Blue Heron Walking

There's a wonderful poem in The New Yorker titled, "Blue HeronWalking" by Julie Bruck. You can read it and hear the author read it here. I LOVE these birds and am going to miss them when they leave for the winter.

It's Friday I'm in Love

Fall has finally arrived! Scenes like this, I shot at the local nature preserve, will soon be gone for another year. But the new season brings its own rewards.

On the love list this week:

This book.

It's a gorgeous book that combines two of my favorite things: poetry and illustration. Gah! Love, Love, Love! Here's an example:

The poem that accompanies this awesome art piece is called (aptly enough) "How to Find a Poem"

How to Find a Poem

Wake with a dream-filled head.

Stumble out into the morning,

barely aware of how the sun

is laying down strips of silver

after three days' rain,

of how the puddles

are singing with green.

Look up startled

at the crackle of something large

moving through the underbrush.

Your pulse jumping,

gaze into its beautiful face.

The wary doe's body,

the soft flames of ears.

As it bounds away,

listen to the rhythm 

of your own heartbeat's disquiet.

Burn into memory

the white flag of its parting.

Before you return

to house and habit,

cast your eyes into the shadows,

where others stand waiting

on delicate hooves.

-- Joyce Sidman

Every poem and accompanying illustration is just as beautiful. I can't say enough how much I love this book.

A few other things I added to my list this week:

Heidi Swapp Life Theme book.

There were a few different designs to choose from but I love the black and white stripes. I plan on covering the pink "best of times" square with a scrap from an old painting of mine. The cool thing about this is the inside:

Every page looks like this. Yay! The square on the left (3 1/2") is for your photo and then you can journal or write about it on the lines opposite. I LOVE this layout and this notebook. I'm trying to gather my favorite images into a book form and this is perfect. I found this at Michael's and with the 40% coupon was a great deal. I will get more of these.

Favorite photos from this week:

In honor of the poem above. This one was watching me very closely as I traveled through the woods that day.

I haven't seen as many monarch butterflies this year. Whenever I spot one, I try to get a lot of shots. This one made me happy. :)

That's it for Friday Love. Have a great weekend and thank you for stopping by.

On Crowns and Crones

I bought this crown a few months ago because I loved the look of it and I also thought it would be great as a prop for photo shoots. Recently I've been attracted to books that speak to aging women, handling menopause, etc. I'm in my mid-50's and these topics are becoming more relevant to me.

I'm taking a fantastic photography class offered by Galia Alena called Into the Light. There are so many inspirational lessons, profiles of beautiful work by photographers and just so much information I am loving it.

One of the lessons this week, "Archetypes in Imagery", was given by Stacy De La Rosa.  *Swoon* I LOVED this lesson. She talked about the Crone archetype and how that term is often misunderstood. I know that I immediately think of an ugly, old witch when I hear the word. But if you read about the goddesses and archetypes you learn that the crone is a wise woman. Which led me to these books:

Both of these books have come at the perfect time. LOTS of wisdom here. Love, love, love!!

Maybe when I bought the crown some of these feelings were working behind the scenes. Anyway, I'm glad I have it and I know I will be using it in a lot of future photography. In the meantime, I'll be devouring these books and feeling a little better about what lies ahead.

It's Friday I'm in Love

Isn't he adorable? :) I loved trolls when I was younger and was glad to see them back (in an altered form) again. I couldn't resist getting a few in this mini size.

A few other things from my happy list this week:

The sweet little hummingbirds that visit my feeder all day. I have three feeders and there is usually a bird on one of them whenever I glance outside. They make me happy. EXCEPT when they fight with each other! They are so territorial. There is usually one bully each year that will take over a feeder and he'll sit in the tree and watch for other birds who try to eat from it. Then he'll swoop down and knock them off the feeder. Ugh! If only they knew there is plenty of food to go around for all of them. But that's how they roll.

This time of year they are starting to really fatten up, getting ready for their migration when Fall sets in. I usually have them up until about the second week of October. Then there may be a visitor now and then from a straggler heading south.

Write Now Podcast I discovered this podcast about a month ago and I love it. I'm trying to get back into the writing habit after a long hiatus and I find this podcast extremely useful. Confession: I'm just now discovering the magic of podcasts. I never really thought much about them or had any interest in checking them out. Now I get it. This is one where I find myself repeatedly listening to older episodes.

This book.

For some time now I've been wanting to really dig into certain authors' works. David Foster Wallace is one of those authors. I like downloading the samples from Amazon or Barnes & Noble to get an idea of what the book is like. I'm just now diving into this one and I can tell I'm going to love it.

These notebooks.

I have a fascination with the notebooks and journals of writers, artists, poets, etc. Really looking forward to starting these this weekend.

Finally, this magazine.

I usually get it at Barnes & Noble. I wish we could get all of the issues but it's printed out of the country and they don't send every issue here. But what does come is wonderful! They even have an issue devoted to paper lovers (yay!) with tons of art papers to use for collage or whatever you wish.

So that's it for this week's It's Friday I'm in Love. Thank you for stopping by!

Feeling Like Fall

Autumn Eyes

Press your body

close to the ground.

The earth 

still smells of summer,

and the body

still smells of love.

But the grass

is turning yellow over you.

The wind is cold

and full of thistle seeds.

And the dream that haunts you

on shadow-feet,

your dream

has autumn eyes.

-- Hilde Domin

I love this poem! It expresses exactly how I feel with the approaching Fall season (my favorite time of the year). I took this photo on my last outing to the nature preserve. The landscape is slowly changing and you can feel the subtle shifts in nature.

Confession: I hibernate in the Summer. Heat and humidity of mid-summer (especially here in the Midwest) can be SO oppressive. UGH! I just wilt and my energy is zapped. When there are those beautiful days with less humidity and lower temps I do get out and enjoy them. Thankfully, they are starting to appear more often now.

Fall is my time! I come alive, I want to be outside, I love the smells: campfires, pumpkin spice, apples and the crisp colors that start to appear. I really enjoy the sweaters, the boots, Halloween, the chill in the air and football! Gah! It's not quite here yet, but there are signs that it's approaching. Early mornings are a little cooler and of course the daylight is shorter. The real test will be when my beloved hummingbirds leave for the Winter. I am so excited when they arrive and I get a little sad when they depart. 

So I'm getting that stirring, that excitement, that spark inside. Fall is coming and I'm ready!

It's Friday I'm In Love

I thought it would be fun if Friday had an "I'm in Love with..." theme. I'll include a few things that have brought a smile to my face during the week. We'll see how it goes. For example, these flowers just said "happy" to me when I saw them in the grocery. So I brought them home, took them out on my deck with a cup of coffee, snapped a photo and made a happy memory.

Five other things that brought a smile to my face this week:

This book. It's the best book I've read in a long time. It's funny (as in laugh out loud funny), serious, sad and sweet all in one. I LOVED it.

I go through phases with reading: there will be a long pause where I won't read anything besides the newspaper (yes I still read a paper!) and then I'll go on a reading frenzy (like now). I love all kinds of genres: fiction, non-fiction, literature, sci-fi, fantasy, poetry... whatever catches my eye.

This magazine. It's the second issue that I've picked up and I LOVE it. There is a lot of beautiful photography, interesting articles and even reviews of camera equipment (*sigh*). These are just a few of the things I find they do particularly well.

This poetry collection. Simple, gorgeous poetry. Very enjoyable. I LOVED everything about this book.

This shot of the moon the other night. Hubby called me outside to come look. It was this gorgeous golden color. I LOVED just standing outside in the quiet and watching it for awhile.

Finally, my favorite photo of the week. I may have mentioned that my happy place to go photograph is our local nature preserve. I LOVE the wildlife, the scenery, the woods and the solitude of walking the trails and finding animals busy in their little world.

This is the first year I've seen a kingfisher! I had to Google the different kingfishers to make sure that was what this little fellow is and yes, it's a banded kingfisher. They are amazing creatures to watch. They sit high up on a perch, stare down at the water and wait until they see a fish. Then in an instant they dive straight down and spear one with their long beak. Here is the best shot I could get. They are small birds and this was pretty far from the shoreline. Such a gorgeous little bird!

And that's my "It's Friday I'm in Love". Thank you for stopping by. Have a great weekend!

Taking Flight

And so it begins. A new start, a new blog and a new mindset.

I have fallen in love with photography (and with cameras!). Learning about the different effects that result from film and digital cameras has been so exciting. I am loving the process. No, I'm not a professional. Just someone who has found a hobby that brings me so much satisfaction.

 My main subjects so far have been nature and the wildlife found at our local nature preserve. I LOVE watching the animals interact with each other and with their environment. It's very peaceful to take long walks in the woods, end up down by the water and observe the activity of the animals in their little world.

I want to branch out into street photography, too, but being an extreme introvert makes that a challenge; not impossible, but definitely a challenge. So we'll see how that develops in the coming weeks.

Thank you for stopping by and visiting my new space. There will be tweaks here and there but it's good to get this thing rolling.