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
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
Cairngorms National Park
Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful new week,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
CWWC: Which Ways with Snow or the Color White
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.
Jez Braithwaite’s Water Water Everywhere #173
Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #246: Still Life
First of all we want to say a warm-hearted thank you to all of you who visited, commented, inspired and prompted us with photo, word and poetry challenges.
During a year when we lost both our beloved adopted dogs within one week and three dear friends within a fortnight, friendship, community, kindness and the healing powers of nature wrapped us in a much-needed blanket of comfort.
longest night –
the moon shines on a raven
polishing its beak
© Xenia Tran
Autumn Moon Haiku Journal 6:1, Autumn-Winter 2022-2023
The sadness connected us with an even deeper level of gratitude for all the special souls who walk beside us on our journey in this life. With our heart broken open, we were more ready than ever to receive all the beauty life and nature have to offer.
We are grateful to share a collection of those posts, which resonated with you the most. As in previous years, they are organised season by season, each offering their own gifts and magic.
To enjoy the photo-galleries as they are intended, it is best to visit this post in website view.
The most popular posts this season were Beach Art, Peace Candle (first published in Haiku Dialogue), First Snowdrops, Light Frost, Crystal Leaves and Berries and Scintillating Sunrise.
Some of you may remember our Restoring Nature post on our sister blog where I introduced Cairngorms Connect, a bold conservation project with a 200-year vision.
In February 2022 I was offered the opportunity to take part in a series of writing workshops organised by Cairngorms Connect, which focused on our relationship with place. What I learned there has become an integral part of my writing throughout the rest of the year and I am very grateful to Elizabeth Reeder and Cairngorms Connect for their inspiration and guidance.
In March 2022 I took part in the Sit-Spot Challenge organised by An Darach Forest Croft, which involved sitting somewhere quiet in nature for at least twenty minutes each day. I sat in the sun, snow and rain and filled waterproof notebooks with haiku seeds, thoughts and reflections.
It is amazing what you notice when you stop walking and sit for a while in a landscape, especially during a colder time of year.
Warm thanks to Hugh Asher of An Darach Forest Croft for all the inspiration.
I was deeply honoured and delighted to see ten haiku featured in the World Haiku Series with beautiful translations into Japanese by Mr Hidenori Hiruta.
The most popular posts in Spring were Morning Cruise, For Ancestors and Progeny, Here the Silenced (all three first published in The Asahi Shimbun), The Field of Everything, Colour Crochet and Urquhart Castle.
The six cygnets that hatched in the middle of May on our river were thriving, as well as many ducklings and other young birds. The noisiest were the herring gull family on our roof. One of the chicks hurt her wings and was taken to the vets by an SSPCA inspector. The other one grew fast and learned to fly a week later.
The most popular posts in Summer were Eastern Light, Cherry Blossom Moon (both published in haikuKATHA Issue 10, August 2022), Salmon Sky, The Lunar Codex (featuring my poem Grandma Alice from the anthology Chiaroscuro that is going to the moon), Riding the Waves and Clan Stones (first published in Presence #73, July 2022).
red berry tea
the birds just starting
to sing
© Xenia Tran
Presence Issue #73, July 2022
Autumn started off warm and offered some glorious walking days where the colours were just beginning to change. We spent some time in Perthshire, exploring new walks and historic sites, before the weather turned.
The most popular post in Autum was Coming Home (featuring a monoku published in haikuKATHA Issue 14, December2022), which also became the most popular post for the year. The other most popular posts during this season were Meet and Part (published in haikuKATHA, Issue 11, September 2022), Silent Treasures, Corbenic Circles and Curves, View from the Hide and Milestone (published in haikuKATHA, Issue 13, November 2022).
pilgrim’s way
slowly, slowly,
the pain eases
© Xenia Tran
Under the Basho, 16 November 2022
Thank you for walking along with us here. We will now take a short break and will be back here on Wednesday 11 January 2023.
We send you our warmest wishes for a healthy and happy 2023 – may your year be filled with joy, peace and wellbeing!
With love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Fantastic
Sunday Stills: What Did YOU Do in 2022?
This is our second lovely find while walking the trails near the Corbenic Camphill Community, a home for people with social, emotional, intellectual and learning disabilities in the heart of Scotland.
You can see a beautiful selection of stones, painted and embedded in benches by members of the community, in my Corbenic Circles and Curves post.
Wishing you all a peaceful Wednesday,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #219: Treasure Hunt
salmon sky –
poppies lean the past
into the half light
© Xenia Tran
Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Jez Braithwaite’s Water Water Everywhere #131
CFFC: Landscapes or Waterscapes
Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Half Light
The first gorse is in bloom and its warm scent of coconut and vanilla greets us as we follow the path across the moor. The rookery at Leanach Cottage is full of rooks and hooded crows. I wonder about the music the men who rest here would have danced to and all their loved ones, who wanted to keep them safe.
ancient battleground –
the place where men fell
brimming with life
pilgrims and progeny
hear a skylark sing
© Xenia Tran
This is another poem from a series I wrote at Culloden Battlefield during my visits in February and April. You can read two earlier poems here and here.
Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Your Daily Word Prompt: Elude
Spillwords.com presents: Kindness Glitters, poetry by Xenia Tran, artist & photographer who lives and works in the Scottish Highlands.
Source: Kindness Glitters, poetry by Xenia Tran at Spillwords.com
I am deeply honoured and delighted that my poem Kindness Glitters was published on Spillwords earlier today.
A warm-hearted thank you to Dagmara K and the Spillwords team for selecting and featuring my poem here.
Wishing you all a happy Saturday and a wonderful weekend,
with love from Xenia xxx
Wishing you all a peaceful Wednesday,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
CFFC: Edges and Ledges
Tranature 
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