This week, If it's Tuesday, This Must be Belgium takes us to...Virginia? A bit of a change of pace, since I haven't traveled anywhere new in the last month. Plus, I'll be in Washington DC in a couple of weeks. Things have been pretty hectic around here lately and I'm feeling a little homesick. Since I live in the city of Brussels and don't have a car, getting out to the country is hard. So I thought I'd take a little stroll in the woods...or at least my photographic vault memory of the woods.
I like the woods, especially the streams and ponds. Having been a marine biologist in one of my other lives I have always loved the water. Northern Virginia/DC is the furthest I've ever lived away from the ocean (until now), with the Chesapeake Bay being over an hour away. :)
No ocean in this little forest, but the creek is very calming...almost serene...peaceful.
My mind just starts wandering....
It's early spring on this trip, so most of the trees are still bare. For some reason I like trees without leaves (as you might have guessed from my Gather icon). This one was so tall...so lonely...yet inspiring as it stretches for the heavens.
Ah, if it isn't a leaveless tree...it's a treeless stump.
And another...turned over by the winter winds...exposing its underbelly to the spring breezes.
Trees balancing to stay aloft...dipping their toes into the calm waters of the stream. You can almost hear them say aaahhhhh.....
So many bare limbs...bare roots...bare souls. And yet, the spring begins to bring life back to the lonely woods...
Tiny plants squeeze through the soil and into the light...
Flowers begin to bloom...purple ones...
And yellow...
The streams begin to flow...
And life returns to the water in the fading light of dusk...
Alas, as I stand raptured by the peaceful flow of the forest creek...as the birds and animals settle into the solitude of night...as the sun begins to set...
I feel my way back in the darkness on this dimly star lit night...find myself back to civilization...to daily life. But I bring with me a renewed serenity...a calm joy and appreciation for the wonders of nature. Ah, sweet night...embrace me.
Until next we meet...peace and harmony.
rate
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 57
I've had a touch of homesickness recently...the political conventions...the "American Way of Life"...won't be going back any time soon though.
Have you filled out your form and submitted it for overseas absentee voting?
Go to: Federal Voting Assistance
to get all the information and forms.
Take care,
Susan
Besides, go walk the parks around the palace. Stunning.
Having said that, my office sits near the northern end of the Bois de la Cambre and I've yet to fully explore it. Seems whenever I get the urge to do so, the weather gets the urge to rain. But I'm glad you reminded me....time to really check out the Bois.