birds and dandelions

 “This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor is ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.” ― John Muir

I live for the way I feel when I am underneath the trees. I could go on forever, as I often do, about the woods and mountains and kindling of skylight in the early afternoon. I could tell you how narrow a sleep is after a day of staying inside and how deep a sleep is after visiting the forest. I could stomp, sing and shout about the sticky springtime dandelion and how I see it as the first blossom of the year.

We went to Griffith Woods to take these photographs. I had hoped the bird covered shirt would invite birds to sit high on the treetops and look down over us. I was feeling blue for days leading to these moments, not for any reason I could name, mostly just because I am Amy, I was born in December, and I always carry a little bit of that winter shade of grey inside of my heart. It is the shade I've come to know which compels me to write, to sing with the belly, and to listen for songs by birds and other worldly things. I came to Griffith Woods, not only to take these photographs, but to remind myself that there is a bright kindling of afternoon skylight within me too.

 It is so easy when we are blue to forget how trees appear after the storms of winter, some lose their branches, some become firewood, but many become postcards and reasons to smile as they bloom with new flowers and call upon the bumble bees for sweetly combed nectar. I look upwards to the trees, even the ones which have prickly ends and pine cones, I think of how the weight of a heavy snowfall never caused them to break down and give up on growing. If only I could find in myself the same spirit — the liveliness inside of my two season heart, whether winter or skin warmed by the sun, I want to never give up on the growing and the learning and the loving of life.

Two of my dear friends just welcomed a baby girl into the world. I've yet to meet her but I imagine her cheeks to be rosy and her hands to be tiny like a little chickadee hatching from the nest, she is probably sleeping in a soft blanket somewhere and bringing a toothsome smile to everybody who sees her. She will grow, just like I have done, and there will be mountains to climb and sands to sleep softly in, there will be enough tears to fill waterbeds and bouts of laughter till the belly aches, but most of all, there will be birds, trees to stand below, and life. There will be life. 

Messy, wonderful, sunrise to sunset, as the round earth rolls, life.

 

The Outfit

Blouse – Cichic *
Skirt – Oasap *

Flower Headband – Crown and Glory
Boots – Thrifted at Value Village

 

The Location

Griffith Woods

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