29th Small Stone: Waltzing Magnolias

The evenly spaced magnolia trees on Mountain Avenue slipped by my car in time with The Blue Danube waltz.  

28th Small Stone: Slanting Sunrays

Santa Ana Condition with sere wind and heat is here.  The slanting sunrays pick out the delicate design of a cast iron decoration on a neighbor’s house and the tall, white branches of a birch, waiting patiently for its leaves to reappear.

27th Small Stone Bluebells Ahead

Dark soil with fifteen bright green points breaking through it, thrusting it aside, coming of the bluebells.

25th Small Stone: Generous Beams

Because I slept late, the den was flooded with light when I came out, and I felt renewed by the generous beams.

22nd Small Stone: Thinking Like Water

As I back the car down the driveway, the sun shines on five big raindrops at the top of my windshield.  The lower half of each one has blinding radiance.  Should the water in the top half of each raindrop be jealous?  

21st Small Stone: Puddle Reforms

A smooth puddle reflecting the gray sky suddenly shatters from a big raindrop from above, bounces it back, then absorbs the water into itself, smooth again.  

20th Small Stone: Tiny World

We enter the car, close the doors, all windows misted over, in our own tiny world.  

Swelling Camellia Buds, 19th Small Stone

The tall camellia bush beside the door is covered with fat, green buds, and one showing red along the top side as a promise for the future.

18th Small Stone: Angry Real Birds

So much noise from the sparrows and the hummingbirds, they drown out the car motor starting up.  A Cooper’s hawk sits on the highest bough of the sycamore. 

17th small stone, Captive Palms

Captive palms stand in the street median, tall and skinny, dusting off the clouds.

Berries Going

In the gray light, I see that the bright red berries of the Nandina bushes are almost all eaten up.  A mourning dove coos.

Small Stone 13--Mint Awakening

Beneath the network of bare branches on the plum tree, sprigs of mint leap into life with lime-green shoots. I crush one leaf and inhale its sharp sweetness.

This is my 13th small stone.  Scroll down to find out more about the January River of Stones or Google "Writing Our Way Home."

PS Friday the 13th is lucky for me; hope it's lucky for you too.   

Ninth Small Stone--Sycamore Leaves

Six sycamore leaves, saucer to dinner plate sizes, fly by flipping madly in the wind, disappear into Aileen’s yard.  A hummingbird pips and circles, then perches on a bare branch where the leaves used to live.

Bonus 8th #smallstone: Sunset Palms

Hi river of stones readers/writers,
I could not resist capturing one more small stone as my husband and I drove through the sunset tonight.
cheers, Laura

Clear yellow sky with a band of mauve clouds, then a band of dark purple ones.  Compact tops of three tall palms reach up to touch the mauve layer, black silhouettes of fans against the bright sky.

Seventh Small Stone: Rosemary Synchrony

Only the top branches of the rosemary are sunlit.  Three of them make the same down-up swoop with their reaching tips.  A whiff of fresh rosemary rises in the still air.

Sixth Small Stone: River mist

Triplets of golden globes glow on slender stalks along the walkway beside the quiet Columbia River, emerging from the fog and disappearing as we approach and pass by.

Fifth Small Stone, Framed Fir

Hi friends of reading and writing,
I was away in Portland for a couple of days, just flew back this morning.  Yesterday, I wrote my small stone but could not post it because the hotel's public computer was down.  So here it is:

Next to my hotel room, the big two-story window frames a Douglas fir, richly green against the fog, condensing mist that it drips from the tips of its boughs.

Avian Return, small stone 4

Outside my back door, I hear buzz-whistle, buzz-whistle, cheater-cheater-cheater, o-a-hu, cheer-cheer-cheer, chip-chip-chip.  The mockingbird is back from his winter vacation south of here.  Maybe his mate will come soon.

Constellation of limes, Laura's 3rd small stone

A constellation of seven yellow limes rests on dark green grass while others barely hold onto the tree.

Consider joining me to write a small stone, an intense experience, each day in January.  Go to Writing Our Way Home site FMI.  

Stripes on the Grass, Laura's 2nd Small Stone

The sun behind the fence stripes the grass with dark and light green.  In the shadow by the fence, six light grey, round rocks wait for their turn in the sunlight.  The rosemary reaches high and shines out with golden green, already spotlighted.  I smell its aroma on the light breeze.

Enjoy your own moment of intense mindfulness each day in January; scroll down to find the January Small Stones information.    Cheers,  Laura