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I love autumn
I love the warm and beautiful red, yellow and golden colors,
the wonderful smell of the fallen down leaves and all the different
sorts of mushrooms.
Everywhere outside there are the most beautiful spider webs,
covered with millions of dewdrops that glisten like little crystals
when touched by the sun.
Each morning the land is covered with
a beautiful mysterious veil of mist
that slowly withdraws when the sun rises
in the pale early morning sky
and slowly the beauty of the world around me reveals itself.
The rays of sun that fall through the leaves and the branches give
the forest that special touch of magic.
The birds sing the most beautiful songs,
a roe deer watches me from between the trees
and slowly walks away not feeling endangered by my presence.
The wind softly whispers through the leaves
telling me the stories and secrets of long ago.
The almost forgotten stories and secrets only to be heard
by those who still believe in miracles and who still see
magic everywhere around them.

©Aysha

Environmental Photographer of the Year:

Stunning photos of relationship between humans and nature

These are just a few of the entries for this year's Environmental Photographer of the Year Award. Amateurs and professional photographers have submitted their images depicting environmental and social issues which sees a wide range of subjects, from waste in Ghana to a beautiful starry night in Namibia. The thought-provoking and beautiful images will be displayed at the Royal Geographical Society from April 10. Exhibition photos were whittled down from 3,000 and the three prizewinners will be announced April 9.

'Hong Kong Hole' by Stuart Chape where Westernised skylines spring up like flowers (Stuart Chape)

'Nuclear Winter' by Zoltan Balogh by Lake Bokod, Hungary. Fishermen's houses are built on stilts above the surface of the water. Smoke rises the Oroszlány Power Plant in the background (Zoltan Balogh)

'Polluted Landscape' by Lu Guang in Holingol City, China. Due to the vast presence of coal mines, meadows are left devastated and no sheep or cattle can survive there. In order to preserve the image of the city, the local government installed 120 sculptures of sheep and cattle on the meadow (Lu Guang)

'Uyuni' by Javier Arcenillas is of the world's largest salt flat in Bolivia. Expanding for 4,086 sq miles, the stunning white desert contains 43% of the world's lithium reserves (Javier Arcenillas)

'Survivors' by GMB Akash in Bangladesh. The decreipt building houses eighty families of sweepers, the lowest in the caste system and regarded as 'untouchables' (GMB Akash)

'GPAction' by Steve Morgan, snapped 180km off the coast of Greenland. A group of international Greenpeace activists climb onto the oil rig with the hope of stopping the drilling in Baffin Bay which is a fragile home to vulnerable wildlife including polar bears and sea whales (Steve Morgan)

'Quiver Trees by Night' taken by Florian Breuer in Namibia shows the unusual trees silhouette against the bright Milky Way (Florian Breuer)

'E-Waste in Ghana' by Kai Löeffelbein. This striking image shows a man with an old computer on his head in the middle of a waste dump. Up to 50m tonnes of toxic electronic waste accumulate annually in the world and many are exported from developed countries to developing nations (Kai Löeffelbein)

'Farmer under the Sun' by Alamsyah Rauf in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. A farmer dries her rice under the hot sun, her head protected by a large hat and scarf (Alamsyah Rauf)

        Namaste dear friends.   Just think.......if we didn't have computers, television or radios in our life, perhaps we would be like the pioneers who spent their days in the outdoors growing their food, and also in their homes making bread and also tending to maintenance on homes, etc.   Life would be simple and the basic necessities of growing food would keep people a lot healthier.......and appreciative of Nature and all the different worlds that exist in one garden.    That is what I did today  -  up until now when I decided to share my day here.

        I went outside frequently today and looked around me with very opened eyes at the beauty of nature that surrounds my house.   It was one of the reasons I bought it over 4 years ago.......the many trees and the large yard for my dogs to run around, and next door is part acreage full of Australian native trees which feed an abundance of beautifully coloured parrots and other native birds.  The smiles on my dogs' faces as they roam around the yard tells me they feel the harmony of this place.  

        As I walked around, I saw so many different worlds in one garden.   Apart from the birds that come and go, there is also an abundance of ants building nests here and there.   I watch them whenever I go outside, as they carry their food or eggs from one place to another, usually across to the garden shed and up the palms around it.  A sure sign of rain coming is when they start to shift their eggs to higher places, like in the trees where leaf litter has gathered.   At the moment, there are thousands running along the pergola beams taking their eggs, etc., to the roof.  I always ponder on how they communicate to each other when they decide to move their home, and how the news spreads.......... amazing, isn't it?   Ants are very hard workers.

        I see another world when I walk under the pergola from the back garden and talk to my two budgies in their large tall cage.   I don't really like birds in cages but these colourful little mini-parrots are bred to be caged birds, and they would not survive long out in the wild.    So, seeing they need a home, I supply one!  Pete and Gracie like their cage to be just right....for them!   They have their own favourite swings and also other mirrored perches to sit on and preen themselves.  I pick the long grass and small branches from the native trees to put in their cage so that they also share in the nature around them.  They also love the grevillea flowers as they are sweet, so they get one most days.   Yes, life is good in their home.......not to mention all their friends who call out to them when they visit the trees for their meals.  

        We have had some windy days lately, and walking-stick insects get blown out of the trees and sometimes end up on the screen door......even sometimes inside the house.  I always try to rescue them before the dogs see them, their legs are extremely delicate and break off easily.  When I can get one to climb on a stick for me, I take it out to a bush and hope it stays there.   Other beautiful insects have found their way inside at times, so out they go to a bush to continue their day!   Insects have such short lives so I like to help them if I can.

          That is just a few of the worlds that live right outside my door.   So much activity and so much planning by our beautiful nature, it is nice to turn off everything and just soak it all up and appreciate the work that goes into survival, each day!    I hope you all had a lovely day.  Don't forget to commune with nature when you can, it is very beneficial for peace and harmony within as well.

Shared with Love ~

Tara Mary ~