seaweed
on rippled sand
a beach ball
still holds the space within
its funky colours
© Xenia Tran
Take 5ive 2024, Inclusivity Issue
Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday from the warm and sunny Highlands and a peaceful rest of the week,
with love from Xenia and Bria xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Xingfu Mama’s Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge 2024 Week 19
Word of the Day Challenge: Summer
Cairngorms National Park
Wishing you all a blessed Sunday and a peaceful new week,
with love from Xenia and Bria xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Becca’s Sunday Trees #532
Word of the Day Challenge: Change
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 cosiness
of chocolate …
spring rain
© Xenia Tran
With warm thanks to the kind staff at Iain Burnett, The Highland Chocolatier, in Grandtully, who kindly let me take photographs and offered a complimentary truffle from their delicious menu on a rainy April day.
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.
Xingfu Mama’s Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge 2024 Week 16
Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge: Menu
Word of the Day Challenge: Complimentary
CMMC: April Alphabet – A ck or ch in a Word
Wishing you and our beloved earth a blessed Sunday and happy Earth Day tomorrow,
with love from Xenia xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge: Flow
Word of the Day Challenge: Fountain
Sunday Stills: Continuously Moved by the Earth
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
The air we can breathe in the forests is so pure and nourishing for the soul – thank you trees!
Wishing you all a happy Sunday and a peaceful new week,
with love from Xenia and Bria xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Becca’s Sunday Trees #526
Word of the Day Challenge: Grateful
We toe-test the path before stepping off the grass. Most of it feels fine, with here and there some slippery patches. Switching off my torch, my eyes adjust to the dark. There is a glow above the dunes that could be a diffusion. The marram grass, part-covered in snow, gives off a light of its own.
The sand is part-frozen and the port’s lights shimmer on the water. When we reach the softer sand where the sea retreated only minutes before, the small crest of the moon is behind us in the sky among stars and planets, glittering in amber, red, yellow and blue.
Looking up, I remember the words of my late, distant cousin.
“The strange thing was, when the bombs came raining down … all I could hear was this nightingale singing.”
A few people have set up tripods, start shooting away. Others stand in awe, watching what unfolds before us. My tripod stays under my arm, my camera in my bag. I don’t want to miss a single moment.
tingling hair—
within the icy wind
pink aurora
© Xenia Tran
Contemporary Haibun Online, Issue 19.1, April 1, 2023
These photographs are from Sunday night, when the clouds parted long enough for us to see the northern lights again. I was too mesmerised to take any photos on the night referred to in the poem.
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.
Xingfu Mama’s Whatsoever is Lovely Challenge 2024 Week 9
Word of the Day Challenge: Beyond
clarsach concert –
in a ring of lanterns
winter wood
© Xenia Tran
The Bamboo Hut, Issue One, 2023
We are deeply honoured and delighted that the above haiku, first published in The Bamboo Hut, has subsequently been included in Fractured by Cattails, The Haiku Society of America Members’ Anthology 2023.
A warm-hearted thank you to the editors of both publications.
We are now wrapping up our blogging for the year to celebrate the festive season and will be back on Wednesday 3 January 2024.
A warm-hearted thank you to all our blogging friends for your support and wonderful comments and a huge thank you to all our fellow bloggers who have been hosting so many amazing challenges and prompts to inspire us here.
We wish all of you who celebrate a blessed Christmas and a Happy Hogmanay!
With love and best wishes to you all from Xenia and Bria xxx
Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.
Sunday Stills: Show Me That You’re Festive
Weekly Prompts Wednesday Challenge: Wrapping
Word of the Day Challenge: Collaboration
winter sun …
he promises where
he’ll scatter my ashes
© Xenia Tran
Autumn Moon Haiku Journal Volume 7:1, Autumn/Winter 2023-24
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 #278: Unique
Your Daily Word Prompt: Crisp
Word of the Day Challenge: Collaboration
Tranature 
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