Nature Shines

"When hope is not pinned wriggling onto a shiny image or expectation, it sometimes floats forth and opens." ~ Anne Lamott

A shiny red apple to sweeten the day.
(Click pictures for larger view)

"And pluck till time and times are done The silver apples of the moon The golden apples of the sun." ~ William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939) Source: The Wind Among the Reeds, 1899

For the Photo Hunt theme today I decided to look beyond the shiny coins in my pocket and the shiny gold in that ring, the shiny beads hanging from Nyssa's rearview mirror and that shiny stethoscope in my mother's hospital room. Today, I thought about the shiny, glistening and gleaming aspects of nature. It surprised me a bit at how varied and numerous they are. We start with the shiny red apple... and that old adage "An apple a day keeps the doctor away", unless of course you happen to live with one.

Shiny stones form a solid rainbow of color.

"The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time." ~ John Muir

Dull and lifeless stones are brought to life by time and water, whether in a rolling stone polisher or in a mountain stream. Smooth and shiny, even the words flow perfectly together off the tongue.

Shiny golden dragonfly with gossamer wings.

"Clouds of insects danced and buzzed in the golden autumn light, and the air was full of the piping of the song-birds. Long, glinting dragonflies shot across the path, or hung tremulous with gauzy wings and gleaming bodies." ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)

This was one of the most beautiful dragonflies I have ever seen. The body a metallic gold and the wings almost invisible between the veins; both shone with the reflected light of the sun. This shiny metal effect is in such contrast with the gorgeous rust brown accents on the thorax and those huge eyes. God's artistry at work, even in the small details.

One of the shiny Fairytale pumpkins from my flowerbed/yard garden.

Pumpkins
Pumpkins tugging at their vines,
Pumpkins growing round and green.
Pumpkins hiding in the leaves,
Pumpkins shyly, smooth and clean.
Pumpkins shining in the rain,
Pumpkins plumping in the sun.
Pumpkins blushing underneath,
Turning orange, one by one.
~ Heather Mitchell Amey

Yes, I grew pumpkins in a flowerbed last year and yes, they got out of hand and spread... well they spread everywhere; into the side yard, the front yard and for a while it looked like they were going to take off into the neighbor's yard and on down the street. This is one of the ten pumpkins that resulted. This one weighed around 17 lbs and made many pies. In fact we still have some frozen ready to make three more or perhaps a little pumpkin bisque. If you should want to see the progression you can go here and simply click on the links to each post... starting with number one of course. Oh, and yes, I have planted the seeds... some original, some from the pumpkins from last year, a white pumpkin and I threw in some cantaloupe seeds saved from an exceptionally sweet one last season just for fun. Vicki thinks I should transplant them to the new house. We will see. They have a homeowners association there and I don't know how they feel about pumpkin vines streaming out into the wildlife preserve... but the wildlife would love it!

Moonshine reflected in the ocean, a dance of light.

The shining silver moon
Is a coin hung in the sky
To pay the old Dream Maker
Whenever he goes by.
~ Jane Yolen

One of my moonrise photos from the first week in January. Sunset and moonrise were within five minutes of each other, so we braved the cold wind and were rewarded with the most spectacular sight. While the sunrise deals in pastels of pink and blue and lavender and the glistening reflection is that of gold, the moonrise works its magic in deep, rich navy and royal purple and ebony with shiny silver and diamonds glistening on the waves. Breathtaking!

The theme for Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt this week is "shiny". You can go here to "Grab the Scavenger Hunt code" and here to join the blogroll. This really cute logo is available there as well. The link to other participants is in my blogroll on the sidebar.
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