Sunday Date

Cemetery date

Using my sunglasses as a filter for an experiment.

A photographer’s idea of the perfect date is visiting the cemetery on a sunny Sunday afternoon to take photos of headstones. People working on their family tree or trying to find family information such as death and birth dates can put a request into Find A Grave and photographers in the requested area take photos and post memorials on that site.
A nice quiet way to spend a Sunday. Plus we got ice cream cones at the Beach Truck on our way home.  Perfect.

Dreams

Dreams are illustrations from the book your soul is writing about you.

~Marsha Norman

Foxglove

Purple Foxglove

White Foxglove

Foxglove (Witch’s Thimble) Digitalis purpurea

Figwort family. Biennial wild herb to 6’ high. Natural. Grow all over our yard.
Stems: stout,
Leaves: soft and hairy
Flowers: in long inflorescences, tubular, purple to white, with purple spots inside the throat, drooping from one side of the stem. Blooms in late June.
Ancient Druids thought the flower was shaped like a priestly mitre.
Use: Source of the drug digitalis, a heart stimulant, diuretic.
In Northern Wales a dye from the leaves is used to colour stonework.
Poison if taken too liberally.
Means: insincerity

Only When

Day Lily

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
~Kahlil Gibran

Bathroom Cabinet Finished

Bathroom cabinet in the cabin finished

Cedar live edge counter top with cedar door fronts and side all milled from our land.  The brass sink is from our old boat  and the taps were from the old pedestal sink that was in the old bathroom.  That room almost done.  The baseboards have been put on since this photo was taken. Next project, the kitchenette.

Unless the Seed Falls Into the Ground

Rose Campion

We learn one lesson from the seed that diamonds have never taught us.
For seeds, unlike diamonds, are for spending, for throwing away, almost.
For unless the seed falls into the ground,
lying buried in the darkness of the earth for due season,
there can be no spring nor harvest.
The image of the seed is the living message of truth for all of us;
that death of some kind is the cause of all renewal.
~Graham Howe

Let Light Descend On Earth

From the point of light within the mind of God
Let light stream forth into the minds of men.
Let light descend on earth. . .

From the centre which we call the race of men
Let the plan of Love and Light work out
and may it seal the door where evil dwells.

Let Light and Love and Power
restore the plan on earth.

~Tibetan Tradition.

Love Where You Live

If you live in the city
don’t whine about crime,
if you live near a factory
there’s going to be grime.

If you live by a freeway
get used to the noise,
If you live with children
then step over the toys.

If you live by the ocean
don’t gripe about waves,
If you live in the mountains
don’t fret about caves.

If you live in a meadow
don’t harangue the bees,
and if you live in a forest
don’t nag about trees.

©2020 Sharron R. McMIllan

Honesty

Aaron’s Beard Hypericum calycinum
‘Creeping St. John’s Wort’ or ‘Rose of Sharon’

Honesty is not only the best policy,
it is rare enough today
to make you pleasantly conspicuous.
~ C.H. Brower

Another Project Finished

Pineapple Shawl

I finally finished the pineapple shawl project. Whew. I’ve been working on it for months, put it away a few times but it’s done.  I started it to use up all  my embroidery cotton threads that I no longer use.  Ended up having to go and buy more because I ran out of greens.  I’ll have to buy a new dress now to wear it with.

Look To This Day

Rose in our garden

Look to this day
for it is life;
the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the realities
and truths of existence
– the joy of growth,
the splendour of action,
the glory of power.
For yesterday is but a memory,
and tomorrow is only a vision,
but today well lived makes every yesterday
a memory of happiness,
and every tomorrow
a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day.

~Sanskrit Hymn

Neighbourhood Canada Day Parade

Canada Day Parade Nickerson Road Sechelt

A brilliant idea by town council to take the parade to the people instead of everyone congregating downtown.  We walked out to the main road and watched a great lineup  of first responders, antique cars and some commercial vehicles.  People were sitting in their driveways waving flags, waving and clapping.  All such a lovely neighbourhood experience.

Happy Canada Day🇨🇦l

May the stars carry your sadness away,
May the flowers fill your heart with beauty,
May hope forever wipe away your tears.
And above all, may silence make you strong.

~Chief Dan George

Slugs

They work at night
sliming their paths of destruction
through other’s gardens,
using what isn’t theirs
to feed their need to take and consume
what others have created,
then fouling it
before crawling once more
under rocks of comfort
they do not own.
Creatures from the underbelly of the world –
slugs.

©2020 Sharron R. McMillan

Morning In My Studio

When I shut my studio door
I lock out the woes of the world
for a few hours.

I’m looking out
to a sea of ferns,
still, quiet
surrounded by cedar, alder and maple trees
sanding tall, straight, unafraid.

The world has not changed,
beauty still surrounds us,
new fawns still appear,
baby squirrels still streak across the path
and the dawn chorus
still stirs my heart
to what remains –
life, beauty, and a future.

©2020 Sharron R. McMillan