Winter Sunset

January 28, 2011 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

“Your eyes register only a limited degree of the creative vibration that makes up everything in creation … Those persons who have perceptive eyes enjoy beauty everywhere.” – Paramahansa Yogananda

(Thanks to my friend, Pat, for sharing this lovely quote.)

Textures of Snow and A Question

January 27, 2011January 27, 2011 / still a dreamer

If you’re anywhere in the mid-Atlantic region you’ve been getting hit with snow. Here in New Jersey we got hit with a 1-2 punch yesterday and again last night. Thankfully, I shoveled after the first round because now there’s another 12″ or so in most places, and maybe 3′ out there where the plow went through. I decide to do a first pass at 8 a.m. to make an access lane from my side porch to the street and also clear off the back/side porch and wherever Little Fee, the feral I feed, might be coming from.

BUT … before I did … I had to take some photos of the unmarred beauty of the snow. And the question? Whatever happened to the teenage boys that used to come around on snow days looking to make some money shoveling some of us out? Yeah, yeah, I know … they’re home texting and playing on the internet. Kinda sad, as I guess it’s a time gone by.

That’s it – I’m hearing my shovel call …

Winter Sky at Dusk

December 11, 2010December 11, 2010 / still a dreamer / 2 Comments

As I was just about finished what I was working on – it was 5 to 5 – I happened to look out at the sky. An amazing bright pink streak of a cloud was winding down to earth in the darkening dusk. A smaller pink streak appeared to the left. Grabbed the camera and rushed out to the porch, and this is what I could catch from the ground floor.

And then as I turned to come inside, I looked up towards the southern sky, and there to the left of the pink cloudshow, was an eighth moon, gently rocked back, and glowing brightly. How grateful I am just to catch moments such as these.

Photographing the Light

September 8, 2010 / still a dreamer

How many times have you seen something and said “Darn! I wish I had a camera!”

It’s pretty common, I think, and I really do try and remember to bring my camera along at least some of the time. But I notice there are often magical moments to capture right around my own home or neighborhood … when I’m paying attention, that is. I don’t think it matters what kind of artist we are for us to be aware of the magic of light.

As I walked down my upstairs hallway the other morning, I noticed that the spider plant atop one of my bookcases looked outright sparkly. The morning sunlight was filtering through the mini-blinds and creating this wonderful pattern on only the plant. This time it was easy to run and get the camera.

Because this play of light was so striking, I became aware as I walked about the house of the other spots where that same sunlight/mini-blind phenomena was occurring. There were several spots, but the other one that was noteworthy to me was this image at left, along the stairs, where the silhouette of the rusted tin horse seemed a special little vignette all its own.

I always feel that all of these small captured moments are grist for the mill in my creative endeavors – maybe an inspiration for an illustration or even a writing passage. Have you been aware lately of any small magical moments of the interplay of light around you?

Fabulous Farmstand Food

August 11, 2010 / still a dreamer

For those of us living in or near agricultural counties, New Jersey is a cornucopia of gorgeous fresh produce, pouring in during a long growing season. It’s absolute heaven.

And it’s a shame that so many people think of New Jersey – the Garden State – as a series of networked, ugly highways thorned by uglier power plants and factories. While a small portion of eastern New Jersey may look like that, so many more parts of the state are lush, green and abundant. In Hunterdon County, small farms and farmers’ markets abound, all offering an assortment of delicious fresh produce from early spring through November.

The other day I went berry and peach picking with a friend and her 3 kids at Phillips Farms in Holland Township.

The blackberries were outstanding, but I had really gone for some white peaches and Jersey tomatoes. I suppose many states lay claim to having the best tomatoes, but I’m still sticking with New Jersey.

Same for Jersey corn! Phillips Farm also had a great assortment of flowers – sunflowers plus many other kinds in bouquets, and some plants and herbs at $5 apiece.

Now if you can imagine, we have all this for months on end. Inside there was corn picked just that morning, gorgeous string beans, zucchini, kale, radishes, onions, cucumbers and more.

This same friend had come back from a trip to Colorado – a somewhat isolated city, (as they called it – a suburb to New Jerseyans), where the food was … well … pretty poor, as she described it. And then I realized how enormously fortunate we are to be sitting right next to our food sources for so much of the year. I sure am grateful!