Gratitude in Autumn

My gratitude for some autumn beauty:

 

Flowering kale bouquets that I can buy from the farmers at the Winona Farmers Market

 The brilliant blue sky

Bluffs in the Mississippi

Blue water

Birds flying

Good musicians playing music: Jim Reineke and Bob Stuber

Love

Beauty all around

The Squat Song

Brought to you today by Nia Blue Belt Instructor Ta Ma Ra from Winnipeg, Canada. This video will bring a smile to your face!

Autumn Prairie Yard

Heath aster & little bluestem grass

Seed pods of butterfly weed and prairie cinquifoil

Stiff goldenrod in bloom

The autumn colors in the prairie are bronze, tan, and chocolate brown as the flowers dry to create seedpods with seeds tucked inside.  The goldenrods and asters still shine with color on a September day.

Nia from Toronto

This two minute video gives a  bit of a Nia class with Martha Randall from Toronto, Canada.  I like that there are many shapes of people and that there is lots of smiling.  Pleasure in the movement is one of the principles in Nia.  She involves her students with a bit of contact dance; this is not part of my classes at this point.  

Green and Light

My eyes move to the lightest leaves of this photograph.  It looks so fresh and new.  What do the lightest leaves lead your eyes to?  Unintentional little wonders.  The Yahara River is a murky green in the mid-day August light.  I see a bit of a reflection in the water; however, and appreciate the multitudes of green shades throughout this photograph. 

 I took the photographs and cropped them for balance in the composition. The colors were not manipulated.

Here are a few more pictures taken on the same day in early August.

The lightest leaves point to the soft curve of the Yahara River bridge.

 

  

 Iron work and shadows grace the crossing of the bridge.

A railing close enough to touch.

Arching shadows.

Peace is everywhere.  Where can you find peace and tranquility? 

Sojourn into Green

Olbrich Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin are filled with greens and colorful flowers at this time in summer.  With a summer of drought in 2012, my eyes took a drink of the luscious depths of greens throughout the gardens.  Here are some images… 

 

  

 

These leaves look like a painting.  They are a photograph--mmmmm. 

 

 

Summertime in Winona

A fountain, a chartreuse green vine, parched grass, a bench to rest… summertime in Winona, Minnesota