Coming Soon

Coming this summer at Walk With Father Nature, these new titles:

"Close to the Sky"

"Taste of Morning"

"Wind Song"

"Sleeping with Crickets"

"Carrying Hope"

"Touchstone"

"Summer Winds"

Don't miss these new offerings of Photo Poetry. Sign up for free. Enter your Email in the small white box at Walk With Father Nature.

Stop by anytime. Browse around. The door is open. Come on in. 

Gratefully,

~ Richard Havenga ~



Photo Location: Wild Columbine - Ada Township - Kent County, Michigan 

Memorial Day 2016

For all those who sacrificed their life, so that we may live ours with freedom. 

Thank You

Photo Location: Santa Fe National Cemetery - New Mexico 

gifts of lavender

coloring the woods

sepals support soft petals

gifts of lavender

© 2016 Richard Havenga

You may also enjoy the Botanical version: Wild Geranium - May 29, 2012

Photo Location: Wild Geranium ~ Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

each other

"You and I have memories, longer than the road that stretches out ahead." 
~ Paul McCartney © 1970 ~ Beatles


For my loving wife Mary:

I'm trying to tell here,
of the way we share
the sunlight of our days,
the moon white of our nights,

traveling miles of back roads together,

hiking rugged trails of discovery,
enduring painful storms of loss,

the way we can still pull joy
from ordinary moments
of this extraordinary life.

Laughter, learning,

and love that lasts.

The gifts we find
in our selves
to give each other. 

© 2016 Richard Havenga

♪♪ Happy Birthday ♪♪ Mary !

Photo Locations:

1. West Elk Wilderness - Gunnison National Forest - Colorado  

2. Crested Butte, Colorado

3. "Angel's Landing" trail - Zion National Park - Utah 

4. Iroquois County, Illinois

5. Mary on deck - Home

6. Mary on "Birthday Bike" - Home

7. Rich & Mary- Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming 

release

weeping willow's time

to release pollen downwind

from yellow-green veils

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Blythefield Memorial Gardens - Belmont, Michigan

2. Ada Dam - Thornapple River - Ada, Michigan 

warbler's delight

catkins in their prime

it's mid-May in Michigan

a warbler's delight

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

1. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Yellow Warbler - Pickerel Lake Park - Kent County, Michigan 

Must Be Present to Win

If the growing light of dawn
is what awakens birds,
how can this mystical light
be translated into words?

Indigo Bunting

Each of your precious days begin
with unlimited potential to hear
these exquisite, elegant birdsongs;
please be present, draw near.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

2. Indigo Bunting - Cannonsburg State Game Area - Cannonsburg, Michigan 

Living Tapestry

The  embroidery of spring has begun.

These woods, exuberant
and swelling with vigorous life, 
cannot be stopped; are again 
painting with a palette of pastels.

Seen only during this 
turning of the season; 
seen only when you walk
through the open the door.

Why so extravagant, so intricate?
More than just order and function,
it also includes the grace of beauty.

Go now!
Witness this living tapestry.

The show has already begun;
traced by the Creator's hand,
new for you each day.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1, 2, & 6. Home Woods
3. Ada Township Park - Ada, Michigan
4. Chief Hazy Cloud Park - Ada, Michigan
5. Ada Township

receptacle

I long for you

to appreciate with me
the spring chorus
of returning songbirds;
to hear their holy notes
of praise
rising from the woods,
entering your soul.

I long to share
insights gathered
from quiet walks
in summer fields
where familiar wildflowers
expand to dispense
their sweet fragrance
for your pleasure.

I long to be
the receptacle
for words
gleaned from leaves
resisting wind and gravity,
displaying flexibility,
while growing imperceptibly,
through time, precious time.

I wish to enter
through the transparent
window of your heart;
to bring samples
of God's creation
into your waiting world
as we await
the blessed hope.

© 2016 Richard Havenga

Photo Info. & Locations:

1. Red-eyed Vireo ~ Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Scarlet Tanager ~ Fred Meijer White Pine Trail State Park - Rockford, Michigan

3. Purple Coneflower ~ Grand Detour, Illinois

4. Cattail ~ Wabasis Lake Park - Kent County, Michigan

5. Morning sun through fog ~Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan