Remember to come back on Monday for our next Poetry Party!









(Leaves discovered on the ground outside my hermitage this morning.)
May your weekend bring you the still gifts of winter’s release and rest.
-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts
Remember to come back on Monday for our next Poetry Party!









(Leaves discovered on the ground outside my hermitage this morning.)
May your weekend bring you the still gifts of winter’s release and rest.
-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Anne Barsanti’s reflection on kinship with creation and poem “Ice Storm.” I find myself connected to all that surrounds me – human and

On Imbolc and the Feast of St. Brigid* Spirit of Rebirth,your new life pulses below the rumbling ground.Attune our earsto the renewal taking formbeneath the winter earth,snowdrops and crocusesin white and purple-petaled wonder,hedgehogs and bearsbeginning to stir from sleep. Let Brigid be our guideas we

May 22–29, 2026 and September 4–11, 2026A few places remain Our good friends Nóirín Ní Riain and Owen and Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin are once again offering in-person pilgrimages to Ireland. Rooted in music, poetry, story, and sacred landscape, these journeys invite participants into a slower, more attentive
13 Responses
Beautiful photos, Christine. I’ve viewed them several times since yesterday. I can almost feel the bite of the frosty air on my nose and the hear the crunch of frozen leaves underfoot. I don’t ever recall appreciating November before but I think I am loving this season of darkness — punctuated by that glorious full moon last night.
Thanks Anne and Suz! I love to help people learn to love the season of darkness. :-)
I love them, Christine. You are helping me see the beauty of the season. I hope I, too, will learn to like winter. It would be an asset in Minnesota!
Incredibly beautiful!!!!
Thank you everyone, I am really pleased with these images!
stunning!
Such gorgeous photos of the beauty that surrounds us here in the NOrthwest.
Wow, those photos are just beautiful. It is always comforting to realize such beauty in this world.
these photos are too beautiful!! what a pile of treasure on your doorstep!!