A natural Christmas presence

Today our world is again cloudy and frosty. We are well into the Christmas season, the season of Winter solstice, the Yule season. Soon we will receive the gift of days growing longer, but first we must pass through the longest night and shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It is a time of cold and rest for many of earth's inhabitants. Others remain active, seeking food, water, and some form of shelter or protection from the cold.

a frozen and frosted landscape

Photo by J. Harrington

Yesterday we (re)discovered a wonderful presence to share at this time of year and we thought of you. Follow the nature 365 link below to some of the most wonderful and enchanting vignettes of our Minnesota that we've ever seen. If you already know of this treasure, please share it with those who may have the misfortune of not knowing. If you haven't experienced it before, enjoy it now. Here's

nature 365

A day to day webdocumentary.
365 moments of nature, from January 1 to December 31.
A video journal filmed by Jim Brandenburg and directed by Laurent Joffrion.
A naturalist and poetic vision of the northern wild biotopes.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, we have another bread experiment to conduct. Until tomorrow, heed the

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver
published by Atlantic Monthly Press

© Mary Oliver

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