moonscape

when i saw the moon
cast her light
on the briney sea

the age old words
came to me

it is
it is
it is indeed
good

ocean sunset

at the end of each day
may i be awash
with thanksgiving



* "Here dies another day,
    During which I have had eyes, ears, hands
    And the great world round me.
    And with tomorrow begins another.
    Why am I allowed two?" ~G.K. Chesterson

rust and rope

and that afternoon
at the boatyard
i knew i stood on
hallowed ground

ocean reflection

may the ebb and flow of living
soften me

like a quiet seashore
in evening


* "The longer i live, the more my mind dwells upon the beauty and wonder of the world."       ~John Burroughs


** I just returned from a weeklong intensive photography workshop led by Alison Shaw on Martha's Vineyard.  Words fail to convey the richness of the experience.  Wealth gained in knowledge, experience, and relationship. It was a most marvelous adventure. The next several posts will feature images taken during my week there. Hope you enjoy .

the market

oh take me to the market!

let me bask in the color
of cabbage
and leek

let me see nature's
palette
anew

*  “. . .colors are colors, but purple seems to have a soul. Purple is not just a noun and an adjective but also a verb - when you look at it, it's looking back at you.”   ~Uniek Swain

looking up

azure blue
hunter green

and softness such
befits a queen



*“I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.”      ~e.e. cummings

forest scene

i go to the woods
to be comforted and cleansed



* "To the edge of the wood, i am drawn, i am drawn...." ~Sindey Lanier

in the barn

how lovely
are stillness
and contentment

in the light
of
late afternoon

tires

sleek thin
bicycles
on a cobblestone street

speed
and history
come to meet

*When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.  Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man.  And (unlike subsequent inventions for man's convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became.  Here, for once, was a product of man's brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others.  Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle.  ~Elizabeth West, Hovel in the Hills

orange blossoms

orange, orange
everywhere

a splatter here
a splatter there

have you ever imagined
a black and white world?

no color poured
to be adored
anywhere

no purple
blue
no pastel hue

sounds sad to me
and you?



*This post is inspired by my friend Terri B. who loves orange. She brightens the world with her passionate appreciation of color. Thanks t.b.

lace

like lace
in the light
of late afternoon

is love
tried
and tender

tea time

let's you and me
have afternoon tea

how comforting and splendid
it will be



* "Another novelty is the tea party, an extraordinary meal in that, being offered to persons that have already dined well, it supposes neither appetite nor thirst, and has no object but distraction, no basis but delicate enjoyment."     Jeane Anhelme Brillat-Savarin, The Psychology of Taste

questions of structure

are we not all
fit to others
by the mortars
of

love
      hate
   f e a r
       FAITH
truth or
            fiction?

and do we not choose

which it will
be?

ripening

my neighbor's tree

is bearing

now

having survived the harshness

of summer

she shares freely

of her glory

* "I have prayed your faith may not fail, when you have come through the time of testing, strengthen your brothers."    ~Jesus

elements

let us say thanks
for color
shape
and line

for space
contrast
design

and
realized imagination

gathering in

harvest
oh harvest

how holy
you are

pigeon

if i didn't know better
i would think
you were made of stone
too

but you have a tiny heart
beating inside

(and though
pretty you be
trying to fool me)
it will gladden me more
to witness you soar

above the carving
of marble

walking the hill

i hadn't walked the hill
in months
but this morning's cool seventies
gave me reason

and a lovely scene it was
overlooking all that prairie
under variegated sky

on the way home
high humidity
caused me
pause
to catch my breath
and while bending down
hands on knees

there on the ground
i saw
the tiniest of spiders
making his way across the gravel

pebbles looking dainty to me
were GIANTS
in his path

he mostly went around
but now and then
would enter
into a crevice between
two huge boulders

i’d lose him for a moment
but then he would reappear
scurrying on his way
up and over

i was awed to
see him at all
and what’s more
experience something like adoring
affection

(perhaps because he
reminded me;)

we really are
part
of a greater story
than you and i see

as we go about our days
over, under
around
and through

thoughts gleaned from a milo field

it's the balance in nature
that often
takes my breath away

the symmetry of
it all

the seed planted
and harvested

the need of nourishment
fulfilled

sometimes
in the quiet stillness

of morning




* "Nature is man's teacher. She unfolds her treasures to his search, unseals his eye, illumes his mind, and purifies his heart; an influence breathes from all the sights and sounds of her existence."        ~Alfred Billings Street

** I see nature as one of the amazing instruments God uses to reveal Himself..... such a precious gift given to us.

web in morning light

life goes on

when leaves and loved ones

have fallen

until the new day dawns

we hold fast

though hope

and memory

*May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.  ~Romans 15:13

**Thinking this morning of those family and friends left behind in the wake of 9/11/01. 

peeling

wind, weather, and time

are showing

her true colors

and isn't she

isn't she

lovely?

early morning prayer

Lord,
calm the troubled waters of my soul

may i rest
on you serene

with naught a ripple
e'er between

turning

COME
     COME

the turning
has begun!

barn in morning light

how soothing
is the quiet light

of morning

friend

he sits outside
the bar

tail thumping
ears lifted

ready to spring
at the sight of his master

oh Lord,
may i, like he

be loyal, ready
and eager
for thee

a matter of perspective

you can be assured
when you open your heart
in love to the world

someone behind you

is
watching

clock tower

she ticks on
minute by minute

above the square
where she watches people
come and go

day after day
season after season

she wonders if they ever pause
to contemplate
the reason




*  "I didn't realize all that was going on and we never noticed. Goodbye, world.  Goodbye, Grover's Corners...mama, papa.  Goodbye to clocks ticking and mama's sunflowers.  And food and coffee.  And new-ironed dresses and hot baths.  And sleeping and walking up.  Oh earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you. "    ~Thorton Wilder  (Our Town)

contrast

there's an amazing science
behind color

but for me
it's the soul of it

that transforms grey days
in ways

beyond reason




* "I found i could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way --things i had no words for."          ~Georgia O'Keefe

mother love and more

and why?
i pondered
studying the image days later

did this scene stand out?

of course
mother love

but more than this
the lights, the fence
the "enter",
"clearance"

the cars
and drawing nigh of evening;

the shadowed world
of love
and danger



*Courage is the gateway, in the sense that you must first learn to face down your fears, even as they still appear real to you.  ~anon.

signs of the pine

winter is coming
but not today

today the pines say
"breathe deep;

THIS day is
a day
for
living"



* Today:
   "It is the point to which all your yesterdays have been leading since the hour of your birth.  It is the point from which all your tomorrows will proceed until the hour of your death.  If you were aware of how precious it is, you could barely live through it.  Unless you are aware of how precious it is, you can hardly be said to be living at all."     ~Frederick Buechner

"Don't be anxious for tomorrow."     ~Jesus