Recent Land Shapes exhibit in England

Sylvia Van Strijthem, the talented painter who illustrated by poetry collection, Land Shapes, recently exhibited paintings and haiku from the book at the Chichester Library in England. I hope visitors were inspired to go out into nature.

Beautiful Haiku by Alice Kight

1. Midnight

Cricket serenade
My neighbor's cat comes prowling
Deafening silence

2. Mosquito

Tiny, zinging dot
Round my drowsy, nodding head
Ouch! Swat! Now you're not!

3. Writer's Lament

Beneath the clutter
Full of Possibilities
My missing pencil

4. Beach Haiku

Embers fly upward
Last beach bonfire of summer
Memories remain

Thank you to Alice Kight, a noted San Francisco Bay Area poet, for these submissions.

Poems by Students About Beauty, Mountains, Dreams, & Cats

Haiku by Allison C.
A big, steep mountain--
It feels so free in the wind
to hike up above

Haiku by Alex C.
color of the sea
flies like the beauty
flies like an eagle

Haiku by Miko B.
The beautifulness makes me happy
and the walking was so pretty,
it popped into my head

Haiku by Srusti A.
Salsa dancing cat
in a red dress with red eyes
with crazy cat hair

Haiku by Laura S.
my bed
floats over the floor
dreams are being made

Haiku by Nikita V.
jumping cat
pop click pop click
soapy soapy cat

Also, please see more student poems in the State Birds and Plants post!

Congratulations to these elementary-school poets!

Contribute State Bird & Flower Haiku: Western States

Welcome to those who would like to submit your own haiku and celebrate the nature in your state. I am gathering haiku for the state birds and state flowers of these Western states: California, Nevada, and Arizona. Please post haiku about the birds and flowers for each state in the Comments section below.

California

Bird: California quail

Flower: California poppy

Nevada

Bird: Mountain bluebird

Flower: Sagebrush

Arizona

Bird: Cactus wren

Flower: Saguaro cactus blossom

Please post haiku you have written below (and no worries about following 5-7-5 syllable counts), and please include your name and general location.

Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival

Follow the Brant geese to the winter estuary of Morro Bay. A fantastic group of volunteers and knowledgeable tour leaders gather every Martin Luther King weekend to show locals and visitors alike all of the birds who call Morro Bay their winter home.

We enjoyed this year's Family Day, especially a puppet show about two great blue herons that nest in the tops of trees to have enough space to spread their six-foot wide wings.

And in a fitness challenge for me, I kayaked by myself in a single kayak since my daughter is now old enough to go with my husband in a double. She did great paddling, and I loved drifting and listening to the wingbeats of cormorants just over my head. My daughter liked to watch grebes take off by running their tiny feet over the waves and flapping for liftoff. We also got to see a sea otter, and I was glad to find them this far south.

And for all those out there who keep a life list (all the bird species spotted by an avid birder), I got to add several, especially after taking the Ducks Galore tour: green-winged teal, blue-winged teal, and a (possible) rufous hummingbird. If anyone knows about how this species relates to the Allen's, I would like to know.

Happy Birding!

Hiking and Haiku: Find a Poem

Find a poem. It's as easy as stepping through the threshold into nature. Take a notebook, a pen, all of your senses, and an open heart. Perhaps you'll see a family of ducks in a pond. Think of the connection to your own life. Write one or two lines about what you sensed and one or two lines about how it made you feel. And you have a haiku.

after its mother,
the smallest duckling follows--
a fading ripple

I felt a sense of sadness that the duckling might not have the strength to continue to keep up with the rest of its family as just a weak echo. So I described the scene and then tried to add a line about the feeling, without naming it.

It's easy to try it yourself. Please post your own haiku poems here.

A Great Daypack!

In my quest to get better at hiking, I needed to find a solid daypack. After stumbling around websites and reading reviews, I found the North Face Recon. What I love about this pack:

• Sized specifically for women


• Hydration compatible (so I can have a tube of water extending right from the pack)


• Chest and waist straps to make it feel more secure


• Reflective strips


• A great comfortable fit

Check it out at http://www.thenorthface.com/catalog/sc-gear/womens-39-s-recon.html (and note that REI has had it on sale recently). I got the "squid red" color, much prettier than it sounds.

New Year's Resolution: Train to Hike the Canyon

My New Year's Resolution for 2012: Train to go from being the most unathletic girl in my 1970s elementary-school class to a 40-something woman ready to day hike the Grand Canyon! What are your New Year's Resolutions? Do you have any new activities you'd love to try: zipline through the Redwoods, ice skating after years away from blades, T'ai Chi? Please inspire us all...