Tawny Delights

Rain continues across the Piedmont Plateau of North Carolina. Weather prognosticators talk of several inches more headed our way. Near evening brief breaks in downpours provide opportunities to seek out aesthetic aftermath amid the chaos and destruction wreaked by flooding. Camera in hand I head towards the village of Bynum. In many places the Haw River already tops its banks. Our red clay soil turns water into creamy ripples of cocoa. I pause at river’s edge spellbound how the warm afterglow of sunset intensifies the liquid hues. At nightfall I meander towards the village. The Old Bynum General Store sits just up the hill from the river. Regaled in Christmas decor it shrugs off the elements as it has for decades.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Tawny Delight

Blue-Eyed Beauty

Old Bynum General Store

Balmy Christmas Repose

Christmas morning awakens to warm sunrise hues. Careful attention to whispers of breezes reveals muffled squeals of delight and laughter throughout homes in city neighborhoods as children discover treasures left under festive Christmas trees by Santa Claus. A day of merriment and family gatherings follows.

Sundown finds Pittsboro main street stores buttoned up and all thoroughfares quiet. Nary a soul is afoot. The old courthouse positioned on our city's central roundabout dominates views on approaches from each cardinal direction. Chatham County dates to the 1770s and Pittsboro named for William Pitt the Younger, son of the 1st Earl of Chatham, to 1785. In front of the courthouse Old Glory waves majestically in balmy southerly breezes.

An El Niño-inspired weather pattern continues to funnel atypical December humidity, rain and 70-degree temperatures across the Piedmont Plateau of the Carolinas. I take a moment and reflect on the birth of Christ, our history and slower-paced days of yore. A feeling of peace on earth and good will fills heart and mind. Tomorrow the hustle and bustle of modern America returns.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Christmas Morning On Cobble Ridge
(Pittsboro, North Carolina)

Christmas Sunset
(Historical Chatham County Courthouse in Pittsboro, North Carolina USA

Balmy Winter Repose
(Main Street in Pittsboro, North Carolina)

The Ides Of December

While on an outing to capture early winter sunset panoramas from the Old Bynum Bridge, I stop and take a trip down memory lane. Echoes of purposeful footfalls by workers headed to the Odell cotton mill and farmers rumbling grain wagons to the riverside grist mill linger. The captivating rush of the Haw River below soothes the din of the hustle and bustle. A timeworn cotton mill race endures as a slowly moving reflecting pool. Defiant albeit worse for wear the gray lady stands lost in dreams of glory days.

Built in 1922 to replace a covered wooden bridge inadequate for automobile traffic, her 800-foot span stands a lane and a half wide by modern standards. In her day the bridge is a major north-south connector in the Piedmont Plateau area of North Carolina. Since 1999 the bridge serves foot traffic across the rock-strewn waters of the Haw.

Weather and the Haw River take their physical toll over 93 years. But of late the unthinking onslaught of graffiti defiles her personality. An old-timer walking the bridge stops to chat. His heart aches over the willful disregard of respect for the aged gray lady.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

The Ides Of December 

The Yin And The Yang 

Last Gasp Of Autumn

Ghosts Of Bynum

(Abandoned post office and general store) 

First Day Of Winter

Through A Glass Darkly

Grains of stardust quicken rain drops,

Give life to mirrors in puddles of regret,

Abet visions through such glass darkly

Until face to face with remedies within.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Through A Glass Darkly
(Mary Barber Park north of Pittsboro, North Carolina)

Day's End Reverie

Autumn mists caress her wildness,

Her woodland skeletons in reverie

And usher in most unexpectedly

A contemplative, gentle sojourn 

Into the perfect dying of her light.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Day's End Reverie
(Woodlands just north of Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

Foggy Daydreams
(Mary Barber Park north of Pittsboro, North Carolina)

Reflections On Immortality

Lucent earth shadow brings to pass

A waxing crescent of autumn Moon,

While spent leaves fulfill their destiny

With silent barrage of wooded slopes.

I lend ear to wind in quiet sway of pines.

He whispers of eternity unbound by creed

And of endless songs ‘bout natural worlds

Confided in sublime patchworks of poetry.

Alas, my heart denies wind’s admonitions

And reminders of immortality posthaste,

Until starlit skies invite my immortal soul

Into the dawn of time and universe untold.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Old Rock Springs Church
(Just north of Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

Light Catcher

Preaching To The Choir

Autumn

every autumn leaf

a keepsake of summer bliss

every waterfall

a cascade of hopes and dreams

every rain drop

a wellspring of divine inspiration

every river pebble

a portal to cosmic consciousness

every heart beat

a bestowal of grace by God

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Autumn Reverie

Shadowless Silence

Rain over the Southern Piedmont Plateau continues and keeps us homebound. The moisture spills rich hues into Mother Nature's autumn colorama. When Heaven’s tears ease to a mizzle Cooper and I brave the elements. We let loose hearts and sluggish limbs on sodden woodland trails.

Morning mists drift in shadowless silence,

Galaxies of leaves brighten wildwood moods,

Autumn takes time to mellow summer bedlam

Till winter’s breath quiets forest neighborhoods.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Forest Neighborhood
(Powell Place woodlands in Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

Shadowless Silence

Wildwood Moods

American Beautyberry

(Callicarpa americana aka Bunchberry, Sourbush and French Mulberry)

Mellow Bedlam

Pebble In The River Of Life

Sand flows and pebble arrays along river beds in the wake of torrential downpours add allegory to the beauty of waterways. Individual pebbles seem unremarkable. But, what of their odyssey? Jolted from their day-to-day existence they tumble about helter-skelter in watery suspension of kindred particles. Every collision, graze, rub or nudge alters their essence until they find purpose among elegant masterpieces of time and saltation in harmony with the stream. I pause to reflect. I am a pebble in the river of life.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Pebbles

River Songs

Darkening skies herald autumn rains

Celestial tears urge farewell to summer

River songs seek embraces by the sea
Serenity gives pause to qualms of winter

© Ilija Lukić 2015

River Songs
(Haw River east of Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

Autumn Moods

Unchained Serenity

Autumn Moods On The Haw

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Haw River
(North of Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

First Blush Of Autumn
(Haw River north of Pittsboro, North Carolina USA)

Night Rise

While a fiery high plains sunset scribes poetry across the Staked Plain north of Clovis, New Mexico, night rises soothingly across the eastern horizon and readies comfort for the parched tablelands.

Daylight bids farewell
Night rises onto boundless plain
Meadowlark sings lullabies

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Night Rise

Joaquín

As Hurricane Joaquín inches north along our Southeast Seaboard, the storm spins rain bands into the Carolinas and our neck of the woods. Flash flood warnings are up. The rain dampens splashes of autumn color yet encourages romps into the autumn woods. Wonder if my canine pal Cooper is up for a jaunt in the rain? Why not whispers the kid residing within my heart.

By mid-afternoon Cooper and I cannot resist the siren call of wet woodlands. With camera stuffed under rain gear I traipse down muddy paths while Cooper enjoys a flurry of squirrel chases. A headlong charge into his favorite open field breaks up a horde of crows. Not to be outdone the latter gather in nearby tree canopies and noisily denounce his intrusion into their afternoon smorgasbord of earthworms.

Wind-driven rain makes photography impossible. The cover of forest is a blessing until a squall unloads water from its foliage umbrella. Tree branches and a kaleidoscope of autumn leaves litter the forest floor. In the hush of woodlands the deluge resembles echoes of a distant waterfall.

Exuberant albeit wet we head home in time for Cooper's afternoon meal and a snack of pickled herring in wine sauce for me.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Autumnal Equinox

Cool brume fills vibrant autumn airs

Rain dampens memories of summer

Syzygy brings to pass Blood Moon

© Ilija Lukić 2015

The Autumn Wood
(near Pittsboro, North Carolina)

Passages

A late-summer extravaganza of brown-eyed susans in a wildflower patch against Carolina woodlands holds countless answers to human quests of meaningful existence. This is where God’s whispers ride sunbeams into our souls. This is where the fabric of time unravels and eloquent strands find purpose in the hearts of poets.

As summer whispers affectionate farewells
And first breath of autumn sweeps tree lines,
Cool morning mists promise quietude of winter
For weary souls on mindful passages in time.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Woodland Passage
(Carolina woodlands near Pittsboro, North Carolina)

Prairie Daydreams

Lost in daydreams my heart still dances

To shod horse rhythms on Staked Plain

And lively refrains of rain on baked earth.

My soul still soars with red-tailed hawks

And surrenders to eternity in azure skies

Adrift among gossamer mansions of clouds.

My spirit still finds boundless inspiration

In memories of sage on windswept prairie

And meadowlark song in cool sunrise mists.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Prairie Daydreams
(Rangelands north of Clovis, New Mexico USA)

Miracles Of Life

Dawn lifts veils of night.

Shadows welcome day.

Birdsongs exalt solitude.

Winged seeds set sail

‘Cross far sea of grass

Buoyed by early breeze

Ablaze in sunlit hues.

Each tiny miracle of life

Speaks boldly to my heart

And adamantly calls to mind,

Do not forsake this moment

Lost in tomorrow’s dreams.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

The Golden Hour
(Llano sunrise east of Clovis, New Mexico USA)

La Copa De La Vida (The Cup Of Life)

Come walk a mile in my shoes.
Let prairie wilds fill your cup of life.

Drink deeply,

Take joy in the rough cleavage of arroyos,

In sunlight’s dances ‘cross seas of grass,
In bejeweled thorns and golden blooms

And butterfly kisses from ceaseless winds.

Vast plains inspire bittersweet mindfulness

About the destruction of pristine prairie lands,

Where yesteryear passels of buffalo roamed,

Wallowed and basked come high noon blaze.

Take heart,

Playful pronghorn still roam the Staked Plain.

Hawks still soar among clouds in azure skies.

Coyotes still yip, bark and howl under full Moons

And prairie dog sentries mark passage of time.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

La Copa De La Vida (The Cup Of Life)
(North of Clovis, New Mexico USA)

Llano Sunrise
(Staked Plain east of Clovis, New Mexico USA)

Echoes Of Yesteryear

Colonial Williamsburg in the Commonwealth of Virginia is the crown jewel of America’s Historic Triangle which includes Jamestown and Yorktown. The College of William and Mary anchors the western approach to the old city’s main thoroughfare. While Cooper and I amble down the storied streets and sidewalks, sleepy late spring moods and modicum of tourists belie the hustle and bustle of summer throngs in days to come. Sights and sounds conjure days of old and lead to rumination about American Colonial and Revolution days.

Rhetoric of revolution still echoes in whispers of spring breeze under the refreshing shade of tree-lined streets. I pause my stroll at a pasture tucked between trees and a weatherworn split rail enclosure. The indomitable spirit and passion for liberty of our forbears lingers in the play of sunlight across the meadow of wildflowers.

Unexpectedly a yoke of oxen hitched to a creaky cart and urged forward by commands of a bullwhacker interrupts the serenity. The telltale tread of cloven hooves on Duke of Gloucester Street stirs musings of olden days when American Milking Devons are valued for meat, milk and as easily trained draft animals. Nearly extinct in the 1970s this triple purpose cattle breed first appears in New World annals from the Plymouth Colony in 1623. Capable of pulling several tons of supplies when hitched to wagons or ox carts, they are the tractors and trucks of days gone by. They disappear down a tree-draped expanse of lawn dubbed Palace Green towards the prominent governor’s residence.

Near the Governor's Palace a horse drawn carriage, clippety-clop of hooves on cobblestones and actors in colonial period garb fill mind’s eye with romance of yesteryears. In 1781 while the Battle of Yorktown rages, fire lays waste the erstwhile residence for Royal Governors in the Colony of Virginia while in use as a hospital for wounded soldiers. Reconstruction minds surviving plans, drawings and a 1740 copperplate rendering of the the exterior.

I leave the ancient byway exhilarated by its beauty, yet pensive. Colonial Williamsburg has grown my understanding of a remote time and inspires reflection about our roots and ideals as a People—Americans.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Spring Reverie

Days Of Yore

Bullwhacker

Palace Green

Cottage Garden

Romance Of Yesteryear
(Governor's Palace in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia USA)

Smoky Mountains Rain

Homeward bound from New Mexico I cross the rain and fog-shrouded northern reaches of the Great Smoky Mountains near the Tennessee-North Carolina border. I pause my tense traverse at a roadside rest stop. Beyond the stand of trees the Pigeon River winds through the Smokies on its way to a rendezvous with the French Broad River in Tennessee. For a fleeting moment the cloud cover scatters and light works its magic on the landscape. In the distance 4,928-foot Mount Cammerer makes a brief appearance in the mists.

© Ilija Lukić 2015

Smoky Mountains Rain

Endless Horizons

Springtime fills the heart with Wanderlust. Big sky country and roads stretched unto boundless horizons promise adventure and invite quests of renewal. Here is where curiosity takes wing, the mind conspires with the universe to dream and the soul feels eternity. Here is where the grand endeavors of the natural world fill wells of human wisdom with whispers of success by her most humble components.

 © Ilija Lukić 2015

Endless Horizon
(Near the Running Water Draw north of Clovis, New Mexico USA)

Where The Llano Ends
(Llano Estacado escarpment south of Tucumcari, New Mexico USA)

Unchain My Heart
(South of Broadview, New Mexico at sunset)