Haibun: Playground

a smiling brindle whippet in a black jacket running across the tidal sands

The wind is picking up as the tide flows out between rocks, exposing seagrass, bladderwrack and multi-coloured stones washed up from the river. A fishing boat heads west. The gulls that follow pour out high notes in excitement.

Rain is falling across the water. This side of the firth is still dry. We know that happy feeling that stirs inside when we are given extra time to enjoy these smells and sounds a little longer.

spring weather –
a smiling dog shows us
how to play

© Xenia Tran

a fishing boat and sailing boat beneath storm clouds approaching across the water and rain falling on the opposite shore

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.

Weekend Sky #101

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #250: Skyscapes or Cloudscapes

Sunday Stills: Appreciating Our Pets and Playgrounds

Tanka: One by One

a smiling brindle whippet in a black jacket climbing over a bank of shingle

one by one
they re-appear
sand bars
every day is earth day
for seals who catch the sun

© Xenia Tran

Take 5ive, 2023 Earth Day

seals sunning on a sand bar near the mouth of the river

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 Weekend Challenge: Frolic

Sunday Stills: Adoration of the Earth

Looking Back at 2022 with Love and Gratitude

First of all we want to say a huge thank you to all our blogging friends, fellow poets, photographers and prompters who make this such a wonderful space to meet and share in these extraordinary times.

This was a challenging year and we have never felt the love of this wonderful community more than during the times of loss of our beloved Eivor and Pearl.

Your prayers, healing, comments, messages and cards have wrapped us in a warm blanket of comfort, love and light.

ice on the sea
all winter long
spirit companions

© Xenia Tran

Haiku Dialogue, 9 February 2022

We are also eternally grateful for the love and support we received when Misty joined us as our forever foster. The way you have taken her into your hearts has been beyond amazing and I am sure that Misty can feel this love too.

a smiling whippet in a red jacket on the beach

As we have done in previous years, we will reflect on the year season by season, highlighting the posts that resonated the most.

To see the photo-galleries as they are intended, it is best to visit this post in website view.

Winter

A New Dawn, our first post of 2022, featured a haiku that received an Honourable Mention in the 22nd HIA Haiku Contest (2020) as well the surprise of being included in Krzysztof Kokot’s European Top 100 Most Creative Haiku Authors in 2021. This post was the most popular post in Winter and would become the most popular post of the year.

The other most popular posts in Winter were The Way Home, Walkway to the Light, Beat of the Drum, What Travels with Us and Forest Bathing.

Spring

Spring, normally a time for new life, rebirth and growth, became a season dominated by Eivor’s illness and palliative care. He walked through this season with so much grace, appreciating every fresh sprig of grass and wildflower. He still moved so well, wanted to run and do all the things he loved doing and was a true inspiration.

Some of the most popular posts in Spring were Blessed Rain, Brushed by Moonlight, Spring Breeze and Spring Grass.

Eivor passed away peacefully on 24 May 2022 and our post Run Free Sweet Eivor shows him exploring the woods with his usual energy only days before. We did not know then, that we would be writing Sweet Dreams Sweet Pearl only a week later.

We cannot thank you enough for all your kindness and love through your comments, messages and cards – they brought us much comfort. As did the thought that Eivor and Pearl, who had been inseparable for the eight years they knew each other in this life, would continue their next journey together too.

his ashes
next to hers
summer rain

© Xenia Tran

Under the Basho, 16 November 2022

Summer

We had no intention of adopting or fostering another dog so soon until angels both in heaven and on earth brought Misty into our lives.

After a three-week blogging break we returned with Meeting Misty, where we introduced our sweet twelve-year old forever foster whippet, whose owners had passed away. It became one of the most popular posts of the Summer, along with The Puppy Within, They Walk Beside Us, Treasures, One Step Ahead and Where Love Sails.

Misty is a very special lady and, in more than thirty-three years of adopting and fostering animals, this is the first time we have met and continue to meet our forever foster dog’s family and learn about her earlier life.

sea lace
the first step
so small
nobody knew
the size of the ocean

© Xenia Tran

Ribbons, Spring/Summer 2022: Volume 18, Number 2

As in previous years, we were delighted to be able to continue to support three charities close to our heart – Give a Greyhound a Home, Children with Cancer UK and Dogs Trust – with the proceeds of Sharing Our Horizon and Between Heather and Grass:

In memory of Eivor and Pearl, we also dedicated a 1/4 acre of woodland at Ledmore and Migdale Woods, a place we visited during five magical holidays together in beautiful Sutherland. Eivor and Pearl loved it here and this dedicated grove will be there forever, supporting a constantly changing cast of trees, plants, animals and fungi.

Woodland Trust Dedication Certificate
Autumn

Autumn gave us some beautiful weather for walking, especially in the early part. With Misty, our walks are shorter and together we discovered some lovely new places we look forward to seeing again in the new year.

The most popular posts in Autumn were Pulse of the Ancients, Autumn Glories, Sacred Waters, Sweet Music, Intricate Reflections and A Blessed Christmas.

Autumn was also a season to celebrate a milestone birthday and semi-retirement:

autumn moon
my first sixty years
of wandering

© Xenia Tran

haikuKATHA, Issue 13, November 2022

We want to say a warm-hearted thank you to the international haiku and tanka journal editors who featured my poems throughout the year.

Special thanks to Mr Hidenori Hiruta of the Akita International Haiku Network, who translated ten haiku poems by me into Japanese for the World Haiku Series 2021.

We were also honoured to contribute to three anthologies in 2022:

… and delighted to contribute to a haiku calendar for 2023:

Thank you once more for walking along with us here.

If you want to read more about our year, feel free to check out the 2022 highlights on our sister blog Tranature.

a smiling brindle whippet in a maroon winter jacket running across tidal sands

We send you our warmest wishes for a healthy and happy 2023 and look forward to seeing you here again on Thursday 5 January.

May you all be blessed with joy, peace and wellbeing!

With love from Misty and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr

CMMC: December Alphabet – Letter ‘W’ at the Beginning of a Word (Whippet)

Thursday’s Special: Pick a Word in December 2022 – Tribute

Sunday Stills: What Did You Do in 2022?

Haibun: Beat of the Drum

two whippets in winter jackets running on the beach

The dogs are wearing thermals under their coats and the wind-chill makes our eyes water. The sea rolls on now the storms have passed and the salt air smells invigorating. Eivor and Pearl run and chase balls. A quiet drum beats inside us, returning us to peace.

lighting a fire –
the sun paints rainbows
in the waves

© Xenia Tran

white horses running towards the shore with a rainbow in the spray

We hope you all stayed safe while Storm Malik and Storm Corrie passed our shores and wish you a peaceful week ahead,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge: Aquatic

Sunday Stills: The Power of the Elements

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Coat

Haibun: Heritage

We notice how much the sands have drifted, since we last walked here. A small dredger is keeping the channel clear for boats that sail in and out of the bay. Young herring gulls learn to fly, encouraged by their elders, with fresh bars for landing and take-off. We are grateful to be back in this special place. Holding a stone with the light bouncing off, I realise how much we missed it.

seals bark
they too are part of
our world

© Xenia Tran

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

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

PI Poetry Prompt: Heritage

Sunday Stills: Walking in a Burlywood World

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Luminosity

Puente Poetry: Reading the World

the day opens a new book
of sights, scents and sounds
for the eternally curious
canines we adopted

~ or is it the other way around? ~

who is walking who on any
given day when we take turns
to guide and follow a spark
that bounces from the stars?

© Xenia Tran

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

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

PI Poetry Prompt: Reading

Sunday Stills: Geometry

Wordless Wednesday: Growing Together

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Stills: Ageless and Evergreen

CMMC: July – Pick a Topic from my Photo

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Coalesce

Haiku: Green Dawn

green dawn
all this light mirrored
in the leaves

© Xenia Tran

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

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Sunday Stills: Under and Over the Trees

Word of the Day Challenge: Self

Haiku: Shapes and Shadows

two whippets in winter jackets walking along the beach

snowy mountains
a bird appears
in the cloud

© Xenia Tran

EarthRise Rolling Haiku Collaboration 2021 – Entering the Earth

We are deeply honoured and delighted that the above haiku has also been included in the World Haiku Series 2021, with a beautiful Japanese translation by Mr Hidenori Hiruta.

a seagull flies over the water with the shadow of a bird appearing in the snow cloud above the mountains

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

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/4.5 – 1/1000 s – ISO 200, f/8 – 1/2000 s – ISO 1000 and f/5.6 – 1/640 s – ISO 100.

Sunday Stills: Fog at My Feet, Head in the Clouds

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Penumbra

Haibun: Wild and Blue

a whippet in a winter jacket by a hut made from driftwood on the beach

The strong winds have carried more driftwood to the beach. Some branches are chopped up and taken away to dry out for wood burners and open fires. Other pieces have been used to build shelters and huts along the beach. It brings a bit of joy and surprise whilst we are in lockdown.

snow-capped hills
still the sea flows in and out
a glacier blue

© Xenia Tran

a funnel cloud spreading above a glacier-blue sea

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

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/4 -1/800 s – ISO 160, f/5 – 1/400 s – ISO 200 and f/8 – 1/2000 s – ISO 1000.

Sunday Stills: Glacier Blue

Word of the Day Challenge: Wildly