Young ones

Saw a fox cub and a young adult black bear today.

The cub raced away tail blazing like the remnants of a shooting star.

The bear, on the other hand, lumbered across my lawn, grazed on some shrubs and sat outside the locked gate to the nursery. It looked puzzled - like it was wondering why it was not open. I guess it forgot that the nursery is closed on Sundays.


summer grass
spring litters
learn the hunt


ag ~ 2012

A Modern Day Fairy Blog Tale

Each line below is/was the actual name of a blog originating mostly on Tumblr. All of them represent the creative muse at work. I was inspired to string them together to present this modern-day-fairy-blog. Imagination and a sense of delight is all that is needed to join me in this whimsical tour of human nature!


start handing out stars

your average ordinary hero

you were charming last night

go away come back

moods of the moon

some blonde

life over does

casseroles and cleavage

writing on the walls

bagels are the new donuts

hippies were right

reality killed the dream

and she down by the river

yeah-you-came-to-mind

brown dress with white polka dots

under the same sofa

everything you ask me

i just might

but it feels like forever

call me crazy - love

no perfect day for banana fish

wild storms

gravity sex

night tattoo

rainbow fizzy hooker

whiskey soaked

that was me seducing you

grace and sweet tea

almost touched the sky


~ ~ ~

These are but a few of the colorful and reflective names that ordinary souls call on to speak to us in the virtual world.

new moon
in and out of dreams
a play of words


ag ~ 2012

a sparkling lullaby

fireflies
float
night
into
my
bedroom
mirror

~

ag ~ 2012

Don't fence me in!

                                     

 poppies

just being poppies

 what fence?

ag ~ 2012





Fishing from the bridge

fishing from the bridge

today

only daydreams

ag ~ 2012

Winter Wood Eyes

It's been a winter without snow here in New Jersey.  Therefore, I get to focus much more closely on the brush and stone, moss and lichen.  The colors, although a bit more subtle than spring and summer blooms, are vibrant just the same.  When I traipse through the winter woodland  I never feel alone.  Somehow eyes peek out at me and spy with a curious countenance.  The expressions are priceless and lest anyone think that I am losing it (like my brother) - see for yourself.

Wintergreen face

Puddingstone with a smile

Feigning sleep

Mouse eyes with a lichen and leaf beret.

The only one with sharp looking teeth!

I like this happy guy.  A sweet bark face.

This one looks a little confused - I can relate.

I always smile back.

You lookin' at me?

winter hike

stopping often  to catch

a backwards glance

The Standoff

It was a beautiful blue sky October day as I was driving down and around a lovely small resevoir. Until they caught my attention and imagination. About a dozen hawks flying and gliding on a strong breeze round and round while at least fifty or more Canada Geese stood their ground right below. It was a sight to behold. The hawk shadows loomed large and low circling over the geese. All of the geese were upright with stretched necks in alert position and huddled en masse. I am sure their adrenaline was running high. At least mine was as I watched them. I was driving a ten ton dump truck (with farmers plates) from the job site so my vantage point looking down at this scene was almost hawk-like and nearly as surreal. If only I could have stayed long enough to watch the scene play out. Would the hawks attack? Would the geese storm the hawks? Or would it be just a standoff? I loved the October blue sky today, and the great creatures that inhabit its realm.

circling overhead its shadow larger than life

The hummingbird, the sage and the rain

After the hurricane and now torrential rains (over three inches and counting) a hummingbird comes just before twilight and sips the nectar from the ruby and blue sage growing outside my window. The bird is just unfazed by the wind, rain, power outages and a rather stressful winding down of summer days. In fact, it seems quite oblivious to the fact that it has a thousand mile commute ahead, flutters about for a few months and then turns around to do it all over again. Since this little bird has been a regular visitor over the past month or so I decided to look up its symbolism/medicine. According to Ted Andrews in his book 'Animal Speak' hummingbirds are "very playful even when bathing. They are hard workers and fiercely independent" Hmmmm. sounds like someone I intimately know...

"The ruby-throated humminngbird is a wonder of migration...and is a symbol for accomplishing that which seems impossible. It will teach you how to find the miracle of joyful living from your own life circumstances".

That's the secret - joy in the mundane. Playful work. Presence.

I can do that! I just need to be reminded now and again by a playmate who comes after the rain to sip the nectar offered by the colorful sage plants who too have their own story to tell.

blurry rain
the hummingbird and the sage
still savor the light

deep into the wail

blue again
no summer sky
blue...that blue
deep into the wail
of a saxophone blue*







feeling blue all day and anxious -  that 'late summer is slipping away feeling' and I'm not sure I'm ready to let it go and then there's an earthquake on the east coast that everyone felt but me even though I've rattled through two or more before this one

earthquake...the night wobbles anyway**

late summer edges begin to fray the sepia tone sunset

oh well, late summer blues and sepia tones are also fruit to taste and savor for their own ripe richness

deep ridges
       in a piece of driftwood
               ...wanting more

*     published Modern English Tanka

**    published Presence 



When the west wind blows...

On Long Beach Island, a barrier island off the southern coast of NJ it means:

hot oppressive heat waves that blow in from the mainland
black biting flies that hitch a ride in for a day at the beach to dine on ankles and toes
searing sand that blisters bare feet on the mad dash to the water
water so cold (the warm water of the gulf stream is also blown offshore) that same blistered feet and fly-bitten ankles and toes turn numb

welcome to the beach on days too hot to really enjoy it
hard to appreciate but it's true - some days it's just too hot to go to the beach
this was one of those weekends - two full days when just trying to breathe is a chore

the dog is hiding under a self-built foxhole and is getting good at catching flies mid air
dragonflies dive like kamakaze pilots and take quick rests on any part of your body
sailors stay in port drinking beer with photos of sailboats on the label
hydrangeas wilt and there's not enough shade for everyone to find a comfortable reading spot

even so, unable to sleep on the second floor of an unairconditioned beach house last night, I was able to hear the waves crashing on shore in the distance and though the sky was hazy all day - the stars were out and I like to think also listening to rhythm of a west wind night

into dunes the last drift of a wave

Hot nights

inviting
moonlight
heat
waves
across
the
meadow



the meadow curves into sky moist tonight



ravishing
night
the
full
red
moon

Summertime...and the livin' is

ripe ...hot...colorful.  At the local farmers market this week:

boquets of spicy color















bicycles park at the train station

   vendors meet the sky



everyone loves the kettle korn lady

sundresses and lemonade

farmers market

all the local color

in neighbors' baskets

Life as art

porch rocker

the tilt between

life and still-life*

first published bottle rockets

Lightning and stillness

Lightning struck a tree about 500 feet from my kitchen seat. I was reading Sunday's paper (on Wednesday) and my head was angled just enough to capture the storm outside as well as the words I was reading.

the strike
a flashboombolt
inside my chest

It was as magnificent as it was terrorizing. Fear and awe. I could not process it in my mind - way too close. Stillness was all that was left. And fleeting beauty.

Wisdom Wood

Wisdom Wood is a garden. A fitting name for all that it implies. A garden is like a poem - hard to describe - yet beautiful when you come upon it. A garden can fit into a small container or it can contain a large property. Like a poem it expands your horizon.

Wisdom Wood is specifically the garden of Ruth and Fred Palace. It opened to the public yesterday as part of The Garden Conservancy Open Days Program.
www.gardenconservancy.org/



Ruth is a garden designer with a vision who is also visionary in her approach for allowing the garden to inspire and contribute to its own growth. The best gardens flourish because the garden and gardener co-create beauty and ultimately wisdom. There is always wisdom in a garden and beauty in simple truths - wisdom. Wisdom Wood grows an abundance of both.

Bravo and thank you to Ruth and Fred for their vision, dilligence and contribution to all of us by way of sharing their lovely gardens. And thank you to The Garden Conservancy and all gardeners who open their homes and gardens to the public for the sheer joy of sharing beauty.

Ruth and Fred

                                                                                                                  

An approach to the Japanese Dry Stream Garden



The Bog Garden

lingering

deep into twilight

a robin and me



For All Commoners

faint breeze
at the tip of my nose
dandelion wish

Still Almost Spring

The temperature outside may be cold and damp. The sky may be gray and grayer, but I know that spring is here when the frost leaves the ground and everything tilts a little less.

spring thaw
the gate settles
into its old swing

luminous moon
the lichen too
breathe in the light

Quake

a day blowing wind the earth shivers a wave

two male cardinals
duke it out for real estate
thinly melting snow