At the end of day, the sun sets and the wind blows.
Out in the yard I see the trees I planted and the perennials -
red columbine, elderberry, flowering currant.
Four years now grows the Pacific Madrone
glory of the pacific northwest, beautiful native
gangly in youth and lost, like an eleven year old boy.

As for the flora, so the fauna of the land -
squirrels, racoons, brush rabbits eating grass.
The crow caws, black-capped chickadees songs.
Spiders spinning, bees buzzing, bugs galore gorging.

We live our lives, all who live, on the earth and stone.
Between and around us all, infused within all   
flow the airs of summer - scented, sensual, seasoned
by flower fragrance, dried grass browned and blown.
Pine needles drop, drooping leaves and stems abound
in the drought year, no rain for months now.
  
Of all that I might wish to see of what the world has to give
what I see here is enough for me, a cornucopia of excess
living in the plain light of day, doing business with the air
taking nourishment from the earth, pollinating, procreating
pouring over the pristine nectar of the flowers of the field.
It is enough for me.  For healing, nourishment, abundant life
it is enough, enough, and more than ever enough. 

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Portland, Oregon - August 5, 2021

"En plein air, a French phrase meaning "in the open air," describes the process of painting a landscape outdoors, though the phrase has also been applied to the resulting works. The term defines both a simple technical approach and a whole artistic credo: of truth to sensory reality, a refusal to mythologize or fictionalize landscape, and a commitment to the idea of the artist as creative laborer rather than exulted master."(https://www.theartstory.org/definition/en-plein-air/)