Without Lifting A Finger

Yellow-crowned Night Herons in Long Beach CA. WEEKEND. #rlswihart13 #longbeachca #heronsofinstagram #yellowcrownednightheron #YCNH #nesting #respect #love #weekend #nature #beauty #poetry #readmorepoetry2022 #ukraine

 Ransom’s mind shied away from the problem; he was getting sleepy and thought he must be misunderstanding the sorn. “I think I must sleep, Augray,” he said. “And I do not know what you are saying. Perhaps, too, I do not come from what you call Thulcandra.” “We will both sleep presently,” said the sorn. “But first I will show you Thulcandra.” It rose and Ransom followed it into the back of the cave. Here he found a little recess and running up within it a winding stair. The steps, hewn for sorns, were too high for a man to climb with any comfort, but using hands and knees he managed to hobble up. The sorn preceded him. Ransom did not understand the light, which seemed to come from some small round object which the creature held in its hand. They went up a long way, almost as if they were climbing up the inside of a hollow mountain. At last, breathless, he found himself in a dark but warm chamber of rock, and heard the sorn saying: “She is still well above the southern horizon.” It d...

Yellow-crowned Night Herons in Long Beach CA. Large rookery consisting of black- and yellow-crowned herons: adults and juveniles. #rlswihart13 #longbeachca #nesting #heronsofinstagram #yellowcrownednightheron #nature #spring #beauty #poetry #readmorepoetry2022

“There was a real railway accident,” said Aslan softly. “Your father and mother and all of you are—as you used to call it in the Shadowlands—dead. The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.”

But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said, Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me. Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou hast done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any...

Magician in the Trees @ Whittier Narrows. #rlswihart13 #california #whittiernarrows #whittier #magicians #heronsofinstagram #greatblueherons #nature #beauty #poetry #readmorepoetry2022 #ukraine

He looked round again and could hardly believe his eyes. There was the blue sky overhead, and grassy country spreading as far as he could see in every direction, and his new friends all round him, laughing. “It seems, then,” said Tirian, smiling himself, “that the stable seen from within and the stable seen from without are two different places.” “Yes,” said the Lord Digory. “Its inside is bigger than its outside.” “Yes,” said Queen Lucy. “In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.” It was the first time she had spoken, and from the thrill in her voice, Tirian now knew why. She was drinking everything in even more deeply than the others. She had been too happy to speak. He wanted to hear her speak again, so he said: “Of your courtesy, Madam, tell on. Tell me your whole adventure.”

“You look wonderful, wonderful,” said the Ape. “If anyone saw you now, they’d think you were Aslan, the Great Lion, himself.” “That would be dreadful,” said Puzzle. “No it wouldn’t,” said Shift. “Everyone would do whatever you told them.” “But I don’t want to tell them anything.” “But you think of the good we could do!” said Shift. “You’d have me to advise you, you know. I’d think of sensible orders for you to give. And everyone would have to obey us, even the King himself. We would set everything right in Narnia.” “But isn’t everything right already?” said Puzzle. “What!” cried Shift. “Everything right—when there are no oranges or bananas?”

Summer Tanager (I christen Thee The Bee Muncher) @ Whittier Narrows. #rlswihart13 #losangeles #whittiernarrows #redbirds #birdsofinstagram #thebeemuncher #summertanager #tanagers #nature #beauty #poetry #readmorepoetry2022

Then they saw that they were once more on the Mountain of Aslan, high up above and beyond the end of that world in which Narnia lies. But the strange thing was that the funeral music for King Caspian still went on, though no one could tell where it came from. They were walking beside the stream and the Lion went before them: and he became so beautiful, and the music so despairing, that Jill did not know which of them it was that filled her eyes with tears. Then Aslan stopped, and the children looked into the stream. And there, on the golden gravel of the bed of the stream, lay King Caspian, dead, with the water flowing over him like liquid glass. His long white beard swayed in it like water-weed. And all three stood and wept. Even the Lion wept: great Lion-tears, each tear more precious than the Earth would be if it was a single solid diamond. And Jill noticed that Eustace looked neither like a child crying, nor like a boy crying and wanting to hide it, but like a grown-up crying. At l...

  Wood Ducks @ Irvine Regional Park. #rlswihart13 #irvinecalifornia #irvineregionalpark #ducksofinstagram #woodducks #nature #beauty #poetry #readmorepoetry2022

 “Do you eat girls?” she said. “I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms,” said the Lion. It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.

Shot from my car near Anza-Borrego Desert State Park: California Quail. Only got two half-decent shots of the "lookout" (the third one of him sliding down the branch isn't worth posting). The others were too fast in retreating into the desert landscape. #rlswihart13 #scalifornia #anzaborrego #desertlandscape #birdsofinstagram #quails #californiaquail #nature #lookouts #beauty #poetry #readmorepoetry2022

 “Well, anyway, I looked up and saw the very last thing I expected: a huge lion coming slowly toward me. And one queer thing was that there was no moon last night, but there was moonlight where the lion was. So it came nearer and nearer. I was terribly afraid of it. You may think that, being a dragon, I could have knocked any lion out easily enough. But it wasn’t that kind of fear. I wasn’t afraid of it eating me, I was just afraid of it—if you can understand. Well, it came close up to me and looked straight into my eyes. And I shut my eyes tight. But that wasn’t any good because it told me to follow it.” “You mean it spoke?” “I don’t know. Now that you mention it, I don’t think it did. But it told me all the same. And I knew I’d have to do what it told me, so I got up and followed it.