Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road, tagged birds, colors, dublin, feathers, Inspiration, ireland, myths, nature, Photography, st. stephen's green, storytelling, swans, travel, white, wildlife, William Butler Yeats on November 9, 2013| 3 Comments »
Okay, I have to admit, not only the mallards paused to let me snap a photo. As I watched the swans’ feathers rustling in the winds whipping through St. Stephen’s Green, I thought of the Greek myth Leda and the Swan. Only later as I walked through the National Library of Ireland’s exhibit on William Butler Yeats did I learn that Yeats had published a highly regarded sonnet on the subject in 1924.
Posted in Inspiration, On the Road, tagged architecture, art, beauty, dublin, Inspiration, ireland, libraries, National Library of Ireland, Photography, public libraries, stained glass windows, travel on November 8, 2013| 3 Comments »
In my travels I have not forgotten stained glass or public libraries. Here is but a small section of a window found in the National Library of Ireland in Dublin. Via this link you can actually see a 360 degree view of the front hall where this and several other windows can be found along with beautiful mosaics and fine carvings. A lovely place to visit.
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road, tagged autumn, Branches, colors, dublin, Inspiration, ireland, landscape, nature, Photography, travel, trees, University College of Dublin, walking on November 8, 2013| 12 Comments »
There are many beautiful trees making up the woodland walks of the University College of Dublin – Belfield Campus. There are actually 5 walks that were formed through the purchase of old estates with woodland areas dating back to the 1800s, and the subsequent planting of many new trees. According to the campus website, there are now over 50,000 trees in place representing over 75 species. More information can be found here. I am still sorting through pictures from my campus meanderings, but I think this tree is one of my favorites — new growth against an old estate wall, bright leaves and bark on a cloudy afternoon.
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road, tagged birds, dublin, ducks, Inspiration, ireland, mallards, nature, Photography, travel, water on November 6, 2013| 3 Comments »
I don’t remember seeing any ducks where I grew up in Virginia so maybe that’s why they caught my attention so much in Boston. Plus they are one of the few birds that don’t seem to mind me stalking them from shore. Sometimes they even come right up to me. Like this little lass on the Liffey River in Dublin.
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road, tagged birds, colors, dublin, feathers, Inspiration, ireland, nature, phototgraphy, swans, travel, water, white on November 5, 2013| 4 Comments »
Posted in Kitchen Inspirations, Nature Notes, On the Road, tagged flowers, hiking, Inspiration, Middlesex Fells Reservation, nature, Photography on October 30, 2013| 5 Comments »
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road, tagged autumn, colors, essays, grief, Inspiration, leaves, Lorraine Berry, memoir, Middlesex Fells Reservation, nature, Photography, storytelling, sunset, Talking Writing, walks, writer's block on October 28, 2013| 3 Comments »
Words taken from Wordless: Writer’s Block and Grief, a beautiful essay out today by writer Lorraine Berry in Talking Writing Magazine. As the title suggests, it is about a writer dealing with grief. It is a moving piece that I hope you have a chance to read. It was startling to read of black birds in the first paragraph of her essay. Birds of that dark shade have been on my mind of late though none did I see on a recent walk through the Fells. A friend faraway, who is dealing with grief, had mentioned as part of a larger conversation of seeing blackbirds outside of his house. And though I was not close enough to hug him as he might have liked, we did spend a while talking about the wings of the bird and how they glistened iridescent in the sun. Mostly on my walk through the Fells, I saw leaves. 😉
Posted in Inspiration, On the Road, tagged abstract, arts, colors, eyes, Inspiration, mural, painting, Photography, Somerville, Somerville Avenue, street art on October 24, 2013| 3 Comments »
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road, tagged autumn, beauty, colors, Inspiration, leaves, nature, Photography, Somerville, Somerville Avenue, trees, urban landscape, walking on October 24, 2013| 9 Comments »
A recent festival in Union Square closed off Somerville Avenue. For the most part, I kept my hands in my pockets as I walked along enjoying the sights. But after a while, those leaves!
Good thing there were no cars as I meandered along with my head in the clouds and eyes on the ground.
I even took some leaves home.
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road, tagged deserts, imagination, Inspiration, movies, musings, Photography, random, sand, travel, walking on October 20, 2013| 5 Comments »
After smelling an open jar of wild mint (that’s all it was, I swear) I once had a waking dream of setting up camp in the desert, my feet sinking into the hot sands, the air filled with the sounds of horses snorting and the jingle of their bells. I was perhaps influenced by a conversation with a man from Morocco. Even before that dream I had been planning to visit the Sahara, as well as deserts within the U.S.
Some of my favorite movies have depicted vast dunes of sand in shades of sparkling white to dusky cream and even dark gold. Lawrence of Arabia. The English Patient. Dune. There’s that opening scene in the 1979 movie, The Black Stallion. And, of course, Star Wars. 😉 I love the depiction of man or beast making their way across the shifting landscape. I have been lucky to visit many different landscapes and to photograph them.
But no deserts yet. Not really. This morning, as I lay in bed, photographing the hills and valleys of the cotton sheets, I wondered anew if I ever will see such sandy sights firsthand.
Words + Images 