Photo Submissions: Water

A splash in the sea. Overstrand beach, North Norfolk, England – Inexplicable Device.

Water is life. It may sound like a simple phrase to many, but for some of us it invokes a sacred sense of responsibility. Without water there is death. People, animals and plant life all rely on this most important molecule. It is a basic building block to life itself. Had I been born into the world of Greek mythology I think the role as a water nymph would have suited me just fine.


Peace

Weeping Willow over the water. South Florida USA By Marika Stone https://womanaloud.blog

I find peace within watery scenes such as these. Calmness and reflection.

A drop among the lily pads. By Marika Stone https://womanaloud.blog
Swan Family. By Marika Stone https://womanaloud.blog


Reflection

Water offers us a reflection of ourselves and the world around us.

Reflection of a Sunset. Overstrand beach, North Norfolk, England – Inexplicable Device.


Wonder

When my son was a toddler he was fascinated by this little book. He had me check it out at the library so many times that I finally bought him his own copy. It’s amazing how much life can be found in a teaspoon of water.

One puddle from two angles, taken May 11, 2023, at Vega State Park in Colorado.
Tracy Abell Another Day On the Planet

Flooding at Riverside Park, NYC USA. By Kerfe https://methodtwomadness.wordpress.com/ & https://kblog.blog/

Water is a force of nature. Too much and that which gives life can also take it away.


Beauty

Water through the power of glacial ice or jet powered waterfalls has the ability to carve rocks into cliffs, mountains and valleys. I am humbled by it.

Areial view by helicopter of Victoria Falls Zimbabwe. By Lisa Troute

One need only to look upon the power and beauty of something like the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

Victoria Falls viewpoint in Zimbabwe. By Lisa Troute.

Movement

Water has the ability to transport us across shores, along rivers and through deltas. Like many people, I think, I find a lot of inspiration when surrounded by water. Why do our best ideas come to us in the shower when we haven’t got a stitch of clothing or a pen to write with? Who says nature doesn’t have a sense of humor?

A wave in Porthcurno Cornwall England By Ms Scarlet https://wonky-words.com/blog/

Until next time friends, may you find peace and inspiration everywhere you look!


Next Photo Submission Request

The Farming Community of Waverly WA USA By Melanie Reynolds

July Submissions – Fields and Grasses

Show me your Elysian Fields or ornamental grasses (includes bamboo and palm trees.)

Due: July 31st

To be posted on August 1st.

The Fine Print:  Photo Submissions Guidelines

Email to: natureledlife@gmail.com, Subject line: Photo Submission for [month] (Multiple months of photos in one email is fine.) Image: Attached as a .JPEG or .PNG file preferred. Captions each picture: Subject in the photo (if known), State/Providence & Country, Date (optional). Your name as you want it to appear, Your blog link (if you have one.) 

Feel free to add any interesting notes about a picture. I love interesting stories behind things! Let me know if it’s just for ‘my eyes only’ or if I can share any part of it with your photo. Pictures must be your own or you have permission from the Photographer to share it. All copyrights belong to their respective owners. This is a free, fun, community site about nature. Non-commercial and ad free.

Last Breath

Hello Dearest Nature-led friends!

Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Pexels.com

June Photo Submission: Water – Extended submission deadline

New Due Date: July 7th (subject to change)

Thank you to Lisa, Kerfe and IDV who have already emailed me their pictures.

Obligatory Fine Print:  Photo Submissions Guidelines

Email to: natureledlife@gmail.com, Subject line: Photo Submission for [month] (Multiple months of photos in one email is fine.) Image: Attached as a .JPEG or .PNG file preferred. Captions each picture: Subject in the photo (if known), State/Providence & Country, Date (optional). Your name as you want it to appear, Your blog link (if you have one.) 

Feel free to add any interesting notes about the picture. Pictures must be your own or you have permission from the Photographer to share it. All copyrights belong to their respective owners. This is a free, fun, community site about nature. Non-commercial and ad free.

Last Breath

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

I’m heading home to say goodbye.

She was the best archnemesis a teenage girl could have asked for. We were young, brash and fierce. After thirty-five years I can honestly say she was the worst gold digger ever met! Why? Because she wasn’t a gold digger at all. She really truly loves/loved my dad.

At the peak of our hostility, we were eating in a nice family spaghetti restaurant when she looked at me the wrong way or made some trite comment. Who can even remember now? I flew across the table at her, and she was ready for it. We started to tussle right then and there. It took two servers and a busboy to separate us. We were informed in the parking lot we were no longer welcome there. As we all gathered in the car. My stepbrother and stepsister, little kids at the time, quietly sobbed in the backseat beside me. My dad was gripping the top of the steering wheel tightly and my stepmom and I waited to be declared winner yelled at.

Instead he said in a firm measured voice, “I really liked that restaurant.”

Now every time I think about that moment I laugh.

Her and I, we buried the hatchet some fifteen years ago now.

She was a rural postal carrier. Delivering packages where Amazons feared to tread. It was a hard job and sometimes dangerous. She’d been bitten by a dog and a squirrel, rolled in the jeep, blew out both rotor cups in her shoulders and dealt with wildfires, snowstorms and crazy people. So many times, she wanted to quit, but she felt she’d already been there too long to let go and dreamed of retiring with nice federal benefits and retiring happily ever after. She would text me from the side of the road on some of her toughest days. When she needed someone to remind her how fierce she was.

I’m frustrated and sad that she won’t get her happy ending. Cancer comes now to steal her from us quickly. She can rest now. Her shift has ended. I’ll hold the fort. I’ll keep watch over the ones we love. Cancer sucks!

What is murmured between the bridge and the water

Photo by Jeff Nissen on Pexels.com

Not always in the rumor of the water we know her secrets.

Warm or cold, it floods us or bathes us in the course of her passage.

Not always, you are always there.

Inviting to drown sorrows walking towards your depths.

You sing or I sing in the emptiness of the sea shells.

Treasure chests that were lost in the bellies of two-legged squid, but never in those of the fisherman who seeks sustenance.

Wet maps that have erased their marks between salts of tears of pirates or conquerors who dreamed of setting foot on land and anchoring in castles.

I, who have seen you quench all thirsts, who have felt you moisten bare skin with scales.

I rise before you, serving as a relief to the passerby, who loaded goes with messages of stories that bind hearts or unleash wars.

I have been made of your stones, your sand and your murmurs.

I have shouted with the anguish of those who throw themselves into the emptiness of emptiness of your abysses, silencing the loneliness left by oblivion.

I have also fallen, through negligence or carelessness of man, that once was a fish and dreamed of connecting two worlds.

Maybe that’s why he comes back to you. With those same hands that were fins one day, tired of swimming, he started to walk, and came to the surface to build me and rest upon me. 

He comes to remember how to breathe, and see the horizon in your immensity. 
Man thinks, yearns. He puts his fins in his pockets to get a coin, the one that gives value to the land. And he throws it to ask fate that in siren songs, they dive and from their ancient world, magically, human vanities can be satisfied.

Spanish version:

Lo que se murmura entre el puente y el agua

No siempre en el rumor del agua sabemos sus secretos.

Cálida o fría nos inunda o nos baña en el recorrer de su paso.

No siempre, siempre estás ahí. 

Invitando a ahogar las penas caminando hacia tus profundidades.

Cantas tú o canto yo en el vacío de las conchas de mar.

Baúles de tesoros que se perdieron en las barrigas de calamares de dos patas, más nunca en las del pescador que busca sustento.

Mapas mojados que han borrado sus marcas entre sales de lágrimas de piratas o de conquistadores que soñaron pisar tierra y anclarse en castillos.

Yo, que te he visto saciar todas las sedes, que te he sentido mojar las pieles desnudas de escamas. 

Me elevo ante ti sirviendo de alivio al transeúnte, quien cargado va con mensajes de historias que unen corazones o desatan guerras.

Me han hecho de tus piedras, de tu arena y tus murmullos.

He gritado con las angustias de quienes se lanzan al vacío del vacío de tus abismos, acallando la soledad que deja el olvido.

También he caído, por negligencia o descuido del hombre, ese que alguna vez fue pez y soñó conectar dos mundos. 

Por eso quizás regresa a ti. Con esas mismas manos que fueron aletas un día, cansado de nadar se echó a andar, y salió a la superficie para construirme y posarse sobre mí.   Viene cuando acaso recuerda cómo se respira, y puede divisar el horizonte en tu inmensidad. 

Piensa el hombre, anhela. Mete sus aletas en los bolsillos para sacar una moneda, esa que le da valor a lo terreno. Y la lanza para pedirle a la suerte, que en cantos de sirenas, se sumerjan y que desde su antiguo mundo, mágicamente, se puedan satisfacer las vanidades humanas.