Thursday, December 31, 2009

farewell 2009

farewell 2009......i've packed my bag....i'm not looking back.........
it's time to turn to a crisp new page.....set ink to the paper that begins the next chapter in my life. i'm not looking to write a great novel.....just a 'feel good'....happy....read..... worth curling up in a chair with a good cup of joe.....
i'm not one to make resolutions.....we all know good intentions pave the road to hell........but i do hope to be a little kinder.....gentler....to myself in this coming year.... this old warrior....marked with the battle scars of fifty seven years...needs to lay down her sword and shield.....and turn over the rock of life she's fought for so valiantly......to reveal the carved word underneath......."PEACE".......

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

a winter's sunrise



"there was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise....or hope."
~bern williams


this amazing sunrise enveloped me on my way to work this morning......


it took my breath away................

Sunday, December 27, 2009

inspiration


.....believe

"keep believing that you have the passion...intelligence...brilliance...creativity...
depth...and savvy to find that quiet center of solace...serenity...and strength
necessary to create and sustain an authentic life. every day is the prayer.
an authentic life is the most personal form of worship. when you start
believing....you'll discover that all things are really possible."
~ sarah ban breathnach


Friday, December 25, 2009

christmas 2009

wow...............ouch! ouch! ouch!.........justjody is glad this day is behind her! i can honestly say i've never had a christmas like this one....... no tree........no decorations.....no family.......i wuz the grinch from hell this year! i'm sitting here soothing my soul with some good wine and tunes..... thinking i really need to snap outta this funk! i'm sure it doesn't make for good reading and it..... for sure..... isn't doing me a bit of good! i apologize for being such a downer lately. when i started this blog i told myself i wouldn't post anything negative and here i've been letting my bleeding old heart ooze all over cyberspace. sorry....sorry.....sorry.... god promises a safe landing....not a calm passage.... i don't need to waste what is on what was.....or what might have been.....

i did a little porch sitting tonight............i couldn't see any stars because this christmas night wears a blanket of fog....but i knew they were up there....i felt their glow....carassing me..... like the warm rays of the sun.....drying the tears from my face....gladdening my heart. as i listened to the quiet of the fog....i felt a peace i haven't had in a while now......and the healing began............

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Monday, December 21, 2009

wisdom

look at this absolutely AMAZING picture of andrew wyeth.... taken by photographer and filmmaker andrew zuckerman for his new book WISDOM............WOW!" Inspired by the idea that wisdom is the greatest gift one generation can give to another, award-winning photographer and filmmaker Andrew Zuckerman interviewed, photographed and filmed 50 of the world’s great writers, actors, artists, designers, politicians, musicians and religious and business leaders of our time. He posed seven questions to each of his subjects—all over 65 years of age—and their candid responses offer uniquely inspirational and often surprising insights. " ~ amazon.com

i LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! this book. the photographs are brilliant...... and make me want to reach into the pages and trace each face with my fingers.....committing them forever in my mind. i devoured this book.............

Sunday, December 20, 2009

the fixer.......

i am a fixer…..from as far back as i can remember….i am the one people come to with their problems….their pain....i am the strong one…..the one who gets things done….i am the fixer. i’ve taken care of my parents…..my siblings……my children….friends……and with my job….victims of all race…creed….and situation…..but…..who fixes the fixer? people assume that my strong exterior goes all the way to the core of my being….wish they could be like me….but.....they see only the face i offer up to the world….when in reality…..it’s a daily battle to keep the fragile pieces that make up who i am from imploding ….with sound of a thousand fine crystal glasses.... breaking….. falling….. tinkling….. and glittery….. into a pile..... on the floor….leaving only an image.... like that burned into the memory of your eye from a searing light...... i’ve become a master at hiding the real me…….the most noble actor on this stage called life.....covering up the sound of the chains i carry…..and the quiet click of the door closing in my heart..... so……who fixes the fixer? i can soothe her each night with wine…and music…..i can make her rise each morning and force her to put on her mask and cape…… and send her out into the world to fight the evils of another day…..but I can’t fix her…..i can’t fix her……who fixes the fixer?

Saturday, December 19, 2009

wanderer


wanderer......
your footsteps are the road....
and nothing more.

wanderer......
there is no road.

the road is made by walking.

and upon glancing behind.....

one sees the path......

-Antonio Machado




Friday, December 18, 2009

thank you for your sacrifice..........



"Rest easy... sleep well my brothers

Know the line has held..... your job is done

Rest easy..... sleep well

Others have taken up where you fell......the line has held

Peace, peace, and farewell..." ~ unk

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

a chester morning......

i went into town this morning before work to take a couple of shots of our christmas lights. our city hall stands proudly atop the hill in all her finery. she's a wonderfull old building....full of squeaky wooden floors.......and history. i like that our flag spends it's nights as silent guard to the entrance.... instead of being folded away at day's end.... our proud flag....our proud city.....our proud county....state......country.......
our city is graced with some of the most beautiful old homes.....what a great place for 'porch sitting'.....


this is our christmas shop......full of trees.....ornaments.....and christmas cheer........



i love the icy blue colors of this wreath at anna's arbor.......


christmas is best viewed thru a child's eyes.......with a child's wonder......walking the streets this morning.....all alone....in the foggy mist.....i felt the hand of my younger self slip into mine...and watched a wide.... crooked toothed grin spread across her freckled face..... as she looked around in delight..... at the small wonderland we call home......and as i watched her quick smile.....i felt the scowl that has long graced my old.... worn.... face.... melt into a matching ....crookedy toothed grin....and for a few minutes.....basked in a childish joy... at the multitude of twinkling stars...before the sun peeked over the hill....in chester...south carolina...........



asylum

check out this book by christopher payne "asylum is a haunting, beautiful book of lost dreams and lost minds. it is a reminder that society's ideals deteriorate more rapidly than the structures built to facilitate them. asylums for the insane, which started with high intentions, usually ended in horror and neglect." ~ kay redfield jamison

you can purchase this book here.





Sunday, December 13, 2009

rainy days and revenants........

what is it about rainy days that call revenants to visit my doorstep…..whispering things i don’t want to hear….would bleed to forget? why can’t these pages torn from some long ago calendar stay in the past….instead of besieging my mind and soul ….causing me to listen with the ear of my heart….the sting of tears in my eyes…..chest tight with pain….grasping for some semblance of control over these tumultuous feelings. i grow so weary of burying the past…..over ……and over….and over. that story is no longer there girl…it’s characters have all moved on to the next chapter…..except for you…..the lone actor still trying for an encore performance after all these years….i fold these memories carefully and tuck them neatly inside my heart….like a flower from some happy time…. pressed in my favorite book……knowing that inevitably i’ll turn to that page at some future date and the memories will come spilling out like angry hornets…..turning me into a living revenant….a ghost of the person i was….like energy released from a fervent fire….soaring among the sparks and ash….making my way heavenward…. to become inscribed among the stars….. as a lesson to others…….this is what happens when you give your whole heart and forget to save an ember for a future fire………..

Thursday, December 10, 2009

only kindness matters.........

" if i could tell the world just one thing
it would be that we're all ok
and not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful
and useless in times like these
i won't be made useless
i won't be idle with despair
i will gather myself around my faith
for light does the darkness most fear.....
.....in the end......only kindness matters......."
~jewel

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

let your light shine........


look within your very centered space and see the part of you that is pure spirit.....pure light.... pure energy. visualize all your limitations falling away.... one by one... until you are safe... healed ...and whole. know that no matter what is going on in your life...no matter how difficult things may be... at the very center of your being you are safe.... and you are whole. you always will be. lifetime after lifetime... you are a shining spirit....a beautiful light. sometimes you come to this planet and cover your light and hide it.... but the light is always there. as you let those limitations go...and as you recognize the true beauty of your being.... you shine brilliantly. you are love...you are energy.....you are spirit. you are the spirit of love shining brightly. let your light shine. ~ louise hay

Sunday, December 6, 2009

having one of those days...........

it's the nature of an enigma to remain unsolved...........and inscrutability means just what it says...........who can say why someone holds a mortgage on your soul....leaving you to wear them for the rest of your life......like a scar.......

Saturday, December 5, 2009

find your creativity


to find your creativity you have to leave the city of your comfort

and go into the wilderness of your intuition.

you can't get there by bus...only by hard work, risk,

and by not knowing what you are doing

or where you are going.

what you discover will be wonderful.

what you discover will be yourself ~ alan aida

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

my symphony


to live content with small means

to seek elegance rather than luxury

and refinement rather than fashion

to be worthy.... not respectable

and wealthy.... not rich

to study hard.... think quietly

talk gently..... act frankly

to listen to stars and birds... to babes and sages...

with open heart

to bear all cheerfully.... do all bravely

await occasions.....hurry never

in a word.... to let the spiritual.... unbidden ......and unconscious

grow up through the common........ this is to be my symphony


~William Henry Channing

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

.......for bette

sending you hugs and kisses on the wind.........



i miss you mom........

Sunday, November 29, 2009

.......tomorrow

no matter what happens in our lives there's one certainty...........life goes on.......the sun may slide off the sky and drown in a sherbet puddle.....but it will surely rise again tomorrow........
that's really all we can ask from life.........a chance to rise and start again.......tomorrow........

Saturday, November 21, 2009

i'm not moving.........

'cause if one day you wake up and find that you're missing me
and you're heart starts to wonder where on this earth i could be
thinking maybe you'll come back here to the place that we'd meet
and you'd see me waiting for you on the corner of the street

so i'm not moving
i'm not moving ............

august........1993........i'm not moving..............


Wednesday, November 18, 2009

november 18...........

today is a bitter sweet day…………..lots of memories………..some bad………..some good………all in the past. It’s good to open yourself up to pain sometimes…………..it proves you’re still alive……..wasn’t so sure I was for a long....long..... time….but….i am…….i’m trying to let past hurts mold me into a better person……a stronger person……a kinder person…………i want to reach out and touch moonbeams…….feel the wind off the ocean on my face……witness the wonders of the world with a child’s curiosity……dance naked under the stars……….stand on the highest mountain and gaze out across the clouds……….feed my spirit and soul with all nature has to offer………and walk basked in love for myself….. because i matter…..i matter……..i am the brilliant light of ten thousand shooting stars…..soaring thru the night….making my way slowly to where i’m supposed to be……to the exact spot created just for me…….my destiny……..my place in the universe……..my home…………..

Sunday, November 15, 2009

blessed



i snapped this shot last night in the gloaming.........it just took my breath away. it was the perfect ending to a beautiful day. as i looked up i felt so small and insignificant.......but connected to something much greater than myself...........and.....again..........felt blessed.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

waiting

Monday, November 9, 2009

beyond words

A Secular Sermon - by Ben Okri

1
We began before words, and we will end beyond them.
It sometimes seems to me that our days are poisoned with too many words. Words said and not meant. Words said ‘and’ meant. Words divorced from feeling. Wounding words. Words that conceal. Words that reduce. Dead words.

If only words were a kind of fluid that collects in the ears, if only they turned into the visible chemical equivalent of their true value, an acid, or something curative – then we might be more careful. Words do collect in us anyway. They collect in the blood, in the soul, and either transform or poison people’s lives. Bitter or thoughtless words poured into the ears of the young have blighted many lives in advance. We all know people whose unhappy lives twist on a set of words uttered to them on a certain unforgotten day at school, in childhood, or at university.

We seem to think that words aren’t things. A bump on the head may pass away, but a cutting remark grows with the mind. But then it is possible that we know all too well the awesome power of words – which is why we use them with such deadly and accurate cruelty.

We are all wounded inside one way or other. We all carry unhappiness within us for some reason or other. Which is why we need a little gentleness and healing from one another. Healing in words, and healing beyond words. Like gestures. Warm gestures. Like friendship, which will always be a mystery. Like a smile, which someone described as the shortest distance between two people.

Yes, the highest things are beyond words.

That is probably why all art aspires to the condition of wordlessness. When literature works on you, it does so in silence, in your dreams, in your wordless moments. Good words enter you and become moods, become the quiet fabric of your being. Like music, like painting, literature too wants to transcend its primary condition and become something higher. Art wants to move into silence, into the emotional and spiritual conditions of the world. Statues become melodies, melodies become yearnings, yearnings become actions.

When things fall into words they usually descend. Words have an earthly gravity. But the best things in us are those that escape the gravity of our deaths. Art wants to pass into life, to lift it; art wants to enchant, to transform, to make life more meaningful or bearable in its own small and mysterious way. The greatest art was probably born from a profound and terrible silence – a silence out of which the greatest enigmas of our life cry: Why are we here? What is the point of it all? How can we know peace and live in joy? Why be born in order to die? Why this difficult one-way journey between the two mysteries?

Out of the wonder and agony of being come these cries and questions and the endless stream of words with which to order human life and quieten the human heart in the midst of our living and our distress.

The ages have been inundated with vast oceans of words. We have been virtually drowned in them. Words pour at us from every angle and corner. They have not brought understanding, or peace, or healing, or a sense of self-mastery, nor has the ocean of words given us the feeling that, at least in terms of tranquility, the human spirit is getting better.

At best our cry for meaning, for serenity, is answered by a greater silence, the silence that makes us seek higher reconciliation.

I think we need more of the wordless in our lives. We need more stillness, more of a sense of wonder, a feeling for the mystery of life. We need more love, more silence, more deep listening, more deep giving.

2
When the angels of the Bible spoke to human beings, did they speak in words? I don’t think so. I think the angels said nothing, but they were heard in the purest silence of the human spirit, and were understood beyond words.

On a more human scale there are many things beyond.

A mother watches her child leave home. Her heart is still. Her eyes are full of tears and prayer. That is beyond.

An old man with wrinkled hands is carrying his grandchild. With startled eyes the baby regards his grandfather. The old man, with the knowledge of Time’s sadness in his heart, and with love in his eyes, looks down at the child. The meeting of their eyes. That is beyond.

A famous writer, feeling his life coming to an end, writes these words: ‘My soul looks back and wonders – just how I got I got over.’

A young woman, standing on a shore, looks out into an immense azure sea rimmed with the silver line of the horizon. She looks out into the obscure heart of destiny, and is overwhelmed by a feeling both dark and oddly joyful. She may be thinking something like this: ‘My soul looks forward and wonders- just how am I to get across.’ That is beyond.

3
A flamenco dancer, lurking under a shadow, prepares of the terror of her dance. Somebody has wounded her with words, alluding to the fact that she has no fire, or ‘duende’. She knows she has to dance her way past her limitations, and that this may destroy her forever. She has to fail, or she has to die. I want to dwell for a little while on this dancer because, though a very secular example, she speaks very well for the power of human transcendence. I want you to imagine this frail woman. I want you to see her in deep shadow, and fear. When the music starts, she begins to dance, with ritual slowness. Then she stamps out the dampness from her soul. Then she stamps fire into her loins. She takes on a strange enchanted glow. With a dark tragic rage, shouting, she hurls her hungers, her doubts, her terrors, and her secular prayer for more light into the spaces around her. All fire and fate, she spins her enigma around us, and pulls into the awesome risk of her dance.

She is taking herself apart before our sceptical gaze.

She is disintegrating, shouting and stamping and dissolving the boundaries of her body. Soon, she becomes a wild unknown force, glowing in her death, dancing from her wound, dying in her dance.

And when she stops – strangely gigantic in her new fiery stature – she is like one who has survived the most dangerous journey of all. I can see her now as she stands shining in celebration of her own death. In the silence that follows, no one moves. The fact is that she has destroyed us all.

Why do I dwell on this dancer? I dwell on her because she represents for me the courage to go beyond ourselves. While she danced she became the dream of the freest and most creative people we had always wanted to be, in whatever it is we do. She was the sea we never ran away to, the spirit of wordless self-overcoming we never quite embrace. She destroyed us because we knew in our hearts that rarely do we rise to the higher challenges in our lives, or our work, or our humanity. She destroyed us because rarely do we love our tasks and our lives enough to die and thus be reborn into the divine gift of our hidden genius. We seldom try for that beautiful greatness brooding in the mystery of our blood.
You can say in her own way, and in that moment, that she too was a dancer to God.

That spirit of the leap into the unknown, that joyful giving of the self’s powers, that wisdom of going beyond in order to arrive here – that too is beyond words.

All art is a prayer for spiritual strength. If we could be pure dancers in spirit, we would never be afraid to love, and we would love with strength and wisdom. We would not be afraid of speech, and we would be serene with silence. We would learn to live beyond words, among the highest things. We wouldn’t need words. Our smile, our silences would be sufficient. Our creations and the beauty of our functions would be enough. Our giving would be our perpetual gift.

4
The greatest inspiration, the most sublime ideas of living that have come down to humanity come from a higher realm, a happier realm, a place of pure dreams, a heaven of blessed notions. Ideas and infinite possibilities dwell there in absolute tranquility.
Before these ideas came to us they were pure, they were silent, and their life-giving possibilities were splendid. But when they come to our earthly realm they acquire weight and words. They become less.
The sweetest notions, ideas of universal love and justice, love for one another, or intuitions of joyful creation, these are all perfect in their heavenly existences. Any artist will tell you that ideas are happier in the heaven of their conception than on the earth of their realization. We should return to pure contemplation, to sweet meditation, to the peace of silent loving, the serenity of deep faith, to the stillness of deep waters. We should sit still in our deep selves and dream good new things for humanity. We should try and make those dreams real. We should keep trying to raise higher the conditions and possibilities of this world. Then maybe one day, after much striving, we might well begin to create a world justice and a new light on this earth that could inspire a ten-second silence of wonder – even in heaven.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

happy

someone once told me
that you have to choose
what you win or lose
you can't have everything

don't you take chances
you might feel the pain
don't you love in vain
'cause love won't set you free

i can stand by the side
and watch this life pass me by
so unhappy
but safe as could be

so what if it hurts me?
so what if i break down?
so what if this world just throws me off the edge
my feet run outta ground

i gotta find my place
i wanna hear my sound
don't care about all the pain in front of me
'cause i'm just trying to be......happy
just wanna be happy, yeah

holding on tightly
just can't let it go
just trying to play my role
slowly disappear....oh

well all these tears
they feel like they're the same
just different faces
different names...
get me outta here

well i can stand by the side
and watch this life pass me by....
pass me by......

so what if it hurts me?
so what if i break down?
so what if this world just throws me off the edge
my feet run outta ground

i gotta find my place
i wanna hear my sound
don't care about all the pain in front of me
'cause i'm just trying to be...........happy
oh.....happy
to be....happy
.......oh

so any turns that i can't see
i'll count a stranger in this road
but don't say victim
don't say.....anything

so what if it hurts me?
so what if i break down?
so what if this world just throws me off the edge
my feet run outta ground

i gotta find my place
i wanna hear my sound
don't care about all this pain in front of me
i just wanna be........happy
happy.........oh
i just wanna be
i just wanna be
happy..........oh
happy

(leona lewis)

nature's gifts

experience is never limited,
and it is never complete,
it is an immense sensibility,
a kind of huge spider web
of the finest silken threads
suspended in the chamber of consciousness,
and catching
every air-borne particle
in it's tissue - henry james
we should all try
to experience life
as a small child
full of wonderment
and joy
in the gifts nature gives
to us

Thursday, November 5, 2009

mu


"one must forget oneself. it is like trying to see nature's reflection on the surface of a pond rippled by the wind; until the ripples subside, there is no clear reflection. in zen buddhism, to reach this point of no-self is call mu." - professor kinsaku nakane

Sunday, November 1, 2009

yugen

"yugen........tranquility, stillness of movement, the eternity within the transient......mystery and depth. yugen can be the thin cloud veiling the moon or the autumn mist wrapping the scarlet leaves on a mountainside.....or the reflection of a flower's color in a dew drop at dawn......." kathryn lasky

Saturday, October 31, 2009

hope everyone has a safe and happy halloween don't eat too much candy!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

david gosling

david gosling............another environmental artist.......... uses his background in tapestry weaving to create willow and steel sculptures.




check out more of his art here.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

hope

"to love is to risk not being loved in return. to hope is to risk pain. to try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing." - unk












Sunday, October 25, 2009

My BFF

ya know.....every now and then ......the stars line up just right .......and wonderful things happen. i just reconnected with my best friend during our teen years. as it turns out..........we've both been trying to track each other down over the years with no luck until i happened across her cousin on facebook. SCORE!

after a quick catch up session..... i'm amazed at how alike we've turned out to be.......gardeners, coffee enthusiast, wine lovers, bread bakers, junkers............oh..... i've missed you...... my twin sister from different mothers!
she's in virginia and i'm in south carolina....... but...... if i don't miss my guess....some day we'll hook up for a face to face reunion.... good for a kzillion belly laughs about our past antics.

judy.....judy.....judy..........wow........how great to hear from ya!


Thursday, October 22, 2009

my star crossed lover

i remember you

my star crossed lover

from ancient times

until now

our hearts have always been linked

our souls born over and over again

seeking the other half

and only when we meet again

will the cosmic dust

of a million stars

rain down

in joyous celebration

they are one

they are one

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

the remains of the day

i had my daily walk in the gloaming …….soaking up the last vestige of summer……heartbreakingly beautiful today. the smell of newly mown grass ….and earth…..and leaves filled my head…. triggering memories of childhood ……simpler times..... with each step…the melting away of the days stress…..leaving behind a content….peaceful…heart.

returning home in the dark… i grab a much needed cup of coffee…. retreating to the porch where I am the grateful recipient of an amazing sonata of cricket song…… a sliver of moon hanging low in the sky……there is music in my head…..and in my heart……as i slowly rock to the beat of the cricket’s singing…..sipping coffee…..all’s well in my small part of the world………

in fall

the cricket

beneath the rosebush

watches

as the roses fall

to the very ground

that is his kingdom also.

so they're neighbors

one full of fragrance,

the other

the harper

of a single dry song.

we call this time of the year

the beginning of the end

of another circle,

a convenience

and nothing more.

for the cricket's song

is surely a prayer,

and a prayer, when it is given,

is given forever.

this is a truth

i'm sure of,

for i'm older than i used to be,

and therefore i understand things

nobody would think of

who's young and in a hurry.

the snow is very beautiful.

under it are the lingering

petals of fragrance,

and the timeless body

of prayer.

- mary oliver

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

god's beauty

a simple cotton boll.........it's texture.........it's shape........god's beauty abounds............

Saturday, October 17, 2009

the joys of porch sittin'

this is where i begin and end my day.......in the mornings the smell of that first cup of coffee mingles now with the damp smell of fall. i sit quietly and listen to the sounds of nature awakening.....letting them wash gently over me.....feeding my spirit.
as i age i find great comfort in "porch sitting"........to just......be. i'm trying to break the habit of feeling i always need to be doing something......the dishes need washing.....the bathroom scrubbed......... all those things will still be there tomorrow.
and late at night.....after the comings and goings that make up my life..........i ease out here with a glass of wine and let the light of a thousand stars illuminate the path to an easier.....more gentle place.........and feel blessed................

Thursday, October 15, 2009

the fun theory

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

patty prom queen

"all i ask is that you treat me no differently than you would the queen.........."

it's that time.........

i'm enjoying the last of my zinnias................ it's getting to be that time of the year.........

i've started collecting seeds for next years flowers.........


they're all tucked in waiting for their winters sleep...................


these seeds don't need to be collected.......they're happy to return.....year after year.



i don't know about you but this gardener is ready for cool evenings.....sitting by the fire.....with a good book....... a great cup of coffee.....and dreams of next years garden...........


Sunday, October 11, 2009

its the great pumpkin charlie brown

i made my annual trip to the local market for my pumpkins. it takes me forever to choose just the right ones.........i have to look at each one. perfection is never the goal....i look for the eccentricities.....picked out my pumpkins and gourds and hope to get my fall decorating done this week.
i've got the week off and hope to spend a good bit of time in my studio. i'm overdue for some downtime...............every so often i need to get myself back to good.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

remembering.......

i remember having a neighborhood store like this as a child......it was called pucketts. they carried a little of everything.....there was a butcher in the back with meats and hoop cheeses, fresh vegetables, washing powder in boxes, and of course a whole assortment of penny candy. the old wooden floors cracked and popped, announcing your arrival as you entered and were greeted by name. everyone's family had charge accounts that were paid up weekly and my mother was forever sending us to pick up some little something and have it put on the account. i remember once having air put in my bike tires and asking "cotton" to charge it to our account.....i didn't know there was no charge for air! a bottle of coke was five cents and when the price went up to six cents everyone vowed they wouldn't buy another one. we always poured a pack of peanuts in our cokes.these old sidewall tires were seen on every "rag top".

an old washer was sitting beside this old store. i don't remember us having one of these but i saw them at other homes.

i do love the comforts of today but i miss living in the times when the world seemed a happier, kinder place.










Monday, October 5, 2009

what big eyes you have

you're gonna put that thermometer where??? this is gonna be my blackmail picture of my newest grandson!
i can't wait to show it to his girlfriend.........

Friday, October 2, 2009

a good traveler



"a good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." - lao tzu

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

the land artist

strijdom van der merwe, a self described "land artist" based in south africa, just blows me away with the simplicity of his art. he works with sand, water, wood, and rocks to create geometrical forms whose
fragile beauty is documented with photographs before their transience.


this shot is wonderful on so many levels.....the shapes.....the lighting........


check out his website here for more of his work.