Looking Back at 2022 – Thank you for the Love

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.

Winter

The most popular posts this season were Beach ArtPeace Candle (first published in Haiku Dialogue), First SnowdropsLight FrostCrystal 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.

Spring

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.

three forest bathing booklets on a table

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 CruiseFor Ancestors and Progeny, Here the Silenced (all three first published in The Asahi Shimbun), The Field of Everything, Colour Crochet and Urquhart Castle

Summer

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.

close up of a herring gull chick

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

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

a boreen rolling downhill into the glen

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?

Haiku: Snow Rumbles

close up of fire and logs in a woodburning stove

snow rumbles
even in the stove
football fever

© Xenia Tran

close up of fire and logs in a woodburning stove with dancing flames

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.

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #229: Perfect Patterns

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Reinvent

Wordless Wednesday: View from the Hide

a juvenile mallard duck preening on top of a log

We visited the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Loch of the Lowes Visitor Centre and Wildlife Reserve in September, where you can observe the wildlife from a variety of hides, without disturbing the animals.

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Wordless Wednesday

CFFC: Animals Unaware – Domestic or Wild

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Visitor

Wordless Wednesday: Getting Lucky

a man in waders in the river casting a fishing line
a man in waders catching a fish in the river

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Wordless Wednesday

Jez Braithwaite’s Water Water Everywhere #135

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Lucky

Haiku: Salmon Sky

rocks and rockpools on the beach at sunrise

salmon sky –
poppies lean the past
into the half light

© Xenia Tran

poppies and wildflowers in the foreground at sunrise over the sea

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

Haiku: Riding the Waves

a lone surfer riding a wave at first light

first light
a surfer tries his luck
on the waves

© Xenia Tran

a lone surfer riding a wave at first light
a lone surfer riding a wave at first light

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Jez Braithwaite’s Water Water Everywhere #130

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Achievement

Silent Sunday: Moorland Grazing

a blonde highland cow grazing on the moors
a blonde highland cow grazing on the moors

Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful new week,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Silent Sunday

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Horn

Haiku: For Ancestors and Progeny

Culloden Battlefield

a wooden memorial bench at Culloden with Gaelic inscription

Culloden Moor –
the grass beside the bench
a paler green

© Xenia Tran

The Asahi Shimbun, 15 April 2022

plaque on memorial bench at Culloden

Wishing you a blessed Sunday, and to all of you who celebrate, a blessed Easter too.

With love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Observance

Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge: Short

Wordless Wednesday: Catkins

close up of fading catkins by an old cottage wall
macro shot of the yellow pollen on a catkin

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Wordless Wednesday

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Residue

CMMC: April Close Up or Macro

Wordless Wednesday: A Splendid Day for Ducks

two pairs of mallard ducks on the riverbank
a mallard drake climbing on to the river bank in front of a female mallard
two pairs of mallards in discussion on the riverbank
a bonded pair of mallard ducks on the riverbank

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday,

with love from Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Wordless Wednesday

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Versatile

CMMC: March Alphabet – Letter D at the Beginning or End of a Word