Hi friends, it’s been a while! I hope this finds all of you well and that you have beauty and joy and love in your lives!
Things have been extremely challenging for me recently, but in this moment I am ok, filled with gratitude. 🙏
I haven’t been feeling as creative as I usually am, but I have made a few nature mandalas since I was here last and thought I’d share them with you.
My garden is a bit lacking this year, so I haven’t had as much to work with, but I’m sincerely appreciating and enjoying what I do have. I just harvested some yellow beans from my veggie garden and they were actually what sparked the inspiration for the mandala above. Here it is with the beans…
😁
And here is a mandala I made a couple weeks ago…
And a few others…
I also made a little mini wreath one day just for kicks…
I used peppermint for the base and it was very fragrant! I’m so grateful for my sense of smell. And for all my senses.
Well, I guess that’s all for now. I gotta go get ready for work. Thanks so much for letting me share! I hope this brightens your day in some small way! 🌼 May it be happy and blessed, and may the wheel of life spin you in beautiful directions today!
Serene pools created as the warming sun transformed winter snows, reflect the barren landscape of early spring, clothed in amber and gold, soon to join the fresh, lush hues of the evergreens
As these overflowing reservoirs spill out, carrying their replenishing waters to share with all living things along its journey across the land, streams of abundance flow, with laughter, singing a joyful song
Happy Spring to those of you here with me in the Northern hemisphere! Of course, the date on the calendar doesn’t necessarily always match whatever the weather is doing wherever one may be. Here in my area of Minnesota, we are having some beautiful weather at the moment – although that can change dramatically on any given day.
The above photo was taken on a lovely walk I went on the other day on a trail along Nine Mile Creek. It’s so hard to capture the full beauty of a place or a moment. One thing you probably can’t get the full effect of from the photo I snapped is the ‘serene pools’ I mention at the top of the poem. In the upper middle part of the photo you can just barely see it, but the calm waters so beautifully reflected the landscape there. It was the stream I was mostly trying to capture though, but the whole scene was so lovely. And the sound… gosh, it’s wonderful to hear flowing waters again after the long winter…
Hope you have beautiful sights and sounds to enjoy wherever you are on this first day of Spring! I’m off to take full advantage of our nice weather! Many blessings to you, my friends!
There was a perfectly lovely moonrise last night! So stunning that I had to stop in my tracks to gaze up at it for a while, breathing in its beauty. Ah dusk and dawn. Sigh…
I took out my phone to try and capture it, but as usual, I was not able to. I did manage this shot, which although it still falls quite short, it does capture some of the feels. I admit I used a filter to enhance it a bit, but only because this was more what it actually looked like to me. The colors gave me a serious case of heart eyes! 😍 I love the moon so much!
Wishing you a wonderful day and beauty that gives you heart eyes!
Technically this isn’t snow in this image, it’s hoarfrost (which we’ve been delightfully blessed to be having quite a bit of here lately), but who’s being picky? Certainly not me. 😉
So HI YOU GUYS!!!
Sorry for ‘shouting’ all in caps, but I’m excited!
But I’m not excited with this new editor thing. Ugh. Probably old news to you all by now, but it might take me a while to get used to it.
So, I’ve sort of been away from here for months and you know what? I’ve sincerely missed you all! ❤
I have no explanation really, but I did start back to work in the beginning of October. I feel like I’ve been on survival mode for like, ever. You may relate, yes? And that doesn’t promote much inspiration or creativity. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had many moments where there’s been both of those, but I guess maybe I just haven’t been able to take the time nor had the energy to share. Plus, do you ever get tired of yourself? Like, do you ever feel like you’re always sharing the same thing and have nothing new to offer? I don’t know, like I said, I don’t really have an explanation. And then new habits and routines form and before you know it, it’s been months since you’ve shared on your blog…
Even now, I’m squeezing this post in before I have to hurry off for work. But I saw this quote and just had to take this time to share. I’m feeling it so much…
I have more to say, but I’m gonna have to leave it there for now. I hope you all are well. I’m sending out so much love to all of you!
I’m SO feeling a hint of autumn in the air right now! And I’m sensing it in the garden too as things are starting to wind down. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still lots going on out there, but I harvested the last of my beans in the veggie garden the other day, and my yellow beans were the inspiration for this week’s mandala. The beans and all the other yellows that are happening in the garden…
Gosh, I love yellow, it’s such a bright and cheerful color!
💛
It’s a rainy start to the week here on this Monday, but our weather forecast for the week looks amazing! And by amazing, I mean… cooler temps. Yes! Oh, how I love the changing of the seasons!
I hope the weather is nice wherever you are, and that you can find joy and beauty in whatever season you’re in. Wishing you bright and cheerful things in the coming week!
A simple nature mandala my sister and I made together last week with some randoms we found along the Net River while we were exploring Holyoke Park. It’s nothing fancy, just a little offering we left at the end of our time there.
You guys, this place is really special! It’s so untouched and uninhabited, I almost don’t want to share about it, lest it become more known and populated. It’s truly one of those hidden gem kind of places, and the vibes there feel almost sacred.
Here was what I saw immediately upon arrival…
So picturesque! And this was only about 50 feet from where we parked, so not far to go to get to experience the beauty of this area. Don’t get me wrong – the parking area was just as ‘hidden’ and if you didn’t plan to go here, you wouldn’t have even noticed the turn off the main road. The main road itself being actually a ‘back’ road.
I don’t know what the rest of the river is like, but this portion of the Net River at Holyoke Park is like just one continuous series of short waterfalls and rapids with a few pools along the way – only to pour over to create yet more falls. It’s so absolutely wonderful! And the waters are the color of frothy root beer. I don’t know what causes the color – my sister said she heard it had something to do with the Tamarack trees, but it’s very unique and beautiful.
Here you can get a better idea of the color of the water…
Frothy root beer amiright?
This particular spot along the river had some cool acoustics too. I’m not sure where it was coming from, but there was a drumming effect that had a rhythmic beat to it. It was so amazing! I tried recording it with my phone, but you couldn’t hear it. I know it wasn’t just my imagination, because my sister heard it too. I’m not able to upload videos directly to WordPress, so I’ll try uploading it onto YouTube to share it.
Here it is…
Yeah, you can’t hear the drumming sound at all, but it still sounds nice.
And while I’m in the mode of sharing videos, here is another one I took…
This was in one of my favorite spots where there were two falls. It was SO stunning! I wish I’d gotten a better video. Please excuse the jerking, there were mosquitoes trying to get me and I was repeatedly blowing them off my arm…
I took a couple vertical snapshots in this spot too…
I love this next one! I could have stood there for hours had the bugs not been an issue. As far as the bugs go though, they were pretty tame considering the wildness of the area in the height of summer. You can’t see in the photo, but there are 2 or 3 tiers of falls above in the background. It was so absolutely lovely…
I tried to take a wide angle shot to get both falls in the photo, but I’m still not familiar enough with that setting on my new phone, so it turned out looking a bit distorted. Still looks kinda cool…
I loved the moss and growth on that rock outcropping.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet what a gorgeous day it was. The weather was so perfect in the mid to upper 70’s and there was a most welcomed breeze.
We sat by the river and had our lunch and it was really nice. Well, except for the pesky wasp who was attracted to my food. I don’t know what the allure was, it was just a simple bagel. I pretty much ate while running around like a weirdo during lunch, but here’s a nice shot of some of the falls from when I was able to sit…
And here’s my beautiful big sissy sitting in another one of my favorite spots along the river…
What gorgeous setting!
I went over and joined her there and at some point snapped this selfie. Those lovely falls in the background though!
We sat there together for a nice long while with our feet in the water. It was SO refreshing. I talked about how the water flowing over our feet was on a journey from somewhere to somewhere and that we were now a part of its experience on that journey. I can’t really explain what I mean by that, but it was a meaningful feeling and a sense of connectedness with the river and the Earth.
We found out later that the Net River empties into Lake Superior. Oooh take me with youuuu!
I blew my little love-tuner (a 528 Hz whistle of sorts) while we were sitting there and my sister happened to take a short video of it…
Hopefully as I continue to use it, my exhale will get longer so I can enjoy it’s tone for a longer duration. I got it as a meditation tool and I really love it!
Speaking of my little love-tuner, there were several areas during our exploring where I felt the need to stop and blow my love-tuner for a while. I can’t explain why, I know I’m weird. But here’s one of the places…
The vibes you guys. I’m telling you – there was something about these two trees. I wish I could make what I was feeling translate through the photo. But it was a special spot. It was really cool when a little flock of tiny birds alighted the branches of the tree right next to me and kept flitting about trying to get a closer look at what was making that sound. I could really sense their curiosity and inquisitiveness. Sweet little things. 🐦
This was another area where I stopped, and there was even a stronger sense to pause and soak it all in. It was truly magical…
There was a tall old Tamarack tree just to the right of this shot that was super cool. It was standing like an ancient sentinel right along the bank watching over the river. I tried to take a picture of it, but it didn’t turn out. I love old trees, they make me wonder about all they’ve seen throughout time, storms they’ve endured etc.
Here are a couple other angles I snapped in this same spot…
This is the view of from where we came through. We couldn’t really even tell from the other side if there was an actual path and hesitated whether we should push through. We were so glad we did, it was so lovely.
As hidden and untouched as it felt, you can see a definite path there, so it’s obviously used by people, but we had the entire area to ourselves, and we were there pretty much all day.
This interesting tree was literally standing on its tiptoes…
It felt more like a creature than a tree, and its bark had the coolest texture. I’m not sure why the lighting in this photo turned out so much brighter, as it was in the exact same spot as the ones above. I’ll chalk it up to how touchy my new phone’s camera is. I guess it’s not really that new anymore – I got it in mid May, but I’m still getting used to it.
I wish you could see the multiple tiers of the river in this next one, it was so very pretty, and the way the sunlight sparkled on the water made it all the more magical…
Here is a video my sister took of my love-tuner while we were in that spot…
My senses were really heightened and it was a wonderful feeling. I think nature liked listening to my little love-tuner. 🥰
With as much as that magnificent river draws your attention in Holyoke Park, I was really drawn to the trees. As usual. What can I say… I love trees!
Especially when they have so many interesting and unique features. This one really caught my EYE!
Maybe this is why I had the feeling that we were being watched. 👀
This beautiful lichen also caught my eye, and look a little closer… do you see anything else besides the lichen?
Moth! What great camouflage! Nature is so freaking amazing!
I’m not sure what’s going on with the bark on this next one, but I thought it looked interesting, so I snapped a photo of it…
And how can you not love trees when they drop such bright, colorful ‘flowers’ at your feet?
First autumn leaf of the season! Yay fall! 🍁🍂
Here is where I think we might have walked through some sort of portal – a truly enchanted forest lies just beyond these two rocks…
Now that I think about it, there were lots of twos on this adventure – two rocks, two trees, two falls, two sisters. 💕
I’m really grateful two my sister for bringing me to see this beautiful, magical place. And so grateful to have the time together frolicking in the wild.
Thanks so much for reading, I know this was a long one one. Happy Mandala Monday, I hope you all are well. Wishing you joy and beauty in the coming week…
I created this blog primarily just to express myself by writing about whatever random stuff happens to come to mind on any given day. Over time I suppose it may morph into something more specific, but for now it's just my various ramblings. Thank you so much for stopping by and wherever your day leads today ~ I hope it's to a happy place! :)
Ramblings From Jewels 