Category: Nature

Garden · Inspiration · Nature · Poetry

Looking forward

sareenmclay1 Comment

I have planted apple trees in my garden. I am planting them for the future. I hope they will be here for many generations to come. I hope the apple trees grow to become old and gnarled with their boughs laden with fruit. I am hoping all ages pick them, bite into them and enjoy the crisp, crunch of an apple. Perhaps they will be made into my favourite, apple crumble? Maybe they will be used for chutneys to spice up plain sandwiches in the dead of winter?

thumb_IMG_7415_1024

I hope they will cheer the future, welcoming every year with their spring dresses of blossom.

Recently I found myself sitting in silence on a bench in the wild garden at Woodend Barn in Banchory. The thin trunks of crab apple trees on my left caught my attention. How could their spindly branches hold so many apples? Despite their apparent frailty they must be so strong inside.

Writer in Residence,  Elaine Reid encouraged us to write a haiku, so here we go –

 

Crab Apples

Laden boughs of apples

Hidden strength in your core.

Rosy cheeked glow

 

 

Inspiration · Nature · Trees

The Daily Walk

sareenmclay1 Comment

They are there in every country I pass through. I am in transit while they are as solid as the very trees lining my path.IMG_7391

 I’ve learnt to look out for them for whatever the weather they will appear.

They are the walkers. They step out of their doors, take in the world, and become part of the daily scene.

I long to ask them, what is your story? To tell them how they inspire me.

Cheeks, rose red with effort, the rhythmic thump of walking sticks, the wagging tails of their canine companions, a smile, a nod, a hello, all create for me a familiar human landscape.

Like them, I too have learnt the value of a daily walk. As if by walking I press a magic reset button within myself. I am suddenly aware of the sights, sounds, smells of the outside world around me. I discover the sky above me in all its moods.

There is the realization that this world is bigger than my worries and I am not alone.