Transitions

June 22, 2013June 22, 2013 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

Just like life is filled with dreams and plans, so is it filled with transitions.

Over the last 2 months, I’ve had a number. The most recent, though initially stressful, has been the now-happy upgrade of my beloved Mac, the primary tool of my trade. Reliant as I am upon my Mac to make a living, I was not happy to find it behaving increasingly squirrelly as of late. It’s stood up to the test of time, but has missed a few OS upgrades as well as the accompanying program upgrades. My Mac superhero, Steve, told me that right about now is when hard drives often start to fail. Gulp.

It seemed the time had arrived. So off it went to Steve to have a new hard drive and double the memory installed as well as the latest OS and other upgrades. He brought it back, did his on-site magic, and then the biggest transition began, my learning all the (sometimes) improvements of the latest and greatest software. Trust me … a transition! (I’m much calmer now.)

But the bigger transition has been – and will be – in my diet. While not really horrible by any means, my cholesterol was found to be sufficiently high that it needed addressing. Before you could say “lower your cholesterol,” I found myself plopped on 3 drugs — me who takes no meds at all, just vitamins and supplements, and eats largely organically, relatively low-fat and 99% vegetarian is suddenly infused with three. And so began a series of escalating side effects, med changes and so on … not a happy experience.

Meanwhile, at a recent picnic I was pleased and surprised that a friend bought me a book – Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D. – which she read because of the benefit of the suggested diet to the prevention of cancer. I started reading. The regimen the author describes is beyond vegan in its restriction of fats, and a possibility, but has some very strong limitations. Still, I want to find a way to change my diet sufficiently to get off the meds, so I ordered additional books, one of which is pictured here, plus 2 cookbooks, Forks over Knives and the Joy of Vegan Baking and The Skinny Bitch Book of Vegan Swaps.

If I’m to consider going vegan, I need to know I have options … lots of them. I’m a bake it with butter, sugar and eggs kind of girl, and this is going to be a HUGE transition. And so I’ve begun reading, investigating, considering and shopping. That I already eat animals rarely makes one part easier, but giving up dairy? Now THAT’s tough. So I’m cutting out more dairy and animal fat than I already have and wading in.

I know plenty about the quality, or lack thereof, of our food supply and the toll it is taking on the health of millions of people as well as the planet and the horrendous suffering it is causing billions of animals. I’ve never wanted to be a part of that and have taken many steps over the years to limit my participation. Apparently, the next step – this transition – is mine to take.

Dreams and Plans

June 4, 2013June 4, 2013 / still a dreamer / 4 Comments

We all have them, right? And then something occurs in our lives and we can watch them go up in smoke. Or at least for a while.

But what I’ve found is that the phoenix can rise again from the ashes, except this time, the dreams and plans have changed, perhaps evolved. Or maybe are new altogether. In any event, they have been colored by that event and now they look quite different. Can you relate?

I was often told as a child that I daydreamed too much. It was made out to be a bad thing. But how do you proceed in life without dreams … something to hitch our stars to? It seems to me that when we lose our dreams or when they get mired in the muck is when we get in trouble. I never minded being called a dreamer. I still am, and it’s just fine with me. When I have no dreams, I’ve lost my moorings.

Recent events caused my dream of being published in children’s books to be pushed into the background, to be, at least for a period of time, not that important in the grander scheme of things. That happens. But early, early this morning – certainly before I wished to be awake – the dream was stirring again, and as I thought about it, a next step came into view … a plan. As I lay there, a number of things fell into place, and I knew what I would soon do. A dream with a plan … that felt good!

Sometimes we just make plans that arise out of an event, in my case related to my health. OK – that happened, what will I do now? Up until this morning, I didn’t really know. Not exactly, anyway. However, it seems my unconscious has been quite busy when I wasn’t looking. A number of recent events – a conversation with someone I’d never really had a chance to talk to, a book that crossed my path, a wanting to know what I should do – click, click, click – it all fell into place, and suddenly I had a plan. Ideas that had been more on the line of `maybe someday’ or `that seems impossible,’ suddenly seemed real and do-able.

It’s amazing when we have a plan, how much lighter we feel. It’s as if a fog that has been swirling about us has burned off and we are standing in radiant sunshine, arms lifted in joy and anticipation. A plan, enlightened by a dream, is a wonderful thing. The path may have pebbles or rocks along the way, but it glows nonetheless.

That old Irish blessing comes to mind, and I wish a beautifully lit path of dreams and plans for you, too …

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Grounds for Sculpture – III

May 31, 2013June 13, 2013 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

In this third post on the Grounds for Sculpture you will see sculptures inspired by famous Impressionist paintings, and all are by one sculptor, Seward Johnson. As Impressionism is my favorite period of painting, I was beyond enamored while at the Grounds by each and every one. I also discovered, in perusing Seward Johnson’s website, that sculptures I have already included in previous posts are by him as well.

Entitled “A Thought to Consider,” this sculpture was inspired by Manet’s “In the Wintergarden.”

Johnson is 83 years old, and to say he is prolific is an understatement. His sculptures cover far more than those inspired by paintings, but giant sculptures of people, (see “American Gothic” in an earlier post), and people engaged in everyday activities. If you really want to see the amazing scope of his work, go visit his website.

Meanwhile, enjoy an initial selection of some I photographed.

“Sailing the Seine” was created after Manet’s “Argenteuil.”

Seward named this “Pondering the Benefits of Exercise” inspired by Renoir’s “The Rowers’ Lunch.”

Based on Monet’s “Woman with A Parasol,” Seward named his sculpture “One Poppied Hill.” The woman and her child are indeed high on a hill. You might easily pass them by as you walk through the grounds if your eye had not already been trained to look everywhere as the sculptural gems are displayed in every manner and place imaginable.

Created 3-dimensionally after one of Monet’s most famous paintings, “Terrace at Sainte-Adresse,” Seward titled this “If It Were Time.” The two photos above are close-ups; to see the entire installation take a quick look here. (p.s. The child in the view immediately above is real.)

And who better to show than Monet himself painting the scene, discreetly obscured in nearby brush. Seward named this sculpture “Copyright Violation!”

This is really just a handful of sculptures by Seward Johnson. When I can I’ll share more of his and other sculptures at the Grounds.

Grounds for Sculpture I

Grounds for Sculpture II

Utterly Simple, Extraordinarily Wonderful

May 29, 2013 / still a dreamer / 6 Comments

When I first moved to my current address, I was a bit disappointed when I was requested not to plant anything in the ground. I was asked to please limit myself to potting flowers or plants on my porches. While at first that seemed a big restriction, I soon remembered an earlier home I lived in where I was on an half acre. Initially, I was ecstatic. A former owner was a gardening wizard and had all kinds of things growing from Spring to Fall, and lots of beds for the annuals of my choice. I particularly loved planting around my mailbox each year. (I’d never had a free-standing mailbox in my life, and this stood at the line where my property met the road.)

As an artist, I was loving creating fabulous color areas and changing them each year. Having come from an apartment, I also loved mowing the grass and raking the leaves of the many, many trees on my half acre. By about the fifth year, the enthusiasm was wearing off, and while I still loved my wonderful piece of land, life had gotten busier and I realized that all that landscaping was a major commitment. I never stopped doing it, but it had also become work.

So here I have a much smaller and more manageable gardening world … seating arrangements and tables which hold whatever annuals I pot for any particular year … and it’s just fine. This year I fell in love with, (among other flowers), miniature pansies, and planted two pots with two colors, a two tone purple and a delicate purple and yellow. Yesterday I started to pinch them back so they wouldn’t become too leggy, and rather than toss what I’d taken, I put them in a jelly jar on my desk. And here they sit, bringing a smile to my face each time I look at them.

I am reminded of how little it can take to bring happiness, and how something so utterly simple can be so extraordinarily wonderful. That the pansies are sitting in a jelly jar from the nearby farm that makes their own delicious jams, jellies and sauces even makes me happy. There are times when life’s stresses and busy-ness take us away from what’s right in front of our noses. And sometimes what’s there is really all we need.

Buffalo and My Beautiful County

May 18, 2013May 20, 2013 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

I have really had a hankering in recent months to do something/see something different. I am in love with the beautiful county where I live, but I’ve also wanted to just see something new, local or otherwise. So when a friend mentioned going to a buffalo watch, which would most likely offer some good photo ops, I thought it a great idea. And off we went. The day was overcast, but for me, that doesn’t detract at all from the lovely views.

This is a photo of the Readington River Buffalo Farm from a distance. My friend and I decided to take the tour, which is a bunch of us in a hay wagon pulled around the farm by a John Deere. The farm is 200+ acres, and also stables a number of polo ponies. There is a store on the premises which sells a variety of cuts of buffalo meat, which, of course, I did not go in. I am well aware why they’re raising the buffalo; I wanted to simply enjoy the animals.

This is Lance, who drove the tractor. Our “tour guide” on the hay wagon is a member of the nearby Whitehouse Station Rescue Squad which benefitted from the small fee for the tour. He provided us with a lot of information about the economics of raising buffalo, the farm, the animals and how the owner came to raise them. I love that a woman runs this entire operation and that the whole farm is solar powered!

This is one of the two prize breeding bulls. I honestly wanted to get out and give him a kiss, but who knows how he would have felt about that even if it were allowed? Not to mention, if I could smooch a buffalo, EVERYONE would want to get out and smooch a buffalo!!

This is the second breeding bull. Here are a few things I learned about buffalo: they have 7 layers of skin and 4 stomachs; males and females both have horns, but the males’ horns are bigger; the bulls weigh 1,800 pounds! and did I mention they’re damn cute?

This is a shot on the road leaving the property. So often I want to take photos when I drive the beautiful backroads of Hunterdon County and share them here. The problem is, almost all roads are 2 lane blacktops with a double line and no shoulder. Very rarely is there anyplace to pull over, (without being in a ditch), to photograph the countryside. But today on the farm’s road, I could get out and do so.