tag:dreamwidth.org,2013-01-30:1957066Asakiyume mitaasakiyumeasakiyume2024-03-09T15:25:14Ztag:dreamwidth.org,2013-01-30:1957066:1036234touch moss, release spores2024-03-09T15:25:14Z2024-03-09T15:25:14Zpublic40Where I am, at this time of year it's the moss that comes back to life first, intense green. It sends up the thinnest straight green things--they look like thin, tiny blades of grass but really they're called setae: they're the stalks for the moss's spore cases, which form on the ends. These then ripen and, when they're ready, they release their spores.<br /><br />Yesterday I was in the woods, and I came to a big puddle, and by the puddle was a rock, and on the rock was a quantity of moss. This moss:<br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/53577057929/in/dateposted/" title="moss spore cases"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53577057929_f66dbc6f8f_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="moss spore cases" /></a><br /><br />See how the setae aren't thin green things anymore? Now they're red-brown, and they have heads on them. <br /><br />I brushed my hand across them and to my surprise and delight, released CLOUDS OF GREEN SMOKE. Not tiny little wisps: a billowing cloud, thick. Like a special effect, like being on another planet. I did it again, and more came out, powerfully green, hazy, drifting. Like when you kick an old puffball mushroom and you get a gray-brown mass of smoke--but this was green!<br /><br />Magical. A very <i>Annihiliation</i>-shimmer sort of moment.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=asakiyume&ditemid=1036234" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2013-01-30:1957066:883698deer2018-04-26T13:24:35Z2022-02-06T00:52:21Zpublic17Deer have been wandering through the woods/swamp behind my house in the mornings, it's on their route from one place to another. I love how they're both present and invisible. You have to wait for them to move to see them, just ripples in the air, they blend in so well, but with watching eyes and their white-flag tails if they're startled.<br /><br />I think with their camouflage they could wander across worlds and dimensions and centuries. It makes me understand why the shishigami, the forest spirit, in <i>Princess Mononoke</i>, is a deerlike creature.<br /><img src="https://asakiyume.dreamwidth.org/file/290492.jpg" alt="" title="shishigami" /><br /><br />He grants both life and death; maybe he moves between those worlds or states.<br /><br />And it gives me new insights into the end of Chekhov's short story "Ward No. Six," where the main character, just before dying, has a vision of deer:<br /><br /><blockquote>There was a greenness before his eyes. Andrey Yefimitch understood that his end had come, and remembered that Ivan Dmitritch, Mihail Averyanitch, and millions of people believed in immortality. And what if it really existed? But he did not want immortality—and he thought of it only for one instant. <b>A herd of deer, extraordinarily beautiful and graceful, of which he had been reading the day before, ran by him;</b> then a peasant woman stretched out her hand to him with a registered letter . . . . Mihail Averyanitch said something, then it all vanished, and Andrey Yefimitch sank into oblivion for ever.</blockquote><br /><small>(The collection of Chekhov short stories from which this is taken <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/13409/pg13409.html"><b>is available to read for free</b></a> on Project Gutenberg).</small><br /><br />I remember almost nothing about that story, except that image. ... I might reread the story. I took three books with me to England when we lived there as a family; a collection of Chekhov short stories was one, and I read and loved most of them. My memory isn't what it might be, but I know what roads to walk down to recover things.<br /><br />And deer know all the roads, and how to be a part of the landscape and yet not of it. That's their magic.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=asakiyume&ditemid=883698" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2013-01-30:1957066:882744whale shark2018-04-16T17:49:22Z2022-02-06T00:52:20Zpublic22Today's sleet and rain has broken the spell that hid the true nature of our driveway. In reality, it is a whale shark.<br /><br />Sorry we've been parking on top of you, whale shark!<br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/27629742758/in/dateposted/" title="whale shark?"><img src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/866/27629742758_4161e44486_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="whale shark?"></a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=asakiyume&ditemid=882744" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2013-01-30:1957066:873120New Year's Day ice flowers, and resolutions2018-01-01T20:55:19Z2022-02-06T00:52:14ZKiño: Eternospublic31<br></br><br /><br></br><br />It is very satisfying to walk out into the deep cold well enough wrapped up to not be bothered by the chill.<br /><br />I paid a visit to a frozen creek. I didn't pick the ice flowers.<br /><br /><span class="cut-wrapper"><span style="display: none;" id="span-cuttag___1" class="cuttag"></span><b class="cut-open">( </b><b class="cut-text"><a href="https://asakiyume.dreamwidth.org/873120.html#cutid1">here abide frozen things</a></b><b class="cut-close"> )</b></span><div style="display: none;" id="div-cuttag___1" aria-live="assertive"></div><br /><br />Last year I resolved to write creatively at least two days a week, to work on Spanish every day (or to make up days I missed), and to record the things I notice each day. I failed at the first and third of those, but I did the second and am pleased to know significantly more this year than I did this time last year.<br /><br />Two of my goals this year are related:<br /><br />(1) Continue to work on Spanish in the same manner, but added to that: find a person or people to practice conversation with. The duolingo bots have their limits. I'm aiming for in-the-flesh rather than online, although with skyping, etc., I know online can be very good ... I should probably set a date by which I'll achieve this. How about the end of January...<br /><br />(2) Write a bit every day. Maybe phrasing it that way will make it more achievable than saying "Write at least two days a week."<br /><br />(3) This is the different goal: Read a bit every day (not counting social media). I can double-dip with this a little as I have a Spanish-language book to be working on.<br /><br />I'll be looking at my friends' entries to see if they've got goals/resolutions, but if you haven't shared in an entry and want to share in comments, I'm all ears!<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=asakiyume&ditemid=873120" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2013-01-30:1957066:872463The bite of cold iron2017-12-27T18:43:52Z2022-02-06T00:52:14Zpublic16It's cold out today. I grabbed my car key in my bare hand after driving a brief way in the cold car, and it *stung* my hand. I felt like I'd been bitten or burned--I guess because the key was so cold? But I've never felt cold metal like that before. Maybe I always have gloves or mittens on? But suddenly I understood exactly what it must be like to be one of the fairy folk and touch cold iron.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=asakiyume&ditemid=872463" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2013-01-30:1957066:871542a cold day2017-12-13T23:01:26Z2022-02-06T00:52:13ZNovicat de Soeurs Missionaires: Yesu Ka Mkwebazepublic19I had to walk back to the house along the highway this morning, after dropping the car (the remaining car...) off for scheduled maintenance. <br /><br />It was so cold, penetratingly cold, killingly cold, and windy--but it was morning, and the sun was out.<br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/39004152552/in/dateposted/" title="dramatic"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4589/39004152552_338194c67c_z.jpg" width="480" height="640" alt="dramatic"></a><br /><br />This afternoon, walking that same route back to the mechanic's, it was a race between me and darkness. The clouds were rosy when I set out, and there was incandescent golden-orange brilliance behind the supermarket. But the light was dying and the wind was fierce, and I felt *very fragile* walking against the stream of homeward-bound cars. Almost no one walks that bit of road. Where there was briefly a sidewalk, I passed a woman walking her dog. Otherwise, I had my footprints from the morning for company. Somehow, my journey felt supernatural. When I was walking, step after step, through the crusty snow, pushing aside briars and the skeletons of mugwort or goldenrod on the safe side of a crash barrier, I felt that I wasn't in the same world as the people driving in cars. I was in some huge, howling, dark world, a world of coldness that would be happy to extinguish every living thing. When I made it to the mechanic's and opened the door into that warmth, I felt staggeringly relieved. <br /><br />And then I drove home. And I myself was in that nice, ordinary world that I'd been on the outside of, walking on the roadside. But I could remember it.<br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=asakiyume&ditemid=871542" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2013-01-30:1957066:867626in prison2017-10-27T15:51:15Z2022-02-06T00:52:11ZResidente: Guerrapublic19Is it a human person or a fairy being, imprisoned behind the leaf-vein bars? What was the crime, or were they falsely accused? When and how will they be freed, or will they free themselves?<br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/24117416928/in/dateposted/" title="in prison"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4481/24117416928_55fb8d58a4.jpg" width="500" height="314" alt="in prison"></a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=asakiyume&ditemid=867626" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2013-01-30:1957066:863270when the curtain parts2017-09-26T16:17:24Z2022-02-06T00:52:09Zpublic20When the curtain parts, when the doors open, when unknown beings from <i>there</i> come <i>here</i>, they always arrive in an empty parking lot, at twilight, when the sky is glowing but the earth is dim, and the electric lights of humankind seem as weak as a last breath. <br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/37286972066/in/dateposted/" title="portentous sky"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4387/37286972066_9df04da2b6_c.jpg" width="800" height="600" alt="portentous sky"></a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=asakiyume&ditemid=863270" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2013-01-30:1957066:857709between the sunlight and the air2017-07-27T02:35:12Z2022-02-06T00:52:06ZThe Huntress and Holder of Hands: Borealispublic32Because yesterday and last night were unseasonably cold but the air was warmer this morning, there was mist everywhere when I went out.<br /><br />Everywhere was gauzy.<br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/35372323053/in/dateposted/" title="misty trees"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4328/35372323053_d42f8aeb18_z.jpg" width="627" height="640" alt="misty trees"></a><br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/35372323343/in/photostream/" title="sun through mist"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4320/35372323343_b50147c9a9_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="sun through mist"></a><br /><br />Up the street, down the street--ethereal<br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/35372324653/in/photostream/" title="looking up the road"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4314/35372324653_c3abb1b7bc_z.jpg" width="596" height="640" alt="looking up the road"></a><br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/35372324733/in/photostream/" title="looking down the road"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4307/35372324733_d9e34a7a9c_z.jpg" width="456" height="640" alt="looking down the road"></a><br /><br />It seems that otherworldly dancers passed through, too, leaving behind their handkerchiefs, as they often do, on lawns, beside paths, and in the woods:<br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/35372327423/in/photostream/" title="fairy handkerchiefs"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4297/35372327423_69175ae93e_z.jpg" width="640" height="191" alt="fairy handkerchiefs"></a><br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/35372325823/in/photostream/" title="fairy handkerchief"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4305/35372325823_6596b25ae0_n.jpg" width="313" height="320" alt="fairy handkerchief"></a> <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/35372325483/in/photostream/" title="fairy handkerchiefs"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4319/35372325483_b7d497f371_n.jpg" width="320" height="202" alt="fairy handkerchiefs"></a><br /><br></br><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=asakiyume&ditemid=857709" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> commentstag:dreamwidth.org,2013-01-30:1957066:850213violets, a fairy tree, a beaver meal2017-05-10T17:44:05Z2022-02-06T00:52:02Zpublic15I picked some violets after a run today--I saw them on a hillside, a really rich, deep purple. At home I have lots of violets too, but the purple ones are more washed out. Then there are the white ones with purple veins, and best of all, the speckled ones.<br /><br />Here they all are in a little vase:<br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/34414477052/in/dateposted/" title="violets"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4185/34414477052_8817c1a4ae.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="violets"></a><br /><br />And here is a photo of one of those trees of gold that grow in fairy woods, along with trees of silver and trees of crystal. This one has been felled by a beaver. Look how beautiful its bark is. <br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/34535364526/in/photostream/" title="golden bark"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4192/34535364526_104247c466.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="golden bark"></a><br /><br />And here is a tree that has been gnawed at three different spots. Three beavers sharing a meal? Or one beaver not satisfied with the taste and hoping it gets better if he tries a different spot?<br /><br /><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/86761435@N00/34535363466/in/photostream/" title="beaver breakfast table"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4159/34535363466_85aabd49a0.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="beaver breakfast table"></a><br /><br /><img src="https://www.dreamwidth.org/tools/commentcount?user=asakiyume&ditemid=850213" width="30" height="12" alt="comment count unavailable" style="vertical-align: middle;"/> comments