Category: nature writing

Tanka: Winter’s Music

a brindle whippet in a yellow jacket walking on dried grass in the forest

the stream
glides by in gurgles
where grass sleeps
a blackbird silver sings
through winter’s forest

© Xenia Tran

a woodland stream seen from a forest trail on the higher ground

Wishing you all a happy Thursday and a peaceful rest of the week,

with love from Misty and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

CMMC: January – Pick a Topic from my Photo (green, grass, silver, weather)

Haibun: Natural Instinct

a brindle whippet in a red jacket walking through a tidal pool

The morning sun warms our faces and paints the rocks in amber and brown. After a cold, clear night, the sky’s pastel-blue is reflected in scattered tidal pools. Sea lettuce waves in the shallows, bladderwrack rests on rippled sand. Gutweed glitters between the barnacles stuck to exposed boulders. Misty walks through the water and even to us, it looks inviting. She slowly moves forward, careful not to make a sound. It is only then I realise, our twelve-and-a-half-year-old forever foster is stalking a crow.

instant recall
the bird with a crab
gets away

© Xenia Tran

a smiling brindle whippet in a red jacket running across rippled sand

Wishing you all a happy Monday and a peaceful new week,

with love from Misty and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Jez Braithwaite’s Water Water Everywhere #152

Word of the Day Challenge: Invitation

Tanka: Catching the Light

a brindle whippet on a forest trail before it reaches a clearing

pebbles and cones
a brindle dog catches
the light
we marvel how one seed
can grow a whole new forest

© Xenia Tran

view from a forest trail across the hills and woods beyond

Wishing you all a happy Thursday and a peaceful rest of the week,

with love from Misty and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Tanka Thursday: Pebble

CMMC: October Pick a Topic from my Photo (dog, trail, grass, trees)

Tanka: The Same Light

a brindle whippet walking on the sandy banks of a river

autumn colours
the same light mapping
our moment
on the banks of a river
where others walked before

© Xenia Tran

the river Tay in early autumn with ducks bathing in the foreground

Wishing you all a happy Thursday,

with love from Misty and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Tanka Thursday: Moment

Jez Braithwaite’s Water Water Everywhere #145

Tanka: All as One

Loch an Eilein Castle

a brindle whippet in a black rain jacket on a forest trail

light rain
on the crumbling ruins
grass and moss grow
in the shade of willows
all as one with nature

© Xenia Tran

castle ruins surrounded by trees and covered in moss and grass

Wishing you all a blessed Thursday and a peaceful rest of the week,

with love from Misty and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Tanka Thursday: Ruins

CFFC: Man-made Items

Tanka: Low-Tide Treasures

a smiling brindle whippet running across the beach

fleeting world –
gulls and oystercatchers feed
in the lagoon
there are treasures to be found
at this special hour

© Xenia Tran

oystercatchers and gulls feeding in a tidal lagoon

Wishing you all a happy Monday and a peaceful new week,

with love from Misty and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Jez Braithwaite’s Water Water Everywhere #141

Thursday’s Special: Pick a Word in August 2022 – Lagoon, Shoreward

Haiku: Tree Song

Cairngorms National Park

a view of the loch and sandy beach through the pine trees

moved by trees
who are moved by him
a piper plays

© Xenia Tran

a smiling brindle whippet walking on a lochside beach

Wishing you all a happy Monday and a peaceful new week,

with love from Misty and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Jez Braithwaite’s Water Water Everywhere #137

Puente Poetry: Breakwater

a brindle whippet sniffing seaweed beside an exposed breakwater at low tide

in grey-blue light after the rain
the day starts gently on the sands
where we pause and gaze at
the glittering retreating sea

~ with the flow of the wind ~

we keep each other safe
through attentiveness and love
between columns draped with tooted wrack
we find an overabundance of treasures

© Xenia Tran

a brindle whippet sniffing seaweed on an exposed breakwater at low tide

Wishing you all a happy Thursday and a peaceful rest of the week,

with love from Misty and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Thursday’s Special: Pick a Word in July 2022 – Texture

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Column

dVerse Poets Open Link Night #321: Blast Off

Haibun: Earth’s Garden

a black whippet in a blue harness walking among wildflowers

Art is the means we have of undoing the damage of haste – Theodore Roethke

The sun warms our backs as we walk along a narrow trail between dandelion clocks and flowers. Rhododendron and lilac are in bloom and their scent seems extra sweet this morning. We feel at one with the wood, the bog lands and the meadow as if we have always been part of earth’s garden.

stirring the soul
goldfinches sing
in the alder

© Xenia Tran

a black whippet in a blue harness sniffing the grass in a woodland garden

In the spirit of Roethke’s quote, we are sharing some more treasured moments from our last walks with Eivor this week.

Wishing you all a blessed Monday and a peaceful week ahead,

with love from Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #201: Three of a Kind

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Lilac

Tanka: Light Beams

two whippets in black jackets near a grassy bank

drawn in
once the rain passes
through the glen
the first cowslips of spring
reveal a tender yellow

© Xenia Tran

early cowslip blooming in wet grass

Wishing you all a happy Thursday and a peaceful rest of the week,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Tanka Thursday: Spring

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Beam