Cobra Staredown

“One ought never to turn one’s back on
a threatened danger and try to run away from it.
If you do that, you will double the danger.
But if you meet it promptly and without flinching,
you will reduce the danger by half.
Never run away from anything. Never!”

Winston Churchill

Dancing In The Light

“In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you,
but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.”

Rumi

Peek-a-bee

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it.
Notice the bumble bee, the small child,
and the smiling faces.
Smell the rain, and feel the wind.
Live your life to the fullest potential,
and fight for your dreams.”

Ashley Smith

Just Dandy

“Don’t underestimate the value of
doing nothing, of just going along,
listening to all the things you can’t hear,
and not bothering.”

Pooh’s Little Instruction Book

Child’s Play

“His laughter, which was never far below
the surface of his conversation,
now sparkled like a splash of water in sunlight.”

Joseph Lelyveld

Graceful Landing

“The artist is a receptacle for the emotions
that come from all over the place:
from the sky, from the earth,
from a scrap of paper,
from a passing shape,
from a spider’s web.”

Pablo Picasso

This graceful landing was hard won for that little spider. While doing my best as a photographer to preserve the experience of standing on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the Pacific Ocean with the Tillamook Lighthouse out at sea, and capturing the beautiful sunset… it was dancing in the wind, dangling several feet from a safe resting place, but slowly gaining web, getting closer and closer to the branch. I kept a close eye on it and was honored to bring to life it’s success in the final rays of day.

Peace & Love

“The soul walks not upon a line;
neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself,
like a lotus of countless petals.”

Kahlil Gibran

Bubbles & Clovers

“I know a place where the sun is like gold,
And the cherry blooms burst with snow,
And down underneath is the loveliest nook,
Where the four-leaf clovers grow.

One leaf is for hope, and one is for faith,
And one is for love, you know,
And God put another in for luck—
If you search, you will find where they grow.

But you must have hope, and you must have faith,
You must love and be strong – and so—
If you work, if you wait, you will find the place
Where the four-leaf clovers grow.”

Four-Leaf Clover
by Ella Higginson