On the way to the secret forest ... / 2007
“The child makes human and holds conversation with everything in his backyard world.
The same voices speak to him that spoke to his cave-dwelling ancestors.
To him the wind is a person of might and power, that moans when in anguish and sighs when weary.”
~ Josephine Leach in The Storytellers' Magazine, 1913
Yet another snow event creates its own artwork / Feb. 2011
“We have come from somewhere and are going somewhere. The great architect of the universe never built a stairway that leads to nowhere.”
~ American physicist Robert. A Millliken
Some trees stay upright, reaching for the winter sky
“There has been more talk about the weather around here this year than common, but there has been more weather to talk about. For about a month now we have had solid cold — firm, business-like cold that stalked in and took charge of the countryside as a brisk housewife might take charge of someone else's kitchen in an emergency. Clean, hard, purposeful cold, unyielding and unremitting. Some days have been clear and cold, others have been stormy and cold. We have had cold with snow and cold without snow, windy cold and quiet cold and indulgent peace-loving cold. But always cold.”
~ E.B. White in his essay from January 1943, Cold Weather
Figures on the wall like actors on the stage at Union Station, Nashville TN
“Life engenders life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.”
~ French actress Sarah Bernhardt (in Madam Sarah)
Old (ink pen and writing pad) merged with new (fingertips and ipad) to compose a communique / Jan. 2011
The learning curve can be a part of the creative process.
At the Green Family Reunion organized by Judge Green in 1940 / Bee (top, far left, face partially obscured), Ed and Bunk (center, blond hair, suits and ties), Mary (next to boys, wavy hair and coat with buttons), Aunt Annie (just behind Bunk, on right), Cousin Donald (next to Bee), Cousin Betty (next to Donald) Uncle Enoch (just behind Annie, on right), Aunt Mame (next to Aunt Annie, on right) / Thanks to Aunt Mary for the corrections!
My dad unearthed the old wideview picture with hundreds of people who attended the 1940 Green Family reunion (see the whole thing after the jump). Grandma and Pap are hidden in the back row, but here are their children. Years ago my dad told me that his mother always baked something on a day when the weather was bad. I think about this frequently and when I'm feeling bad, I often bake something. It usually makes me feel better. It may be the calming ritual of baking (measuring, mixing, etc.) or the end result of having something good to eat. It doesn't matter. I wonder who did the cooking for all the people at the reunion? And what did they eat?
Happy 105th birthday Grandma.
Reflections on a winter's day / Feb. 2010
“... the desire of companionship is an ineradicable instinct; and as our domestic affections place us with our next kindred in constant companionship, so our social sympathies establish a certain periodical intimacy with our circle of friends, whom we yearn to see from time to time by a law of nature like that which draws the earth to the sun after a certain interval of banishment.”
~ an excerpt from "Visitor" published in Harper's Magazine, Vol. 19, 1859
A warmish February morning lets curtains bask in the sun / Feb. 2011
This was the day of being grateful for the visual delight of contrasts; the persistent snow, the angled sun, and the blue shadows form the perfect backdrop for the colorful fabric.
* contrastere (Italian), "stand out against"
Map of Ancient Eqypt from the Historical Atlas of the World, 1962 /
These were the days of being in awe of ordinary Eqyptians and their courage and persistance in taking to the streets and standing up for themselves and their people.
“In the wide courtyard of our house
a child not even nine yet
tossed some wheat on the earth
sprouting cities of hunger.”
~ an excerpt from Five Fragments for the Sadness of Great Figure by Egyptian poet Ahmed al-Shahawi