seaweed
on rippled sand
a beach ball
still holds the space within
its funky colours
© Xenia Tran
Take 5ive 2024, Inclusivity Issue
Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday from the warm and sunny Highlands and a peaceful rest of the week,
with love from Xenia and Bria xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Xingfu Mama’s Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge 2024 Week 19
Word of the Day Challenge: Summer
Birks of Aberfeldy
déjà-vu
the poet’s world and ours
meet by the river
© Xenia Tran
Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday and a peaceful rest of the week,
with love from Xenia and Bria xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Xingfu Mama’s Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge 2024 Week 18
Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge: Intuition
Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Leaves
meditating
on soft grass
a white feather
tickles my arm
to fall awake again
© Xenia Tran
Take 5ive 2024 – Inclusivity Issue
Beltane Blessings and a wonderful Wednesday to you all,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Xingfu Mama’s Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge 2024 Week 17
CMMC: May Close Up or Macro
Word of the Day Challenge: Orientation
ah how we dance
to the Celtic rock
of Wolfstone …
this tapping with my feet
is soothing my old bones
© Xenia Tran
This landscape reminds me of Wolfstone’s beautiful Gillies and we often play this in the car on our journey here:
Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful new week,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge: One Day
Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #297: Music for my Eyes
Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Entertain
the cosiness
of chocolate …
spring rain
© Xenia Tran
With warm thanks to the kind staff at Iain Burnett, The Highland Chocolatier, in Grandtully, who kindly let me take photographs and offered a complimentary truffle from their delicious menu on a rainy April day.
Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday and a peaceful rest of the week,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Xingfu Mama’s Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge 2024 Week 16
Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge: Menu
Word of the Day Challenge: Complimentary
CMMC: April Alphabet – A ck or ch in a Word
mist and moss
how memories paint softly
on the rocks
© Xenia Tran
Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday and a peaceful rest of the week,
with love from Xenia and Bria xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #295: Rock Your World
Xingfu Mama’s Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge 2024 Week 15
The Hermitage
If your mind is not clear, you must ask a tree or the sky to help you. Then the tree or the sky will give you a good answer ~ Zen Master Seung Sahn
Storm Kathleen has rolled through the area, bringing heavy rain and leaving the river Braan in spate. The sound of water cascading over stone is invigorating, the sight of small rainbows in the spray a joy to behold.
Spring grass and young trees are growing between moss and rocks. Birds sing their stories into each moment.
Nineteen months have passed since we last visited The Hermitage. Part of me feels as if we never left, as its magic continues to travel with me.
I make a bee-line for a small clearing between the taller trees, delighted to see the wooden bench is still there. My husband offers to hold my camera as I softly settle down, with Bria settling beside me.
gazing
at the crowns of Douglas fir
a mandala
of blue and green
in nature’s temple
© Xenia Tran
Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful new week,
with love from Xenia and Bria xxx
Photograph of Bria and Xenia by Paul Tran, all other photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Becca’s Sunday Trees #529
Word of the Day Challenge: Play
We are delighted and humbled to learn that the lovely Freya Pickard from Pure Haiku has posted a review of our first book, Sharing Our Horizon, on her beautiful blog.
Thank you Freya for your lovely review!
Wishing you all a blessed day,
with love from Xenia xxx
The wind whips up the waves and the tide rolls towards crumbling anti-tank blocks, left here from the Second World War.
The sand has swallowed some, sea and storms have thrown others against the dunes. A few remain upright.
Our collie jumps on top of one of them, swivels a stick in her mouth and leaps over.
dancing gulls
time folds their stories
into our own
© Xenia Tran
We are taking a short blogging break and will be back on Sunday 14 April 2024.
We leave you with a song by Colin Macleod and a video featuring his sweet border collie Sparky:
Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday and a peaceful ten days ahead,
with love from Xenia and Bria xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Xingfu Mama’s Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge 2024 Week 13
Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Swivel
Cairngorms National Park
We received a lovely surprise in the post from fellow blogger and haiku friend Andy Dugas, also known as Haiku Andy.
Every day, Andy writes a haiku and publishes it via social media. He then inscribes the same haiku on a single postcard and mails it to someone in the world.
He started this project as a way to expand his daily haiku practice.
If you want to read more inspiring haiku by Andy and/or would like to receive a postcard yourself, please visit his wonderful blog at Haiku Andy.
Thank you for your beautiful haiku Andy!
Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday and a peaceful rest of the week,
with love from Xenia and Bria xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Xingfu Mama’s Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge 2024 Week 12
CMMC: March Alphabet – An A or E in a Word
(Postcard, Friend, Border Collie, Bria, Forest, Trees, Lochan, Water, Mountain)
Tranature 
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