catnipoflife

Observe life at its best, Listen to life’s songs, Embrace life’s bounties, Breathe the breath of life, Savor life to its fullest!

Oct 12

Listen to Life’s Songs

by catnipoflife

ListenMeet Mary Helen Ferris

In her own words…

I am a traveler who now travels on the keyboard. I have met many wonderful people in my life and they have put memories on my heart. I have been inspired most by my family and friends.

As a senior, I have time to reflect and enjoy. As I live in Alberta Canada, the winter is a great time for writing. I am fascinated by water, fire, birds and most of all people.

During the summer, Mary Helen posted on her weblog the photo depicted above with the following caption:

It is in the listening (list ten things the person is saying) THAT the hearts’ ears can become more open. IT is through the song, the laughter comes out, through the language of love…

Inspiration led me to reply with Ten things the person is saying within the catnip of life…

Life’s Whisperings


Wind, whisper to me
Arouse memories again to be

Trees, bend your branches low
Hoist me up, never let go

Leaves, lay your blanket down
Comfort me, lift my frown

Birds, sing your love song
Touch my heart all day long

Sunbeams, spread your heat
Shine on me, warm my feet

Clouds, float lazily by
  Evoke imagery in the sky

Heaven, look down from above
Wrap me in arms of love

Rain, let your tears refresh
Bathe & cleanse my aging flesh

Earth, solidify my stand
Mother Nature, hold my hand

Each embrace me with your loving grace
All of me in this beautiful place

CatnipLogoSm
©2013 catnipoflife
Sharla Lee Shults

Thank you, Mary Helen, for your inspiration. The picture made me write it!

Inspiration Nature PoetrybySharla

6 Comments »
Oct 7

Symmetry in Nature 1

by catnipoflife

Nature. What compels us to seek her wonders? She calls us forth when we least expect it, inspires us beyond words and changes her moods more often than any woman! Captivating is her charm, fiery is her anger, breathtaking is her beauty! She is the epitome of poetry, the effervescence of life!

Have you ever thought about what happens when left meets right in nature? Is the left wing of a butterfly different from the right? Did you know a snowflake is completely symmetrical within itself, while not matching any other snowflake? What about something as simple as leaf symmetry? Some leaves are flat and wide; others are spiky and thin but if you fold one in half, is one side larger, smaller, fatter, thinner than the other?

Such questions go on…and on…and on… Nature is Fascinating. Luxurious. Amazing. Miraculous. Extraordinary. Splendorous. It flames within a natural framework often making the ordinary extraordinary. Do you agree? Not sure? Within the poetry and photographs below are only a few of nature’s finest! Thanks again to Barb Beacham, Life in the Foothills, for sharing some of her ‘flaming’ photography!

bth_dividers

Symmetry in Nature

 bth_dividers

Sand dollars, seashells, and crabs
Spiny starfish under the sea
Two parts reflect along an axis
A concept known as symmetry

bth_dividersUnder the sea

Honey bees, insects and leaves
One side the mirror image of the other
Beauty to behold as left matches right
Especially in butterflies one after another

bth_dividersSwallowtail butterfly

Reflections along the water’s edge
Create amazing mirror imagery
Shimmering, shining in crystal splendor
The very dawn of existence’s mystery

bth_dividersGeese

Regal tiger, graceful deer, majestic elephant
Even the grunting, voracious agouty
One half the same shape and size as the other
Perfectly balanced, evocation of beauty

bth_dividersThe elephant

Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Proportions of Man’
Balances the human form in equilibrium
Life emulates the mirrors of the world
Especially reflections in an emporium

©2013 catnipoflife©2013 catnipoflife
Sharla Lee Shults

If that is not enough, visit 10 Beautiful Examples of Symmetry in Nature

Where have you seen symmetry in nature recently?

Featured Photography/Photographer Inspiration Nature PoetrybySharla

25 Comments »
Oct 2

The Power of a Moment

by catnipoflife

Holding someone close, striking out in anger, evoking a smile or turning a happy time into sadness all happen within a moment’s notice. Each happens only once. Sudden. Spontaneous. Often no time to think, no time to change. Cherish the moments. Be quick to smile, slow to anger.

MOMENTS

Minute Odes Magically Embracing Newly Tendered Sentiments

A smile, a kiss
Little things, bliss

A nod, a hug
Anger under the rug

A slap, a pat
That’s it, that’s that

A laugh, a sigh
A good hearty cry

A touch, a feelin’
A rockin’, a reelin’

A frown, a tear
Sadness to disappear

A gift, something sought
Outloud, in thought

A giggle, a scream
Anything in between

In the morning, at night
Calm repose, deafening fright

A sight, a sound
Beauty all around

Within silence, amid song
Here to stay, not so long

A taste, a smell
Known all to well

A time, a date
Up early, out late

At work, at play
Any time of the day

In death, in life
Under calm, within strife

To live, to die
Without questioning Why?

©2013 catnipoflife©catnipoflife
Sharla Lee Shults

“You can see and you can listen, but you have to have moments in which you feel.”
~Mike Krzyzewski

A Quote for Today Inspiration PoetrybySharla

9 Comments »
Sep 30

Flora ’n’ Fauna

by catnipoflife

catnipoflife is honored to feature more of Barb Beacham’s photography from Life in the Foothills. Barb has been recognized as one of catnip’s featured photographers on You have but one life, LIVE it! and Twilight.

Thank you, Barb, for sharing your awesome photography!

bth_dividers

Flora ’n’ Fauna

Flora_Fauna1

Splendiferous, copious forests
Mark territorial landscapes
Where impressive oaks and lofty pines
Show off their stout and woody shapes

Flora_Fauna2

Desert plants and wildflowers
Adapt to extreme heat and aridity
Fierce, wild, red-to-orange and white
Emerge the cactus and desert chicory

Flora_Fauna3

The ubiquitous howling coyote
Announces its presence at night
Truly a song out of the fierce Wild West
Instead of a cause for sheer fright

Flora_Fauna4

Deciduous trees and shrubs
Common to most habitats
Shed their dry leaves in autumn
Forming nature’s welcome mats

Flora_Fauna5

Crackling sticks, dry leaves underfoot
Announce squirrels, rabbits and such
Deep in the woods silence is broken
As gunshot startles a strong buck

Flora_Fauna6

The nervous pristine white-tailed deer
Tan in the summer, brown in winter
Once statuesque at early dawn
Now suddenly becomes a sprinter

Flora_Fauna7

Stopping to rub antlers on a tree
The deer looks warily ahead
Time for a rest by a babbling brook
For a few shrubs and nature’s bed

©catnipoflife
Sharla Lee Shults

As a matter of fact, an ordinary desert supports a much greater variety of plants than does either a forest or a prairie.

—Ellsworth Huntington (Yale University professor, 1876–1947)

A Quote for Today Featured Photography/Photographer Nature PoetrybySharla

22 Comments »
Sep 22

Beauty to Behold

by catnipoflife

Other than writing, being outdoors is my passion, whether mowing the grass or working in the garden. Today actually featured both and through the clearing away of accumulated growth came the uncovering of much beauty to behold beginning with the rising sun.

The brightness of day
Flaunts its glory
Be thankful
Look up
Smile

Inspiration Nature PoetrybySharla

10 Comments »
Sep 16

Awakenings: Voyage to America

by catnipoflife

Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall (1882)

See on Scoop.it – Awakenings: America & Beyond

This Day in History: September 16, 1620

The spirit of European expansion stirred adventurers to set sail for the New World. Having already been discovered much earlier, the richness of this new land beckoned voyagers to set sail in 1620 for a more profound purpose. Such exploits resulted in surveillance of the terrain and possibilities for settlements.

Go to Awakenings for poetry Voyage to America!

Sharla Shults‘s insight:

Perhaps some of your ancestors financed or even traveled across the sea to America! How cool is that!

See on awakenings2012.blogspot.com

Awakenings PoetrybySharla Scoop.it

2 Comments »
Sep 6

Free Write Friday #29: Fall Word Bank

by catnipoflife

free-write-friday-kellie-elmoreWelcome to Kellie Elmore’s Free Write Friday! New here? Read the intro. Everyone else, let’s get started.

Here is your FWF prompt:

foliage – amber – wicker – aroma – sweater – cocoa

You may use as little as one word or all of them if you choose. Have fun!

‘Til the Last One Falls

Fall

Foliage changes color
Plushest green to amber
Hanging onto life
‘Til last leaves fall

The wicker rocker creaks
As aromas lazily drift
Tickling each nostril
‘Til stars at twilight call

Crispness in the air
Hints a light sweater
Breaking the chill
‘Til warmth arrives

Sounds from behind
Break concentration
A steaming mug of cocoa
Embraces, revives

Smiles from within
Send a new kind of chill
Inside and outside
‘Til nighttime calls

Foliage changes color
Plushest green to amber
Hanging onto life
‘Til the last one falls

©2013 catnipoflife2013 catnipoflife
Sharla Lee Shults

Check out these contributions!

~ neenslewy

Loved this prompt – hadn’t planned on using all the words in the bank but just kept on writing. Here’s my Friday token!
http://awritersfountain.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/fwf-free-write-friday-autumn/

~ Author’s Thought

Love the prompt Kellie, here is my link “Fall” http://wp.me/s3dPsw-fall

~ Roberta

~ Terry

Hi Kellie

http://terry1954.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/fwf-free-write-friday-fall-word-bank/

~ graypoet

Thought I would try and post a little of my rambling…. Glad to have a chance to brighten my Friday….

http://graypoet.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/lost-in-thought/

~ Maleko’s Art

Free Write Friday PoetrybySharla

12 Comments »
Sep 2

Awakenings: Rainbows and Raindrops

by catnipoflife

See on Scoop.it – Awakenings: America & Beyond

All across America, the world in fact, is indescribable beauty often referred to as visions of grandeur. Each day presents itself in living color with sights, sounds, even smells that tempt and tease innermost emotions. Skies may be crystal blue and cloudless, or dark and dreary with hints of an impending storm. Even within the storm lies beauty…a calm at the end of which one may be lucky enough to sight a rainbow.

What awakens your senses of a forthcoming rainbow? Is it the sight of cloudy skies, the smell of oncoming rain, or the sound of raindrops pelting the earth? Perhaps lightening pierces the haziness of morning and rolling thunder disturbs the short-lived stillness of the air with news a storm is approaching.

Each sense brings on anticipation of sighting that well-known arc across the sky whose splendor boasts a colorful array of pastel hues. Have you ever taken the time to count how many colors you see in a rainbow? Is there a set number or a continuous innumerable spectrum of colors? Speaking of colors, what about Roy G. Biv…ever heard of (him)? Are the colors the same for every rainbow that comes into view?

Sharla Shults‘s insight:

“May each rainbow sparkle with colors of strength, joy, sunshine, harmony, faith, wisdom and spirituality.” ~SLS

Visit Awakenings to embrace the past, pick up nuggets about the rainbow and enjoy the poetry The Rainbow.

See on awakenings2012.blogspot.com

Awakenings Inspiration PoetrybySharla Reflection

4 Comments »
Aug 28

Interview with writer Sharla Lee Shults

by catnipoflife

See on Scoop.it – Water the mind – READ

“Hello Sharla, I want to thank you first of all for your readiness to be part of this interview and permit me to publish it on my blog. I did choose you because I have heard of you before and would would like for other people to know you and your writing better.” ~Raani York

http://raaniyork.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/interview-with-writer-sharla-lee-shults/

Sharla Shults‘s insight:

Thank you, Raani, for this wonderful opportunity to share writing tips/ventures with others. It is through opportunities, such as yours, that each of us can share our knowledge and experiences while learning from others at the same time.

See on raaniyork.wordpress.com

Awakenings Interview PoetrybySharla

5 Comments »
Aug 20

Twilight

by catnipoflife

Barb Beacham from Life in the Foothills has graciously provided some awesome photographs to accompany the catnipoflife poetry Twilight. Barb was one of catnip’s featured photographers last month. If you missed her great photographic match to You have but one life, LIVE it! then, I encourage you to check it out. NOW! Yes, right now…just click HERE!

Thank you, Barb! You truly outdid yourself on this one!

Twilight

bth_dividersBetween dawn and sunrise
Where time seems to stand still
The sun not yet visible
Ascends in slow motion until…

Twilight1

Sunlight scatters along the horizon
Where clouds catch the first rays of dawn
Erupting into a blaze of color
Only heaven could possibly spawn

Twilight2

Standing on the edge of silence
A sense of calm penetrates the soul
Hovering between darkness and light
Sheer magnificence to behold

Twilight3

Between sunset and dusk
Day’s last light seems to stand still
The sun barely visible
Descends in slow motion until…

Twilight4

Intense color splashes across the horizon
Where the sky catches the sun’s last rays
Illuminating a thin veil of haziness
Below the clouds that are now ablaze

Twilight5

A silhouetted figure lost and alone
Against the pending backdrop of night
Grasps the last red-orange rays of the sun
Fervently kissing the day’s twilight

Twilight6

With radiant images now past
The world becomes shrouded in grey
While the twinkling of night’s first stars
Engulfs the glories of the day

©2013 catnipoflife

©2013 catnipoflife
Sharla Lee Shults

AND as an added plus to help you relax at the close of day. . .

Then, to top it off, introduction to a brand new blogger:

InspirationalVideo

“Twilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star.”
—Lucy Maud Montgomery (Canadian author, 1874–1942)

Featured Photography/Photographer Inspiration Nature PoetrybySharla Video Clip

21 Comments »
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