Summer Sunset

This past summer was so hot and dry, most days didn't have many clouds. But on those rare rainy days the sunsets were spectacular. The heat was so bad, I was glad I hadn't planted my own garden - I tried community supported agriculture (a CSA) instead. This helps reduce transportation costs of food and supports local families. Plus, the produce is fantastic! We had eggs, maple syrup and all sorts of vegetables.

Next summer seems a long way off but most gardeners are already thinking ahead to what they will plant next year. Gardening is excellent exercise and the pay off is fresh and (hopefully organic!) bountiful vegetables, fruit and flowers. It's fun to try a few new varieties, also.

There are many online sources like Victory Seed Company for heirloom seeds which are seeds that are not hybrids or genetically modified. Heirloom seed enables gardeners to save viable seed for the next season's planting.

  

Spring

Spring warms everyone's heart, I think. The renewal and rebirth brings hope and beauty to the season. It's great to go for longer walks with the dogs, camera in hand. Sometimes I see twin fawns, newly hatched turkeys, or find wild greens to gather for dinner.

 

"…Tell me, what is it you plan to do

With your one wild and precious life?"

 

Oliver, Mary. The Summer Day. From New and Selected Poems. Beacon Press, Boston, MA 1992.   Poetry 180. A Poem a Day for American High Schools. Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/133.html

 

Snowy winter

One of the great things about winter is sledding. If you don't have a sled, no worries - just about anything will do (cardboard?) which is part of the fun. Of course a big toboggan with a group of screaming riders is pretty awesome too!

There is a well known story by photographer William Guion regarding his lovely photo Leaning Oak and Reflection, which is quoted on the blog 'Unfolding Leadership.' The author, Dan Oestreich, reflects on perserverance and the importance of affirmation.

My own photo doesn't do the subject justice of course, but in this photo I just liked the way all the angles showed so well in the snow which highlighted the staying power of these trees.

Guion, William. Statement regarding one his photographs Leaning Oak and Reflection (available here). http://www.unfoldingleadership.com/blog/?p=3407

"On a hazy, chilly December morning, I walked, camera and tripod balanced on my shoulder, through a stand of oaks toward he edge of a pond. The water was silver-gray and still like a mirror hung in an empty, unlit hall. A thin mist fell, or more accurately, hung in the air. Rain had soaked the landscape during the night, and mud at the water’s edge sucked at my shoes. In the yawning light, I saw an oak leaning at a precarious angle over the water. The soil had eroded over time, dissolving much of the tree’s foundation, yet the oak’s roots were locked tenaciously into the receding land. Against the threat of drowning, this tree survived through an elegant dance of balance, perseverance, and heroism. Almost in praise, the pond mirrored the oak’s profile creating a beautiful mandala-like wheel with spokes of water, leaves, earth and light.                                                                                  

As I set up and focused the tree on my camera’s ground glass, I thought how often in my own life I have lived just on the edge of heroic acts. How I’ve operated within safe, comfortable boundaries that defined the limits of what I could accomplish. At this time in my life, I was considering leaving a comfortable, secure job to follow my heart’s urging to photograph and write. I stood on the edge of an uncertain future, mud sucking at my shoes, and stared out through the mists across silver-gray water at this leaning oak. Through its example, I saw clearly through the mists of doubt separating me from a decision. I stood for a long moment and imagined the worst that could happen if I stretched too far over the edge of my fears. Then, in that second when I snapped the shutter recording this moment on film, I stepped across an imaginary line in my mind. In the pond’s dark mirrored water I saw a face. It smiled back at me."

 

 

Walking in the woods

 

 

When the seasons change, I seem to pick up more poetry to read. A favorite source is Bartleby Bookstore's website. They feature many poets and their work in an easily accessible format. Following is a popular favorite and even with the old-style language, the message still rings true.
 
CITATION:
Frost, Robert. Mountain Interval. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1920; Bartleby.com, 1999. www.bartleby.com/119/. [11/4/2012].

Click here to shop the BartlebyBookstore.

Robert Frost (1874–1963).  The Road Not Taken. Mountain Interval.  1920.

The Road Not Taken 

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay.
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Autumn colors

My hobbies include photography and painting so I always have a camera with me. Everything that catches my eye is fair game - a perfect photo is really not necessary for what I'm trying to capture, although it's great to get home and find that special 'snap' in the mix.

Autumn is in the air and I have to bundle up to take the dogs for a walk. Crispy leaves and fresh spicy breezes make this time of year my favorite. I carry a camera everywhere and have been known to make a spectacle of myself while snapping photos of just about anything. I have eclectic taste and often am just thinking of a painting reference so sometimes it's just the way the light hits something or maybe a certain color that appeals to me. That was the case as the setting sun lit these wonderful birch trunks, but I'm pretty sure everyone driving by thought I was nuts taking this photo in the middle of a busy parking lot!