they teach me how to listen.......

“i pray to the birds

because i believe they will carry the messages of my heart upward.

i pray to them because i believe in their existence...

the way their songs begin and end each day...

the invocations and benedictions of earth.

i pray to the birds because they remind me of what i love

rather than what i fear.

and at the end of my prayers...

they teach me how to listen.”

~ terry tempest williams

Turtle helps friend who's flipped over.

always trust your cape......

"life is just a leap of faith...

spread your arms...

hold your breath....

and always trust your cape....."

~eric bibb

dear melancholy.....

i love reading leah dieterich's daily notes.....

this one is so true.....

thx leah..

offer myself humbly........

in the name of the daybreak

and the eyelids of morning

and the wayfaring moon

and the night when it departs...

i swear i will not dishonor

my soul with hatred...

but offer myself humbly

as a guardian of nature...

as a healer of misery...

as a messenger of wonder...

as an architect of peace.

in the name of the sun and its mirrors

and the day that embraces it

and the cloud veils drawn over it

and the uttermost night

and the male and the female

and the plants bursting with seed

and the crowning seasons

of the firefly and the apple...

i will honor all life

wherever and in whatever form

it may dwell

on earth

my home...

and in the mansions

of the stars.

~ diane ackerman

happy birthday big brother.......

my older brother's birthday is this monday......tomorrow there's gonna be a surprise party for his 60th birthday...... like most of us of a certain age......he seems to be hanging on to his glory days........

he was one of the few....the proud.....the marines.........

now he's a harley riding old fart.......


happy birthday...brother
i don't think i've ever told you this...but....
i love you.....

inspiring.........

the money i spend on books and magazines......it's a shameful thing.....but a price i willingly pay to connect with "my kind of people"......artists.....junkers....dreamers......all soooooo inspiring.

i love...love.....love...being invited into their creative spaces....seeing their art....reading how they always felt like outsiders until they connected with others like themselves thru blogging.

none....NONE.....of my friends and family....GET me.....me...the one stopping in the parking lot to pick up rusted washers...."special rocks"....fallen bird nests....THRILLED to find an old cracked teacup in the junk store.....a musty smelling book from 1911....grungy rolls of ribbon....

i'm thanking the universe and the powers that be for the internet...and all the intricate... spidery trails on the web... that link me to my "pack".........

when all the birds are faint...

“when all the birds are faint with the hot sun
and hide in cooling trees
a voice will run from hedge to hedge
about the new mown mead
that is the grasshopper’s
he takes the lead
in summer luxury
he has never done with his delights
for when tired out with fun
he rests at ease
beneath some pleasant weed.”

~john keats

unnoticed......

"that proves you are unusual

returned the scarecrow...

i am convinced the only people

worthy of consideration

in this world

are the unusual ones...

for the common folks

are like the leaves of a tree...

and live and die

unnoticed..."

~lyman frank baum

UP

last night we finished up our bible school with hot air balloon rides......there was so much excitement while the children watched and waited

for the balloon to be inflated....all the kids......young and old....braved the heat for their own version of "UP" lots of smiles....and laughs...
i think the look on this child's face says it all.......

stitches

”One day David Small awoke from a supposedly harmless operation to discover that he had been transformed into a virtual mute. A vocal cord removed, his throat slashed and stitched together like a bloody boot, the fourteen-year-old boy had not been told that he had cancer and was expected to die.

In Stitches, Small, the award-winning children's illustrator and author, recreates this terrifying event in a life story that might have been imagined by Kafka. As the images painfully tumble out, one by one, we gain a ringside seat at a gothic family drama, where David — a highly anxious yet supremely talented child—all too often became the unwitting object of his parents' buried frustration and rage.

Believing, as most parents do, that they were trying to do the best, David's parents, in fact, did just the reverse: Edward Small, a Detroit physician, who vented his own anger by hitting a punching bag in the family's basement, was convinced that he could cure his little son by shooting him up with heavy doses of radiation, yet with near deadly results; while David's mother, Elizabeth, a tyrannically stingy and excessively scolding parent, ran the Small household under a cone of silence where emotions, especially her own, were hidden.

Depicting this coming-of-age story with dazzling, kaleidoscopic images that render nightmare in a form that becomes a fairytale in itself, Small tells us of his journey from sickly child, to cancer patient, to troubled teen, whose risky decision to run away from home at 16 — with nothing more than the dream of becoming an artist — would become the ultimate survival statement.
A silent movie masquerading as a book, Stitches is as much a memoir as a tale of redemption that informs us that things can get better, that good can emerge from evil, and that art has the power to transform. It is a both a profound gift and a remarkable achievement, a book that renders a broken world suddenly seamless and beautiful again.”

~ http://stitches.davidsmallbooks.com/

it's shameful to see so many people rationalize their bad behavior

on painful childhoods when there are some... like david small...

who are resilient and go on to touch the lives of

some many.....

thank you for sharing mr. small.....

the choice is ours.......

“all of life is a journey…
which paths we take…
what we look back on…
and what we look forward to…
is up to us.
we determine our destination… ”

~unk

namaste....

rock on dude!

punk is musical freedom.

it's saying, doing and playing what you want.

in Webster's terms, 'nirvana' means freedom from pain,

suffering and the external world,

and that's pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock.

~kurt cobain

i love this tree!

every time i ride by

it just puts a big ole grin on my face.....

rock on dude!

other imperfect birds....

"each has to enter the nest

made by the other

imperfect

bird..."

~rumi

....color me happy

i have been DROOLING over beach cruisers for a long time now. i check out craigslist several times a week.....stop in bike shops.....oh....i've found ever so many that i wanted....but the price....well....right now....they were just beyond my little county check! but today....i had to pick up something in our local walmart and what did i spy???? OMG! it was love at first sight....and my new "vintage" bike was about one fourth the cost of the ones i've been pricing. well...let me tell ya....that plastic jumped right out of my pocket book. we'd found each other at last! the colors don't show well in cyberspace but it's mint green (the color of the vintage t-birds)... with cream fenders and chocolate grips and seat......LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!

now i'm dreaming of a big funky basket... and a bell......LOL. i never had a bike as a child....how sad is that? well...i got one for christmas once and someone stole it before the new wore off....and i never got another until i was an adult. this is a part of my 'looooooooong range' retirement plan...to go along with my 'sometime in the future' vintage travel trailer. ooooooh yeahhhhhh.....color me ...HAPPY!

want! want! want!

"the snail he lives in his hard round house...

in the orchard... under the tree...

says he... "i have but a single room...

but it's large enough for me."

~anonymous

i've got a little single room home....just large enough for me...

on my wish list.....want! want! want!

the chit chat of birds....

how cute is this aviary? it's made from recycled windows and has casters so it can be rolled around....

this was the creation of one of the many talented crafters employed by martha. i borrowed the picture for this post. head on over to martha stewarts website and get the directions for your own little bird palace.

i've got an antique armoire.... where my television currently resides.... that i've been thinking of making into an aviary.... hearing the chit chat of birds in the home....one of lifes simple pleasures.....

natures stained glass........

i haven't been a part of shadow shot sunday for a while but when i shot this

butterfly this afternoon and saw the shadow of the flower thru it's wing

i just couldn't resist. it was like looking at the world thru natures

stained glass.......

head on over to HEY HARRIET and check out some other great shots.....

happy fourth ya'll.....

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July!

scuffed and worn....

i am sooooooooo in love with vintage anything! at least once or twice a week i do the thrift store crawl (such as it is in my small town) looking for treasures. i bought this top suitcase for a whopping five dollars and the other two..........i rescued them from the garbage pile! SCORE! i snatched these up like they were gold.... from the salvation army.....with a look of pity from the girl behind the counter..... a suitcase without wheels........OMG!

i can't help but wonder where they've been....with who....by car....train....plane....what hopes were packed along with the necessities....what treasures rode home in them.....

i've got a trip to edisto beach planned this fall with a few of my friends. i'm thinking these vintage girls should accompany us vintage girls to the shore.....they'll be in good company....we're all a little scuffed and worn ourselves....but still hanging in there......and still enjoying life......

invisible to the eye...

"the greatest treasures are those invisible to the eye

but found by the heart...."

~ anonymous

of poetry and frogs....

“if we can discover the meaning

in the trilling of a frog…

perhaps we may understand

why it is for us not merely noise

but a song of poetry and emotion…”

~ Adrian forsyth

this little guy makes his home in the small pond beside my screened porch

and on these hot...sultry...summer nights...

he serenades me...

with the sound of his poetry...

whew.........

whew!.......i seriously need an inside kind of job.........

...a bowl of summertime

"steep thyself in a bowl of summertime...."
~virgil

nothing quite says summertime here in the south like a good tomato sandwich

....with tomatoes fresh from the garden.

on this first day of summer i had my first BLT with a

tomato still warm from the garden.....

i always eat pepperidge farm 15 grain whole wheat bread

....except for tomato sandwiches

brings back memories of my childhood

when EVERYONE ate white bread....plenty of mayonnaise....salt & pepper.....

yum!

i will dare...

"i will dare to just do what i do...

be just what i am...

and dance whenever i want to..."

~ beverly williams

on becoming real....

"it doesn't happen all at once…

it takes a long time….

by the time you are Real…

most of your hair has been loved off…

and your eyes drop out…

and you get loose in your joints…

and very shabby….

but these things don't matter at all…

because once you are Real…

you can't be ugly…

except to people who don't understand."

~ the velveteen rabbit

the older i get....the more i find comfort in becoming

.......REAL

my newest edition........

meet the swinger

polaroid swinger

meet the swinger

polaroid swinger

it’s not just a camera

it’s almost alive

it’s only nineteen dollars

and ninety five

swing it up (yeah yeah)

it says “yes”

take the shot (yeah yeah)

count it down

tear it off

this is the newest edition to my collection...

i had one of these in the sixties...it started my love of photography

i couldn't get the you tube link to work....check out the commercials here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7k2uwJmwxo

simple pleasures...

queen anne's lace... actually a member of the carrot family....wild carrot...

one of my favorite wild flowers...i love the 'bird nest' look before it fully opens...these lacy flowers are all along the roadsides and fields this time of year.
i collect some each year and dry them on a shelf of chicken wire

to use in arrangements and sometimes on my

christmas tree....

simple pleasures....

the merits of sitting quietly...

"happiness is a butterfly...which when pursued...

is always just beyond your grasp...

but which..if you will sit down quietly...

may alight upon you."

~ nathaniel hawthorne

...the less he spoke the more he heard

"a wise old owl sat on an oak...

the more he saw the less he spoke...

the less he spoke the more he heard...

why aren't we like that wise old bird?"

does the soul remember?

bloodroot: a flower whose blood-red sap possesses the power to both heal and poison.

bloodroot: a book by amy greene....set in the appalachian mountains...family curses...granny women...love-hate relationships...and the fierceness of a mothers love..this book reminds us that "you can't run away from who you are or where you come from".

i do love reading anything about the appalachian way of life...maybe it's because my family roots can be traced back to those hills...does the soul remember?...i think it does...whatever the reason...this was a delicious read!

"some creatures are just meant to be left alone.

they can't be held on to...

even if we love them

more than anything"

~ douglas cotter - bloodroot

comes the dawn.....

"after a while you learn

the subtle difference between

holding a hand and chaining a soul

and you learn

that love doesn’t mean leaning

and company doesn’t always mean security.

and you begin to learn

that kisses aren’t contracts

and presents aren’t promises

and you begin to accept your defeats

with your head up and your eyes ahead

with the grace of woman, not the grief of a child

and you learn

to build all your roads on today

because tomorrow’s ground is

too uncertain for plans

and futures have a way of falling down

in mid-flight.

after a while you learn

that even sunshine burns

if you get too much

so you plant your own garden

and decorate your own soul

instead of waiting for someone

to bring you flowers.

and you learn that you really can endure

you really are strong

you really do have worth

and you learn

and you learn

with every goodbye, you learn…”

veronica a. shoffstall

ron mueck

australian hyperrealist sculptor....ron mueck.....AMAZING!

van morrison is singing in my studio......

do you have a room in your house that ''centers" you? my studio does that for me. i frequently come here to just sit quietly...to just...be....

today was the first day i've actually worked in my studio in a long...long while.....and i must say....it felt good....

i'm working on a necklace ......

......for me...... a welcome home present.........

an attachment to sweetness

“the honey in the flower or lotus does not crave for bees…they do not plead with the bees to come. since they have tasted the sweetness…they themselves search for the flowers and rush in. they come because of the attachment between themselves and sweetness. So…too…is the relationship between the woman who knows the limits and the respect she evokes…”

~ sri sathya sai baba

...a cosmic dance

"when we are alone on a starlit night... when by chance we see the migrating birds in autumn descending on a grove of junipers to rest and eat...when we see children in a moment when they are really children... when we know love in our own hearts... or when... like the japanese poet... Basho... we hear an old frog land in a quiet pond with a solitary splash ... at such times the awakening... the turning inside out of all values... the "newness"... the emptiness and the purity of vision that make themselves evident... all these provide a glimpse of the cosmic dance."

~Thomas Merton

....on this overcast spring saturday

i glimpsed my own "cosmic dance".....

....powerful beyond measure

"our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

it is our light... not our darkness... that most frightens us.

we ask ourselves... who am i to be brilliant... gorgeous... talented and fabulous?

actually... who are you not to be?

you are a child of God.

your playing small doesn't serve the world.

we were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

it's not just in some of us... it's in everyone.

and as we let our own light shine...

we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

as we are liberated from our own fear...

our presence automatically liberates others."

~Marianne Williamson

.................awesome!

i love not man less....but nature more

"there is pleasure in the pathless woods

there is rapture in the lonely shore

there is society where none intrudes

by the deep sea and music in its roar

i love not man the less

but nature more."

~ lord byron

....our hearts say we're friends.......

"our roots say we're sisters....our hearts say we're friends..."

~ unk

purple in my heart......

this spot of jackmanii in my yard gladdens my heart..........

there is a purple finch who has her nest here beneath the purple flowers...

i love that.........

happy mother's day mom

"my mom is a never ending song in my heart

of comfort, happiness, and being. i may sometimes

forget the words....but i always remember the tune."

~graycie harmon

happy mother's day mom

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

....like riding a bicycle

"life is like riding a bicycle...

in order to keep your balance...

you must keep moving."

~albert einstein

my apologies

i know i've been mia...

but...now...i think i'm ready

to climb back on life's bicycle

and keep moving...

they say...

once you learn to ride a bike

you never forget...

hoping it the same

with life...

with eyes that know the darkness in my soul....

Starry, starry night.

Paint your palette blue and grey,

Look out on a summer's day,

With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.

Shadows on the hills,

Sketch the trees and the daffodils,

Catch the breeze and the winter chills,

In colors on the snowy linen land.

Now I understand what you tried to say to me,

How you suffered for your sanity,

How you tried to set them free.

They would not listen, they did not know how.

Perhaps they'll listen now.

Starry, starry night.

Flaming flowers that brightly blaze,

Swirling clouds in violet haze,

Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue.

Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain,

Weathered faces lined in pain,

Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.

Now I understand what you tried to say to me,

How you suffered for your sanity,

How you tried to set them free.

They would not listen, they did not know how.

Perhaps they'll listen now.

For they could not love you,

But still your love was true.

And when no hope was left in sight

On that starry, starry night,

You took your life, as lovers often do.

But I could have told you, Vincent,

This world was never meant for one

As beautiful as you.

Starry, starry night.

Portraits hung in empty halls,

Frameless head on nameless walls,

With eyes that watch the world and can't forget.

Like the strangers that you've met,

The ragged men in the ragged clothes,

The silver thorn of bloody rose,

Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.

Now I think I know what you tried to say to me,

How you suffered for your sanity,

How you tried to set them free.

They would not listen, they're not listening still.

Perhaps they never will...

~Don McLean

i sit.....

wrapped in a blanket....

under this gorgeous moon...

the twinkling light of a thousand stars...

humming this song...

with the background music...

of crickets...

and night birds....

and i am smitten

by the beauty

of this night.

the sound of water

"you will always find an answer

in the sound of water"

~ chuang tzu