Wild Things... Theme Thursday

When despair for the world grows in me... I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought or grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time, I rest in the grace of world and am free.

- Wendell Berry

I wish I were with some of the wild people that run in the woods, and know nothing about accomplishments. - Joanna Baillie

It seems no matter how we hack away and groom and "landscape" our surroundings, nature will persevere the moment our eyes and energies turn away. The spirit of the wild is stronger than civilized humankind.

Even goldfish born and raised in the tiny tanks of a Wal-Mart know how to be wild when given over to the possibilities of freedom in the natural world.

Art may imitate wild nature; less often does it dare to place itself in the midst of it, and when it does, it may come out second best - John Hart

They could just take you up yonder, honey, you're already wild and blue...
- John Anderson

And some only seem to be tamed. If you catch them unawares - wildness shines from their eyes, and shows in their actions...

Wild skies, wild animals, wild woods, wild horses - the spirit of the wild, wild at heart.

Susan Boyle singing The Rolling Stones Wild Horses

Theme Thursday: Fire - and the aftermath

This is a common sight all over the South. All that remains after many a fire is what might have been the source of the blaze - the chimney.




























Fire in the sky is less common, but once in a while I catch a few clouds ablaze in the evening.







One evening after a violent storm, I was surprised to see the sun setting again - in the north! It took a moment for me to realize I was seeing the glow of a forest fire started by the storm.







I photographed the storm on the news next morning (see my window reflected in the screen?) The storm set off the above fire and spawned two tornadoes and the largest hail I've ever witnessed. Luckily I only witnessed it after a friend put several hailstones in her freezer. They were nearly the size of baseballs!

Fire and ice - all descending from the heavens simultaneously...