Jelisava

The poetry of hands, 35

Mitza sketching the girl wearing the sindhi topi / August 2010

“Think about this: Drawing is a natural activity you do all the time. Every time you sign your name you draw a special line. Every time you steer a car you are drawing a line with your hands. Your life depends on its accuracy.

Aiming a flashlight is drawing a line. Throwing a ball uses the same eye-hand skills as drawing. When you tie your shoelace or mix batter or pet a dog, you are drawing in the air. We sing all the time, too; talking is singing. We dance all the time; walking is dancing. Marching is just moving to a beat. We draw all the time. But when it becomes significant, when it involves ART, it intimitdates us into incompetence.”

~ an excerpt from The Creative License by Danny Gregory

The poetry of hands, 34, sprouting glasses

Prosecco happy hour in the afternoon sun / July 2010

"From the kitchen Sergio appeared with three bottles of prosecco. 'Before the coffee,' he said, 'I think we should say goodbye.'

The trays ended up on the low table in front of the sofa, and Gloria, Paola, and Chiara went back into the kitchen to return a few minutes later, each with six prosecco glasses sprouting from the fingers of her upraised hands.

Sergio popped the first cork, and at the sound the mood in the room changed, as if by magic. He poured the wine into the glasses, making the round as the bubbles subsided. He opened another bottle and then the last, filling more glasses than there were people. Everyone crowded round the table and picked up a glass, then stood with it half raised, waiting."

~ an excerpt from The Girl of His Dreams by Donna Leon

The poetry of hands, 33

A grandmother celebrates a grandaughter / Doylestown, PA / July 2010

This was the day of champagne-colored dresses and champagne-filled glasses. Of intense heat and intense emotions. Of joyful clapping and joyful dancing. Of Anna and Chris joining together and sharing themselves with us.

The poetry of hands, 32

Hands clasped in the Chapel in the Sky / Sept. 2005

Hands off
Hand it in
Hand it over
Helping hands
Hand made
Hand me downs
Hands down
Hand is a handy word

An invisible cloak, The poetry of hands, 31

Uncle Josip, Jelisava & Anton jauntily watching over us / Philadelphia, PA / circa 1940s

“May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak to mind your life.”

~ a blessing from John O’Donohue

Remembering the 54th Anniversary of your most auspicious day. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad.

The poetry of hands, 30

We go out walkin' 'round the lake / Mountain House / August 2007

“This small lake was of most value as a neighbor in the intervals of a gentle rain-storm in August, when, both air and water being perfectly still, but the sky overcast, mid-afternoon had all the serenity of evening, and the wood thrush sang around, and was heard from shore to shore. A lake like this is never smoother than at such a time; and the clear portion of the air above it being, shallow and darkened by clouds, the water, full of light and reflections, becomes a lower heaven itself so much the more important.”

~ Thoreau, an excerpt from Walden (Where I Lived and What I Lived for)

The poetry of hands, 29

Detail from Minerva by Rembrandt (oil on canvas, 1635) at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art / August 2009

Minerva is known as the Roman goddess of wisdom. I wonder has she read everything in that big book where her left hand rests? Or is that the book of wisdom she has written? She is also known as the goddess of the useful and ornamental arts and craft such as spinning, weaving, and needle-work.

The poetry of hands, 28

For Paulo my writer and worker with the sturdy hands / New Jersey / June 2008

Renovating an old house is a lot like writing —
full of pitfalls and revisions and it goes on and on

~ Heard on a TV show about New Orleans on PBS last night

The poetry of hands, 27

Inauguration Day / U.S.A. / January 2009

This is what I have today: hope

The poetry of hands, 26

Statue at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (the nation's oldest art museum and school of fine arts) / Philadelphia, PA / April 2008

“Happiness is not a matter of intensity,
but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.”

~ Thomas Merton