Poetry – Tranature

Haiku: Sea of Daffodils

sea of daffodils
the green tick in your window
tells us you’re OK

Across the Highlands community groups are doing their best to look after the most vulnerable among us, as Covid-19 is spreading here too. In the village of Ballachulish every household received flags for display in their window or front door. A green tick means you’re healthy and able to go about your business, a red cross means you’re not so well and need help. Volunteers monitor the displays and arrange assistance where it is needed.

We’re delighted that this haiku is featured in Haiku Dialogue: The Haiku Mind – Signs of Spring, Troutswirl, The Haiku Foundation Blog, 25 March 2020. A very big thank you to guest editor Tia Haynes and post manager Lori Zajkowski for putting this edition together.

Wishing you a blessed Sunday and may you all stay safe and well,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Settings: f/5 – 1/400 s – ISO 200 and f/3.5 – 1/800 s – ISO 160.

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Connect

Cee’s Flower of the Day

Frank J Tassone’s Weekly Haikai Challenge #132: Covid-19

Tanka Prose: Now I Can See

lensball among green leaves, reflecting a colourful mandala

I am writing while we’re in lockdown. Panic buyers empty the shops, leaving less for all of us. Still I feel calm. We’ve been able to eat the food nobody wanted. We’ve adapted recipes, combining flavours like never before. We’re making everything last, stretch our resources. And I feel calm. I have never been afraid of dying.

the crow so wise
sees the centre of the surf
in rainbows
I’ve never felt more at peace
preparing to go home

a crow striding across wet tidal sands towards the surf

Please be assured that I am feeling well. I have always regarded this journey through life as exactly that, a journey. I also believe there will be other journeys after this. I am treasuring my experiences and sharing what I see.

Wishing you all a peaceful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Settings: f/5.6 – 1/400 – ISO 100 and f/2.8 – 1/200 s – ISO 100.

dVerse Poetics: Now I Can See …

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Scry

Tracy’s Corvid 2020 Challenge #1

Jez Braithwaite’s Lensball Playtime #6

Haibun: Looking Up

a pair of mature herring gulls on a chimney against a blue sky

All along our coast we are blessed with friendly neighbours of the feathered kind. They pair for life, raise their chicks as a couple and community. There’s something special about the light in their eyes, traversing crystal sea or sky. The way they sit on chimney pots, watch over us, feels very reassuring.

looking up
spring equinox approaches
a spinning sun

a mature seagull sitting on a chimney pot against a blue sky

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and hope you are keeping safe and well,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/6.3 – 1/800 s – ISO 200, f/6.3 – 1/1000 s – ISO 200 and f/5.6 – 1/1250 s – ISO 200.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Point Your Camera Upwards

Frank J Tassone’s Weekly Haikai Challenge #130: Spring Equinox

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Something

Your Daily Word Prompt: Traverse

Haibun: Treasures in a Bucket

macro shot of sleet falling in a bucket of water

While I am feeding the birds sleet begins to fall and the wind picks up. The sleet is heavy and slightly slanted, creating wonderful patterns in the water in one of the buckets I use to catch the rain.

fleeting snow
the Buddha and angels show us
they’re always here

macro shot of sleet and raindrops hitting the water in a bucket

Brian at the Rag Tag Daily Prompt invites us to share examples of Pareidolia.

Pareidolia is the perception of an object, a pattern or meaning seen by the observer, such as seeing shapes in clouds or seeing faces in inanimate objects or assigning human characteristics to objects.

Tina at Lens-Artists is looking for treasures (with a bonus point if you include a bucket) and Merril at dVerse Poets is inviting us to write about impermanence.

Wishing you all a magical Thursday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/3.5 – 1/13 s – ISO 200 and f/3.5 – 1/10 s – ISO 200.

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #85: Treasure Hunt

dVerse Poetics: Impermanence

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Pareidolia

Haiku: Treasures

macro shot of green shoots growing through moss with raindrops

wet snow on green leaves
their newness just beginning
to shape itself

macro shot of aindrops on a young green shoot

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a wonderful week ahead,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/3.5 – 1/40 s – ISO 200.

Frank J Tassone’s Weekly Haikai Challenge #127: Waters of Spring

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #85: Treasure Hunt

Haiku: Turnstone

a turnstone turning over a small pebble between larger stones

little turnstone
every pebble in his world
turning, turning

close up shot of a turnstone turning a small pebble

It was a real treat to see this turnstone in his winter plumage the other day. He foraged for food in the narrow spaces between stones whilst I waited patiently nearby, not wanting to disturb him.

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a wonderful week ahead,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/6.5 – 1/250 s – ISO 200, f/6.3 – 1/250 s – ISO 200 and f/6.3 – 1/100 s – ISO 200.

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #84: Narrow

Sunday Stills: Birds

Haiku: Pied Wagtail

a pied wagtail striding out on the beach

pied wagtail
oh sweet little bird
busy, busy

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/5.6 – 1/320 s – ISO 100, f/5.6 – 1/250 s – ISO 100 and f/5.6 – 1/400 s – ISO 100.

Kate’s Friday Fun Challenge: Feathered Friends

Your Daily Word Prompt: Resilient

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Action