I'll fly away when the leaves begin to fall
Fly away when the cold wind blows
Fly away to hide beneath the sun
Fly away, fly away
We are kept from our goal not by obstacles, but by a clear path to a lesser goal.
Robert Brault.
I have always had long-range goals. Two years of school to get a nursing degree so that I could go to college and get a Bachelors's degree, but not in nursing. I took the long way home, but, it only took me five years for both degrees. I did work most weekends and some days off, but, in the end, I have to say, it was worth it. One could say that I went for the lesser goal and a clear path, but, the obstacle I had was financial. Sometimes we have to take the long way to get to where we need to be. I had a map, I just needed to follow the road I mapped out. I guess it worked out all right, because, here I am.
Stepping out into the neighborhood, which is alive with color in some places, I walk towards the pond across the street. There are actually more nekkid trees and I have to carefully select the ones in color, we don't have far to go before the whole neighborhood stands chilled. I am enjoying the displays around the area. We are indeed lucky to have such a beautiful neighborhood that loves the holidays. I enjoy watching the cycle of life represented here. The beauty, the vulnerable winter, revealing her true self, and the regeneration as it comes once again. It gives you so many reasons to be in awe of Mother Nature. Berries of blue. How cool. Off to the forest!
This post is dedicated to #WednesdayWalk by @Tattoodjay! This is where you try to get out for a short walk, it can be from your office, home or anywhere, and walk for a few blocks or a bit, looking for different images along the way. Don't forget to tag it with #wednesdaywalk and please leave a link to your post in the comment section of @tattodjay's #Wednesdaywalk post. If you don't do this, he may miss seeing it! Now, how about you pull on those shoes and get out for a walk - and hug a tree while you are there.
Some people collect things. I collect memories. Still. I know that I have told you that before. Oh, yes! I am all about the memories and yet, I love to live in the moment. This is actually not an evergreen tree. It looks like one in the spring, it even has what I thought were needles, however, it is a deciduous tree, one which completely loses its foliage during the winter, or dry season in warmer climates. I had never seen one before moving here.
/center>
Remember? I collect memories.
My tree of life. I pass her almost every day when I walk.
She has broken branches and cracked bark.
Sort of like real life, yes?
Touch me. I do it every time.
I love to run my hands up and feel how it feels.
Taking my hands and running along with the texture of the bark.
There are so many ways.
To describe how it feels.
Rough, scaly, beautiful, to only name a few.
I love you, my tree, yes I do.
Berrries. Mother Nature is a benevolent soul. She leaves the berries for the animals who stick around for the winter if you please. Giving them nourishment to hold them over to the next season. The spreading of seeds is commencing. Such a short walk today, or rather a long walk with few pictures. It is in that ugly duck stage, waiting to shed some of the lesser foliage. We will be back to see it again. Soon.She will be wearing a garment of a different color. We will see.
December first is here in the blink of an eye! In keeping with the Christmas Countdown, I give you one seasonal picture and the day count! There are 24 days 00 hours 2 minutes and 17 seconds. I am running late tonight, so let me give you a twofer! The Christmas countdown with one seasonal picture and a flower. Always. To color my world. @alwaysaflower. And just like that, this post is over! Come back tomorrow and we will do it again!
All I have are my words, armed in my mind, written in pen, stand by stand. Oh, yes. Still by hand. It has a different feel. Altered not by keys, backspace, and delete, I write, erase, tear it to pieces and start all over again. And again.
It’s my way. I walk out to the deep end of the page and dive right in.
Woodland Walk
A woodland walk among the leaves
Guided by the gentlest breeze
Branches so golden and roots, deep still in the earth
Shading my life from the decades that are spinning
Until
One day
My tall, sturdy knight
Standing through the weather
the seasons of life
In this world that I had created
An all-knowing sense
Of truth, as we know it
Littering the Earth
Converging into one
Denise Wigle
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Such beautiful words and photos, @dswigle. For a moment the pictures wouldn't show up and I was going to cry because that first one with the path through the trees drew me in and I wanted to see it. Then they magically appeared. Wow! That is just a stunning shot of the woods and the pathway through. (Although a mountain biker should take care, since there is a stump in the middle of the path!)
That made me smile!
It must be the site! Everything was loading up slow tonight, so that it was probably not me, for a change! :)
I was surprised to not see you do the 30-day challenge and thankfully, it is over tonight! I post often enough, it wasn't a stretch, but for some reason, I am angsted about getting it done every day, including Thanksgiving!
Thank you so much for the comment! I looked at those shots and almost second-guessed it, but, that is what it looks like, so that is what I went with! There are berries all over!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Sorry, out of BEER, please retry later...
Thank you for the repost @pixresteemer! Much appreciated!
We go to forest to see nature there. We can pick fruit that know it. I like you too 😍😍.
I went to your latest post and really enjoyed it. I reposted it here so that others could enjoy it too.
Thank you for stopping by and leaving your words.
អរគុណច្រើនសម្រាប់ការចំណាយពេលអាន និងបញ្ចេញមតិ។ កោតសរសើរយ៉ាងខ្លាំង។
Really appreciate it Wednesday is for waking I will try to walk on Wednesday 😉 but not this Wednesday because I am with my university friends soon i will upload a Post in this community if you will give me permission ☺️ after watching your post i became your fan of photography 😍
That would be fun! I do not run #WednesdayWalk, I am only a participant. Just use the tag and join next Wednesday!
It's not easy going to school twice or changing careers. I did the same as you. Got a diploma in one thing then went back to school a fee years later and got a degree in something else entirely. It's hard to know what you want to do in life, especially when you don't get to try things out first.
Isn't that the truth? What 16-17 year old know what they want to do? I knew what I wanted to do, but, I also needed to make money to get into the right school. Oh, we think we know everything at that age, or at least I did. Little did I know that I had no clue! :)
Yep I was the same. No clue. I chose a career based on what I thought I would like and what would be interesting and what I'd make money at, and it turned out none of those were true 😂
To be honest, I can live with not making great money if I like my job. Hating work every day isn't worth the money, for me it just made me depressed in life.
I think we all do to a certain degree especially these days.
Your Christmas clock is exact this time
I don't know where I'd be without this.
I especially like your last photo with the woods looking into the unknown. For me, I see boundless opportunity and I hope everyone else sees this too.
Thank you once again for an interesting posting with a little bit of everything that we can all relate to. I firmly believe that making connections with others is one the main reasons we're here.
Haha! It is a little eclectic, isn't it? :) I am trying to keep that count up to date - you know I don't want you to miss Christmas!
We have a lot of Civil War Battlefields around here and I love walking through them, any time of the year.
I'm sure everyone collects memories, but this was all about me! LOL I am kidding! I was being a jerk. LOL Thanks for stopping by !!
Jerk pish posh on that.
I heard from an old guy that you like fruitcake? Is this true? Inquiring minds would like to know 😀
There's not a chance that I would ever admit that one way or the other to you! You hate fruitcake!!
You can't believe everything you hear nowadays. Even you know that.
Uh oh, you found out by some means. I might have to put on my thinking cap and make an educated guess here.
I might have a a couple fruitcakes lying around here but if nobody wants them.....
😀
Wow, this is an amazing post the pictures you took were absolutely beautiful. I loved the tree of life and how you described it as being like real life we as humans are broken and cracked in so many ways but it's the roots we lay down that keep us going.
What a nice post to read and glad I stumbled upon this read today it has inspired me to do my own Wednesday Walk.
!LUV !PIZZA
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Thank you so much! Your words just made my day @drabs587 ! I think it was exactly what I needed. Some nice words were shared like that.
Thanks again and I hope that you are doing well in Splinterlands and are entering the Chaos game too!
PIZZA Holders sent $PIZZA tips in this post's comments:
@drabs587(1/18) tipped @dswigle (x1)
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Thanks for the pizza!
I so love meeting the trees Denise as I walk along, they have the most magnificent personalities, all very interesting and entertaining. It is worth the pause to hug a tree trunk when I can. Am I strange? Maybe so, hahaha.
Aren't the trees the best? I love trees and I think that they are like people, unique in many ways and so individual.
Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving your words! I still haven't posted for today. I am running so far behind!
Seriously, girl! Do you know where I can buy some time? :))
The walk with its surroundings filled so many memories. Also, a wisdom to be shared with everyone that sometimes the goal is not that easy to achieve. People may think why that but not this, they'll never know unless they wear that shoes by that someone.
As always, words with so many emotions and lovely photos.
As always, you leave me with such kind and thoughtful words. Thank you, Paul @mrnightmare89 I thought of you the other day, wondering if you are leaving your village soon or after the holidays, I hope.
You did say you were going to seek employment in town, yes?
Thank you again for the always wonderful comments.
Yeah, next year Denise so I can celebrate Christmas with family. For now, I'm preparing. Thanks
You know I will be thinking of you!
Such beautiful photos but that first one especially WOW I love it
A beautiful walk and words to go with it
It’s good to set goals and work towards them even if life journey changes the path planned to achieve them, I will admit when I was younger perhaps up to my mid forties although I did set myself goals occasionally I was a go with the flow go to a big degree not really focusing on goals but just seeing where life events would take me and enjoy the life experience along the way
Looking back I can’t say I regret the choices I made but do feel I could have done things a lot differently if I had clear goals and focused on them, but that said I guess I finally grew up in my late 40s and became more focused on goals
Thanks for joining Wednesday Walk :), I truly enjoy exploring the world virtually each Wednesday seeing walks from all around the globe and feeling I am there and experiencing it all myself, such as I did in your post just now :)
Youth is wasted on the young. My parents use to say that to all of their kids when we would do something silly or unfitting. :) I never got what they meant until I was an adult and now I think the same thing about my own kids. LOL
Ah, if we could only live life backwards, yes? We think we are so smart when we are young and then find out that we really knew nothing. :)
Ah, yes. Youth is wasted on the young. Thanks so much @tattoodjay ! I appreciate your words!
My parents said the same thing and of course when I heard it I thought they were the crazy ones, but like you I now know better 😂
But I do wonder if I could go back would I change anything and maybe not it’s all part of the kaleidoscope of life’s journey that made me who I am and got me to the point in my life as it is now
Ok maybe I would change a couple of things like yesterday be more careful in the garden and nit trip over the power cord lol
Have a great day
@tipu curate
Thanks, JJ! @tattoodjay
I don’t think it worked
I can’t have any tips power I guess
Most of us take that long route....but nursing (without being a nurse?) wow. I never would've imagined and yet, as the fact sinks in....it makes perfect sense.
:) I like the way you think! Hey there! Everything going okay with you over there? I know the oven has taken a toll on life, for sure. In the summer, no less! (Why not, it's Murphey's law!) I mean, is everything else going okay? You are living in one of the hardest places to make those ends meet. You certainly have guts, woman.❤️ Just make sure you don't overstress/overdo/overwork ! You or Farmer Buckaroo.
Love to you and the whole family.
Thanks Denise. We're all wonderful thank you. Had a batch of chicks hatch this morning - that the turkey hen adopted! Adorable. The neighbours sheep broke into our fields so had to separate them from ours. Exhausting . Been planting seedlings and pulling weeds and cutting branches that have broken with the rains. Love the rain! Our waterfall if still flowing.
Beautiful fabulously photography!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Love the place also. Stunningly breathtaking article.
God bless you dear @dswigle
Thank you so much for your kind words! I hope you are having a great day!
Absolutely beautiful words with so much meaning intertwined with meaning of life, coming and going. How blissful to see the trees, berries along the path that fulfills our soul with so much joy and pleasure.
Once more a wonderful relaxing read accompanied by expressive photography to fill the mind a little more.
Happy December Denise your month of festivities is here Thanksgiving behind now Christmas to go with a New Year with new hopes and cheer follow.
!LUV
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Thanks for the LUV!
Thank you so much for some of the kindest words, always. Happy December, Joan! It is the season of joy, and yes, I do look forward to it. :) I know people make fun of me for it, but, honestly, I love the happiness it emits and the warmth and kindness that surrounds this time.
New hopes are what I am pushing for. Indeed. Thank you so much for being you, nothing better than that. ❤️
Life is strange enough, why not let your hair down, keep enjoying what is familiar, family comes first during times like this, we all look out for each other.
During December in past African children would have home made instruments, come through the villages singing familiar carols of course a little gift was passed over to them for their efforts. How one misses those familiar little things, now silent with few stopping to chat at the shops, no it is not what it used to be, fear etched on drawn faces, people are tired of fighting to make ends meet, just finding a bite to eat.
Standing firmly with you in new hope pushing forward! 🤗🌈
Nice your short walk photography.
Thanks so much for your words!
Hello there! I love your photos and amazing stories so much, the way you write is incredible! That is so awesome you went to school and finished all you set out to do. I just watched a documentary today called Trees of Life. I could not believe trees are so alive they communicate with other trees and even feed other trees in need! What a great neighbor they are! I'm happy to see you in such a long time! I was upvoting drabs587 Splinterlands content and saw you! I hope you have been doing awesome!
I have been! How are you doing on Splinterlands? :) Have you bought into Chaos?
Thank you for such kind words! Trees are incredible, aren't they? Their communication skills were amazing! I am so glad that you get to read me now and then, that warms my heart a bit! ❤️ I think of all of you over there and hope you are doing fine. Don't be a stranger!
Thanks again! Have a great day!
Hi! Yes, I am still obsessed with Splinterlands and got some Chaos legion packs, LOL! I do want to balance it all out thought like I said long, long ago! I love taking pictures and would love to get back to not always 100 % splinterlands just like maybe 70 - 80% SL, LOL! I need and want to spend more time on Hive!
I do like Hive and I hope you do post! I think Splinterlands is cool, although, I am not a gamer, so, good thing I like Hive. :) I really do like it. Let me know if you do post again!!! :)
Yes, I post every day but it is always about Splinterlands content! LOL! I need to get in on one of your Wednesday Walks, I remember Market Friday, that was such a cool one, I love looking at all those photos from everyone!
Of course you're welcome to stop by anytime! None of us have any time that's a common problem. Our time is divided into too many places. Of course we would be delighted to see you! Always.
I like that tree lined path. As you can see they are quite prone to falling over. I have a millions or so on my lot to deal with. You get to really watch your stem from those cut off stumps. When they get covered by snow or leave, they are murderous!