(Fun with the Exquisite E.  August 2008.  © Robin)

The world is your playground. Why aren’t you playing?

~ Ellie Katz

(At the county fair. August 2008. © Robin)

The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.

~ Goethe

(Frank E. Joseph Garden at Blossom. August 2008. © Robin)

Let me define a garden as the meeting of raw nature and the human imagination in which both seek the fulfillment of their beauty. Every sign indicates that nature wants us and wishes for collaboration with us, just as we long for nature to be fulfilled in us. If our original state was to live in a garden, as Adam and Eve did, then a garden signals our absolute origins as well as our condition of eternity, while life outside the garden is time and temporality.

~ Thomas Moore

(Princess Emma and the fairies at sunset. © Robin)

To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.

~ David Viscott

(Another view of the swallowtail butterfly. August 2008. © Robin)

Each thing in its way, when true to its own character, is equally beautiful.

~ Edward Abbey

(Tonight’s sunset. © Robin)

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

This seemed like a good night to jump on the Skywatch Friday bandwagon. I’ve seen so many beautiful photos of the sky through following the links from those I know and venturing out to those I don’t know that I was inspired to participate, especially after glancing outside this evening and seeing what was happening in the sky tonight here in the Bogs of Ohio.

Tonight’s sunset is another reminder that summer is on her way out of here. The position of the sun in relation to the pond and the trees in the background as well as the colors are a good indication of the change of seasons. Someday I’ll have lived here long enough to tell you which tree points to which season based on where the sun sets. My own tree version of a half-henge.

(In my kitchen — Summer windowsill. August 2008. © Robin)

Year by year the complexities of this spinning world grow more bewildering and so each year we need all the more to seek peace and comfort in the joyful simplicities.

~ Woman’s Home Companion (1935)

(Purple coneflowers at dusk. August 2008. © Robin)

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.

~ Buddha

(Swallowtails in the zinnias. August 2008. © Robin)

‘Just living is not enough,’ said the butterfly, ‘one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.’

~ Hans Christian Anderson

On my way back from the garden the other day I spotted two swallowtail butterflies dancing around each other. They were heading my way so I followed them, delighted to watch their round-about dance and chase. One was a tiger swallowtail and the other, as far as I can figure out, is a black tiger swallowtail. Although it could be an eastern black swallowtail.

At one point they both tried to land on the same zinnia. Lucky me. My camera was not only with me, it was ready to capture them.

And so I did.

The music.

(From last night’s fireworks at Blossom. © Robin)

Everything is created from moment to moment, always new. Like fireworks, this universe is a celebration and you are the spectator contemplating the eternal Fourth of July of your absolute splendor.

~ Francis Lucille

We went to Blossom last night with friends to listen to Empire Brass. I think I can safely say a good time was had by all. Good company, good weather, good food, good music, and to top it all off, fireworks.

(© Robin)

(© Robin)

The music. (The video isn’t great, but the sound is good.)