308. All was silent as before – all silent save the dripping rain. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

March 16, 2014 by nataliescarberry

One by one great drops are falling
Doubtful and slow,
Down the pane they are crookedly crawling,
And the wind breathes low…
~Excerpt from a poem by James Russell Lowell

Rain! Deliciously glorious rain finally came for the first time in many months from the grayness of a late winter’s day, and the drought-ridden soil soaked it up like a sponge. Thankfully this rain was not the child of violent clashes of hot and cold air which can, this time of year, spawn rushing winds or tornados charged with electricity and loud claps of thunder. Instead it tapped softly on rooftops and windows beating out long-awaited, haunting harmonies accompanied only by occasional rolls of muffled thunder and flashes of distant lightning. After the parched ground had drunk in enough, puddles began to form, and from them rain’s captivating smell rose to bless my nose. Scientists may say the scent in rain is petrichor, which is an oil produced by plants, absorbed by rocks and soil, and then later released into the air during rainfall, but I personally think it’s the alluring scent of the Holy One, Yahweh Himself.

Oh, how I’ve missed the rain! I adore it; I always have! And now that I live in a place where rain can be absent for long periods of time, my spirit experiences an aching hunger when it’s gone. So I envy those who live in areas where it rains regularly. There’s just something very comforting and inviting about the sound of rain, the sight of it, the feel of it, and the unmistakable fragrance of it. It has a way of reassuring me that “God’s in His heaven and all’s right with the world,” and if rainy days bless my soul in such a way, I can’t help but believe the earth feels the same sweet joy.

In time of silver rain
The earth puts forth new life again,
Green grasses grow
And flowers lift their heads,
And over all the plain
The wonder spreads

Of Life,
Of Life,
Of Life!

In time of silver rain
The butterflies lift silken wings
To catch a rainbow cry,
And trees put forth new leaves to sing
In joy beneath the sky
As down the roadway
Passing boys and girls
Go singing, too,

In time of silver rain
When spring
And life
Are new.
~Poem by Langston Hughes

As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I(God) desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. ~Isaiah 55:9-11 ✝

301. Fingers now scented with sage and rosemary, a kneeling gardener is lost in savory memories. ~Dr. Sun Wolf

March 9, 2014 by nataliescarberry

I know a garden with a loveliness
Deeper than eye can see or indrawn breath
Can measure rightly. Ancient centuries press
Against its walls till time is gone and death
Is lost in fragrance of the lavender
That grows serenely by a lichened stile.
Basil, rosemary, marjoram are there,
And savory, whose blossoms lift a smile
Beside a dripping pool. There silver sage
And lads-love, that all our mothers knew
And pressed for us in many a yellow-page.
Woodruff is there, mint, caraway, and rue.
Old flowers are lovely, lovelier still are these
Sweet scented herbs near box and cedar trees.
~Catherine Coblentz

Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden that is fragrances may be wafted abroad. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits. ~Song of Solomon 4:16 ✝

**photos via Pinterest

189. Every single story nature tells is gorgeous. ~Natalie Angier

November 15, 2013 by nataliescarberry

How little note is taken of the deeds of Nature!
What paper publishes her reports?
Who publishes the sheet music of the winds,
or the written music of water written in river lines?
Who reports the works and ways or the clouds,
those wondrous creations coming into being
every day like freshly upheaved mountains?
And what record is kept of nature’s colors – the clothes she wears
– of her birds, her beasts – of her livestock?
~John Muir

When life is lived close to nature, one sups at banquets the earth lays upon sacred plains and holy, high altars. These moving, kaleidoscopic feasts are found in or on waters, woods, hills, mountains, meadows, fields, deserts, even rocky, jagged cliffs. Therein or on the planet’s vistas and colors bedazzle the eyes; her shapes and textures fascinate the hands; her scents and fragrances thrill the nose; her rhythms and symphonies seduce the ears while through it all and all the while the human heart is comforted by God’s faithfulness and His divinely appointed seasons. Simply put, under the sun, moon, and stars and in haunts where breezes blow, grasses grow, and waters flow the human spirit and the soul are nurtured while his life is sustained by the Creator’s grace and lavish spreads.

He (God) performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. ~Job 5:9 ✝

181. How could such sweet and wholesome hours be reckoned but with herbs and flowers. ~Andrew Marvel

November 5, 2013 by nataliescarberry

Natural object themselves
even when they make no claim to beauty,
excite the feelings, and occupy the imagination.
Nature pleases, attracts, delights,
merely because it’s nature.
~Karl Wilhelm Humboldt

The most common attractions of the rose are the prettily colored flowers and the sweet to spicy fragrances. On some roses there are also brightly colored hips that not only decorate bare canes in winter but also provide feasts for overwintering birds. These hips are the pomaceous fruits of the rose, and they vary in size and shape and color. Some of the first rosary beads were fashioned out of dried rose hips, and they have been used as well to make jellies, jam, marmalade, teas, soup, and medicinal compounds. They also played an important role during World War II because they are very rich in Vitamin C. It seems the people of Great Britain were encouraged to gather wild-grown rose hips to make a syrup for their children since German submarines were sinking commercial ships making it very difficult to import citrus fruits from the tropics.

Looking with expectancy for things that excite, I venture out into my gardens almost daily, weather permitting. To that end I am seldom disappointed even on drippy days like this one. Today’s find were some gold-orange-reddiish rose hips, and though they make no claim to great beauty, I was thrilled to see them once again. After photographing them and beginning this post I began pondering what a difference for the better it might make if I greeted every new day’s living with the same attitude. What an impact might it have on those around me if I met them filled with joy and expected the best from the encounter. Once again I see how God’s Eden is not only a great sustainer but also an excellent teacher.

The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. ~Zechariah 8:12 ✝

174. The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. ~Mahatma Ghandi

October 28, 2013 by nataliescarberry

If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from a great loneliness of spirit,
for whatever happens to the beasts
also happens to the man.
All things are connected.
Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons of Earth.
~Chief Seattle of the Suquamish Tribe

The creatures of earth, sea and sky came forth “out of the waters of God’s life.” And their arrival was yet another manifestation of the visible from the invisible–another disclosure of the mystery of God. In addition, “with the birth of the creatures there is the emergence of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching. The light of the sun and the whiteness of the moon can now be seen. The wind blowing through the leaves of trees and the crashing of ocean waves can be heard. The early morning fragrance of the earth can be smelled. Its fruit can be tasted, and its textures touched,” writes J. Philip Newell. It has even been said that if one wants to know the Creator, one of the ways to gain insight is to know His creatures, and I think that’s especially true when it comes to examining the sensory aspect of their coming. For does not the ability to see, that the creatures brought, teach mankind to see with the eyes of the heart? In the silences of humanity’s reality does not the ability to hear teach men to listen for the “echo of the spheres” and the still, small voice of God? Do not the abilities to smell, taste, and touch help mortals meet their Savior, Jesus, through the holy sacrament of the Eucharist (Communion)?

And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground–everything that has the breath of life in it–I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. ~Genesis 1:30

165. Some praise the Lord for Light, the living spark; I thank God for the Night, the healing dark. ~Robert William Service, “Weary”

October 18, 2013 by nataliescarberry

Night, the beloved.
Night, when words fade and things come alive.
When the destructive analysis of day is done,
and all that is truly important becomes whole and sound again.
When man reassembles his fragmentary self
and grows with the calm of a tree.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The air was crisp and cool; day’s light had just slipped away. Wet blades of grass sparkled in a kind of diamond-dusted majesty under the glow of a rising harvest moon. As if to punctuate my scattered thoughts, tiny aircraft lights glided from time to time through the darkening indigo sky. When I began glancing around the yard, the images that confronted me seemed to be popping up like photos in a slowly advancing slide show. The first one I saw was of the red turk’s caps underneath the rose arch, then the white moonflowers on the neighbor’s fence, fattening seed pods under the oak, a Celtic cross, a flying moth, an intermittently shrouded moon. The spell was broken only for a short while when the fragrance from my potted herbs temporarily seduced my nose. Then the slide show started up again with a flash of yellow and white lights, followed by a rustling noise, leafy branches hanging low, a sculpted monk, stone rabbits, and a fleeting little lizard. Music in the distance floated down the alley, and when I turned to follow the sound, I was startled by ghostly shadows dancing on the shed in the deepening darkness. However the fear was fleeting and not enough to alleviate my growing sleepiness. It wasn’t until water tapped noisily in the nearly drained fountain and a pair of feral cats came meowing at my feet that I was jolted out of my reverie. And it had been such a lovely respite for a weary soul, always is when under the holy hosts of heaven that light the night.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and year… ~Genesis 1:14 ✝

162. All was silent as before — All was silent save the dripping rain. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

October 15, 2013 by nataliescarberry

But the true lover of rain…has a deep inner enjoyment of the rain, as rain, and his sense of its beauty drinks it in as thirstily as does the drinking earth. It refreshes and cools his heart and brain; he longs to go forth into the fields, to feel its steady stream, to scent its fragrance; to stand under some heavy-foilaged chestnut-tree, and hear the rushing music on the crowded leaves. ~John Richard Vernon

**One of my readers just sent me to a website which has a slowed down audio clip of crickets chirping. It’s amazing to hear that they sound like an angelic choir reminiscent of gregrorian chanters. If you’d like to listen, you’ll find it at: www.soundcloud.com/acornavi/robert-wilson-crickets-audio

I like to think of the universe as a cosmic temple and of planet earth as a sanctuary in that temple. Though not given the power of speech as such, rain and other weather-related phenomena exhibit distinctive voices under heaven’s dome, and as they fall from earth’s chaotic atmosphere, they often blend their unique voices with other holy sounds in the natural world. I believe that in that sacred chorus is a call to humanity to seek the Maker of the temple because God not only hardwired man with a desire to connect with other human beings but also with a longing to seek and connect with Him whose breath gave him life. To that end man was given eyes to witness the sacraments of heaven and earth, ears to hear the chants of their hallowed voices, intellect to question and understand much of what is seen and heard, and a heart that in due time turns from irreverence to longing. Tecumseh, a leader of the Shawnee, said, “Nature is so powerful, so strong. Capturing the essence is not easy – your work becomes a dance with light and the weather. It takes you to a place within yourself.”

Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. ~Deuteronomy 32:2 ✝

152. A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses. ~Chinese Proverb

October 6, 2013 by nataliescarberry

Under a lawn, than skies more clear,
Some ruffled Roses nestling were,
And snuggling there, they seem’d to lie
As in a flowery nunnery;
They blush’d, and looked more fresh than flowers
Quickened of late by pearly showers. . .
~Robert Herrick, 17th century English poet

As you can see in my photographic “nunnery,” the “sisters” are all roses, but all are not wearing the same “habit.” They all have petals, but the number of petals is not the same. They’re all pink, but it is not the same shade of pink. They all start out as not-so-different buds, but when open they do not all look alike. Even the scents are not all the same. However, there are those who been known to say, like I did at one time, that all roses are more or less the same. But “a rose is a rose is a rose” is simply not the case. When I fell in love with gardening, I started learning about the many varieties of roses, and after growing them I realized that each species has its own unique personality and appearance. What surprised me the most was that according to fossil findings the roses we see today are the descendants of ones that have been growing for over 35,000,000 years. It wasn’t until after prehistoric times, though, that treks of one kind or another began to spread them all around the world. These early migrations are reported to have originated in places like Persia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China. Then later on many of them traveled along with the spread of Christianity because monks would move them from one monastery garden to another during the Crusades, and it was some of those early Christians who identified the five petals of the single rose (lower right photo) with the five wounds of the Messiah.

For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved. . . ~2 Corinthians 2:15

144. In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary. ~Aaron Rose

September 28, 2013 by nataliescarberry

For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right,
since its appearance changes at every moment;
but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life – the
light and the air which vary continually.
For me, it is only the surrounding atmosphere
which gives subjects their true value.
~Claude Monet

Living in a garden day after day, being a participant in all its events, witnessing the changes from season to season, and watching the way differing light falls on the landscape make gardening a thrilling experience. The fact that colors in the garden change off and on during the course of a day fascinates me. In morning light the hues are vivid and bright, but as daylight mellows into twilight, they melt into quieter, more subdued tones. Light even affects the fragrance of things for it is only in the cooler moments of early morn and twilight that the strongest aromas are dispelled from herbs and flowers. But then things are not just affected by changes in lighting. Sometimes colors change as flowers and leaves age, when temperatures rise or fall, when changes occur in the content of the soil, or when rainfall is lacking or in abundance. That’s why without looking at a calendar, I can tell that the rose bud in the photo is one born of recent rainfall and the passing of the autumnal equinox. The constancy of this inconstancy defines the soul of a garden, and, like all else in nature, speaks to me of rhythmical and purposeful ordination.

Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden that its presence may spread everywhere. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choice fruits. ~Song of Songs 4:16 ✝

60. That God once loved a garden we learn in Holy writ. And seeing gardens in the Spring I well can credit it. ~Winifred Mary Letts

March 11, 2013 by nataliescarberry

With the birth of the creatures there is
the emergence of seeing, hearing,
smelling, tasting, and touching.
The light of the sun and the whiteness
of the moon can now be seen.
The wind blowing through the leaves
of the trees and the crashing
of ocean waves can be heard.
The early morning fragrance of
the earth can be smelled.
Its fruits can be tasted and
its textures touched.
~Excerpted lines by J. Philip Newell

Springtime is so much “a showing forth of the mystery of God” that if one wants to know more of the Creator, all he/she needs do is pull up a chair in a garden and watch the year’s first season unfold. Seeking the goodness of God and what He made by being still therein and listening to the Holy Spirit as well as Creation’s rhythms is a way of bringing the Heavenly Father closer. In that nearness one is then able to look through eyes that recognize the depth of His and Creation’s goodness.

And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ~Exodus 33:19 ✝

Sacred Touches

Life is a time of purpose and anointed blossoming…

Tag Archives: Fragrance