Friday, July 1, 2011

Green, Light Spilling


I should call that part of the yard the light-yard because of the way the rays of light filter through the trees so perfectly on mornings like this.

Isn't it funny that when we talk about the things we can do to help ourselves emotionally, psychologically, we speak of exercise and what we eat and how we should mediate or breathe or the supplements we should take or the medications which will help but we hardly ever discuss the fact that where we live our lives affects us as profoundly as anything possibly could?
I think this is why we sometimes find a place and feel so exactly and perfectly at home. That place fills some unconscious need of ours in a way we had never really considered.

For example: Look at all the crazy people who live on the coasts. They are living by the water because they have restless souls and the ocean, the sea, tranquilizes and also reflects their turmoil, weather-wise, day-by-day.
(Note: When I say "crazy people" I am talking about the people I love. Me too. So there.)

And here I am, brought to these 2.2 acres by the house which I fell in love with first, not even knowing that my wise-soul said the big yes to not only the house, but the huge old trees, all the green, so that looking out of my windows, walking out into my world, I am soothed and delighted and given sustenance.


I don't even know why I keep posting pictures of this tree. You can get no perspective from a photograph. It is huge. I am not sure that ten men could encircle it, finger-tip to finger-tip.



Here are some of its branches, the sight I see as I look up into this cloudless, blue day. That tree is a universe unto itself. It hosts a myriad of life, from the very visible moss to the resurrection fern to the tiniest fungi and also birds and bugs (and treefrogs, of course) and I don't even know what. Ghosts, spirits, whatever, it breathes in and out for me, it stands vigil against every storm and offers shade and promise of an earthly eternity as it lives and will die and will become part of the land which supports it now.

And it is not the only one, but it is the largest. Live oak. The stately, beautiful live oak.

Every where I look from my house I see that which gives me joy. Here's another shot of the way the light falls in that side yard:

It lights the green and shows the colors of it. There is no one "green" just as there is no one tree or personality or belief or truth. Everything changes as the light falls on it, everything is shown to be what it is right now, then this moment, then this.

Well, this is not what I started out to write this morning. I don't even know what that might have been. But here is what I wrote. Here is what the light filled me with. And how could it not have? Everywhere I look from this porch, I see that light, that green, all dancing through and over and with each other, a merry sort of morning here in my yard.

I am not tending the world today nor even doing much tending of this place I am writing of, but I have. I have tended it. I will do so again. Sometimes it is the proper time to simply note and recognize, to praise and catch the light as it falls, perfect and peaceful and to be grateful. I am not one of those who "practices" gratefulness. I simply am. When there is reason to be.

And today, oh yes.
There is.

Happy Friday, y'all. I truly hope that there is some moment in your day when something fills you with light until you feel as if you could float. For a morning, a moment. Whatever. Just enough for us all to escape gravity, to fly free in the light.
Pay attention.

Love...Ms. Moon

19 comments:

  1. You are an angel. A green one with Spanish moss for wings. I just love your words so, so much.

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  2. Your yard is truly a thing of beauty. Live oaks are my favorite trees in the world. The Spanish moss is so lovely. It makes me think of Savannah, which is my heart home.

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  3. lovely.
    how fitting that you found and settled near this tree.
    it's your doppelganger.
    resurrection fern. i love that.
    love,
    y
    wv: gamines!
    a girl with mischievous or boyish charm.

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  4. Such a gorgeous yard. No wonder people want to get married in it.
    Sar. Bastard is so right about Savannah. It is the state tree of Georgia! And your home represents what I consider the old, wonderful Florida.

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  5. I, too, could almost smell the live oak and the light falling in your yard, reminding me of my parents' houses in South Carolina and Georgia. I don't often feel nostalgic for the south, but I do when I come here.

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  6. silverfinofhope- If I am an angel, so are we all.

    Ms. Bastard-Beloved- I do so understand. You will feel at home here, too. Of course.

    Ms. Planting Woman- I love these trees so much and all the life they hold. As to gamine- I think you have to be more slender than I am!

    Michele R- We always say that where we live is more Georgia than Florida. Our dirt is red, our trees are huge, we drink our tea really sweet. Well, some of us.

    Elizabeth- It's lovely that we give each other eyes to see our various different worlds.

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  7. green is my favorite color.

    green-gold is my favorite color.

    green-gold against sky-blue is my favorite color. (with a few white clouds for contrast).

    your trees are abundantly beautiful.

    where i have chosen to live (the pacific northwest, after 35 years of SC)---oh, your post has made me ponder why i choose to stay here! but it is so rich. and today for the first time in weeks the sky is blue. but i am learning that i love the gray. oh i am filled with delight and awe.

    and i saw Cave of Forgotten Dreams last night--what a miracle--

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  8. Images of your home fill me with so much happy

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  9. you asked me once what i might think of your trees. oh, they are heaven. and you caught the light falling gently through their arms and the sheltering leaves, and blue above. i think i might like to sit under your trees and just breathe. just be. you have sent me in search of trees today. thank you. i think i was needing some trees.

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  10. x-ray iris- I have often wondered if I could live under the soft gray sky of the Pacific Northwest. I am not sure I could, but I think I could come to love the beauty of it for short times. No. I'm sure I could.

    Terena- Me too.

    Angella- I was thinking of that this morning when I read your post. That you need trees.

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  11. Had that moment today...the light moment thinking of you and I on our way to Bainbridge. Felt so lovely...just good.

    I wrote about you and used your song to pass on love to Clarence.

    Miss you and love you...Ms. Miller...remember the days?
    Terry

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  12. Terry Joy- Of course I remember. I think of you and remember with joy(!)and love every day. EVERY day.

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  13. Lovely words and photos. I think finally I saw it the way you do. Amazing grace.
    I would like someday to live in the right place. For now I live in a good enough place. I chose it for the huge pine trees bordering the property. They felt like home to me.
    I had a moment like that yesterday, not the light, but the moment, out in the back yard, snapping sugar peas off the supple vines, my cat rubbing her soft fur on my ankles in greeting. I thought, oh, this is perfection, this moment.

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  14. Bethany- That's IT! That moment in time. Yes. You paid attention. You have it in your pocket.

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  15. The light in those photos was like what I have seen in the shafts of light in a forest of redwoods..it is beautiful beyond words. You feel it.

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  16. Your trees are beautiful. I love your place. Love your words and you xx

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  17. There is nothing else like the light on the ocean or how it filters through the trees. I am seeing it look like sparkling diamond on the water today.

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  18. AA- Truly. It is.

    Ellen- And I get to see it.

    Christina- And I you, baby.

    Syd- I know those diamonds. Oh yes, I do.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.