
A passing shower brings welcome freshness, more greenness to the grass. Water cascades from the top into a thousand tiny pools. We hear the ‘plop’ of frogs leaping. Careful where we place our feet, we continue the climb. Eivor and Pearl grind to a halt, star-struck. We know what they’ve seen. They ask whether we can see it too. We blink and tell them we believe them.
stag on the hill
greeting us in peace
a kindred spirit
ยฉ Xenia Tran

If you look very closely, you can see the stag peering over the rim of the crag in the top right-hand corner of the second photograph.
Wishing you all a wonderful Tuesday,
with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Settings: f/2.8 – 1/400 s – ISO 160 and f/4 – 1/800 s – ISO 200.
Nancy Merrill’s A Photo A Week Challenge: Unexpected
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Animals
dVerse Poets Poetics: Hot Time in ye Ole Pub Tonight!
This poem features in Between Heather and Grass. If you havenโt read the book yet, feel free to take a peek inside:
Great capture on the stag.
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Thank you kindly! ๐๐
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Excellent photos for this week. I’m so happy you played along. ๐
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Cee, it’s such a lovely challenge ๐ค๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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Great photos!
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Thank you dear Sheree! ๐๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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Both Eivor and Pearl are so happy to be up in the hill! Beautiful photos, Xenia. ๐
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Amy, they love climbing hills and mountains ๐ค๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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Amazing encounter from a distance! Great capture, Xenia. Do the dogs stay calm when they smell and/or see wildlife?
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Liesbet ๐๐ They’re curious about squirrels and deer, very calm around birds and will always check in with us to see if it’s OK. When they see a stag they’re completely in awe – it’s an animal they greatly admire ๐๐๐ฆ xxx
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Gorgeous!! โค๏ธโค๏ธ
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Thank you dear friends! ๐ค๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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Magical!
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Thank you dear Laurie! ๐ค๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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Thanks for pointing out the stag, what a great picture! That must have been wonderful to see ๐๐ฆxxx
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Cathy, it was so lovely and Eivor and Pearl were over the moon seeing one of their heroes ๐๐๐ฆ Hope you’re having a great day and much love to you and Finn from all of us here ๐ค๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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Thank you ๐ค thunderstorm and torrential rain for us today but it seems to have calmed down now. Much love to you all ๐๐พxxx
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Thank you Cathy, glad it’s calmed down! ๐๐๐ xxx
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I feel the cool just looking at the photo’s green….and also the fresh respite from the passing shower. What a site that must have been and for them to stop and see and feel that presence so far away!
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Lillian, it was lovely to enjoy that freshness for a while ๐๐ฆ Eivor and Pearl are sighthounds and they can see so much further than we can. They would have caught the scent of the stag too and from their expressions I could tell they were looking at one of their heroes ๐๐๐ฆ xxx
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Hi Xenia, Eivor and Pearl! Your photos are so inviting, and I enjoyed the freshness of the shower โ I can see its green handiwork in your photos. I love the sounds you evoke: the water cascading and the frogs. And what a joy to encounter a stag!
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Kim, it was a wonderful experience for all of us ๐ค๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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Magic! I’m always impressed that you can let Eivor and Pearl loose in the wilds. Don’t they chase everything that moves?
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Jane ๐๐ Eivor and Pearl are very good and check with us first. When they get a bit over-excited we call them over and put them on the lead (especially when we see rabbits). They really look up to the stags, as if they’re seeing a rock star, and they seem too star-struck to approach them ๐๐๐ฆ xxx
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Then they are much better behaved than Finbar. He chases anything and everything, deer included, and he listens to no one but the god of the chase whispering in his tiny brain ๐
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Aww bless him and please give sweet Finbar a big pat from us all ๐ค๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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I would, but I might wake him up. He’s had a hard day cat herding…
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๐๐๐โโ๏ธ xxx
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Lovely words and lovely images. So cool are the thoughts of frogs juping into pools, greener grass โฆ and the surprise of the stag! Love to Eivor and Pearl, my two favorite whippets.
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Toni, much love back from all of us here ๐ค๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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Wow! I love this โค
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Thank you dear Annica! ๐ค๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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I like the feel of movement in this – movement of water, and of the writer. Refreshing.
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Sarah ๐๐ xxx
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Such beautiful words and photos!
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Thank you dear Linda! ๐ค๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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The way you captured the pooches looking at the stag, then when they looked to you, then spying the stag in the corner of the photo, what a wonderful vicarious experience for reader of your post. Very daoist.
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Jade! ๐ค๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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You are very welcome ๐
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Would they chase deer? Boy, that could be a problem getting them back!
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Thank you dear Eliza, they don’t chase deer and they really admire the stags ๐๐ xxx
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It occurred to me that I mainly hear rather than see frogs when near water. They surprise me with the “plop”. I missed seeing them, but they let me know they were there.
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Thank you Frank, it’s similar for us – we hear them a lot more often than we see them. The ‘plop’ is a lovely reassurance that they’re present in these moments too ๐๐ธ
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Great haibun Xenia, with a strong haiku ending. Love the photos of your dogs!
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Rob! ๐๐พ๐พ
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I see it! Eivor and Pearl look exactly how I would feel–‘oh my gosh–look at that!’ Wonderful captures, Xenia.
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Lois, Eivor and Pearl were expressing the way we were feeling too! ๐ค๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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This is so beautiful! You and your dogs are such kindred spirits!
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Dwight ๐๐พ๐พ
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Your are welcome!
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Well done, Eivor and Pearl, for pointing out the stag so Xenia could take that stunning photo! ๐ xxx โค
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Annabelle, it was a pleasure to tell her! ๐๐๐ฆ Much love to you and Pearl Greyhound from all of us here ๐ค๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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Wonderful. I spotted the stag straight away. I didn’t stop or sit upright either ๐
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Thank you dear Brian, that’s great to hear! ๐ค๐พ๐พ
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Great words and pictures.
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Thank you kindly dear Astrid ๐๐พ๐๐พ
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Reblogged this on Frank J. Tassone and commented:
#Haiku Happenings #6: Xenia Tranโs latest #haibun!
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Thank you so much for the reblog Frank! ๐๐ xxx
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My pleasure, Xenia! ๐
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How beautiful, Xenia.
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Thank you kindly dear De ๐ค๐พ๐๐พ xxx
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Great to be back and experiencing your amazing posts . Stunning images, creative haiku and adventurous whippets. Just as well they are not Afghan Hounds Xenia, they would have been off on the hunt.
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Thank you so much for your kind words dear Denis and it’s so lovely to see your beautiful haiku and photographs again too! Thankfully Eivor and Pearl are very good. A saluki cross we adopted many years ago ran upsides deer once in a ‘hey this is fun, you run just like me’ kind of way. After that we kept him close by when there were deer around, just to be safe ๐๐พ๐พ
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Frog SKiN DMT
Antlers Raise
Horns Praise
A Dance Will Do
A Song Will Bring
Even More Sight Without
Frog
Skin
or DMT
Smiles Reminds
me of all the Days
Folks Ask me What
i am taking actually
Begging me for
it and all i
have to
offer
is a Free
Dance That Will
take them to the same
Escape yet found and never lost..
Haha and then there are the Conspiracy
Theorists at the Dance Hall who think my
Shades Automatically Mean Some TV Show for the CIA..
Hehe
Frog
SKiN
DMT
in a World
Like this
Already Tripping hehe..;)
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Haha, thank you Fred! ๐๐๐ธ๐ถ
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i Love Frog Songs
Never Fear Croaking
Frog Sing i Dance๐บ๐
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