Day 6: Beauty in a broken world

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Friends’ better-established gardens hold more early signs of spring than my garden, but they inspire me with plants I may want to add to my yard some day. I have always loved pussy willows and was delighted a few days ago to notice one in bloom.

Pussy willows against a perfect blue sky

I’m not sure whether I’ll ever plant one. They love wet soil (I have pockets of that around the yard), but they also have invasive roots, a drawback in my mind. Perhaps you’ve had luck growing pussy willows? If so, I hope you’ll let me know.

Join me in the hunt for beauty?
Where do you see beauty in a broken world? Want to add your own images during the 31-day journey? If so, feel free to comment below with your Instagram handle, and tag your Insta posts with #beautyinabrokenworld. You’ll find me there @pixofhope.

Day 5: Beauty in a broken world

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Even when rhododendrons fall over, they can continue growing, blooming, and thriving. I love what that says about life flourishing in our broken world. This rhododendron trunk not only keeps itself alive but is also supporting moss that grows on it.

Sunlight filtering through bare trees lights up the moss growing on this rhododendron trunk.

There’s almost nothing I enjoy more on a beautiful day than to go for a walk and soak up what nature has to offer. While I often think of this as a drab, gray season, I see many different colors in this photo.

Join me in the hunt for beauty?
Where do you see beauty in a broken world? Want to add your own images during the 31-day journey? If so, feel free to comment below with your Instagram handle, and tag your Insta posts with #beautyinabrokenworld. You’ll find me there @pixofhope.

Day 4: Beauty in a broken world

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Delicate beauty can bring sadness with it. A favorite flower that fades too quickly. A snow flake that melts immediately on the sleeve of your coat. A well-loved gift that breaks.

Look carefully along the rim, and you’ll see fault lines.

This glass orchid bowl is the latter for me. A truly special gift two years ago, this bowl replaced a first one that arrived shattered. I stowed the new bowl carefully in my china cabinet where I could admire it without needing to move it. Sometime over this winter, fracture lines began to appear.

I don’t dare touch it, but I know at some point I’ll have to take it from its place of honor and throw it away. There’s no point in replacing it, as I’m convinced now—after two tries—the problem is in the way it’s created. So I’ll enjoy its beauty while it lasts, even while knowing it won’t last as long as I would’ve liked.

Join me for the hunt for beauty?
Where do you see beauty in a broken world? Want to add your own images during the 31-day journey? If so, feel free to comment below with your Instagram handle, and tag your Insta posts with #beautyinabrokenworld. You’ll find me there @pixofhope.

Day 3: Beauty in a broken world

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Crocuses are tiny pops of joy in the early spring garden. My garden is still mostly an empty palette, but last fall, I planted bulbs: allium, daffodils, and crocuses.

I had forgotten about even planting the crocuses until just a few days ago, when a tiny blob of yellow appeared in the garden. Now there are little yellow flowers springing up all around my yard. And I cannot explain the outsized delight they summon when a new one blooms except to say with relief, “Spring will happen this year, too.”

Join me for the hunt?
Where do you see beauty in a broken world? Want to add your own images during the 31-day journey? If so, feel free to comment below with your Instagram handle, and tag your Insta posts with #beautyinabrokenworld. You’ll find me there @pixofhope.

Day 2: Beauty in a broken world

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Branches dance in the wind. I watch them from a window, hoping for signs of spring on its way. This tree sparkles in the sunlight, and I gasp, fearing more ice. But no, the sun spotlights bare branches, and in looking more closely, I begin to see buds, a promise that the earth is waking up again.

A tree's bare branches shimmer in the sunlight, tricking the eye into seeing ice where there's only sun warming bare bark.
Sunlight on branches fools the eye into seeing ice.

I’m ready for spring. How about you?

Join me for the hunt?
Where do you see beauty in a broken world? Want to add your own images during the 31-day journey? If so, feel free to comment below with your Instagram handle, and tag your Insta posts with #beautyinabrokenworld. You’ll find me there @pixofhope.