..of hills and haze.....

Aren't mornings precious these days!!!!! And PA is beautiful, no matter what road I take in which season....... :)

"She loves blood red poppies......"

I know summer has been long gone but I just felt like sharing these images of one of my favorite flowers before I lose them amidst thousands of images on my hard disk! Aren't poppies simply spectacular??? :)
"Summer set lip to earth's bosom bare,
And left the flush'd print in a poppy there;
Like a yawn of fire from the grass it came,
And the fanning wind puff'd it to flapping flame."-Francis Thompson

"The poppy opens her scarlet purse of dreams. "

It's "that" time of the year again......

...my fav. part of the year!!!! :)

A gilt trip to work :)

These days no matter how early I wake up, there's always light outside.....and by the time I am done with wiping sleep from my eyes, and that mug of coffee finally kicking in... the sun outside is just beginning to bathe all that's beautiful on my way to work, in its shimmering pool. This is my favorite part of the day till it's time for sun to set when I am out with my camera again. So no matter how rushed I am in mornings, I still leave with my camera, hoping I will get a chance to stop and click, and if I do get lucky, it sets the tone for the day....a VERY MERRY tone :) These are from yesterday's "trip" to work :)

“People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.” – Iris Murdoch

Bar-red! Sunny side up! One last look...

To happy (July) beginnings :)

"I grew up in this town, my poetry was born between the hill and the river, it took its voice from the rain, and like the timber, it steeped itself in the forests." .........Pablo Neruda

I may not have grown up in this beautiful valley that I call home now but locals who did, am certain will find a resonating sentiment in Neruda's words.......:) We woke up this morning to find the fog roll in the valley to greet us. It instantly brought back memories of the precious few days we spent in Northwest (remember the move that never happened!!!). I still remember how the ubiquitous fog would fade away oh-so-briefly to offer a glimpse of the houses, the woods, the road ahead and then return even before we could realize that those weren't the figments of our imagination. What a tease! :)

Unfettered beauty

It’s that time of the year again. Daisies are nodding and the hills "in my backyard" are alive with wildflowers :) I came back home from work to spot these smiling pretty things on the little hill next to where I park my car and though I had planned to showcase the lighthouses I collected on my trip to Michigan, I decided that the lights could wait. We have had a few sodden days (which I totally love) lately, and then sun shone briefly last evening and look at the magic it created!!!!My biggest joy in summer comes from wildflowers……....other staples of summer: dainty, breezy sundresses, long twilights, butterflies, ice creams, watermelons, buzzing farmer markets, and ripe, juicy mangoes (from the times when I was a child growing up in India) follow the lead. That reminds me, when I was orienting for my new job at the hospital about 3 months back (!!!!! time sure flies!!!!!), some of us new employees joined the “charity” club associated with the hospital to give up a certain percentage of our salary that would help (in ways other than just hospital-related) the club to reach out to the community we serve. As a “thank-you” gift, guess what the club gave us each in return (apart from some sponsored items): a packet of wildflower seeds. The idea being: if you want to be reassured what a beautiful world we inhabit: sow the seeds, water them and then when time is right just stand back and watch as nature delivers its inspired performance. Isn’t that lovely! :)

June is calling!

No, these aren't the mountains in my backyard, though they may very well be but these were taken on our trip to Smoky Mountains last year. Is it time yet to start yearning for a summer vacation 'coz I am already itching to be on the road. Every June I start getting antsy about a summer trip..........Anyways, till such a time that we can afford to accommodate one in our schedules, I will revisit my old pics! And for now, I am happy looking forward to spending the next 3 days in Michigan :)

Romance me!

There's a pink glow around me right now! I know it's a full-blown Spring when Nature dons pink the way it has......from the soft, demure hues of dogwood and cherry blossoms to the bolder, richer ones of tulips......There are so many tones of pink around that even Paris Hilton's wardrobe can't match it ;D and I am in such a pink heaven that even Pepto-Bismol pink will not be un-welcome :D These cascading dogwood blooms are for a special friend of mine who lives across the state-line and whose labor of love, her garden, is my virtual haven.

"Nest"led! :)

I have two (recently-acquired) hanging baskets in the name of a "garden" on my second floor apartment deck. Though I have no green thumb, I water my plants religiously and wouldn't mind singing to them for the joy those tiny little colorful flowers bring. But last evening, once back from work, as I got one of those two baskets down to "deadhead" the flowers (as the gardener-lady had instructed me to), my eyes would not believe what they saw. I had to repeat "Be still my heart" countless times to myself to contain my excitement. Unbeknownst to me, this little birdie who had been chirping around the flowers lately, had decided to make its home and babies right there in the basket. I can't thank her enough to choose my deck and am keeping my fingers crossed that this little family will enjoy their new (even if temporary) abode. As I exclaimed to my husband later at night, "It's like we have a little ecosystem in our own house" :)

Soft and pastel........

........dreamy and atmospheric: the beautiful is everywhere. Shots from my latest walkabout in our neighborhood.

Not all flowers are created equal ;DDDD

Two days in a row of scorching 90 degrees temps. and I am beginning to feel a li'l uneasy about Spring (my love-hate relationship with Mr Sun continues). My skin is burning right now...I am supposed to take precautions against the damaging sunlight but can I be blamed for wanting to be outdoors when Spring has waltzed in as it has............rest assured, I won’t miss a moment of the show outside.......allergy or not!!!!!! :)

Happiness loves company :)

In the dappled sunlight of a Pennsylvania evening,

Earth day or not......

..........I love our planet green :)

Hello, Yellow :)

"Now the golden Morn aloft
Waves her dew-bespangled wing,
With vermeil cheek, and whisper soft
She woos the tardy Spring:
Till April starts, and calls around
The sleeping fragrance from the ground;
And lightly o'er the living scene
Scatters his freshest, tenderest green." -------Thomas Gray

"Daffadowndilly has come to town
In a yellow petticoat and a green gown."

Memories of Summer

In the absence of any color around moi, I felt like painting my blog in summer colors today, to help ward off the wintry chill (read: I haven't touched my camera in two weeks now).............."Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories" - from An Affair to Remember.

One Winter Afternoon

"There's a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons --
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes --
......................
......................
When it comes, the Landscape listens --
Shadows -- hold their breath --
When it goes, 'tis like the Distance
On the look of Death --" Emily Dickinson

Images from our trip to Door Peninsula, Wisconsin. It's a beautiful state, no matter what part in which season we decide to pay a visit.........

Musk Thistle

Yet another un-inspired week.......yet again I had to dig into the archives.
The summer that went by was a special one. I went wild trying to catch all the wildflowers around moi, some of which never made it to the blog. These musk thistles have been begging to be flaunted here. The transformation of green-with-red-edges core into satin smooth pink fibers is so pretty that I simply refuse to use words like weeds, invasive or noxious species for them.
We leave tomorrow for a li'l road trip up north.....hoping to get away from all that's "invasive" and "noxious" around us :)

Autumn's splendor

Fall colors are not passé yet, are they??? Indulge moi for a little more time till I get done with the colors of a season that had me and my camera truly, deeply, madly EUPHORIC........remember, we moved here from Florida where "autumn" is a foreign term!!!! :)

Dressed for the occasion

"If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live." - Lin Yutang
Today, the weather was fair though the breeze hinted at the chill of days to come and we made the best of that extra one hour we gained: we spent it doing (what we love the most)........nothing :)

Exuberant :)

"Autumn -the year's last, loveliest smile." - William Cullen Bryant
I love change of seasons. I had been missing it for too long.... but when gold and crimson maple leaves cartwheel in the air and cluster around my feet, along the sidewalks, in the doorways of houses, on our cars........I tell myself I will part with the other three in a jiffy, if only it could be autumn around moi year long!!!!!!
They must be the luckiest people in the world to have that happy, colorful driveway all to themselves. Yes, it's a private driveway and yes, I envy the owners.

Amber and red

The dying light lends its amber glow to the leaves, just before the sun calls it a day...................... and needless to add, I can't think beyond red, yellow and orange these days :)