Some Impressions of Our Planet Video…
LOOKING FOR A LITTLE INSPIRATION?
Inspired by the wonder of it all… ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator http://www.4writersandreaders.com
Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category
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“Winter’s Last Hurrah” a poem by Bette A. Stevens
Winter’s Last Hurrah
A poem of seasonal transition by Bette A. Stevens
First day of spring at the farmstead in Central Maine and more than migrating birds flutter about to entertain us. Snowflakes join the celebration. The flurry of Slate-colored Juncos and White-breasted Nuthatches (I managed to capture a snapshot of one at the feeder) don’t seem to mind at all.
Wonders of the seasons—they never cease to amaze us!
~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator
Find out more about birds mentioned in “Winter’s Last Hurrah”
- Juncos
http://www.birds-of-north-america.net/juncos.html - Nuthatches
http://www.birds-of-north-america.net/nuthatches.html
[Explore Bette’s Blog]
1091. Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness. ~Desmond Tutu
“Hope is a thing with feathers that perches on the soul…” one of my favorite lines from Emily Dickinson ~ Bette A. Stevens http://www.4writersandreaders.com
We must accept finite disappointment,
but never lose infinite hope.
~Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
~Emily Dickinson
It has been my privilege to meet some incredible people through my blog. They are people I never knew to ask God for, but He has given them to me anyway. When I asked Him why He blessed me with their presence in my life, He let me know that it’s because they can fill my life in ways that no one else can. And it’s true…
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1034. Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of mystery. ~Max Planck
The wonder of it all! ~ Bette A. Stevens
Nature looks dead in winter because her life is gathered into her heart. She withers the plant down to the root that she may grow it up again fairer and stronger. She calls her family together within her inmost home to prepare them for being scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. ~Hugh Macmillan
When the ages of ice came
And sealed the Earth inside
An endless coma of cold,
The heart of the Earth held hope,
Storing fragments of memory,
Ready for the return of the sun.
Let us then salute the silence
And certainty of mountains:
Their sublime stillness,
Their dream-filled hearts.
The wonder of a garden
Trusting the first warmth of spring
Until its black infinity of cells
Becomes charged with dream;
Then the silent, slow nurture
Of the seed’s self, coaxing it
To trust the act of death.
The humility of the Earth
That transfigures…
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Autumn’s Lament HAIKU by Bette A. Stevens
Autumn’s Lament
Haiku by Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator
By late November autumn’s vibrant deciduous tree leaves have settled in for the soon-to-arrive Maine winter, ready to read their own bedtime stories for a season. At least that’s the tale they told me. ~ Bette A. Stevens
- Read more of Bette’s poetry at https://4writersandreaders.com/my-poetry/
- Find Bette’s books at http://viewauthor.at/BetteAStevens
[Explore Bette’s Blog]
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“Milkweed Wishes for Monarchs” a poem by Bette A. Stevens
The poem “Milkweed Wishes for Monarchs” was inspired during a walk out to the mailbox one morning when I spotted an exploding milkweed pod in all its glory. I ran back into the house to grab my camera and was delighted with the results. I also captured a shot of two more pods mostly intact and picked them for a friend (photo below).
I am a writer inspired by nature and human nature. As a retired elementary and middle school teacher, a wife, mother of two and grandmother of five, I live in Central Maine on a 37-acre renovated farmstead where I enjoy reading, writing, gardening, walking and reveling in the beauty of nature. I advocate for children and families, for childhood literacy and for the conservation of monarch butterflies—an endangered species (and milkweed, the only plant that monarch caterpillars will eat).
My children’s book AMAZING MATILDA follows an amazing monarch butterfly through her metamorphosis. I wrote and illustrated this picture book to inspire kids to have patience and to follow their dreams.
~ Bette A. Stevens
- Find out more about monarch butterflies and how to collect and plant milkweed seeds at https://marcpastorek.wordpress.com/2015/02/15/planting-milkweed-seed-for-monarch-butterflies-nows-the-time/
Find AMAZING MATILDA and all of Bette’s books at YOUR AMAZON
[Explore Bette’s Blog]
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BROOK SONGS a poem by Bette A. Stevens
Inspired by nature, I love to walk to down the brook. It’s only a quarter-mile from “The Farmstead” here in Central Maine and no matter the weather or season, the sights and sounds of the water and the abundance of nature’s bounty always manage to refresh my soul and often inspire the writer child within me. The photo for the poem Brook Songs was taken last fall. As the autumn season nears a new dawning, I put pen to paper for a draft before designing the poem on the computer. ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator
- Take a “Look inside” all of Bette’s books on YOUR AMAZON.
- You’ll find more of Bette’s poetry right here on her blog
[Explore Bette’s Blog]
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861. The pen is the tongue of the mind.~Miguel de Cervantes
Write on! ~ Bette A. Stevens http://www.4writersandreaders.com
Keep a diary and
one day it’ll keep you.
~Mae West
It is necessary to write, if the days are not
to slip emptily by. How else, indeed,
to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment?
For the moment passes, it is forgotten;
the mood is gone; life itself is gone.
That is where the writer scores over his fellows:
he catches the changes of his mind on the hop.
~Vita Sackville-West
However we go about the process, I believe those of us who write do find it necessary to do so. Perhaps, it’s because “clapping the net over the butterfly of the moment” helps define who we are for ourselves before “life itself is gone” and perhaps to help us know how who and what we are matters in the world. Whatever the reason, as tired as I am, I felt the need to put my fingers…
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853. Nature is infinitely creative. It is always producing the possibility of new beginnings. ~Marianne Williamson
The wonder of it all! ~ Bette A. Stevens
The Law of Divine Compensation posits that this is a self-organizing and self-correcting universe: the embryo becomes a baby, the bud becomes a blossom, the acorn becomes an oak tree. Clearly, there is some invisible force that is moving every aspect of reality to its next best expression. ~Marianne Williamson
Nature inspires my everything. She inspires my solitude, and my writing and my art. She lifts me upon her welcoming wings and soars me through the sky of possibilities. She colors my day, brightens my soul, and calms my nights. She is fierce and beautiful, strong and delicate — an unrelenting Queen so generous of advice and never weary of new beginnings. In spring a colorful maiden, in winter a wise old lady, in autumn a looking-glass to my falling-leaf self, and summer a warm blossomed benefactor, comrade to the sun. A constant companion — sometimes indifferent, sometimes nuzzling me…
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Happy reading, friends… HAVE AN AWESOME WEEK! ~ Bette A. Stevens http://www.4writersandreaders.com
Bette A. Stevens, Maine Author 
Written
on 04/25/2016