keep your peepers open!

keep your peepers open!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

amuse bouche

It’s not what you look at that matters,
it’s what you see.
               - Henry David Thoreau











The source of inspiration for what I share can sometimes be amusing. Today it came from a funny late night sketch about quotes; the words above provided a perfect entrée to serve you my selections from the hundreds of things I saw and photographed on one short walk.
 
Find the humor and keep all senses fired as you…  


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Sunday, August 26, 2012

bugsee

The decibel level of the noise, i.e., the male mating song, created by the cicadas outside my window is deafening and rather bazaar just like the bugs themselves. Like a fly on steroids, their size unnerves me! When I saw one on the ground of the parking lot, I just about tripped over my flip-flops to avoid it though strangely I found myself easing back over to take a picture. I wasn't sure if it was dead or alive and would have freaked out if it lifted off into flight so I had to be quick with the aim and shoot. On the download, I was quite surprised. Who knew that a cicada was quite striking in color, that its body and wings iridescent?

I'm not too keen on bugs though I seem to catch them going about their daily lives when I least expect to.





I think seeing them through the lens or when they show up in a picture by accident is helping me to appreciate ones that creep me out and love even more the little ladies…


Actually one greeted me in my room when I traveled to the Berkshires, a nice welcome and a good omen.

keep your peepers open!®

ps - I left out this morning and as I turned to make sure the front door of the building was closed caught the following :)







Wednesday, August 22, 2012

favorite love

Love the Beatles, am able to recognize many of their earlier songs as soon as I hear the first few chords. So when I heard a guitar play the first notes of And I Love Her, something didn’t quite ring true. It wasn’t the Fab Four touching my heart with one of my favorite tunes by them, it was one of my favorite guitarists. In his rendition, no lyrics are sung but none are needed as the song is equally moving, the love beautifully conveyed.

I have several Pat Metheny cd’s each composed of original compositions. What a pleasant surprise to stumble on to What’s It All About -- ten classics that I happen to adore, all acoustic. A perfect companion for a good book, glass of wine, a nice evening with a few friends or just for two, a lovely way to either start or close the day, I highly recommend this great end of the summer find. It’s simply gorgeous music.



And I love him for a drive down a scenic road, top down, evening wind warming my face and skin, so…

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Sunday, August 19, 2012

stories

Amongst the many flowers, plants, and shrubbery in my
grandparent’s gardens grew the coleus. They weren’t my favorites, certainly weren’t the prettiest next to all the splendid spring blooms. However, I was quite fascinated with them, with the varied striation of colors and design and the soft velvety feel of their leaves. I wondered how I could sew these natural fabrics into a voluminous skirt to billow around my legs in a summer breeze. When I stumbled onto a huge patch of them after a 12 hour day at the office, I found myself stopping, my rush to get home suddenly replaced by a desire to linger in a moment past. I tried to remember why my grandmother had us pinch off the tops of the buds, a memory still hiding somewhere in my head, as I admired the lush assortment of plants dancing at my feet to the whispering evening wind. It didn’t much matter that I couldn’t recall that specific thing. Just being transported back to a time when after 12 hours, tired was still several hours away made me tingle with a delight that put a little skip in my step as I went to find my vintage car for the short drive home.


Photographs are the beginning of a story that starts with the eye of the beholder and unfolds in the imagination of the viewer. My hope is that you let yours roam to places past, present and unknown as you…

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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

fatigue


want to collapse,
to end this long day.
can't summon thoughts 
 except to say…

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Sunday, August 12, 2012

clear

The big picture...how often I hear those words in reference to the workplace, during a heated discussion between couples, when talking about diplomatic relations, even from folks who look at my photographs and wonder what surrounded my subjects.


I tend to zero in on very specific pieces of the whole. A single leaf, half of the blossom, a knot on a tree, I take in the enormity that is in manageable doses, an homage of sorts to all that make up that whole.


There are moments, situations when we need to narrow the focus, close in and get close up. Hear, see and try to understand what is right before us before we broaden the scope. 


Fully acknowledging the details then pulling back to the entirety just may reveal a clearer picture if you...

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Wednesday, August 8, 2012

book report

I have always loved to read.  All through grammar, junior, high, undergrad and graduate school, I managed to find time for a leisure escape between the pages though a bit of the pleasure was sucked away because I was reading between my textbooks! There truly is something more relaxing about reading these days knowing that schoolbooks are no longer vying for my attention.

This summer, I devoured good novels right along with some that were just okay. So if you've finished feelin' Grey or like me never began and are (still) searching for a good book, I suggest You Are the Love of My Life by Susan Richards Shreve. It’s a page-turner perfect for the summer/beach that may be best left for the porch or snuggled up on a hammock since it is in hard back. Far from an erotic romp, this one is a well-written novel about lies, secrets and shame that I seemed to finish in one huge bite!

I do plan to delve into at least one more novel or an anthology of short stories or poetry before the end of August. As life has it, once September arrives, a stack of materials for learning purposes awaits my eyes as I prepare to take classes later in the fall. My book basket has a few selections that I bought but have yet to start so let me see what grabs my interest and as I do…

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Sunday, August 5, 2012

all hail

This past Thursday I chose a different route to take me from point B (location where I had facilitated a workshop) to point A (my abode). It was just past dusk. The traffic lights were in sync for a change as I cruised south on 14th Street, my mind and eyes on the road, my spirit still back in the room where class was held. The past 2 ½ hours had been joyous and rewarding; I wanted to keep the feeling alive for a while longer. The last block before Pennsylvania Avenue is a hill. I moved to the far right to make the left and almost wrecked my automobile! The devastatingly gorgeous full golden/orange moon resting just left of the Capitol dome was stunning, a huge surprise that caught me off guard as it snatched my breath. I slowed down in order to catch a red light, whipped out my camera, rolled the window down, leaned out…snap. Drove a little further, pulled over, leaned out…click. This went on for several blocks until I was a couple short from the Capitol when I suddenly made a U-turn, pulled over, parked. Got out of the car, walked to the middle of the street, stood in the twilight in the middle of the bike lane and took one more picture. It was what I thought was a perfect end to a marvelous day…



…until I got home and watched Gabby Douglas become the Queen of Gymnastics.

It is with proud admiration that I write, All Hail!!!

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Wednesday, August 1, 2012

saved

After more than one reminder that I was OVER capacity in office emails, I began deleting messages that for some reason I thought I needed to keep; taking a closer look revealed that I could do without more than a 1000 of them. Not too quick on the delete, I found there were a few that even after two or three years were very relevant and worth saving. One in particular spoke about embracing womanhood, about honoring the woman that we are. My conversation with girlfriends lately seems to center around being in touch with what we now desire in our lives rather than staying on paths that no longer feel right. Paused at a place where past and future intersect the present, we are still, introspective with moments of expressed frustration eventually calmed by the one listening, hearing, supporting. Now more than before we recognize that others of our species are allies not competition as we lay the groundwork to pursue interests with renewed passion and purpose, maybe with people we’ve yet to meet and each time we sign off I think to myself, life is about to get interesting…

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