Jelisava

Time versus voyage / Beach Haven, NJ / June 21, 2007

"Well, that depends upon what you call long," says the captain. "If you mean time, it's one thing. If you mean voyage, it's another. For you've got to take into account," says he, "adverse winds, roundabout turns to avoid currents, possible delays to have the ship scraped free from parasite life that does be attaching itself to the strakes, time spent in barter and trade. Other matters, too; the attacks of pirates; cross-grained princes who don't want you to be leaving their ports with good cargo in your hold; sickness; loss of sails and masts; repairs to the ship. It wasn't a short journey and it wasn't a long one."

~ an excerpt from Messer Marco Polo by Donn Byrne (publ. 1921)

Solstice Ring of Fire / Beach Haven, NJ / June 21, 2007

On the first day of summer
A break from routine
Take time to bask in the glow

Solstice glow over the Bay / Beach Haven, NJ / June 21, 2007

Summer. Sun. Summons us.

A pseudo-trip to Paris via Collingswood New Jersey / May 2007

Is this image blurry or is it my aging eyes? I can't tell anymore so I'm taking the week off from blogging to give my eyes a rest from the digital. You can imagine me at a café in Paris, sipping wine, eating pastries, and watching the world go by . . .

The end of a Pappy's Sunday brunch / New Jersey / March 2007

If you knew what I know about the power of giving,
you would not let a single meal pass
without sharing it in some way.

~ Buddha

Sweet Pea about to bloom / New Jersey / June 2007

“Poetry is a rich, full-bodied whistle, cracked ice crunching in pails, the night that numbs the leaf, the duel of two nightingales, the sweet pea that has run wild, Creation's tears in shoulder blades.”

~ Russian author and poet Boris Pasternak

Overseeing his kingdom / New Jersey / June 2007

I've been seeing a lot of cardinals in the yard. Yesterday afternoon I saw a female cardinal head straight for the birdhouse that sits just to the right of what you can see in this picture (exactly where this cardinal is looking). As soon as she got there, a cacophony of sound erupted from inside the house -- I think there is a whole brood of hungry young cardinals in residence there.

Pink, Pink Peony / New Jersey / June 2007

Hide not your talents, they for use were made.
What's a sundial in the shade?

        ~ Benjamin Franklin

["The diversity that is the Internet may be epitomized by few people in history — Benjamin Franklin is one such person, commercially successful, ever concerned and involved with the public good, a great communicator, and a remarkable man of science and technology, finding practical effective solutions to real problems." -- The Electric Franklin]

Calla Lillies dancing with color / Washington, DC / May 2007

World, please, remove your shoes and your socks
And step, with your bare feet,
Onto the face of the earth's soil.
That answer, to what IT could be,
Will be found there!

~ from "A Dream" by Croatian author Radenko Fanuka

Little hands in a big suit / Washington, DC / May 2007

Our young and cheerful "Greeter" at the National Cathedral had a winning smile and looked dapper in his (slightly) too big suit. He was reaching into his coat pocket for an extra ticket for another visitor.