flames

 

flames of October

blaze with a vibrant vision

flare from green forests

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: 

Grand Mesa - Colorado

Saturday Morning Backroads V

 

This is the fifth in a series titled: "Saturday Morning Backroads"...

Each time I leave home, I am blessed

to drive past Bear Creek;

but I don't just drive past,

I stop to explore with my camera,

especially in the glorious month of October.

A few miles south of home,

I love to run this one-lane dirt road

especially when the Sugar Maple leaves

are falling gently upon my face and shoulders.

If I'm running "around the block",

a five-mile loop through farm country,

 I am blessed to view our beautiful church:

St. Patrick's of Parnell. 

Above the Flat River

in Fallasburg Park,

I watch a leave's last dance

and its return to the earth.

In the rural countryside,

within white fences,

I admire this centennial farmhouse,

and the thick carpet of  Sugar Maple leaves.

Golden-green veils

of Weeping Willows

frame a Mute Swan

on Big Crooked Lake.

Back home, in my own woods,

I am rewarded by the vibrant leaves

of American Beech, with green midribs,

parallel veins, and sharply acute apex.

I am blessed to live where I live;

grateful for these gifts,

to be able to drive

and run these country roads.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

 

Photo Locations:

1. Bear Creek - Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

2. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

3. St. Patrick's Church _ Parnell, Michigan

4. Fallasburg Park - Kent County - Michigan

5. Townsend Park - Kent County - Michigan

6. Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

7. Big Crooked Lake - Kent County - Michigan

8. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Please view and read previous posts of "Saturday Morning Backroads":

Saturday Morning Backroads IV ~ October 19, 2015

Saturday Morning Backroads III ~ July 10, 2015

Saturday Morning Backroads II ~ October 8, 2014

Saturday Morning Backroads ~ June 6, 2012

Seek

Solid as a rock.
Tender as a flower.

Seek His door and knock,
to realize His Power.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Rocky Mountain National Park - Colorado

2.  Townsend Park  - Kent County - Michigan  

Deep Silence

Under the depth
of the night sky,
deep silence
pressed upon us.

Not a word
was spoken.

Only soft breaths
of contentment
were dispersed
into the darkness.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Big Crooked Lake - Kent County - Michigan

2. Catalina, Arizona

"Teewinot"

First to catch the light,

rising above valley fog,

this monument of mountains

collects the warm colors

of a September morning.

* "Teewinot" ~ Shoshone for "Many Pinnacles"

The Voice of God

 

A soft autumn breeze

whispers through a palette of color

along the edge of the lake.

Quiet yourself.

Listen carefully.

You may hear the voice of God.

If you let yourself be still,

echoes from the past

will embrace your memory.

The Holy Spirit within

will offer, or suggest,

words of inspiration.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Pickerel Lake Park / Fred Meijer Nature Preserve - Kent County - Michigan

2. Fallasburg Park - Kent County - Michigan

Her Chair

 

She sat in that chair

during mild summer days,

watching the sunflowers grow

against the weathered wood of the shed,

occupied with knitting and watching birds.

She sat in that chair,

knitting slowly, patiently, expertly,

until late August

when her hands constricted

in arthritis.

In September

they brought the chair inside.

She placed her project

deep inside her closet,

hoping for better days.

In October

they harvested

the sunflowers' seeds,

and saved them for 

their winter bird feeders.

In November,

she sits in her chair

in the front room,

watching chickadees

at the bird feeders.

In December

she sits in her chair

watching the bird feeders,

and rubbing the woolen yarn

across her cheeks

with her handicapped hands,

wondering what she was knitting,

and for whom. 

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Oakfield Township - Kent County - Michigan

White Pine at Night

Tonight,
fine needles
in the top of the White Pine
spin moonlight
into concentric circles
of silver threads.

Look.
It's true.

Tonight,
a light breeze
in the fine needles
of the White Pine
whispers words
sent from God.

Listen.
It could be true.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Location: Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

Silk

Rainbowed streaks
of spider silk
play with sunlight
and a breath of breeze.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. & 2. Dixon, Illinois