I was shocked when I looked back and found these photos which were taken at most 4 weeks ago. We walked the same woods yesterday and found them changed almost beyond recognition. The soft lime-green canopy of spring has given way already to the thick dark leaves of summer. The wild garlic flowers are gone, folded back into the earth, covered by a new wave of pink and yellow flowers and towering ferns.
There has been very little rain, so the water is trickling over these rocks now in thin silver threads. The clear gushing river has been replaced with lazy shallow pools. Here on the day I shot the photos, the river rapids are now gone, evaporated into the summer air. Only the photos remain as evidence of what has gone before.
This riverside path is now cloaked in dark cool shade, with only tiny patches of sunlight breaking through. The red water now looks black in the deep shade. Spring was here, but has gone, after a very short performance this year. We don’t know how long anything in our lives will remain, so we really should grab every moment and enjoy things while they last, for their own sometimes short seasons. Take nothing for granted, and assume this might be the last day you can enjoy the things which bring you pleasure. In this way you will have no regrets, and when things you loved have gone or changed, the memories will hopefully bring pleasure. What ever is here today is ready and waiting to be enjoyed, ready to pull you into your life as it is right now.
breathofgreenair 
It’s amazing how quickly nature can change at times!
hi Seonaid, I’m surprised: your small stream of river looks exactly like the creek at the front door of my daughter’s house, where we currently have a little holiday time!
The fact that it is all so fleeting and inconstant makes us cherish it even more. Your photos are evocative and inspiring. It’s always nice to visit your green corner, Seonaid.
Very kind Paula, and you are so right, the fleeting nature of life should leave us gasping in wonder at its unlimited unfolding….truly nothing is ever the same twice, if we look closely enough 🙂
I love the greens in your photos! They just stand out and make everything so alive!
These spring greens are so fresh and vibrant, I love them too, but they are already giving way to deeper darker greens….such is nature and life 🙂 I think I love the leaves even more than the flowers in spring, and as you say everything seems to be bursting with life!
The change of nature is always beautiful, inspiring,… Beautiful post!
Amy, you are very kind, nature is indeed a wonderful muse 🙂
Your photos and words are beautiful reminders that this space and this time is the moment of life to experience. I’ve noticed that the maybes of the future and the memories of the past often steal it away, this moment.
Whether this present experience brings happiness or suffering, or even “meh”, it will fall away and make way for what is now.
I must say that your post, along with homemade jam on toasted bread and coffee, has given me a happy experience.
I give many thanks and have much appreciation for you.
Wow, the homemade jam on toast with coffee sound like great additions to my post 🙂 So lovely to hear you enjoyed and agreed with my thoughts, and then added some more. That’s what I love about blogging!
Wow. I just read this post, sitting in the sun in my back yard, my sanctuary. And I took the opportunity to pause and reflect on today’s still in the ever-changing landscape. Just as I looked up, a pair of gold finches flitted into the yard, singing their spring song, stopping to bathe in the bird bath. These are not common birds for our yard. If not for this pictorial reminder of “catch it before it’s gone,” I may have completely missed this gift from nature. Thank you for your words, thank you for your inspiration!
My pleasure, and how wonderful that you caught the moment when the golden finches came to bathe in your yard. I often wonder to myself, what is nature saying to me in this moment, and golden finches seem like a truly wonderful gift. I’m so glad you saw them, and then shared your moment 🙂
A post of love and reflection. Beautiful as always, bringing out thoughts and feelings. Making me consider…again. How to make the right decisions – or the most right decisions – in just that precious moment. Who said life was easy to live – no one did.
To live in the moment is to live from the heart and from our instincts….but often our mind and all its anxious wonderings and thoughts get in the way……clear them away and often the answer will fall into your lap 🙂
You won’t find an argument from me on that. Here today, absolutely gone tomorrow. 🙂
🙂
Natures every changing cloak.
She does have an extensive wardrobe, and each garment more alluring than the last 🙂
Beautiful, Seonaid, and so true what you are writing, we can never be enough reminded! I like the way the water looks on the second picture. It’s like I can hear it ‘rush’, which seems to make a funny contrast with the peaceful quiet surrounding. In can see the same change here in ‘Andalucía’, all the green stuff is becoming yellow now, even if it is not as hot as it normally would be at this time of the year. Abrazo, Rosa
Thank you Rosa, the water really was rushing past in that photo making quite a nose, but a soothing one.
It’s amazing how quickly the light freshness of spring passes into summers drama.
A lovely reflective walk along the riverbank, both in words and pictures. Thank you once again.
Thanks Caro, it’s always lovely to read your reflections on my posts 🙂
Nature can be our best and grandest teacher!
Always 🙂