Tag: creative nature

Lazy Summer Evening

Respite from the blistering heat of another summer day where everything moves slowly, even the sun as it lingers on the horizon before it melts into the edge of the sea.

High tide laps lazily against the boulders and Slate blue waves ripple in the sunset shimmer

The schooner Zodiac plies slowly along in the last moments of daylight

Framed by Lummi Island she is majestically poised for a perfect sunset

The breeze rewards her crew with perfectly filled sails as seagulls loop and dip along the shore [wpvideo TEhIfl5X ]

Speedboats are the only quick moving thing as they race for the harbor as a fishing boat moans and rumbles along the shore

Hazy thin layers of far away forest fire smoke hang over Orcas Island creating a mysterious mood over Mt. Constitution’s towers

And filters the sunset into an artistic filtered hue

Another beautiful, lazy summer evening on Bellingham Bay.

©Belindabotzong2018

My evening

The kayak club cleared the beach with gusto heading out to dinner with friends, home, or even a vacation in Montana was announced with glee. He has a cabin in the sawtooth mountains where he plans to hike and relax for the last weeks of summer break.

The dinner cruise droned by after a tour of the nearby islands and disembarked its satisfied passengers at the nearby ferry terminal, heading home with that feeling one gets after inhaling an enormous amount of fresh sea air. Hair blown askew, stiffened by salty breezes, they make their way hand in hand to their Subaru, satisfied with their choice for such a grand outdoor experience.

A lone woman sits on a boulder at the quiet end of the beach. Her bike handlebars askew as she left it parked on the goose-poop covered lawn. Her forehead draws together in a frown at the intrusion of another woman taking a seat on a nearby bench. Solitude is clearly desired as she works through and ponders her troubles. The bench seated woman feels the discomfort of invading another’s space and moves on to a quiet spot to watch seagulls and sailboats and write about her view, snapping a few photos.

Jets fly overhead for their final approach to the nearby airport with those returning from trips around the country or around the world. They will disembark with that left over stale feeling one gets from flying too far for too long and they will breathe deeply the cool August day air and say “home sweet home”.

A helicopter flies quickly south, meaning another crisis in some family as a loved one is rushed to Seattle for advanced care and the patient will disembark on a journey through healing and recovery. Or not.

A train rumbles past filled with passengers all looking forward to either a return home or an exciting adventure beyond the routine of home. The incessant warning of the engineer announces their passing.

Multiple sailboats glide in the evening breeze like the seagulls that swoop and soar as the sun sets slowly beyond them. Some are racing while others take their time to embrace the freedom of being on the rippled sea, inhaling that same fresh air that will later lead to a deep restorative sleep.

The woman on the bench is now alone and there is a deep peaceful lull in the activity. Waves lap lazily onto the shore bringing her treasures to find. Sticks and stones, shells and glass. The beauty and artistry of nature in the perfection of an evening at the bay surrounded by the San Juan islands, the Salish Sea, the harbor, the beach and the sky.

[wpvideo Z4n1Hwas ]

©Belindabotzong2018

Love

Love as deep as the ocean

Unfathomable

Love as vast as the sky

Immeasurable

Love as abundant as air

Incalculable

Love as infinite as the sands of the earth

Unbelievable

Love as wide as the world

Incomprehensible

Perfect, plentiful, unconditional

Jesus loves me this I know

For all creation tells me so

©Belindabotzong2018

Perfect Spring Morning

Blossoms and buds

Awaken

Brilliant red rhodie

Perfect pink peony

Bright blue rock seed

Orange and yellow with purple splashes fill out spring’s palette

Trills and tweets

Twitters and sweet whistles

Carrying tunes of joyful birds on wafts of morning breezes

As they gather pieces of nesting treasures

Coolness ahead of summer-like days

Saltwater fragrances fill the sky covered in a thick marine layer

Awaiting the big reveal of sunshine blue skies

©Belindabotzong2018

Storybook cream puff clouds

Playfully glide across the blue ribbon bay

Bouncing off one another

Playing hide and seek between the bulges of the islands

Fishing trawler motors slowly into the harbor

Engine grumbling toward the dock

Tangled nets and a multitude of lines

Attracting hungry seagulls with the promise of the remains of a fresh catch

Swooping and soaring they chuckle and chortle their anxious greetings

Another glorious day at the bay

©Belindabotzong2018

KISS OF SPRING

Spring blew a kiss into the sky

Winter caught it in her winds and blustered

Spring sprinkled warm sunlight everywhere

Winter tried to hide it with her puffed up clouds

Spring poured sweet perfumes of fresh cut grass and daffodil blooms across the valley

Winter inhaled and sneezed a cold breeze across her snow drenched mountain tops

Spring presses hard against winter’s intensity

Winter presses back to remind spring it’s not her time

Not quite

But soon

©Belindabotzong2018

Sunrise Artist

With the sky as his canvas

He holds a palette of light and moist vapors in the crook of his right elbow

He uses his breath to pour out subtle hues on the edges of clouds formed by his left hand

He strokes the sun to ever so slowly lift its light and he calls forth the morning

He stands back and admires his handiwork and lets it slowly transform

He adds shimmering tones of violet and lavender in multiple layers then sprinkles it all with the golden light that pours from his puddle of sunshine

He swirls a finger through his masterpiece to scatter clouds across the eastern horizon

And touches the tips of the mountain range with sparkles of gold and silver

He blows a gentle breeze across the pristine blue water that pours from his artist’s enormous brush to become the rippled bay of sapphire

He fingerpaints the distant islands into the edge of the vastness of the sea

Smudged outlines far in the western sky

He tips his head back and lets a delighted laugh fill the sky with birds then turns his head to see the perfect spot for his deep pink and purple crocus to be placed among the flowerbeds waiting to be awakened at the sound of the artist’s voice

He paints with wild abandon in every shade and tone and hue

His heart pours its fullness into details unseen by anyone but him

He sets his palette aside to admire his creation

And submits another sunrise to the gallery of eternal mornings, pleased at his handiwork

He sighs and starts planning for a brand new sunset

©Belindabotzong2018

Spring Marching In

Spring marching into a warm afternoon announcing her intentions to stay awhile

Hysterical seagulls chuckling and chortling as thy swoop in with a colorful kite circling above

Giggling children squealing in high pitched voices chasing one another through the park and sliding down for the hundredth time

The warmth of the sun mixing with the coolness of a gentle breeze spreading over the placid salty bay ripples

Weightless puffs of white clouds lingering at the horizon and just over the tips of snow capped peaks giving the illusion of warmer days of springtime

Barren trees etching the blue topaz sky with hands raised high applauding a winning round for spring

Full yellow moon rising in celebration of Spring’s parade

©Belindabotzong2018

Let spring win

Lapping waves splash playfully against the sides of boats in the harbor. Gently swaying in the constant current.

Flapping wings of a manic duck skipping over the gentle ripples

Seagulls in tandem catching wind currents up then down then up again soaring and swooping as they chuckle to each other

Islands outlined in misty thin layers of low hanging clouds in an otherwise pale blue winter sky. Frosted hilltops surround the bay in tantalizing crisp white layers

Hazy Sunlight filters as the horizon pulls the yellow ball ever toward the edge of the sea and the days lengthen almost imperceptibly a minute at a time

Frosted morning now forgotten as winter pulls hearts toward spring.

©Belindabotzong2018