Cove Bay – Whippet Wisdom – a Highland Journey

Quadrille: All That Glitters

a smiling blue and white whippet and a smiling black whippet striding out across the tidal sands

this summer blessed with sun
we walked ten miles and talked
of shorelines and geology
beyond amazed what has become
our tidal land, plucked from
desert, sea and glacier
we’re grateful time has brought us near
our gentle surf and all that glitters here

close up shot of a smiling blue and white whippet and a smiling black whippet striding out across the tidal sands

Thank you for all your good wishes before we went on our Summer break, it’s lovely to be back!

The poem above links to the Cove Bay series we posted during the week before our holiday.

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday with love

from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8 – 1/2000 s – ISO 100.

dVerse Poets: Quadrille #83 & 8th Anniversary

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Gratitude

Thursday’s Special: Pick a Word in July (Yr 4) – bichrome, refulgent

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Break

a smiling blue and white whippet turning left onto a path through the dunes

view East along the dunes and cliffs of the Moray Coast in Summer

We’re taking a short Summer Break and wish you all a wonderful week ahead.

You’re welcome to revisit older posts from our archives while we’re away. We’ll swing by to read from time to time and will be back posting here on Wednesday 17th July.

Thank you for all your love and support,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8 – 1/1000 s – ISO 100 and f/5 – 1/1600 s – ISO 160.

Wordless Wednesday

Word of the Day Challenge: Jolly

Your Daily Word Prompt: Activation

Haibun: Nature’s Layers

Cove Bay

two whippets exploring the tidal sands and rocks beside a large wall of a cliff

Cross bedding and layers of rock show us how much the climate here has changed. Permian sandstone tells us this area was once a hot and arid desert.

With gorse and heather growing along the top, sea pinks flowering in the cracks and a haven for nesting sea birds, part of these rocks are now underwater at high tide. With one sniff and a good climb along the walls, Eivor and Pearl quickly make sense of it all.

coves and caves
all that sings on the page
lotus flowers

a black whippet leaping across tidal sands in front of seaweed covered stones

You can see more images from Cove Bay in our recent posts Origins, Cove Bay and Rock Around a Cove.

Wishing you all a wonderful Tuesday,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8 – 1/2000 s – ISO 160.

Frank J Tassone’s Weekly Haikai Challenge #93: Lotus

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Wall

Twiglet #134: An Empty Page

This poem features in Between Heather and Grass. If you haven’t read the book yet, feel free to take a peek inside:

look inside feature for Between Heather and Grass — Look inside …

Tanka: Discoveries

a black whippet on tidal sands beside the rocks

these rocks
carved by ice and wind
what a blessing
seeing this with our own eyes
breathing the sea air

an inquisitive blue and white whippet peering over a wall of coastal stones and rock left dry at low tide.

With love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8 – 1/2000 s – ISO 160, f/4 – 1/640 s – ISO 100 and f/2.8 – 1/2000 s – ISO 100.

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Challenge: Outdoors

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Discovery

Becca’s Nurturing Thursday: Want You

Wordless Wednesday: Rock Around a Cove

a blue and white whippet in a purple harness running out of a cave onto seaweed covered boulders

two smiling whippets on large boulders covered in bright green seaweed

You can see more images from Cove Bay in our earlier posts Origins, Cove Bay and Nature’s Layers.

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8 – 1/1000 s – ISO 100, f/2.8 – 1/1600 s – ISO 160 and f/2.8 – 1/2000 s – ISO 100.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Stills: The Great Outdoors

Haibun: Cove Bay

a black whippet sniffing green seaweed on the stones beside a cove

The cove feels other-worldly without the waves rolling in and soothing her rough arches. Barnacles around the base begin to pale in the fresh air. Between seaweed-covered stones, another day passes.

sea pinks
sunlight draws her colours
around the rocks

a black whippet leaping off seaweed covered stones beside a cove

You can see more images from Cove Bay in our posts Origins, Rock Around a Cove and Nature’s Layers.

Wishing you all a wonderful Tuesday,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8 – 1/1000 s – ISO 160, f/2.8 – 1/1250 s – ISO 160 and f/2.8 – 1/2000 s – ISO 160.

We are deeply honoured and delighted that the above haiku has subsequently been featured as part of the World Haiku Series 2019 organised by the Akita International Haiku Network, together with a Japanese translation by Hidenori Hiruta.

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Outdoors

Twiglet #133: Rolling In It

Tanka: Stone Steps

black whippet in a black harness walking on rocks and sniffing the seaweed at low tide

stone steps
so easy to trust
where they lead
when the moon floats by at night
to leave her blessings

view over Moray Firth from Cove Bay at low tide

With love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8, 1/800 s, ISO 100 and f/2.8, 1/2000 s, ISO 100.

Twiglet #94: Stone Steps

This poem features in Between Heather and Grass. If you haven’t read the book yet, feel free to take a peek inside:

Wordless Wednesday: Tidal Bay

Cove Bay

two whippets walking between seaweed-covered rocks at low tide

two whippets on tidal sands at Cove Bay

two whippets on tidal sands beside cliffs and caves

With love from the temporary sands,

Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Settings: f/4, 1/1000 s, ISO 100 and f/2.8, 1/2000 s, ISO 100.

Wordless Wednesday

Tan Renga: Soothing Breeze

Cove Bay

blue whippet in a purple harness on grass-covered cliff top

Cove Bay at low tide under a blue sky seen from the West

With love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Kristjaan at Carpe Diem has invited us to create a Tan Renga with the given haiku he wrote under his pen name Chèvrefeuille. A Tan Renga is a short chained poem written by two poets. It looks very similar to a Tanka, but a Tanka is written by one poet.

You can see yesterday’s Tan Renga with a given haiku by Jane Reichhold here.

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Settings: f/2.8, 1/2000 s, ISO 100 and f/6.3, 1/1000 s, ISO 200.

Carpe Diem’s Tan Renga Challenge September 2018 – III (3): A Soothing Breeze

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Backyard