Nature is on the Alert

The original tree puja journal! The notebook was a gift. The ‘A’ is for my spiritual name, Ahimsa. The cover is felt. For the photo, I let it rest under the tree just now, where the blossoms are dissolving back into the earth.

28th October, 2009

The ground is finally dry and not cold. It feels hard underfoot. The tree is in full bloom and her leaves are also open and growing. She is working hard; all the plants are. Flowers and growth are lush and abundant all around. I thought about how nature must constantly adjust to change, and keep working.

Spring is a time of adjustment and work. The changes come so fast and so much is to be done. We see the beauty and it looks so effortless and relaxed, but that is appearance only. Nature is on the alert. So much must happen now.

A huge, deep crimson rose is talking with the tree. The single bloom is up there in the pink blossom. Alstroemerias that have always been thin and struggling are this year in abundance. Columbine have sprung up unasked, spreading their fairy looks. The Stocks go on and on, the wattle is setting pods, the great gum nuts of the red flowering gum weigh down its branches between the two cherry blossoms. Grass is long and unmown.

An offering of pink petals is drenching path and soil as the cherry, the tree, moves relentlessly through its cycle – no need for me to offer a flower, they are everywhere. Now the heat is coming, the daffodil leaves will finally die away. The forget-me-nots are there, but ageing. Some I have pulled, planting poppies and cornflowers in the spaces.

I see the incense smoke rising and mingling. The message today was about constant adjustment to change and the work it requires. Silent, steady, constant, and knowing.

The ground is dry and not cold. The air is still and rent by a lapwing’s cry. The flowers are serious, not frivolous.