these, I thought then. Not just joy, but the awareness of joy. Not just music, but that swelling response to music, the way it opens the heart. Humans are Earth’s way of knowing itself. With the tongue of a human being, Earth tastes itself. In a human’s search for meaning, it comes to know its own mysteries. In a human’s loving attention, Earth rejoices in its own beauty. It’s one thing to be. It’s quite another to know that and to pronounce it good. This is what a human brings to the world—the ability to take notice, to be grateful and glad…

~Kathleen Dean Moore, “If I Hadn’t Stopped to Watch the River”

Clivia miniata III – Full Glory

Clivia miniata II – getting there

The Clivia miniata is getting ready to bloom.

It seems late in the year for her, but I’ll take it.

I feel a series coming on.