The gentlemen at the muffler shop next door lost a bevy of their balloons but they were caught, quite gently, by the oak tree towering above the house. I was reminded of The Red Balloon, a movie that I have not seen since I was a child but I feel a need to look it up.
Also caught was a plastic bag that in this morning’s light with its twists and turns about the branches reminded me of a nautilus shell.
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged balloons, Branches, colors, fantasy, imagination, Inspiration, Photography, The Red Balloon | 1 Comment »
Posted in Inspiration | Tagged beauty, botanicals, floral photography, flowers, Inspiration, nature, Photography, tulips | 3 Comments »
A splurge at the grocery store. I probably needed butter more but somehow I could not walk away from that bouquet of white tulips.
Posted in Inspiration | Tagged abstract, colors, flowers, Inspiration, nature, Photography, tulips, white tulips | 4 Comments »
Once upon a time, I made jewelry. It was a hobby to give my hands something to do when I wasn’t writing and my eyes something to concentrate on when I wasn’t watching television.
I was simply following in the footsteps of my friends who did much more elaborate, skilled, and exquisite work. I admired their craftsmanship and eyes for design while I mostly played around with colors and textures.
Up to a certain point I could be disciplined enough to complete a piece but then more and more pieces remained unfinished. That’s when I realized mostly what I wanted to do was experiment with placement of beads and unique baubles.
I still have the tools to make jewelry, at least my simple kind. I have not tried in years. These pieces, and many more, I found in an old jewelry box as I was trying to do some early Spring cleaning.
Some pieces I may keep to wear while others will most certainly continue to be used as photographic inspiration. As for individual beads and baubles, still unstrung, I may share some of those with a young friend still quite fascinated by the colors of the rainbow and how to hold bits of it in your hands.
And once there has been some space cleared in that jewelry box, perhaps I’ll try my hand at creating some new pieces. Or at least I can dream. 😉
Posted in Inspiration | Tagged art, beads, beauty, colors, crafts, creativity, glass, Inspiration, jewelry, Photography | 7 Comments »
An impulse buy at the grocery store for sure. A package of eighteen little eggs with so many different patterns on their shells.
A half dozen can fit into my hand at once. As for preparation …
… something simple. Perhaps boil them, shell them and place on a bed of mixed lettuce greens. Add a few sliced cherry tomatoes. Maybe drizzle the ensemble with a salad dressing made from the aioli Steve made last night. And yes, that aioli is infused with those mustard greens. Some toasted bread rubbed with garlic, and I think that’ll do it. 😉
Posted in Inspiration, Kitchen Inspirations | Tagged aioli, cooking, eggs, food, food photography, Inspiration, mustard greens, patterns, Photography, quail, shells | 2 Comments »
I mostly remember leafy greens on Sunday. My mother, with a few helping hands on occasion, would pick the leaves, rinse them to remove any grit, and then place them in a big pot with some ham. Much water would be added, along with salt and pepper. The pot would simmer for what seemed like hours. Once steaming green leaves were piled on dinner plates, sometimes chopped white onions would be tossed on top for a bit of crunch (that’s what my dad liked) and sometimes apple cider vinegar, depending on the type of green. Of all the greens, kale was my favorite, especially curly kale. After finishing the pot of any type of greens, nothing was better than to drink the remaining flavor-filled pot liquor. Mustard had a peppery bite, the intensity of which I was reintroduced to this past weekend in several interesting dishes that both stirred up these childhood memories and made me reach for my camera.
Mustard Greens
Steve bought one small bunch of mustard greens and began to experiment immediately. The first dish involved adding a small portion of chopped fresh mustard greens to a vegetable stir fry of broccoli, kale and red peppers. The second mustard-infused dish was a homemade hamburger made of finely chopped steak, hen of the woods mushrooms, parmesan cheese, mustard greens and one egg. The tiny hamburgers were formed, fried and served up on toasted bread with sliced tomatoes and red onions on the side.
Hamburger with Cheese, Mushroom and Mustard Greens
The third dish was inspired by a particular Japanese method of layering thin slices of seared tuna, white rice, wasabi and shiso. A spicy mouthful to say the least. This particular variation on a theme involved cooking white rice and mixing it with fresh chopped green onion and mustard greens. The rice was served with thin slices of tuna on top and wasabi and soy sauce on the side. While the tuna is now gone, there is still rice remaining. I’ve encouraged the chef to turn these leftovers into golden fried cakes. We’ll see what the new week holds.;)
White Rice with Mustard Green and Green Onions
Posted in Kitchen Inspirations, Nature Notes | Tagged cooking, family, food, food photography, Inspiration, leafy greens, mustard greens, Photography, recipes, storytelling | 3 Comments »
I’ve written about and shared pictures on this blog from my walk along The Causeway, a stretch of road dating back to medieval times in Steventon, Oxfordshire Village, England. The road begins in the village Green and ends at a church. One day I followed the path determined to find the church. Eventually I did and of course I took photos. One of those photos of the church appears in the Winter 2014 Issue of Dirty Chai Magazine. The issue’s theme is adventure. Here it is, hot off the press, a beautiful collection of words and images.
Posted in Inspiration | Tagged adventure, Causeway, churches, Dirty Chai Magazine, England, Inspiration, literary magazine, Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire Village, Photography, Steventon, travel | 1 Comment »
Posted in Inspiration | Tagged architecture, Boston, churches, colors, glass, Inspiration, Photography, Trinity Church | 1 Comment »
Click here to see what it looked like just last week.
Posted in Inspiration, Kitchen Inspirations, Nature Notes | Tagged food, fungus, Inspiration, mushroom, nature, oyster mushroom, Photography | 2 Comments »
New posters available in my zazzle shop. Just a few African violet petals, some shadows resting on snow and a rainbow cupped within a shell. As I originally studied these images, I thought them sensuous and I was reminded of something James Baldwin wrote in The Fire Next Time, “To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the breaking of bread.” I sometimes worry that I am procrastinating as I watch sunlight settle upon a leaf … but then I just shake myself and become thankful that I could be present in the moment. 😉
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged being present, flowers, Inspiration, James Baldwin, nature, petals, Photography, posters, sensuality, snow | Leave a Comment »
Words + Images 