carpe diem summer retreat 2018 finding

Tanka: Lazy Days

two swans and four of their seven cygnets in the harbour

learning
the colours of water
fanning their wings
soon these cygnets will fly
discover new horizons

two swans and four of their seven cygnets in the harbour

Later this week the cygnets will be three months old. Three of them are out of shot, all seven of them are doing really well. They have started to fan and flap their wings.

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/5.6, 1/250 s, ISO 200.

This is my 30th contribution of Carpe Diem’s Summer Retreat 2018 with the theme ‘Finding the Way’, where we were invited to contribute one haiku, tanka or haibun per day for thirty days. I contributed fifteen poems at Whippet Wisdom and fifteen poems here at Tranature. To see all thirty contributions together you can click here.

To see the contributions from everyone who took part please see the Carpe Diem link below.

Carpe Diem Summer Retreat 2018: Finding the Way

Terri’s Sunday Stills: Lazy Days of Summer

Haiku: Blades of Grass

macro of raindrops on blades of grass

green grass
the light collects her patterns
in the rain

macro shot of raindrops on blades of grass

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/3.2, 1/500 s, ISO 100 and f/2.8, 1/2000 s, ISO 160 with DMW-LC55 Lens.

Carpe Diem Summer Retreat 2018: Finding the Way

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge: Patterns

Haiku: Effervescent

mallard ducks and ducklings enjoying a splash in the river

side by side
the sound of ducks splashing
summer jazz

mallard ducks and ducklings enjoying a splash in the river

We wish you all a very happy Friday and a wonderful weekend!

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/6.3, 1/320 s, ISO 500 and f/6.3, 1/320 s, ISO 640.

Carpe Diem Summer Retreat 2018: Finding the Way

Rag Tag Daily Prompt #71: Effervescent

Haiku: Fruits of Love

red currant blossom in Spring with green leaves

planting seeds
tending with soil, water, light
first blossoms

blossoms on blackcurrant changing to young fruit

raindrops a mirror
when blossoms turn to fruit
a pheasant sings

close up of cluster of green blackcurrant turning to red

a change of colour
blackcurrant fragrance
fills our bowls

close up of small ripe blackcurrant cluster

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8, 1/250 s, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/320 s, ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/125 s, ISO125 and f/4, 1/80 s, ISO 100.

Carpe Diem Summer Retreat 2018: Finding the Way

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Row

Haiku: A New Family

two ducklings snuggling together on shingle beside a female mallard duck

folded in friendship
her duckling, one orphan
a new family

two ducklings swimming in the river

The female mallard in the top photograph had lost most of her brood to the crows within a week of hatching and only one duckling survived. She adopted another duckling who had lost all her siblings as well as her mother. The two ducklings are roughly the same age and have become the best of friends.

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/6.5, 1/320 s, ISO 320 and f/5.6, 1/250 s, ISO 250.

Carpe Diem Summer Retreat 2018: Finding the Way

Sunday Stills: You’ve got a Friend

Haiku: Orange Poppy

a single orange poppy flower in a field with long grass and wildflowers

all by herself
in this field of Summer
orange poppy

close up of a single orange poppy flower in a field with long grass and wildflowers

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, f/6.5, 1/400 s, ISO 100 and f/6.5, 1/640 s, ISO 160.

Carpe Diem Summer Retreat 2018: Finding the Way

Dutch Goes the Photo Tuesday Photo Challenge: Field

Cee’s Flower of the Day

Rag Tag Daily Prompt #64: Novel

Haibun: Life on the River

ducks, ducklings on a tidal island in the river with a goosander, swans and cygnets swimming by

The water is still very low at low tide after a long hot Summer. Mallards and ducklings swim in the remaining flow, others climb on to islands of stones in the river. A seagull chick on the opposite bank watches the ducks. His parents are higher up, keeping an eye on their offspring. The goosander, who normally likes her own space, joins the others when swans return.

a warm sky
salmon are waiting downstream
for rain to come

ducks, ducklings and a goosander on a tidal island in the river with swans and cygnets swimming by