Category: nature

Dreams lie lost amid the sands…

Lazy Sunday.

Somewhere between the sea and the sky,

my dreams fly free.

 

They rise and fall

on the gentle breeze

beyond the heat haze on the horizon.

 

My spirit with the seagull

soaring and then stalls suddenly,

shattered upon the rocks of reason.

 

©Alison Jean Hankinson.

This is my quadrille for d’Verse based on “dream”. The images were from our lazy Sunday afternoon walk yesterday. The sky was endless, the birds were amazing. In the distance you can see the sea windmills, they looked like they were dancing just above the horizon.

 

Without Fear.

Sunshine breaks through the clouds

after the rain had refreshed and restored

with its patient pitter patter on the window pane.

 

Fear was vanquished

in just one moment of stillness and calm and quiet contemplation.

We are so small and insignificant compared to nature.

 

©Alison Jean Hankinson.

 

This was written for d”Verse quadrille prompt which this week was the word fear. The photo is my own and it was taken this evening as I made the most of a dry spell. I took it for Ellen and was messaging her in NZ throughout my walk. We have all faced fears and uncertainties this year and the only thing I know is that tomorrow will bring new fears and realities and that we must take solace from the moments that are bigger than our fears.

Solway Firth Haibun

We drove north today to visit my dad, it is the start of the main school holiday and the traffic was less problematic than I had expected and we spent a glorious few hours up on the Solway Firth throwing sticks in the water for the dog and enjoying a lazy amble at High tide. The marsh was thronging with walkers fervently following in the footsteps of their forefathers along the route of Hadrian’s wall which separated Scotland from England in Roman times. It keeps this part of the Solway alive and buzzing in the summer months. The church where I got married is open to the public and there is a small kitchen and some supplies and an honesty box for weary travellers who stop by on their journey.

By late afternoon when we began our journey home the sun was beating down and it was much hotter and I longed for air-conditioning in my little Kia Rio. Along the motorway the traffic snaked its way south and even at the top of Shap it was quite clearly the height of summer, there was a constant train of caravans travelling northward to Scotland as we meandered our way down through Tebay. Blink and it will be gone and already in Whangarei NZ the magnolias are in bloom as they head towards spring. Time and tide stop for no man.

Wild roses blossom

Heat haze on the horizon

Swifts fly south to Spain.

©Alison Jean Hankinson

This is for Haibun monday at d’Verse. Where we were given the following directions:

Today is Free For All – meaning, you can choose your subject for the haibun. However there are still some rules: The haibun must be one to three tight paragraphs (2) Ended with a haiku (containing kigo and kireji words – season and cutting words) (3) Must be true (4) Must have actually happened to you.

Looking beyond the madness…..

This view gave me solace

This view gave me gladness

This view gave me the power to heal

I have needed this window and this view

At a time in my life where I have been devalued

Worth less every day and every step of the way

This sunset, this seascape, these mountains gave back

Worth less every day and every step of the way

At a time in my life where I have been devalued

I have needed this window and this view

This view gave me the power to heal

This view gave me gladness

This view gave me solace

 

© Alison Jean Hankinson

This is for d’Verse poetics. Our theme was to take a picture from a window…

 

 

Water-lilies.

Lilies fragile and fragrant

Nymphs at the water’s edge

We danced daringly amidst the emerald damselflies

Bathed bashfully beneath the Buckwheat moon

Love smouldered and we stole each other’s hearts

Pleading troths of love and intimacy for eternity.

 

©Alison Jean Hankinson.

Photo own- this month’s Buckwheat Moon. Submitted for Toads Tuesday platform.P1050371

Sublime simplicity

Across the sea the scarlet sky

Nature helps us simplify

We cherish magic moments

In busy life atonement.

 

Alison Jean HankinsonP1050311

 

I am using this for the Tuesday link at Toads. I was in mindful mode last week.

The healing power of nature.

Sense of Awe and wonder
Embrace the moment
negative ions create positive vibes

 

 

I have always been drawn to exploring the natural environment. As a young girl, I was forever roaming the hills and tracing rivers back to their source. I had no real idea of the real names of the flora and fauna but it didn’t stop me from getting pleasure from them. My earliest playground was a place called the “red river” that was a tributary of the Whitewell Brook and was named after the colour of the water that was supposedly tainted by copper-I suspect it was actually clay. In areas where the river had eroded steep channels, there was evidence of both clay and shale, and I invariably went home wet through and muddy as it was difficult to climb the steep sides and I invariably ended up waist deep in mud and water.

Thankfully Heysham has the healing beauty of the sea and I don’t have to wade through rivers. At my age that would probably be detrimental to my health especially if I slipped and fell. So why does that brief encounter with nature fill our cup up, what is it that heals us from our encounters with the natural world?

  1. The sense of awe and wonder…we are part of something greater and far more sophisticated than our trivial daily worries and concerns. Nature is great and big, we are small and insignificant in comparison.
  2. The concept of the embracing the moment is reinforced on our journey with nature. Every footstep reveals a new view and vantage point, and every second and every angle and every nuance of weather can change the landscape and the nature that we are witness to.
  3. Bio-feedback, we re-energise, we relax, we exercise, the chemicals released in our brains are chemicals associated with pleasure and lifting mood.
  4. Fresh air, oxygen to the brain and those negative ions-perhaps it is no accident I have always had a love of rivers lakes and the sea. The negative ions associated with these features ar supposed to create positive vibes.
  5. Vitamin D and natural light. Whilst we are out and about enjoying our relationship with nature we are experiencing natural light and also absorbing Vitamin D from the rays of the sun. Both of these are good for our general and our emotional well-being.

There are probably lots of others too, but for me, these are enough to stir me into getting up out of my chair and out into the natural world, even when I am under the weather.

Some of my nature-inspired poems- if you like poetry:

Seaside sandcastles

Summer sunset at Heysham

Sunset Silhouette

Storm clouds gather over Heysham Head.

Alison Jean Hankinson

 

Tears of summer

It should have been a whimsical day. Instead, I have existed somewhere between morose and forlorn. The summer seems to have vanished and with it all sense of joy and certainty only to be replaced by some strange uneasy restlessness, not quite admitting defeat but eager to have some steerage and surety about where my next steps will lead me.

It has been a weekend of waves and high tides, unsettling and I have been unable to make the most of getting down to the sea. Today it became a necessity, to track the well-worn paths through the grass, camera in hand with the hope of catching a gull in flight or a breath-taking landscape to restore some semblance of order into my world.

Tide high Seagulls fly
Raindrops splatter Terns shelter
Summer deserts us

 

This is for Haibun Monday at d’Verse, where were asked to think about summer.

 

Alison Jean Hankinson

 

Is Urban Walking a Sport?

So this is my sport and I have had to invent it for me. For many reasons like lack of coordination and skill and other critical factors like health and well-being.  I have had to develop my own sport where I can compete against myself. I call it urban walking. I do it with dedicated regularity, attempt an element of speed and finesse and probably walk many kilometres over the course of the average week. The general aim is for about 45 minutes to an hour about 5 times a week and I try to find circular routes and make sure they have a measure of incline and a rewarding and bountiful view. I think it must be a common sport because when I am on the promenade I find many others doing the same thing but usually in sportier attire than I.

It is a rewarding sport, the view and vistas change with the weather and the seasons and pathway travelled. I have my favourite haunts and my own little challenges along the way, do we need windswept today or are we more content to smell the flowers. Often my husband joins me in my urban wanderings and then it is more competitive, he has a slightly longer stride than I and he is always on a mission to push and exert and add a little extra challenge, sometimes it is I that lead the challenge following a day of solo exploration and I will encourage us to take a new path to add to our familiar routes. Our favourites always take in the seashore where we feel exhilarated and catch our breath as the wind blows cold and howls around our ears, we ride through our daydreams on the wings of gliding seagulls.

 

Rocks awash with waves

On the shoreline seagulls soar

Sweeping summer storm,

 

Alison Jean Hankinson.

This is for d’Verse…haibun Monday… we were asked to share on Sport so it might be a long shot but can I count urban walking as a sport?