Fairy Tales and memory

Somewhere in a box in a closet in her mother's home, there is a reel of home movie, the kind with no sound. Amidst the flickering of the camera and the dappled light coming through the leaves, there is a three year old girl wandering in a forest and with puzzlement asking "Where are all the flowers?" You can't actually hear the words, but you can see her lips moving and the look of consternation on her face, as another fairy tale idea is broken.

I think of that little girl when i find all these in a kilometre square section of forest, mountain and riverbank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Violets, daisies, lilies, pusitilla, sunflowers, roses, clematis, and a ton of others i don't recognize, these all renewed my faith in fairy tales that showed a little girl in a thicket of knee deep flowers in a green green safe forest. It's cool and peaceful here, fresh and pure.

My sixteen year old self would have reveled here.

 

 

 

 
 

 

Paths to wander uninterrupted, no other soul around, vistas to explore and rocks to climb, all leading up and out, but safe in going back down as well. Dry and still, silent and open.

And in the arid soil, some hope:

 

And growth for the future:

 

Comments

[Mary Anne]

I love, love, love the image that's 3rd from the last!! So beautiful and peaceful & such incredible shades of grey.

[Irene R]

Thanks for reminding me to keep my eyes open (perhaps also to have camera at the ready)

[Erica]

3rd from the bottom got me too, there is something really lovely about it - it takes wandering on foot to find all the tiny beauties that we otherwise miss.

[material witness]

Oh Arlee Barr,
You have discovered my childhood stomping ground! Tiger Lilies, Chocolate lilies, Sun Dews,Buffalo Beans, wild peas, wild violets, paintbrushes, foxtails,and the little HooDoos near the Canyon. Go further and you will find the bones and the cactus.A little further and you will run into Mabel, my great granny walking with me and asking me to name every plant and flower in English, Latin and "Indian".

[kay susan]

What a beautiful collection of photos Arlee. Especially those tiny plants and the amazing rock formations. What a lovely place! Thanks for sharing.

[deb]

Where IS this magical place?? WAIT WAIT - Don't tell me publicly.
Keep it secret.Keep it safe!

[Jackie]

So beautiful and mysterious to me. Commonplace to you now?

[arlee]

No secret place except perhaps in my heart, the bottom photos that my 16 year old self visited with me, is Horseshoe Canyon, a sudden drop in the land, near Drumheller Alberta. It will never be commonplace---i could go there every week---and probably will, if Greyman will take me! (GOTTA learn to drive :})
It HAS to be magic, the way it is in the landscape and in my soul.

[Marilyn]

Beautiful! It reminds me of summers where I used to live in Colorado. I'd nearly drive off the road looking at wildflowers. All those mountains that look green-gray from Denver are actually green and alive with color from wildflowers! Thanks for the reminder, Arlee.