Category Archives: nature

June 23, 2025

day 172

By Kat Myrman 
hot summer

the air is thick and wet
earth barely breathing
beneath clouds that have
fallen from a purple
sky at dusk…I am overcome
by the sweetness of flowers

~kat

We’re having a heat wave. Someone asked me what’s going on with this hot weather? And I replied…global warming? But it depends on who you ask! 😉

But, seriously, it is breathtakingly hot…and not in a good, beautiful way! Here in Virginia we have the added impact of humidity. This clammy combination makes for oppressive heat. When I took a photo of my front yard this evening, you could see the moisture hanging in the air. Everything is a bit muted and cloudy.

As much as I loathe conversations that devolve into an appraisal of the weather, here we are … or rather here I am boring you with the weather! There is certainly no glimmer to be found in a heatwave, but I do appreciate those of you still reading.

I knew magnetic poetry would serve this topic well! The glimmer, if you can call it that, is the reflection tool in PicsArt that helped me express this sticky wet sensation of humidity in Virginia in swampy picture form. The photo backdrop above is not real. The actual unaltered view is below. The magic of photo editing is amazing don’t you think?

This is the actual photo of my front yard…

I know the world is downright wacky right now. Sometimes creating my own glimmers are all I can do to preserve my sanity (though some might say I lost that long ago! 🤣)

Exercising my creative side gives me such joy, I consider it glimmer worthy! But if you’re not buying it, there is always Mr. Bean. He’s 100 % glimmer!

I’m rambling…let me just say much love, peace, and glimmers to you, wherever you can find them…and call it a day.

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨

(Magnetic Poetry – Nature Kit)

8 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in 2025, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Life Lessons, Magnetic Poetry, nature, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Social Issues

June 22, 2025

day 171 – drama in the foothills

By Kat Myrman 
I need a ReVerse…can we have a do-over?!

in the deep, I am forever
(as) the dust settles 
a gentle prodding
you cannot wish our souls away
wrapped in grace and trust…
insanity reigns

~kat

The natural world is not always rainbows and butterflies. But it is a just and fair cycle of life. Sometimes I get a front row seat like today. 

The day started like it usually does. A perfect summer morning. A bit of a breeze, which is always fragrant this time of year. This morning I detected a hint of honeysuckle. One of my deer friends came by to say good morning, so a tossed her a bit of corn to munch on. I had some errands to run…before settling in for a little cat nap.

And that’s when I saw him, a magnificent red shouldered hawk perched a few yards away from the bird feeders. It was clear that the finches, cardinals, wrens, tits, cowbirds, and mourning doves had sent out the alarm…best to take shelter…danger from above. (Ironic, isn’t it, that humans in various locations are exercising a similar practice these very days…but for much more selfish, malevolent reasons…power, greed, and hate…but I digress…)

The hawk, though his shadow from above scattered the smaller critters here in the woods, he was not being hateful or vindictive, or even monstrous. He just had an empty belly to fill, and the felled tree trunk beneath him just happened to be home to several smaller rodent-types. Field mice and chipmunks, snakes and lizards. I know he has harvested birds on occasion…the splattering of feathers is a dead giveaway.

But today poultry was not on the menu. He was looking for a snack (I suspect this because there were 1/2 a dozen squirrels collecting seeds under the feeders, and he was not interested in the least.) I stepped away from my window seat for a few minutes and when I returned, he was gone, either bored from the blight of fresh options or he had found what he came for. To my delight all the birds had returned to the feeders, the squirrels were beneath catching the seeds that dropped to the ground. And I thought, what a lovely glimmer…life goes on. 

But that was not the end of mother nature’s glimmer show today. Soon a turkey hen made her way to the feeders to pluck seeds from the ground…and to my surprise and delight she had a young chick I tow, showing it the ropes on this little acre in the foothills.

She even introduced it to the red clay hill nearby and showed it how to take a dust bath. Life does indeed go on! 

One more…a video of the hen-chick spa day!

Much love, peace, and glimmers to you! 

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in 2025, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Life Lessons, nature, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Reverse Poem, Shi Sai, Social Issues, Spirituality, Videography, Week in Review

June 20, 2025

day 169 ~ happy solstice

By Kat Myrman
Mid-summer’s Eve in the Bramlett Mountain Foothills ~ Photo by Kat Myrman 2025
fantastical indulgences 
on a mid-summer night

if I never filled another 
feeder with sunflower seeds, 
millet, fruit and wheat berries,
if I never broke bits of bread
tossing them into the back yard 
for the crows…or laid peanuts 
on the edge of the covered porch 
deck for squirrels to snatch …
if I never scattered feed corn for
the deer and wild turkeys who
meander by each day at dawn 
and dusk, or never dissolved  
white sugar in warm water 
for the hummingbird jars 
hanging just outside my window…

the birds on this acre 
on the edge of the woods
would still go to sleep
bellies plump and satiated, 
the crows would have plenty 
to feast on…nuts, insects, eggs,
and even carrion, the squirrels 
would happily gather hickory nuts, 
grains, berries and seeds, 
the deer would munch on 
juniper berries and graze on 
clover with the rabbits, the turkeys 
would busy themselves plucking 
grubs and mites from the red dust, 
and seeds from the soil, and the
hummingbirds would sip sweet 
nectar from flower cups alongside
the butterflies and honeybees

these gentle friends don’t need me
life will go on when I am gone, 
but oh, how I’d miss the little 
community we’ve built, a utopia 
based on kindness and respect 
in this shared green space 
that we all call home sweet home…
and I’d like to imagine that they
would miss me and my rambling
one-sided conversations too.
I wonder if they’d miss the
moments that we share space 
and breath and eye contact 
wrapped in grace and trust…
I like to imagine that they would

~much love, peace and glimmers to you!

✨✨✨💚kat💚✨✨✨

Today’s lovely glimmers…

A latecomer…who wanted to be part of today’s glimmer party…the local bandit! ✨💚✨

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in 2025, Digital Art & Photos, free verse, Life Lessons, nature, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Spirituality

June 18, 2025

day 167

By Kat Myrman 
failure to launch

a phoebe fledgling
fluttered in the rose garden
a failed first flight
her parents hovering close by 
‘til she found her wings and soared

a gentle prodding
is sometimes all that we need
for a leap of faith

 ~kat

Yesterday, there were three phoebe chicks in the nest over my garage side door light. Year after year I’ve watched a pair of phoebes build a nest under the eave of our house. The cycle of life commences. 

The laying of the eggs, one a day over several days. When the laying is done, the mother settles in for the long haul, perched over her precious brood, day after day, rain or shine. Her devoted mate tends to her every need, feeds her, stands vigil nearby, protecting his family. After only a few weeks the moment long awaited comes and the chicks emerge from their shells. Mom and dad spend their waking hours feeding these hungry featherless babies who are all mouth. They grow quickly until it’s time to fly free in a matter of a few more weeks. 

This morning I noticed that the nest was empty. Another brood joining the flock that returns every spring to our acre. I noticed though that the parents were still near, agitated and not at all happy to see me. Then I saw it. A lone fledgling on my front porch stairs near the roses fluttered as it looked at me while the mom and pop swooped around me. I was concerned little tyke was exposed where the crows frequented, so I moved it under cover on the wicker settee. Soon after the parents came over, I suspect to encourage it to spread its wings. When I checked a few hours later the little family had moved on. 

I have seen nestlings fail to survive on occasion and knew the sound of the parents mourning. (yes even tiny phoebe parents mourn the loss of their young who don’t survive.)  But today, the sky was blue and sunlit. And it was silent but for the soft rustle of wind through the trees.  I like to think that this little family is somewhere riding the wind. At least that’s my hope. 

It reminds me that all families are precious…every single family. Every single soul. It reminds me that life offers us opportunities every day to recognize this fact, to be kind, and sometimes we are honored to help too. It costs nothing to lend a hand…to show kindness. May we seek those opportunities and rise to the occasion when presented with them. 

much love, peace, and glimmers to you! 

~kat

✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨

A Tanka / Haiku Combo. 🙂

5 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in 2025, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Haiku, Life Lessons, nature, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Spirituality, Tanka

June 16, 2025

day 165

By Kat Myrman 
becoming

said stone to the river,
“how soft you feel as 
you wash over me…
but after a long season
in the deep, I am forever
changed…my soul revealed.”

~kat

The weather forecast is calling for a week of rain, and flood warnings. There is a spot in my yard where grass refuses to grow. On hot, dry days it is a slope of powdery red clay; a favorite spot frequented by turkey hens who take in a dust bath and lounge in the sun. On rainy days it becomes a mudslide with the rain water transporting the top layers down to the grassy areas. It’s a slow erosion. Over the years more and more red clay is exposed with trenches where the water has streamed through.

Our lawn guy has asked us if we want him to try planting the area. But he knows us and our love of the wildlife we share this space with. Because the turkey hens love it so much, he knows we’re good to let nature landscape our yard. And the clover? Let’s not clear that either. The bunnies and deer love it too much.

Like rocks eroded over the years into smooth pebbles by rushing river streams, this place has softened and changed us too. Well manicured lawns are for urban spaces…but here in the foothills, I am content to let moss collect in the shade. Let the rain change the landscape on the hill. It feels like home.

much love, peace, and glimmers to you!

~kat ✨✨✨💚💚💚✨✨✨

Magnetic Poetry – Nature Kit

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in 2025, Digital Art & Photos, Essays, Life Lessons, Magnetic Poetry, nature, Poetry, Random Thoughts and Musings, Spirituality