Mahalo, Ke Akua...

...be grateful for who and what you have...
...there are those who are not as fortunate as you (or I)...
...those who have (and had) it all...
...or so you/they thought...
...and then, in just an instant! Poof! It is gone!
...So my family and friends...
...cherish who and what you have in front of you now...
...as tomorrow they (it) may be gone...
...enjoy the beauty of this earth...

...that God has painted for us...

...from His never ending palette of colors...
Me ke aloha...

photography/words: TePoeNoir

Adieu la France...

One of my last views of France (Meaux)...

that is etched in my memory...

a country that I never tire of visiting...

J'attends avec intérêt de retourner

...sigh...

FALL - Katzenbach (Stuttgart Germany 2008)

God once again painting his landscape for all to see the beautiful colors of His palette.

What a wonderful time of the year as mother nature prepares her "children" for winter! She makes them warm and cozy so that they will give up their leaves--these delicate leaves will not feel the 'sting' of Winter's snow. Rather, the tuff covering of bark surrounds the delicate interior...fending off that 'sting'.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly. . .

So begins the poem In Flanders Field by Canadian Physician

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae,

in May of 1915 upon witnessing the battles in Ypres salient, France.

One of the most recognized symbols of Veterans Day is the corn poppy,

or red poppy Papaver rhoeas.

It grows on the battlefields of Europe, blooming from March-July. Soldiers returning home from World War I reported the awesome sight of the battlefields bereft of any life, covered from end to end with delicate red poppies. In their hearts and minds, the red poppy symbolized the blood shed and the sacrifice made by the soldiers buried beneath the surface.

...in the Forest Deep...

In the forest deep

there is a village

unknown to man...

Where mushrooms grow

to shelter those

little folk of the forest

You may wander this earth

looking for these...

the mushroom villages

the little folk...

Alas! You will not find them!

Unless you are looking...

really looking.