1255. royal flush

 

such a nice warm seat

a bright light shows the way

and buttons galore 🦊❤️

One of the topics that we spoke about at a friend’s home last evening was just how far we have come in communication technology over the last 50 years. I wanted to talk more about how far toilet fixture technology has come in that same time period after visiting their bathroom. I thought it would not be proper dinner table talk so I restrained myself. 🦊❤️

1254. channeling bill cunningham

 

first i saw the pink

followed by the furry paws

“can i shoot your shoes?” 🦊❤️

The coffee shop was immediately lit up by pink. Then I saw her furry boots. It was totally reflexive action on my part to stand up and ask if I could have a photo of her great fashion statement. She smiled, said sure and posed all without missing a text on her phone.  I felt like Bill Cunningham, the  famous NYT fashion photographer. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aZYnkI5X-9k 🦊❤️

1253. “tommy in the snow”

first snow of the year

tommy glowing in the white

a whimsical work 🦊❤️

 My final painting for my upcoming show at Cathedral Village. A very whimsical painting, “Tommy In The Snow”. It is a 20”x16” acrylic landscape. I had lots of fun with this one. Now it’s  preparing for all of the logistics of the show. Hope you enjoy looking at this latest piece.  🦊❤️

1252. trash, treasure and worms

 

12:57 PM

4:00 PM

they say one man’s trash

is another man’s treasure 

and here is the proof 🦊❤️

Yesterday I saw a very unique cactus floor lamp in the dumpster area of my apartment complex.  It was made of concrete and painted a bright green.  I sent a photo to my friends who are having a new house built and jokingly suggested that I was going to rescue the oddity and clean it up and gift it to them to adorn their new home.  They were not interested! I’m glad they didn’t want it because when I passed by it a bit later it was gone.  Not only are trash and treasure in the eye of the beholder, it is also true that the early bird gets the worm.  🦊❤️

1251. “really don’t mind it”

 

rainy commuting

“so how do you like the rain?”

“really don’t mind it…” 🦊❤️

I’ve become friendly with a woman who bikes quite a distance daily to her job regardless of weather.  It’s not out of necessity, she wants to bike. She stops at the coffee shop daily and has a cup of coffee before the final leg of her ride to work. The other day it was pouring rain and I said to her as she entered, “How do you like this rain?” She answered matter of factly, “Really I don’t mind it.”  I thought about her answer quite a bit as I sat there drinking my coffee. I concluded that it was a really great answer to my dark cloud question. I will never ask that question again to anyone.  🦊❤️

1251. vincent’s sunflowers

 

radiant flowers

so many sunny colors

you did good vincent 🦊❤️

I just finished listening to the audio book “Dear Theo”. It was twenty one hours of the reading of Vincent Van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo. It was fascinating and the magnificently written letters really made me appreciate his struggles and the sadness of his early death before his painting genius became known to the world. If you love Van Gogh’s works, “Dear Theo” is a must read. I do suggest listening though! 🦊❤️

In the meantime listen to this song…

https://youtu.be/oxHnRfhDmrk?si=AxEQV6vGcVIkDrY3

1250. “shhhh - listen”

 

the universe speaks

often in such quiet ways

open up… listen 🦊❤️

Is it simply careless litter? Is it a message, especially for you, waiting to be read? It’s all in how we “listen” to the whisperings that are constantly around us. 🦊❤️

1249. the art of art

 

i became all ears

as two artists talked their art

creativity… 🦊❤️

Yulan and I spent time with artist and friend Jo Viviani at her awesome studio in Germantown and viewed her wonderful work. It was great to listen to her explain how she approaches her work and how she allows the canvas to “talk to her”. I especially enjoyed sitting back and listening to Jo and Yulan talk with each other about their art, books and artists.   Thank you Jo for being so generous with your time. It was very inspiring.  🦊❤️ 

Visit Jo’s website here: 

https://josephinegviviani.com/

1248. up a lazy river

 

up the chilly stream

a procession of geese climbs

g o i n g   n o w h e r e  f a s t 🦊❤️

I love looking down from the bridge watching the geese slow paddle their way up stream. They meander through the water until they meet up with another group of  geese who seem to be anchored firmly, defying the current.  And then… in a flash… wings flap… water splashes… they are gone. 🦊❤️

1247. winter cucumber (magnolia)

 

you stand so boldly

limbs shooting out like sun beams

warming the cold day 🦊❤️

Whenever I pass by the Cucumber Magnolia tree on the trail it’s just like the first time I saw it and was wowed by its radiant uniqueness.  It is especially captivating  when its limbs and bumpy trunk are highlighted by snow. What a masterpiece. 🦊❤️

1246. set me free

 

“i know it’s frigid…

you want me to be toasty…

let me outta here!!! 🦊❤️ 

We have been sequestering Tommy  in the Treehouse Nature Center during these snowy and harsh days.  We know he enjoys the warmth and comfort of being indoors when things are bitter… but we also know that his first preference and love is the outdoors.  Real sneakiness on our part is required to get in and out of the center so that he does not escape. Milder days ahead Tommy!! 🦊❤️

1245. tree for all seasons

 

what’s more beautiful?

oaks in leaves, bare or with snow

it’s a three way tie 🦊❤️

Every season finds trees completely changing their wardrobe to dazzle onlookers. In winter, trees are undecided. They clad themselves in various coats of snow… then become bare… then put on their next white creation.  Giant Oaks are especially stunning on the runway this time of year. Enjoy the snow. 🦊❤️

1244. despite it all

 

the day’s light ahead

blurred and obscured by our mess

yet… it comes… it goes… 🦊❤️

Beyond all the blur, glare, hustle, bustle and tussle of it all, another day dawns and will proceed to sunset… just like yesterday.  🦊❤️

1243. in his element

 

step by step we go

stopping to pose in the snow

just another day 🦊❤️

Our “Tommy Care Group” always worries more about him than we need to when the weather turns harsh. We have been successful at getting him inside the nature center for the overnights. But when it’s time to get back outside he is anxious to be in his element. 🦊❤️ 

1242. getting all mushy

now it’s freezing rain

one morning dove finds refuge

oh… where is your mate? 🦊❤️

As my observations and appreciation of nature’s simple things increase, I find that my romanticism and sentimentality regarding those simple things grows as well. 🦊❤️

 

1241. great blue heron

 

got a close up look

you are long gone… no matter

you are beautiful 🦊❤️

Yesterday Yulan and I posted haiku about sighting our favorite Blue Heron that frequents the area behind my apartment.  I had the opportunity to spend time, up close and personal yesterday with a preserved Great Blue Heron.  I was mesmerized.  🦊❤️ 

1240. guided tour

 

all in the same frame

blue heron, two ducks, two geese

chock full of feathers 🦊❤️

We had been waiting many days to see our Blue Heron friend and had given up on having our cameras at the ready as we pass its regular haunt. As we were crossing the bridge Yulan said, “I want to look at the creek from the other side of the bridge.” We crossed over and I saw geese and ducks swimming downstream. THEN I saw the Blue Heron standing still watching the procession swim by.  He did not fly away as he usually does the moment we show up. I like believing that Yulan was guided to deciding to cross the bridge so we could see the remarkable scene of so many different birds in one place. 🦊❤️

1239. evolution of a photograph

 

a log on the ground

a rock rock naturally stained

orange leaves… green ferns 🦊❤️

The juxtaposition of things in this picture perfect moment is the result of the sum total of all that has preceded them. I was lucky enough to capture the moment. 🦊❤️

1238. untouched

 

it’s so rare to find

a beech tree with no carvings

the curse of smooth skin 🦊❤️

Beech trees have beautifully smooth bark. It is a perfectly smooth slate for people to carve into. I so enjoy looking at the ones that are far enough off of the beaten trail to avoid this hazard. 🦊❤️

1237. no such thing as a free car wash

 

trapped inside my car

water spraying, suds bub’ling, 

“get me outta here!” 🦊❤️

Recently at my apartment complex, the parking lot was being treated with salt to prepare for a snow that never really arrived. Many of the resident's cars were sprayed with the brine solution.  Arrangements were made at a local carwash to provide “free” washes to residents. I am claustrophobic and staying in the car as it crawled through the wash tunnel was not fun for me.  Talk about feeling trapped!! Nothing is ever “free”.  But at least I got a Haiku out of the experience. 🦊❤️

1236. after the storm

 

a bad storm last night

so much stuff was blown away

a new day is born 🦊❤️

Yulan and I were walking around the neighborhood yesterday morning surveying the damages of the previous night’s storm. Waterless creeks now raging. Tree branches everywhere. Lawn furniture here there and everywhere. Garbage cans lodged against cars and in the street.  The morning news from the radio was still in my brain. I found this undisturbed nativity scene, with the star of Bethlehem dangling and swinging in the wind to be a very settling and peaceful sight to look at.  🦊❤️

1235. a hunter i would never be

 

you in my crosshairs

our eyes meet… there’s connection

can’t pull the trigger 🦊❤️

As a little kid, I would sneak out my uncle’s CO2 gas powered pellet gun and go to the garbage dump and shoot rats and bottles.  One day I was sitting on my Grandparent’s back porch with the gun. I saw a bird on the peak of a garage roof. I pointed the gun… never imagining I would hit it… I pulled the trigger. A split second after pulling the trigger I saw feathers fly. It was at that moment I knew a hunter I would never be. 🦊❤️   

1234. bell ringing

sad funeral day

i grab the bell’s rope… i pull

hold on tight… i rise 🦊❤️

Most churches have replaced hand rung bells with recordings that are broadcast from large speakers in or around the bell towers. As a kid I was an altar boy. One of my responsibilities was to ring the church bells when I served at funerals.  I was very, very underweight as a kid so when I finally got the bells moving sufficiently to ring, I would hold tight to the thick rope and I would ride up and down as the bells tolled.  I guess it wasn’t a respectful thing to do at a funeral…. But I was just a kid! 🦊❤️ 

1233. the spring fall

 

hanging through winter

sycamore seed balls waiting

to fall down in spring 🦊❤️ 

 

The seed balls of Sycamore trees hang all through winter and then fall in the spring. They break open and uncountable individual winged seeds become available to be transported by wind, rain, birds, etc. to find a spot that may allow them to germinate and become a Sycamore tree.  Of all those uncountable seed candidate, virtually none of them will hit the home run of germination.  The vast, vast, vast majority will strike out and simply be reabsorbed back into the earth. That’s really something to think about isn’t it?  This is a great starting point to really appreciate the miraculous impossibility that each living thing on earth represents. Every living thing is like winning the Irish Sweepstakes with the odds multiplied by a million, trillion.  🦊❤️

1232. kodak moment (in my mind)

 

first snow of the year

flakes big, small and in between

snapshot from childhood 🦊❤️ 

As I walked watching the snow falling against the backdrop of black and white looking trees, the camera in my mind snapped and developed a childhood memory.  🦊❤️

1231. finding a way

 

it was not easy

to find the nerve to paint you

start… stop… grrrr… tommy!!! 🦊❤️

My latest painting, “Tommy” sat unfinished for nearly 6 months. I could not “solve the problem” of how to paint him.  Recently I tried to finish the painting while in a period of being “blocked” artistically. After a day’s effort I decided that it was time to abandon the effort after making a mess of the piece.  I decided to stop trying and just toss the work in progress.  After being urged on by Yulan combined with my own stubbornness, I painted over the mess I made of Tommy’s form and started again.  Mark by mark, Tommy started to appear.  It is a 16”x20” acrylic work.  As with all my paintings… I look at the finished painting and ask, “How did I do that?”   I hope you enjoy looking at “Tommy”. 🦊❤️

1230. unfolding of the moments of art

 

a web of branches

a drab gray sky as background

then enter the geese 🦊❤️

Every single second of every single day there is a work of  art unfolding before our eyes waiting to be appreciated. That may be an over the top statement… but it is true. 🦊❤️

1229. making marks

 

i’m not a painter

i make marks on the canvas

i try not to think 🦊❤️

I took a hiatus from  painting and could not get restarted.  Inspiration was lacking… I lost my confidence.  I lost the feel of what I do. “Just make marks… stop thinking… just put marks on the canvas… have no plan… just make marks… just make marks” So I just started making marks. I started to feel excitement when I looked at what just making marks can do. On your mark, get set. Go! 🦊❤️

1228. task of being a totem

 

gravity at work

a beech totem grows smaller

the stand… on its knees 🦊❤️

There is a section of trail that is inhabited by a stand of Beech trees that are in various states of death and dying.  Each of them will shoulder the task of serving as a totem of remembrance as they disappear limb by limb… then particle by particle back into the earth.  🦊❤️

 

1227. a matter of time

 

given time and space

all of our fabrications

nature will reclaim 🦊❤️

I love seeing the many signs that nature is always waiting to reclaim its untarnished territory.  While mankind believes that it is entitled to exist forever regardless of how “forever” is achieved… all of the little plants and critters just laugh and wait.  🦊❤️

1226. new year quiet

 

last sky of the year

a garden resting till spring

a quiet takes hold 🦊❤️

Happy New Year to all! I hope that this is a great year for everyone.  Wishing most for everyone is that in the midst of making 2024 a great year, you will allow a peaceful quietness to grow inside you regardless of what 2024 may bring your way.  🦊❤️