Delicate white blossoms Cluster around dark needles - Blackthorn in flower.
It’s the Spring Equinox, when day and night are of equal length. A celebration of balance, of light and dark, inner and outer, of female and male.
I’ve written about the flowering stems of Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa). Hidden by the small, dainty white flowers are sharp needle-like thorns on dark branches: light and dark, beauty and armour. This small native tree has far-reaching roots which produce many suckers creating impenetrable wide thickets, a natural guardian tree from which we learn to respect boundaries.
I give thanks to Mother Earth: in my hands, my heart, and my mind, are all the elements of the Universe.
Ashley
A Different View 
Thank you, Ashley, for the magnificent tribute to Mother Nature, a constant source of wonder! I also have hawthorn and many other plants flowering, and I love Equinox, a true harbinger of spring…
Thank you for the pictures! Seeing is believing!
Joanna
Thank you, Joanna, for your lovely comment. I also love spring but then along comes another season and I love it too! 🌸🌷🙋♂️
That is how I feel too, I wrote Ode to Autumn!
As a biologist I always think about the fact that we humans and plants like the blackthorn are both living things and share the same DNA, the only difference being the arrangement of the DNA. Your tissue, my tissue, and the blackthorn’s tissue are made-up of the same elements of the universe! That never ceases to amaze me. I always get pleasure from seeing and reading your beautiful haiga and haibun, which I’ll call haigabun. Thanks, Ashleaf-sama!
Thank you, my hokku friend, hokku brother. Like you, I’m amazed by all the elements of the universe and it’s that magic mix that means every thing is also unique! WOW! 😊🙋♂️
Thank you for sharing.
Soothing to the eye and mind.
Elegant and thought-provoking.
Happy Spring 🌞
Dear Marina, thank you. Yes! So much of what we see impacts our well-being, if only we would take the time to look and be! 🌸🌷🙋♂️
I love this time of year when the blackthorn blossom is out. I remember it in the Glens of Antrim and wish I was over there to see it!
Yet again, I’d forgotten it was the equinox until you reminded us, although we are noticing the extra daylight and watching the path of the setting sun as it moves slowly towards the west.
I think you will have to find a calendar with the seasonal dates in bold! 🤗 Travel these days, especially across the St. Georges channel has become so expensive. It has certainly caused us to think again. 🌸🌷🙋♂️
Hi Ashley, Wonderful tribute to the equinox and the blackthorn. I am unfamiliar with that plant so I appreciate the new knowledge! Have a good day.
Many thanks, Mark, it is always good to hear from you. I appreciate your visit. 😊🙋♂️
Happy Spring!!! 🍃🌷🪺🪴🌸
Dear Gail, thank you, wishing you also a happy spring 🌸🌷🌹🙋♂️
Our weather has been sunny with a slight chill in the morning. 🌴🌊
How beautiful, Ashley!
I also give thanks to Mother Earth… 😊
Dear Ursula, thank you for your comment. Mother Earth needs more of us to appreciate her. Spread the word! 🌸💓🌷🙋♂️
I will gladly do it! 🍃🍀
Excellent dedication to spring and nature, Ashley!!
Thank you, Indira 🌷🙋♂️
This is a wonderful benediction to my day, Ashley! “I give thanks to Mother Earth: in my hands, my heart, and my mind, are all the elements of the Universe.”
Dear Rebecca, thank you! It is lovely to hear from you. I’m just happy to assist Mother Earth. 🌸🌷🙋♂️
So beautifully written. I am with you being grateful for Mother Nature, giving thanks and cherishing what she gives us daily. Have a lovely Spring!
Yes, dear Ute, the earth is precious and it is our home. Thanks for your lovely comment. 🌸🌷🙋♂️
Such beautiful blossoms! Spring is here! I can’t wait to get out in my garden again 🙂
Of course, even in my tiny garden things are beginning to blossom. As the days lengthen there is more light, and more heat and we will hopefully spend more time outside. Thank you for your visit. 🌸🌷🙋♂️
Ah, thank you for bringing Spring, my dear friend! 🌸🙏
Dear Marina, as Chuang Tzu wrote “make it be spring with everything”. Wonderful! Enjoy your spring too! 🌸🌷🙋♂️
I love that!!!!
🌸🌺🌸
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing this wonderful post ! Happy spring! 😀 🌺
Dear Migy, thank you. The blackthorn blossoms are very small and like your plum blossoms they don’t last very long but they are all so beautiful. 🌸🌷🙋♂️
Wow! What an incredibly beautiful tree that showcases so many of the contrasts of life. We are all contradictions and connected. Love this.
I totally agree. Thank you for visiting and your lovely comment 🌸💓🙋♂️
That is great news! Wishing each one of them a successful life in the oceans. Can we do better, next time? 🐢🐢🐢
Enjoying these buds as well. Little mysteries, they are!
They only last for a few days and then they’re gone on the breeze. That particular tree I passed on one of my morning walks, but the blackthorn in the hedge in my tiny back garden has still to flower, so we can look forward to more soon.
PS. It’s great news about the turtles. Amazing work by all those involved. Can we do better next time? 🤗🌸🐢🐢🐢💓🙋♂️
waiting for the spring flowers here too. It is said the night temperature has to be above freezing before the flowers can come.
Oh dear, hopefully, it won’t be long before they appear. Here, last night was cold enough for a frost, so there was some ice on the car windows but now, at 11.00 am it is all gone. Thank you for visiting my blog 😊🌹🙋♂️
Such A sweat and nice post dear friend! It was really nice experience to read your post and I’m really so happy to read your tribute to Equinox and the Blackthorn! Great😊👍👏👏
Many thanks for visiting my blog and for your comments. 🙋♂️
This post is a beautiful way welcome 🙏 spring! Mother Nature is a gift to all of us and should never be taken for granted. Wish we had hawthorns in our yard because they are so pretty when they flower. Thanks for sharing! 🌸🌼🦋
Thank you, Jennifer, for your wonderful comments. Mother Nature is all around us and within us, we are made of the same things.🤗🙋♂️
You mentioned (at my end) our connection to Marina …. but I also see a few others – such as, Rebecca, & Jo. Thanks for stopping by for a beach walk.
Thanks for your visit, Frank. I might be inland but the waves at the edge of the sea bring us all together. 🙋♂️
Lovely, Ashley! Indeed, we are made of the elements of the Universe! 🙂
Dear Lisa, thank you for your comment. It is good to hear from you. 🌹🙋♂️
Great to see you, too, Ashley! 🌞