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Posts Tagged ‘nature’

And so the morning began with sounds.  Laying in bed listening to snow slide from the roof.  Over breakfast listening to Steve tell stories of his night.  My brothers’ voices, one via voice mail, him singing a made up song about getting up and getting started with a cup of coffee.  His words inspired me to pour some beans into a white cup and photograph a single image and hope it came out well.

I continued to take random shots about the kitchen, of lemons in bowls and of rosemary.  I don’t think I’m supposed to let indoor herbs bloom but I couldn’t help myself. No sounds there, just lovely periwinkle silence.

During the midst of all this, something happened.  Nothing serious but one of those incidents that can color a day, darken it … if you allow.  I told myself to let the incident go.  To help me do so, I pulled from my bag a list of desired tasks.  One of them was to look up composer Peteris Vasks.  I’d only learned of him yesterday at an organ recital.  The organist had played one of his pieces, Te Deum.  During my research I came across this piece, Dona Nobis Pacem.

A beautiful, calming piece.

As it played on repeat in the background, I wandered around taking other photos, indoors of items on tables

and through windows of ice melting beautifully.

What that music inspired exactly I can’t say.  It did encourage me, remind me even, to be present, to appreciate the beauty before me that I could see, that I could hear, and that I could imagine.  We all need reminders on occasion. 😉

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the day was cold but beautiful

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Snow began to fall this morning and so I went to the window to check on my so-called copper branches.

These branches drape over a crumbling concrete wall.

The wall is adjacent to a muffler shop.  If I were to widen my shots you would see the mountain of tires, metal poles and big blue barrels.

The area is not easily accessible.  It is cordoned off on three sides by a metal fence.  It is only because I am next door and up high that I can see the beauty over the wall.

One day I may get up the nerve to talk with the manager and convince him to let me into the area, to climb over the tires, so that I can get up close to the tiny rambling woods.

But for now I am happy to shoot from a distance and later play with the images. As different details emerge out of the lovely chaos – a leaf still green, the illumination of paler twigs, and so forth – it feels a bit like painting with light.

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Thanks to friends and family from around the world, I’ve got quite a growing collection of shells. Most of the shells that I have collected myself I have done so along Revere Beach in Revere, MA.  That beach has become a favorite haunt to walk for relaxation and exercise.  I never know what I might find in the sand and along the water’s edge.  Moving forward, I hope to venture further afield into the heart of the culturally rich and diverse community.  That is in part why I love and support the idea of a Revere Walking Map being created.  I do use them. Watch the video below to understand the behind the scenes making of such a map and/or visit this page to see the opportunities and levels for giving.  A great cause especially if you live or travel out this way.

P.S. Here’s how I’ve used a similar walking map to help make my way around Somerville and its parks.

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If there was snow on the coppery branches, then it was quickly washed away.

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the neighbor’s branches soon to be covered by snow

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… what can be done today?  That was one of the thoughts that inspired the photo essay, Branching Thoughts, now appearing on Creativity Portal.  To what do I refer?  Well, when you have a chance, please read the essay and then you’ll know what I mean. 😉

FYI, there are many other wonderful essays, articles and more to be found on the site.  One of my favorite end of year items is a beautiful 2014 calendar designed by Creativity Portal founder Chris Dunmire and available for download month by month or all 12-months at once for “less than a cup of coffee.”  Can’t beat that these days. Hope you have fun exploring all the different words and images on the site.

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Back in October I wrote about the unexpected success in growing a potted petunia in the house.  I imagined photographing white blossoms against the kitchen window with snow falling in the background. Will that come to pass?  Well, recently after cutting away all the dead and dying pieces only one green stem remained on the petunia plant.  Nothing else.  I considered letting it go, but what harm was there in continuing to water that stem.  And then one day it bloomed.  A single bloom on a single stem on a mostly barren patch of ground.  I guess there must be some good roots beneath that soil.

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