The Windy Ridge pond has been affectionately dubbed “the woolly swamp”. I love this place, despite the muck and swamp creatures.
On this little pool where the sunbeams lie,
This tawny gold reins where the shadows die,
God doth enamel the blue of His sky.
My favorite thing to do lately is to load the picnic basket up with a good book, a thermos of coffee and my camera and sit swampside while watching the kids splash and hunt for frogs and dragonflies. I feel like a lucky girl to have this escape in my own backyard. So peaceful.
Through the scented dark when the night wind sighs,
He mirrors His stars where the ripples rise,
Till they glitter like prisoned fireflies.
I sat on the dusty bank in the warm sun for quite a while waiting for this fancy fellow to land so I could capture his image.
‘Tis here that the beryl-green leaves uncurl,
And here the lilies uplift and unfurl
Their golden-lined goblets of carven pearl.
When the grey of the eastern sky turns pink,
Through the silver edge at the pond’s low brink
The little lone field-mouse creeps down to drink
Spencer Cole and his fabulous freckles.
And creatures to whom only God is kind,
The loveless small things, the slow, and the blind,
Soft steal through the rushes, and comfort find.
Oh, restless the river, restless the sea,
Where the great ships go, and the dead men be!
The lily-pond giveth but peace to me.
(Poem by Virna Sheard)
What an amazing escape! Beautiful pictures…always makes me long to spend a day with my camera in hand just enjoying what is around me, someday. 🙂 Thank you for sharing your beautiful get away. 🙂
OMG. Jen, you have outdone yourself on these photos. That dragonfly photo is INCREDIBLE!!! I hope the our kids can go get swampy up there this weekend. Maybe I’ll bring Amy Vanderbilt’s Complete Book of Etiquette from 50 years ago and we can laugh about how we fall short of high society standards. 😀
what a wonderful place. I’ve been asking hubby to make a pond on our property….would love to sit and watch my kids do all the wonderful things that you can do with a pond/swamp!
Sooo cute.. Brandt wanted the frog.. he is sitting on the desk in front of me getting excited over the pics.. I am trying to get caught up on my blog reading since our power came back on!! 🙂
Lucky lucky girl! I love that you caught a close up of the dragon fly and that you found such an appropriate poem.
wonderful