Whippet Wisdom – a Highland Journey
A journey through the seasons with two adopted whippets, a poet and a camera
smooth moss
covers the stones
within sight
a stag roars near the
sunny side of the mountain
© Xenia Tran
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.
CFFC: Smooth
Thursday’s Special: Pick a Word in September 2022 (bounded)
island autumn
bird song and water
wash over the stones
© Xenia Tran
Wishing you all a happy Monday,
with love from Misty and Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #219: Treasure Hunt
Jez Braithwaite’s Water Water Everywhere #146
autumn colours
the same light mapping
our moment
on the banks of a river
where others walked before
© Xenia Tran
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
September’s sun dapples through green and ochre leaves as the path meanders past a three-hundred-year-old sycamore, still standing strong. A few dog-less people make a fuss of Misty as she skips past them to the sunny side of the wood. A robin sings his heart out on a garden fence, where the path passes a few houses. We cross a small wooden bridge over the burn, one side of the water green with algae. Once we turn left, we see her.
Birnam Oak
six hundred years old and more
this autumn
One of the last living relics from a medieval forest that once grew here, her girth is around seven metres. The oak’s lower branches are so heavy they are supported by stilts and part of the trunk is hollow.
Shakespeare is said to have visited this area in 1589 when he was an actor and later immortalised the wood in his play Macbeth. This tree would have been mature when Shakespeare walked here. Touching the bark with my left hand, I feel a pulse that gets stronger and stronger the longer I leave it there, filling my palm with heat that travels down my arms and my spine, as if they are branches.
then and now
a mild south-easterly
tingles the leaves
© Xenia Tran
I am guest-hosting Haibun Monday at dVerse Poets tonight and the bar opens at 8pm GMT.
Wishing you all a happy Monday,
with love from Misty and Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Frame
dVerse Poets: Haibun Monday – September Song
calling us anew
towards the sacred water
this dream world
sun-kissed by autumn
where love so freely flows
© Xenia Tran
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.
Jez Braithwaite’s Water Water Everywhere #144
CMMC: September Pick a Topic from my Photo
Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Dream World
ah the bliss
when we come to this place
late summer
the chiming of cones falling
stays with us every year
© Xenia Tran
We are taking a short blogging break to enjoy the fine weather and will be back on Thursday 22 September 2022.
Wishing you all a happy Thursday and a peaceful weekend ahead,
with love from Misty and Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Tanka Thursday: When
CFFC: Nature
Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge: Trees
ferns and trees
the first of many dreams
that speak
© Xenia Tran
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.
Weekly Prompts Colour Challenge: Greenish
Loch an Eilein Castle
light rain
on the crumbling ruins
grass and moss grow
in the shade of willows
all as one with nature
© Xenia Tran
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
fleeting world –
gulls and oystercatchers feed
in the lagoon
there are treasures to be found
at this special hour
© Xenia Tran
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
We are delighted to make another donation of £150 to Children with Cancer UK with proceeds and royalties raised through Between Heather and Grass during the 2021-2022 tax year.
Between Heather and Grass is our second book of poems and images inspired by our beloved whippets Eivor (2010-2022) and Pearl (2011-2022), and was especially created in memory of our nephew Jamie.
Children with Cancer UK is the leading national children’s charity whose vision is a world where every child survives cancer. They work to develop safer, kinder and more effective childhood cancer therapies, with fewer toxic side effects.
They are there when families need help most. By funding welfare projects, delivering unforgettable events and fostering a loving environment, they strive to make the world a happier place for the children who are diagnosed with cancer.
It is with a warm heart and gratitude we are able to continue to make a donation to this amazing charity.
To find out more about their work or if you want to support the charity directly please visit their website here.
We are equally delighted to donate the same amount once more to Dogs Trust this year.
Dogs Trust is the UK’s largest dog welfare charity and has been caring for dogs in need for over 130 years. They take in dogs that have been abandoned or handed in by owners who could no longer care for them and find them new, loving forever homes.
They have twenty-one rehoming centres across the UK and provide Home from Home foster care for dogs who are not comfortable in kennels or when the kennels are full, and Freedom Project foster care, special foster homes for dogs from families fleeing domestic violence. In addition to these services they run educational programmes in schools, training programmes for owners and actively campaign on dog welfare-related issues.
To find out more about their work, adopting a dog, fostering, volunteering or to support Dogs Trust directly, please visit their website here.
This book is now also a tribute to Eivor and Pearl and the wonderful journey through life that we were blessed enough to share.
A very big thank you to all you fabulous people who have bought a copy of Between Heather and Grass, left a review and helped to spread the word.
If the book is new to you feel free to click on the icon below for a peek inside …
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.
Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge: Journey
CMMC: August Alphabet – Letter ‘N’ in the Middle of a Word (Donation)
Whippet Wisdom - a Highland Journey 
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