We spoke by phone. I sat in my kitchen in Somerville, MA while my younger brother sat outside his home in Lynchburg, VA. After I had described my latest walk by the water and what I might write about, he said, “Mmmhmm. I think you should write some more about porches.”
“Porches?”
“Yes. About what it’s like to sit on the porch steps at night, in the quiet and in the cool, with fireflies in the distance. They look like stars.”
I imagined him sitting on his little back porch. I thought about the seeds I had sent him and his family. “Next year, I am sending you night blooming flowers.”
“That’s fine,” he said, and then he added, “And you should write about wearing glasses, how we wear them to see clearly, these wire frames that are not heavy but somehow you feel their weight all the time, and if you have long eyelashes you’re constantly batting them against the lenses. Yeah, there’s always contacts … but somehow when you wear glasses and then you sit and you take them off … you can’t see as clearly and yet there is a certain sense of freedom. A weight has been removed. Though your view is a bit blurry somehow you can see with greater clarity the beauty all around.”
“I gave you a blank notebook. Why don’t you write these things?” I say.
“Because you’re the writer,” he said.
Posted in Guest Contributor, Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged family, home, Inspiration, life, listening, musings, nature, outdoors, Photography, prose, siblings, storytelling | 6 Comments »
As spring draws to a conclusion, the last of my dandelions have fallen apart helped by a sudden gust of wind from an open window. I wonder what the summer will blow my way. Meanwhile here’s a gallery of the dandelion images. FYI, the folks at Talking Writing Magazine paired some of the images with an essay by Fran Cronin about a mother letting her daughter go as She’s Leaving Home for college. An excellent read. Check it out. Meanwhile have a good Thursday!
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged abstract, children, dandelions, family, Inspiration, nature, parenting, Photography, plants, seeds, Talking Writing Magazine | 5 Comments »
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged beauty, blooms, colors, flowers, Inspiration, nature, orange, Photography, plants, spring, yellow | 4 Comments »
In the heart of the city, adults don’t tend to say anything. They’ll pass me by and pretend not to notice me as I lean precariously over fences into private property or kneel at the base of trees.
It is the children who ask, even as their parents are sometimes trying to shush them, “What are you doing, lady?”
When I tell them that I am photographing sunlight, they ask, “Well, how do you do that?” And I say with great drama, “Well, the way I choose to photograph sunlight is as it pours over the branches of the trees and creates shadows on the ground.”
The older kids raise eyebrows in disbelief but the younger children, they sometimes nod with great understanding.
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, On the Road | Tagged childhood, Inspiration, nature, outdoors, Photography, shadows, sunlight, urban landscape, walking | 3 Comments »
Please, please, please treat yourself to this Talking Writing interview, “Silence is Where We Locate Our Voice,” by Lorraine Berry with Terry Tempest Williams. I consider myself quite lucky to have met Terry Tempest Williams at a pivotal point in developing my voice. You can read about that experience in this blog post, Birdsong.
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged Inspiration, interview, life, nature, poetry, prose, silence, Talking Writing, Terry Tempest Williams, voice | Leave a Comment »
Next Sunday, in Cambridge, MA, the Riverside Gallery will be hosting its annual “50-100-150” Pop-Up Summer Show from 4:00-6:00 PM. It is a juried show featuring 50 pieces of original art available for purchase at $100 each. I am honored to have on display Gordon’s Poinsettia, a set of three prints, all images from a single poinsettia plant, and displayed in a custom 9 x 20 mat. If you’re in the area that afternoon, I hope you’ll stop by.
Riverside Gallery
5 Callender Street
Cambridge 02139
www.facebook.com/RiversideGallery
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes, Photography Exhibits | Tagged art show, arts, Cambridge, colors, exhibit, flowers, nature, Photography, plants, poinsettia, red, Riverside Gallery | 2 Comments »
I’m excited to share that now available at The Book Shop at Trinity Church in Copley Square, this mug and two different magnets depicting a photograph I took of the stained glass window, David’s Charge to Solomon. As described in an earlier post, the window was designed by Edward Burne-Jones and executed by William Morris. The entire window is of course fantastic but for me, with camera in-hand, it is the light streaming through these angels that draws my eyes. To see these items and other lovely merchandise, visit the Book Shop in the undercroft (basement) of the church, or you can contact the Shop by phone at 617.536.0944 extension 225.
Posted in Inspiration, Photography, Publication Updates | Tagged angels, architecture, arts, colors, David's Charge to Solomon, Edward Burne-Jones, Inspiration, magnets, merchandise, mugs, Photography, religious, spiritual, Trinity Church in Copley Square, William Morris | 2 Comments »
Today the calla lily looks like this.
And just a few days ago it looked like this …
How cool is that? 😉
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged botany, calla lily, colors, flowers, gardening, Inspiration, nature, Photography, plants, transformation | 3 Comments »
My first impressions of ancient Japanese warriors were formed by the Akira Kurosawa movies that used to air on Saturday mornings when I was a child. Later, I read James Clavell’s Shogun. That was a heavenly experience for someone who had yet to leave her hometown, let alone travel the world. I haven’t seen the Tom Cruise movie, The Last Samurai, all the way through, though somehow I managed to buy the soundtrack. All that to say, it was quite the treat to view the current Boston Museum of Fine Arts exhibit, Samurai!
Photo by DL
As described on the MFA website, samurai were “the military elite led by the shoguns, or warlords, of Japan from the 12th through 19th centuries.” Through August 4th, the MFA is featuring this exhibit of Samurai armor from the Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection that highlights how armor design and use evolved over time from actual warfare to more showcase.
Photo by DL
I have to thank my friend, DL, for dragging me out the door to see this exquisite exhibit. It was quite fascinating to see the layerings of cloth, metal and even paper that formed protective barriers for men (and horses!) — pieces that remain enduring works of great art. Afterwards DL and I wandered over to the Egyptian area but that’s a story for another day. If you’re in Boston before August 4th, I hope you have a chance to visit. There’s also fun stuff on the MFA website.
Photo by DL
Posted in Books I Love, Guest Contributor, Inspiration | Tagged art, art of war, arts, Asian art, Barbier-Mueller Collection, culture, design, Japanese armor, Japanese art, Museum of Fine Arts | 5 Comments »
Jen Parrish gave me permission to visit her online sites to select images to use as illustration for her interview responses. As I did with other interviewees in 2012, I asked Jen to share how music inspires her artwork. Viewing her artwork inspired me. I had only to see an item described as “Gothic architecture meets nature” to know how appropos it was that she and I met through an art and architecture department in a Romanesque church.
She is an elegant, soft-spoken woman with a piercing gaze and gentle words. It took me a while to learn that she is also a renowned jewelry designer whose handcrafted pieces are worn by celebrities and other people around the world. Without ever having seen Jen work firsthand, I have only to listen as she speaks about her work to feel her dedication to beauty. I expect everyone who purchases one of her unique pieces must know they carry part of Jen, and more than a bit of world history, with them. I am very grateful she responded to my questions. Please read her interview here. I think you’ll find both the words and images quite interesting.
Posted in Guest Contributor, Inspiration | Tagged architecture, art, arts, beauty, celebrity, colors, creativity, design, Inspiration, interview, Jen Parrish, jewelry, jewelry designer, medieval art, music, Pre-Raphaelite | 6 Comments »
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