alskuefhaih
asoiefh

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Getting ready


Posted by Picasa

July 15 Don and I will travel to Ireland for two weeks, where I will help coordinate a study abroad program for first year students coming to MSU in the fall.

This is a photo at Tara in Ireland from last summer when I visited two study abroad programs. The yew trees welcomed me with ancient arms. I felt I'd lived there forever, that I was one of them.

I want to be in that churchyard today, sitting among the yews. I can close my eyes and be there when I need a break from a crazy day at work (today!).

Isn't it nice to have a spot to "go to" when you need to meditate, go inside, or just chill?

Or is that escapism?

For me, it's not. It's not that I want to be there, not here. I just want the peace I feel in that place. So by closing my eyes and "going" there, I find peace within.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Corn update


Posted by Picasa Click image for larger view

Back on June 7 I posted a corn update. The corn plants were about 12 inches high then, 2 1/2 weeks ago.

Yesterday, we stopped to measure how tall the corn has gotten, because we're a week away from the 4th of July and the famous almaniacal adage that the corn is usually "knee-high by the 4th of July." It looked quite high -- waist-high for me, maybe?

Well, even with a week to go, the corn is to Don's hips (he is 6 feet tall). In mid-Michigan we've had the perfect combination of rain and sun this season to make all the flora prolific! More raspberries and blackberries ripening than ever. Lush, lush, lush!

If you live in Michigan (or not) click here to see how to find locally grown organic foods via MOFFA (Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance). I hope more and more farmers will realize what a market there is (I think!) for locally grown organic produce and start selling it!

Paris Deconstructed blog

Friday, June 23, 2006

Shadows, lights


Posted by Picasa

I work on the second floor of Morrill Hall. These photos were taken on the first floor, where there is still old tile. I love how serene it feels on that floor, with the light reflected.

In this week of the longest day of the year, there has been a lot of light and shadow in extremes. The light is always there, sometimes more subtly than others. But it's always there.

And in the shadows, there is much to be explored.


Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Something oversized: DO NOT PASS

Click on image for larger view

This is my submission for the weekly Brookston photo scavenger hunt. This week's theme is "something oversized."

Nothing like getting stuck behind a big farm machine like this to make you slow down and look at the wheat and corn growing! There's no room to pass.

DO NOT PASS, ha! Like I could!

(But really, I don't want to. I LOVE following these things.)

Monday, June 19, 2006

A window: Rob Brezsny and "Pronoia"


Posted by Picasa

It’s easy to be pessimistic about the world and its woes. It takes courage to be optimistic.

Rob Brezsny believes the whole world is conspiring to shower us with blessings. After all, think about all the things that went RIGHT for you since you got up this morning! (That’s his book there on the table at the Crazy Wisdom bookstore I visited with friends Friday in Ann Arbor. Played hookie, oh joy.)

Here are some quotes from Rob Brezsny:

“Here’s what I say: We will ignore the cult of doom and gloom and embrace the cause of zoom and boom. We will laugh at the stupidity of evil and hate, and summon the brilliance of praise and create. . . Life is crazily in love with us—wildly and innocently in love with us. The universe always gives us exactly what we need, exactly when we need it.”

“I’m allergic to dogma. I thrive on riddles. Any idea I believe, I reserve the right to disbelieve as well.”

“’The secret of life,” said sculptor Henry Moore to poet Donald Hall, ‘is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life. And the most important thing is—it must be something you cannot possibly do.’”

“Refuse to dehumanize anyone, even those who dehumanize you.”

“Artistic geniuses who in days past might have been van Goghs or Rembrandts now create gorgeous propaganda for the advertising industry.”

“Working with your dreams can help you stop colluding with the global genocide of the imagination.”

“In the New World, it won’t be your material wealth that will win you the most bragging points. Nor will it be the important people you know or the deals you’ve swung or the knowledge you’ve amassed or your mate’s attractiveness. What will bring you most prestige and praise in the civilization to come will be your success in transmuting lead into gold—how thoroughly you have integrated your shadow and tapped into its resources.”

You get the idea.

Dare I move forward with Brezsny, join the divine wow and greet the world with a kiss?

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

It's just a window


Whatever your faith or persuasion, would you join me today by sending out loving energy across this violent world of ours? Listening to NPR coming to work this morning I felt ill listening to the news of Gaza, Iraq and the political meanderings of some silly suits.

We have personal power, and when we send it out as love and light, it is energy that creates rather than breaks down. Whether you pray, meditate, or whatever you do (or don’t regularly do) please join me and send LIFE out to a crazy, hate-filled world.

Where are we going to be 10 years from now if we don’t wake up??

Monday, June 12, 2006

Jake


This is a wild turkey that has come close to the house lately. He's a "jake," which is an adolescent male (not yet capable of reproduction) and has all of these characteristics:

1. Outermost wing feathers lack white barring all the way to the tip.
2. The beard is six inches or shorter.
3. The central tail feathers are longer than the rest.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Pigeon at you


I hope my new blogger friends LE PRUNIER MEI and LA VIE EN ROSE don't mind that I followed them into a blog photo scavenger hunt. I'm late joining this one (10th of 13 weeks). But it is good practice while I'm studying photography.

This is my first entry. This week's search is "bird."

This guy sat patiently while I clicked away. I loved the turquoise and orange backdrop of the parking structure. When he looked straight at me, I felt like my blog friend Rauf who has conversations with his jungle birds and that Mr. Pigeon wanted to say, "are you done yet?" After all, I had joined him on the lonely top/fifth floor of the parking garage, and he probably has it to himself every day for preening, until this crazy woman sneaks up and slides her camera along the wall, click, click, click.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Corn update


This is the same field as on my post May 25 (almost two weeks ago), from a different vantage point on a road around the corner.

There is a lot of "yard art" around Michigan.

Monday, June 05, 2006

Iris, continued


The iris is at its loveliest in nature. But I can't help playing with it in other formats, emphasizing its simplicity, which can be lost en masse.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Beard & Tail


Blue iris. Type?

Eastern tiger swallowtail at the mock orange for nourishment.