lighting the stove
a salmon follows the stars
on the river
© Xenia Tran
Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful week ahead,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Stars on the River was first published in The Bamboo Hut, Number 3, 2021. A warm-hearted thank you to Steve Wilkinson for featuring my poem and putting this beautiful edition together.
Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge: Home
Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #169: The Ordinary
weathered wood
the memorial bench
still holds her poem
© Xenia Tran
Thank you again for all your good wishes before we went on our blogging break!
We had a relaxing time with beautiful walks in quiet areas (without a phone signal and limited internet) and hope you had a peaceful week too.
Wishing you a blessed Sunday and a happy week ahead,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Weathered Wood was first published in Troutswirl – The Haiku Foundation Blog, Haiku Dialogue: Finding Peace and Contemplation … in worn, imperfect and transient things … rusty hitching iron, 22 September 2021. A warm-hearted thank you to guest-editor Marietta MacGregor and The Haiku Foundation for featuring my poem and putting this beautiful edition together.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #168: Seen Better Days
Corn Marigold (Glebionis Segetum)
I am deeply honoured to share Haiku and Photo Haiku as part of the World Haiku Series 2020, in respect of the 326th anniversary of Matsuo Bashõ’s passing and in respect of all the souls who lost their lives to COVID-19. A warm-hearted thank you to Mr Hidenori Hiruta for his beautiful Japanese translations and for creating this wonderful series.
The haiku and photo haiku I offered were all created during the pandemic. Please visit Akita International Haiku Network for the full post.
We are now taking a short blogging break and will be back on Sunday 3 October 2021.
Wishing you all a sparkling Wednesday and a great week ahead,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Sunday Stills: All That Is Gold
Cee’s Flower of the Day
Word of the Day Challenge: Sparkling
lost and found
the barn key glitters
in the moonlight
© Xenia Tran
Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful week ahead,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Moonlight was first published in The Asahi Shimbun, 17 September 2021. A warm thank you to David McMurray for including my poem and putting this beautiful edition together.
Thursday’s Special: Pick a Word September 2021 (Reachable, Linkage)
It is an honour and a great pleasure to contribute four photographs to the 2022 Calendar for the River Nairn Swans & Waterfowl Trust that cares for our local river wildlife.
The river meets the sea here and we are blessed with the regular company of our resident swan family, mallard ducks, mandarin duck, goosander, oystercatcher, herring gull, heron and occasional visits by redshank, cormorant, wigeon and seals hunting for salmon.
Joe Telfer from the River Nairn Swans & Waterfowl Trust cares for injured birds and orphaned ducklings until they are ready to be released back into the wild and provides extra food when it is needed.
Our local wildlife is a great inspiration to me and I’m delighted to be able to give something back.
Copies of the 2022 Calendar are available from River Nairn Swans & Waterfowl Trust, Nairn Bookshop and Strachans.
A special thank you to Iona Gibson for putting this beautiful calendar together.
Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #160: Your Inspiration
CFFC: It’s a Small World
blown off-course
the coastguard gathers
at the boat slip
© Xenia Tran
I wrote this haiku in honour of the volunteers from the RNLI who will go out in all weathers to rescue people from our seas, lakes, rivers and floods.
If you want to find out more about what they do, are interested in volunteering or wish to support them in other ways please visit their website here.
Wishing you all safe harbour,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
A Helping Hand was first published in The Asahi Shimbun, 4 June 2021. A warm thank you to David McMurray for including my poem and putting this beautiful edition together.
Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Question
Thursday’s Special: Pick a Word – Flow, Tidal
CFFC: Blue
a red rose
how grandmother blushes
when she sees him
after all these years his voice
the longest in her mind
© Xenia Tran
When my grandmother moved into a retirement home she met her first True Love (from High School) at the breakfast counter and it felt as if they’d never been apart.
He placed a red rose on her breakfast plate each morning and they had one blissful, love-filled year together before he passed away.
Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful week ahead,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Red Rose was first published in Ribbons, Spring/Summer 2021: Volume 17, Number 2. A very big thank you to Michael McClintock and the team at Ribbons for featuring my poem and putting this wonderful edition together.
Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #154: One Photo Two Ways
Cee’s Flower of the Day
grandpa’s lazybed
his potatoes still grow
in the corner
© Xenia Tran
(Autumn Moon Haiku Journal 4:2, Spring/Summer 2021)
settling down
three generations
of oxen
© Xenia Tran
(Asahi Haikuist Network, The Asahi Shimbun, 5 February 2021)
ascending moon
we graft the roots
of our evergreen
© Xenia Tran
(Asahi Haikuist Network, The Asahi Shimbun, 19 March 2021)
such beauty
following a butterfly
who knows the way
© Xenia Tran
(Sharing Our Horizon, A Journey Through the Scottish Highlands
with Two Adopted Whippets by Xenia Tran)
Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful week ahead,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
A warm-hearted thank you to the editors of the Autumn Moon Haiku Journal and The Asahi Shimbun for featuring my haiku and putting these beautiful publications together.
Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #153: It’s a Wonderful World
Word of the Day Challenge: Treasure
cherry blossom
an old pen
fills with ink
© Xenia Tran
Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
The above haiku was first published in Autumn Moon Haiku Journal 4:2, Spring/Summer 2021. A very big thank you to Bruce Ross for featuring my poem and putting this beautiful edition together.
Your Daily Word Prompt: Twine
Cee’s Flower of the Day
It was a true delight to see our local swans with seven one-week old cygnets on the river yesterday.
Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful week ahead,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Settings: f/5 – 1/320 s – ISO 200, f/5.6 – 1/800 s – ISO 200 and f/5.6 – 1/640 s – ISO 200.
We are deeply honoured and delighted that the second photograph above has been included in the Nairn River Swans & Waterfowl Trust’s 2022 Calendar. A warm-hearted thank you to Joe Telfer for all his work and to Iona Gibson for putting this beautiful calendar together.
Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge: Favourites
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