Pieces of Heaven

We've just passed through the busy celebrations of  Thanksgiving, Christmas and now, into the new year of 2013.  We all hope for a better tomorrow, not only personally but for our country and our world.  Planet earth is so minute in the grand scale of the universe and yet it teems with hopes and dreams, aspirations and inspirations; paradoxes of  peace and conflict, life and death, triumph and tragedy, laughter and tears, light and dark, according to the condition of mankind.  How finite within infinity.  How simple and how complex.

Simplicity greeted me on the morning of  New Year's Day.  It came in the form of deer stopping by just long enough for me to enjoy them with my camera.   The does posed quite well for me as they savored the sunshine on a cold winter morning and then they left as silently as they came, deftly and gracefully.... all movement and no sound.

"Just Passing Through" 

Click on photos to enlarge

Silence can calm the soul in a noisy world.... yet another paradox.   On rare occasions, I feel privileged to hear the sound of silence.  The other night was one of those times.  I woke up to a full moon streaming through the window and saw  fresh, fallen snow on tree branches and the lights of Mt. Vernon twinkling in the snowy distance. It was the silence which caught my attention.... everything was still; no sounds of critters or wind or traffic.  House noises were stilled and it was as if a blanket of quiet had descended with the new fallen snow.   All activity had ceased and what emerged was this beautiful sound of silence.  It felt holy in its appearance, seemingly absent of time .... "Be still and know that I am God"  is a scripture that comes to life during such reflective occasions.

The awing silence turned into eventual chatter of the day's awakening and along with it, responsibility.  It is time to feed hay for those of us who raise horses, cattle and sheep since pasture grass has disappeared in the ensuing weather that winter brings.  This becomes a daily routine until Spring arrives and the animals begin to graze on green fields and hills.  Below are some recent photos taken of a few of  the quarter horses which are raised on the ranch.  They start out in a lope and end up in a gallop, running for the "hay wagon"  when they see that it is feeding time. You can catch glimpses of the noble horse as well as the beautiful  hills and mountains which surround the John Day Valley in some of these photos.

"The Rush"

Clark & Company (dogs) with the "Hay Wagon"

 Feeding Pasture

Until next Monday, I end this post with a quote from Jules Renard...."On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it".   Today, I share with you, my pieces of heaven produced by the creativity of God in deer, silence, horses and countryside.