Watching and Waiting

 

I approach this mountain stream

with deep respect and admiration.

Walking upstream,

along the boulder-strewn bank,

accented with spruce

and Ponderosa Pines.

The sound of rushing water

is like a friend coming toward me;

it flows with companionship,

that I currently need more of.

I keep watching and waiting,

until it's time to move on.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Payette River - McCall, Idaho

2.  Elk River - Steamboat Springs, Colorado

fingers

 

fingers of wet snow

dangle from blue spruce needles

winter continues

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Ten Million Leaves

Straight trunks of aspen
stand solid and tall;
white wooden pillars
climb the foothills,
mingle with spruce,

where ten million leaves will
soon shimmer with golden light.

Then,
at the edge of evening,
the breeze subsides,
the quaking ends,
the calm returns.

Populus tremuloides !

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. La Plata Mountains - Durango, Colorado

2.  Ouray, Colorado

3. South Fork, Colorado

4. Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Ascend

Rain showers have ended,
and sharpened the scent
of sage; like incense
ascending into Heaven.

A cold, narrow stream
crawls through this meadow,
obeying gravity,
attracting birds.

A Western Tanager
flares red and yellow
with wings blurred,
pursuing insects.

Another feeds currents
to its fledgling
perched on a 
rusty barbed wire.

Aspens climb the foothills,
and mingle with spruce.
If you listen carefully,
you can hear the earth breathe.

This entire valley is filled
with the breath of sage,
and my gratitude for these gifts
ascends with my praise.

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Home Fields - Cannonsburg, Michigan

2. Colorado National Monument - Fruita, Colorado

3. Grand Teton National Park - Wyoming

4. Estes Park, Colorado

5. Ohio Creek - Gunnison, Colorado

Sweet Syllables

I am listening
to the sweet syllables
of the Song Sparrow
spilling from the spruce;

spending his energy
on every note
as if it was
his last.

© 2017 Richard Havenga

Call of the Song Sparrow from Cornell Labs

Photo Locations: Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Saturday Morning Backroads III

Welcome to this third edition of: "Saturday Morning Backroads".

Please sit back, relax, 
and enjoy the ride.
Enter each place.
Picture yourself there. 
Become a part of the scene.

Hollyhocks, 10-Mile Road - Rockford, Michigan 

Bobolink

Butterflyweed

Mary picking Wild Black Raspberries

Eastern Chipmunk

Monarch Caterpillar

 Colorado Blue Spruce (female cones)

Dew on Jewelweed leaf

Chicory

Whitetail Deer fawns

You may also enjoy:

Saturday Morning Backroads - June 6, 2012

Saturday Morning Backroads II - October 8, 2014


Now you may want
to find your own
"Saturday Morning Backroads".

Take some time,
make some time,
to get out and about.
Bring your family.

Be sure to get out
of your car
before you drive too far. 
Walk slowly, observe closely.

It's all there for you.
Please share this beautiful view.

© 2015 Richard Havenga

Note: All of these photographs were taken very near my home in Kent County, Michigan. 

Wyoming Summer

Flat as a table;
this field of sweet-scented sage.

Dense as a wall;
this forest of dark green spruce.

Light as a host of angels;
this collection of white cumulus.

Captivated as a curious child;
by this welcome Wyoming summer.

©  2014  Richard Havenga

Photo Location:

Grand Teton National Park,  (Tetons)  Wyoming  (Wyoming)