Monday, April 28, 2014

Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars... and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers — for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are. ~Osho


 What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
~Gerard Hopkins


 I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.... People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back. ~Alice Walker, The Color Purple, 1982


 I’ve always regarded nature as the clothing of God. ~Alan Hovhaness




 I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars. ~Walt Whitman



Monday, April 21, 2014



 Crossroads _ 
   and the road we are on is crossing some dangerous tracks!
Earth day.


(from Earth Day : The History of a Movement @ earthday.org )

 I am so old I remember the ''first'' one well. I was the same age as  my eldest grandchild now It was huge and exciting . I had been touched already . by a deep deep  ache in my heart learning of animal extinctions,pollution and all was ''Mercy, mercy me, the ecoolgy, what's going on?''As an elementary student I remember seeing a tv nature special and felt like Joan of Arc . I got my Polaroid camera and set out to do an exposé on the litter found just n my home street alone ( I was only 10 so could not venture too far).That year, 1970, we planted trees on my school property, flowing trees I recall. Before I graduated high school the  trees were removed and , yep, really, it was paved over for a parking lot just like the song sings.
Now as old grandmother I see  past 40 years ''we might as well have been walking on sun'' and our kids (grandkids) are hippy-chic but are they environmentally aware? Disney brought Suess' Lorax to the big 3-D screen ( and grandma and kids loved it and Betty White rocks!) but did we hear?
Climate change *Chemical Spills* Ocean Garbage Patces* Bees & Butterfly populations drastic decline * Oil spills * Fukishima * Fracking * Deforestation *  Water Quality and Rights.....


 Now when I go out  I seldom photograph the litter, or pollution,the dumping and careLESSness of humans upon Mother Earth. I seek the spots of beauty, of positive life, of interesting and odd and fun and fascinating. Sometimes the human interaction is seen but mostly I shoot the natural and my love only deepens.



 The winter here was harsh and before that 2 years drought. Each day is a gift in which a blossom may smile for but that day then be gone. There is an urgency to try to grasp each fresh day's offerings before they flit away, and even more so as  it seems threats to the natural unfolding of beauty seem evermore frought with accidents, events and the crisis of carbon overload on the planet tipping the balance into an unknown future.
i want my grandchildren to be able to raise children who will know the thrill of seeing a wildflower laden with Monarch butterflies resting mid-migration.I want them to trust the waters around them to be drinkable and safe to wade in, fish in and play.








 Let the flowers bloom (YES Alice Walker “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.” YES!)
listen to the birds sing and waters dance,
let the pollinators do their work spreading life and beauty all around


 To Earth Day
and better tomorrows





 “Do not just look, but you should also observe.” Ainun Annisa


 “Don’t look at the shape - look at the character.” Vikrant Parsai


 “My mother says I'm crazy, I'm not crazy, I just have a different way of looking at things.” James Kidd

 “The best way to find anything is to look with an opened mind.” Richard Diaz




 “Senses will lie as dreams wake. You are not on solid ground. Don't look down.”  Brain McGreevy

 “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” Michael Michalko





It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”Carl Sagan