Transforming Fridays with Nature's Wonders

Hello! Welcome to day seventeen of poem-a-day for the month of April – congratulations to everyone participating in this writing – reading – poetry-loving event!

And because it’s National Poetry Month I’d like to take the time to feature a form that is particular to the expression of nature – we’ll celebrate and recognize haiku today because today is NATIONAL HAIKU POETRY DAY –April 17!!

We’ll speak in the tongue of nature…any facet of the wild-natural-world that we choose. Express your poetry today in the traditional style of haiku or step into a modern manifestation of haiku in English.

The most well-known Japanese haiku:

old pond . . .

a frog leaps in

water's sound

Bashō's "old pond":

And one from the haiku movement in North America:

Snow in my shoe

Abandoned

Sparrow's nest

Jack Kerouac (collected in Book of Haikus, Penguin Books, 2003)

Feel free to be expansive in your choice of POV explore a different voice, (is there a plant or animal that would like to be the breath of your poem today). Sight-see and bring us the place of your choosing, (include an images if you wish).

If you'd like – write a series of haiku and chain them together or craft a singular vision. Have fun and sink into the skin of this amazing ancient and modern form.

 I’m attempting to keep this post brief but please, stopover to the links I’ve provided for further explanations on the holiday and the haiku form itself.

The poetry you link today must be haiku, and must be new – written specifically for this post. Thank you!

Please, add your link to Mr. Linky, leave a comment and visit your syllable-counting nature-loving friends!

Happy writing! 

Transforming Thursday/Friday with Nature's Wonders

Hello to everyone in the Imaginary Garden today!

It's Hannah here with beautiful places on this planet for our poetic inspiration - the Lavender Fields of UK and France.

Abbey in France with lavender field-"Sénanque 06" by EmDee - Own work. Licensed under CC 

Bored Panda

Sometimes I like to write with music and a visual backdrop behind a minimized word document.

Lavender has many uses - among them, it's medicinal and used for anti-anxiety purposes.

Single lavendar flower cc "Fir0002/Flagstaffotos".

In history...

The ancient Greeks called the lavender herb nardus, after the Syrian city of Naarda (possibly the modern town of Dohuk, Iraq). It was also commonly called nard.

Lavender was one of the holy herbs used in the biblical Temple to prepare the holy essence, and nard ('nerd' in Hebrew) is mentioned in the Song of Solomon.

So...poetic friends...explore the places and/or the plant and bring back that which enthuses your muse!

A Note:

"The challenges and prompts we offer have parameters in regards to form, theme, subject and/or method. We ask that participants respect the time taken by our individual contributors to research, set up their post and visit the links of all who join in by entering into the spirit of the challenge and following the guidelines laid down. Our purpose is to stretch our abilities as writers, and to experiment with new ways of writing. We also request that a participant provide a link back to the post on Real Toads from their own site. The option of The Tuesday Platform does exist for poets to share a poem of their choice, and a link back is not a prerequisite. 

The moderators reserve the right to remove any inappropriate or unrelated link that is made on Real Toads, at their own discretion."

As a reminder, this challenge will be on the homepage for Thursday and Friday so you have an extra day for creative process...have fun and I look forward to reading your poems! 

Transforming Friday with Nature's Wonders

Hello toads and poets - today we're going to muse on Lake Hillier, Australia!

Lake Hillier is a lake on Middle Island, the largest of the islands and islets that make up the Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia. 

You guessed its intriguing draw...the remarkable pink color is cause for pause! 

Lake Hillier is a bubble-gum-pink and it's literally just a few steps away from a “normal” colored Southern Ocean.

Scientists speculate that it’s color is caused by a reaction of sea salt and sodium bicarbonate (which you know as baking soda), and/or caused by red halophilic bacteria in the salt crusts.

This clip, (while slightly on the obnoxious side), is mildly entertaining in its dry-humor and highly informative in its scientific explanation about the phenomenon of this natural wonder. If you can tolerate it - its worth the three minutes...I think. :)

Explore this location and allow your poetic heart to swim in rosy water awhile...submerge and surface with any aspect of this place that inspires you. 

It could be as far-fetched as a giant's discarded glob of chewing gum, one could employ metaphor or delve into the microscopic realm of the red halophilic bacteria...point being, the challenge is open for the poet's choosing. 

Please, write something new and specifically for this post, link up and visit the others listed and feel free to join late...we'll be sure to check back for new links to read! 

Thank you so much for writing and I hope everyone has a wonderful and peaceful weekend. 

:)'s  Hannah

Images featured are borrowed from web, "free images."

Transforming Friday with Nature's Wonders

Hello Toads and Pond Dwellers - it's Hannah with a magical natural location to inspire you. Let's explore the wide web searching for aspects of Antelope Canyon, USA, to write poems about.

There's the Upper Antelope Canyon or The Crack; and Lower Antelope Canyon or The Corkscrew.

The Navajo name for Upper Antelope Canyon is Tsé bighánílíní, which means "the place where water runs through rocks" and the Lower Antelope Canyon is Hazdistazí or "spiral rock arches." Both are located within the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation.

(A beam of light in Upper Antelope Canyon

in Arizona. Lucas Löffler wiki cc)

Here's a little background on how these canyons were born.

Antelope Canyon was formed by erosion of Navajo Sandstone, primarily due to flash flooding and secondarily due to other sub-aerial processes. Rainwater, especially during monsoon season, runs into the extensive basin above the slot canyon sections, picking up speed and sand as it rushes into the narrow passageways. Over time the passageways eroded away, making the corridors deeper and smoothing hard edges in such a way as to form characteristic 'flowing' shapes in the rock.

Many of the clips were a bit too tourist-y flavored, for my liking but this one made me happy. I hope you enjoy it, too.

There're lots of ways you could include these canyons in your work...it could be the setting, color, sound quality or even explore the canyon in metaphor - the choice is yours. :)

Please offer new poems written for this challenge and be sure to make the rounds. I look forward to reading you. Happy weekend everyone! :)

Transforming Friday with Nature's Wonders

Hello Toads - let's go to Hang Son Doong, Vietnam!

Hang Sơn Đoòng, "Mountain River cave" in Vietnamese) is a solutional cave in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park,  Vietnam. As of 2009 it is the biggest known cave in the world. Inside is a large, fast-flowing underground river, it's formed in Carboniferous / Permian limestone.

Sơn Đoòng Cave was found by a local man named Hồ-Khanh in 1991. The whistling sound of wind and roar of fiery stream in the cave heard through the entrance as well as the steep descent prevented the local people to enter the cave. In 2009 it became internationally known when it was explored and surveyed by a group of scientists. 

According to the Limberts, (scientist couple that led the survey), takes the title of the world's largest cave. It contains some of the tallest known stalagmites in the world, which are up to 70 m tall. Behind the Great Wall of Vietnam were found cave pearls the size of baseballs, an abnormally large size.

Enjoy some National Geographic if it pleases you.

Step into this for as much or as little as you like, skip around or watch the entirety of this film. Investigate any aspect that captures your poetic attention, there's much to muse upon and feel free to delve into any of the clickable links from the summarized wiki passages above as well.

You may express in any way you like, form or no form and explore your choice of topic included within our given location.

Please, write something new for this challenge and be sure to visit your blogging friends. 

(Images via free Hang Son Doong Desktop Wallpapers).

Transforming Friday with Nature's Wonders

Hi there Garden Peeps!!

We're making a special trip this time around...I hope you're not tired of mountains or afraid of heights!

This one holds a special place in my heart and it's on my mind - my sister, a few girlfriends and I are planning a hiking trip to occur in two weeks. It will be my third time up...I'm very excited!

Let's visit Mount Katahdin at Baxter State Park - the highest peak in Maine, U.S.A.!

Forgive me for the copy/paste here for a moment with some background info. but wiki states it well, I think. :)

Mount Katahdin (pronounced /kəˈtɑːdən/, "kə-tah-dən") is the highest mountain in Maine at 5,269 feet (1,606 m). NamedKatahdin by the Penobscot Indians, the term means "The Greatest Mountain".[3] Katahdin is the centerpiece of Baxter State Park: a steep, tall mountain formed from a granite intrusion weathered to the surface.

The flora and fauna on the mountain are typical of those found in northern New England. Katahdin was known to the Native Americans in the region, and was known to Europeans at least since 1689. It has inspired hikes, climbs, journal narratives, paintings, and a piano sonata.[4] The area around the peak was protected by Governor Percival Baxter starting in the 1930s. Katahdin is the northern terminus of theAppalachian Trail, and is located near a stretch known as the Hundred-Mile Wilderness.

In the 1840s Henry David Thoreau climbed Katahdin, which he spelled "Ktaadn"; his ascent is recorded in a well-known chapter of The Maine Woods.[12] A few years later Theodore Winthrop wrote about his visit in Life in the Open Air. Painters Frederic Edwin Church and Marsden Hartley are well-known artists who created landscapes of Katahdin. On Nov. 30 2011, Christie's auctioned Church's 1860 painting Twilight(Katahdin) for $3.1 million.

In the 1930s Governor Percival Baxter began to acquire land and finally deeded more than 200,000 acres (809 km²) to the State of Maine for a park, named Baxter State Parkafter him. The summit was officially recognized by the US Board on Geographic Names as "Baxter Peak" in 1931.

Then there's the famous, "Knife Edge."

The most famous hike to the summit goes along Knife Edge, which traverses the ridge between Pamola Peak and Baxter Peak. The mountain has claimed 19 lives since 1963, mostly from exposure in bad weather and falls from the Knife Edge. For about 3/10 of a mile the trail is 3 feet wide, with a drop off on either side. The Knife Edge is closed during periods of high wind.

Here's a short clip if you'd like to vicariously experience a little taste of this beautiful mountain and the challenging but fun hike!

I offer a jumping point here...it's meant to inspire just how it inspires and allow authors poetic-wiggle-room. Anything in this post is fair game...a small list of possibilities? How about the Hundred-Mile Wilderness, Henry David Thoreau, the Appalachian Trail, the Penobscot Indians or even the makings of the very mountain itself... the granite intrusion. Or if you have a mountain that's grown a granite stone-shape in your heart, by all means, share! 

Enjoy the stroll in the peaks my pond friends, link up a new poem below and visit your neighbors. Thank you! 

(All images and info. via wiki creative commons.) 

Transforming Friday with Nature's Wonders

Hello Toads and Garden dwellers!

We're back to China for the Tianzi Mountains!

Photo credit : Zulo

These pillar like structures are located in 'Zhangjiajie in the Hunan Province of China', close to the Suoxi Valley. 'Tianzi' which means 'Son of Heaven' is named after the farmer Xiang Dakun of the Tujia ethnic group, who led a successful local farmers' revolt and called himself "tianzi," the traditional epithet of the Chinese emperor.

These tall marble towers go up to 1262.5 meters above sea level and pines grow all over the mountains.Often mist and clouds drape these mountains creating a mystic atmosphere.

 A bird’s eye view...

Photo credit: unknown

Bring any facet of this place that you wish! 

Here's a short clip to get you started. :)

Return with something newly written and please, 

visit your blogging neighbors. 

Thank you for joining in! 

Transforming Friday with Nature's Wonders

Happy Friday Poets!

Today we have the opportunity of taking a leap into a distant land. 

If it pleases your muse, take a virtual trip to the Fields of Tea in China!

Explore the region if you like... 

(photobucket)

Or Delve into the leaf of tea itself...

(cc wiki Oolong tea leaves steeping in an uncovered zhong 

(type of tea cup)).

(cc wiki Gary Stevens Chinese tea utensil including three gaiwan Chinese tea utensils).

Here's a glimpse of an authentic Tea ceremony...

Or delve into different aspects from this place. 

Perhaps the Terracotta Warriors will inspire...

(cc wiki Some of the thousands of life-size Terracotta Warriors of the Qin Dynasty, ca. 210 BCE

Terracotta Army detail, Xi'an, China Photo by Peter Morgan).

Or maybe China's Panda Bear...

(cc wiki A giant panda, China's most famous endangered and endemic species, at the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan. Close up of a cute baby 7-month old panda cub in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China. Photo by Sheila Lau).

If you choose to be inspired by this challenge 

please, write something new featuring a facet of China 

and/or the famous Tea Fields 

and please, visit other's who're linked here, too. 

Thank you!

Transforming Friday with Nature's Wonders

Hello, the natural wonder to enthuse our muse today is...

(drum roll...)

the Black Forest in Germany!

Guido de Kleijn

The Grimm Brothers set many of their fairy tales
in this bewitching landscape 

along the Rhine River in southwestern Germany.

river kinzig running through the Black Forest valley

(wiki share alike)

Munster at Freiburg im Breisgau

A Girl of the 1900 Black Forest, Baden, Germany

A cuckoo clock, symbol of the Black Forest and Germany.

Here's a rather tourist-y sounding clip...informative though.

The direction you choose to wax poetical is up to you.

Will this magical place be your setting?

Does the girl pictured above inspire a story?

Do the cuckoo clocks stir some creativity?

Also, I invite you all to go deeper, 

bring a unique facet of the Black Forest to the pond.

Perhaps, the Singing Bird Box draws your poetic ear...

or maybe The Necromancer; or, 

The Tale of the Black Forest the gothic novel 

by Ludwig Flammenberg 

will catch your word loving heart!

Please create and share something new today.

Link up, comment and hop along 

to a few of the neighboring lily pads;

please visit and encourage 

@ the community of bloggers here. 

Thank you for joining in the challenge today 

and feel free to hop in the pond late...

I know Friday can be busy so write when you can 

and I will come read you! 

Transforming Friday with Nature's Wonders

Hello Toads and Pond Dwellers!

Today:

Wisteria Flower Tunnel in Japan

This  video brings a wide array of different angles 

a glimpse of this magical, beautiful place. 

(The music can be turned down/muted if it's not your thing). 

Flowering Wisteria sinensis

(wiki share alike)

Wisteria vines climb by twining their stems either clockwise or counterclockwise round any available support. They can climb as high as 20 m above the ground and spread out 10 m laterally.

Symbolic Wisteria Meaning:
Flora records indicate wisteria has been known to live up to 100 years and even older (there is a 1200 year old wisteria tree in Japan). It's long-life bestows the symbolic meaning of immortality and longevity to the wisteria. European families mark the ages of generations passing with the growth of this vine, and so it makes sense the vine embodies an essence of immortality (as fathers and grandfathers tell their sons of stolen kisses beneath the same wisteria that grew during the day of their great grandfathers).

A great wisteria (藤, fuji) blossoms at Ashikaga Flower Park in Ashikaga, Tochigi, Japan. The largest wisteria in Japan, it is dated to c. 1870 and covers approximately 1,990 square meters (half an acre) as of May 2008.

All are welcome to write for this challenge...please write a new poem. Allow your muse to stretch his/her legs...bring any viewpoint that suits your poeming mood!

Happy writing everyone!

Transforming Friday with Natures Wonders

Hello my hopping, soon to be, spelunking friends!!

It's Hannah with your inspirational Natural Wonder to jazz up you Friday muse!!

The place:  Naica Mine, Mexico

Here's an introduction via a Discovery special featuring the crystal caves...one of them is called the Cave of Swords (Spanish: Cueva de las Espadas). 

Watch as little or as much of this as you like. I find the story quite intriguing. :)

(wiki:Attribution: Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0)

(wiki: Attribution: Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0)

Poets, feel free to address any angle of this place and topic as you wish.

Please offer a new creation and be kind, visit a few of your friendly poet neighbor's crystal formations, too.

Thank you so much for playing along! 

Happy writing and a peaceful weekend to all!

Transforming Friday with Nature's Wonders

Hallo Toads!!

Why yes, that was me, Hannah, saying hello in German!!

Today I have for your musing the streets in Bonn Germany. :)

Officially the Federal City of Bonn, is a city on the banks of the Rhine River in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The Indo-European derivative of the name Rhine is *Reynos, from the root *rey- "to flow, to run", which is also the root of words like river and run.

Beethoven's birthplace is located in Bonngasse near the market place.The Beethoven Monument stands on the Münsterplatz, which is flanked by the Bonn Minster, one of Germany's oldest churches.

(Images Wiki Share Alike)

Feel free to allow this place to open a portal to your own searches about Bonn Germany.

Let your way be lit with inspiration...

(Lamplighter lighting a gas streetlight in Sweden, 1953. By this time remaining gas lamps were rare curiosities. Wikki)

Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most popular means of lighting in cities and suburbs. Early gas lights had to be lit manually, but later gas lights were self-igniting.

Bonn Germany sports gas street lamps...

Imagine being responsible for the job of lighting the street at night...

Please write new poems specifically for this challenge...bring us all kinds of unique angles of the street in Bonn Germany, link-up and enjoy a stroll in the streets of your neighbors. 

Thank you! 

Transforming Friday with Nature's Wonders

Hello Toads! 

Hannah here with the Bamboo Forest in Japan to inspire your muses. 

Arashiyama, where the bamboo forest is located is a pleasant, touristy district in the western outskirts of Kyoto. The area has been a popular destination since the Heian Period (794-1185), when nobles would enjoy its natural setting. Arashiyama is particularly popular during the cherry blossom and fall color seasons.

The walking paths that cut through the bamboo groves make for a nice walk or bicycle ride. The groves are particularly attractive when there is a light wind and the tall bamboo stalks sway gently back and forth. The bamboo has been used to manufacture various products, such as baskets, cups, boxes and mats at local workshops for centuries.

Please write new poems for this challenge and stroll through the forests of your blogging friends as well. 

Thank you for writing!

(All pictures via Photobucket)

Transforming Friday with Nature's Wonders

Hello poetic friends!! It's Hannah here with yet another inspiring nature place to allow our muses to feast upon.

Red Beach, Panjin, China...

via photobucket- (Home to more than 236 types of birds)

Red Beach is located in the Liaohe River Delta, about 30 kilometers southwest of Panjin City in China. The beach’s unique color is caused by a type of plant called Suaeda vera or Shrubby Sea-blite which is a coastal species that flourishes in the saline-alkali soil. The plant remains green during the summer but in the fall, when the plant has matured, it takes on a deep red color creating a stunning red sea landscape. Most of Red Beach is a nature reserve and closed to the public. Only a small, remote section is open to tourists.

More images of Red Beach.

via Wikipedia uner cca share alike 

Some interesting facts I found in my travels...

The Suaeda fruticosa A.K.A. Shrubby Seablite are used as a poultice in the treatment of ophthalmia, (also called ophthalmitis, is inflammation of the eye).When infused in water, they have been used as an emetic, (a medicine or other substance that causes vomiting).  Also, the plant is rich in potassium and is often burnt as a source of potash which is a potassium or a potassium compound especially as used in agriculture or industry for making soap and glass.

via Wikipedia under cca share alike

I found this intriguing...

Potash /ˈpɒtæʃ/ is any of various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.The name derives from "pot ash", which refers to plant ashes soaked in water in a pot, the primary means of manufacturing the product before the industrial era. The word "potassium" is derived from potash.

Okay, so run with it...er...write with it. Go in any direction you please...play with the place, color, pictures I featured, facts that I found or ones that you might find...be inspired and have fun!

Please write something new today and be sure to take the time to support your fellow blogging friends that link up here!! 

Thank you, in advance for playing along with your words and voices that are unique and treasured. :)

Haunted and Hungry

Hello, Hannah here with a natural wonder 

to enthuse your muse!

Mendenhall Ice Caves, Juneau, Alaska

I like how the guide described the inside 

of the ice cave as having a blue aura. 

(photobucket)

This image has such a surreal tone to it!

• infuse this setting into your poem
• color
• temperature
• create a fictional adventure
• add the element of ice 
• make a cave out of words

There're many directions one can go with this!

Have fun, write something new and please visit your blogging friends ice-caves!! 

Thank you for writing, smiles!