winter solstice

An empty vase on the front porch captures the waning light.

winter loveliness

This is my winter song to you ...

the storm is coming soon,

it rolls in from the sea ...

Is love alive?

From Winter Song, by Ingrid Michaelson

winter rose

Rosa Graham Thomas

In the backyard, just before the snow

first frost

A clematis in bloom, discovered today while cutting back the frost-bitten dahlias.

backyard

"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn." ~ Elizabeth Lawrence

autumn rain

Dahlia 'Eternal Snow'

House windows flutter quietly in the day - now more, now less - and breathe deep the garden air, still warm with the radiance of summer ... a dahlia blossom, made heavy by the rain, nods on a bent stem and finds its way into my kitchen ... this is autumn. - MMW

happy birthday

Moon, plum blossoms,

this, that,
and the day goes
- Issa

electric blue

hakonechloa macra aureola
shimmering in August

The Summer Day, by Mary Oliver ... I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Chicago, impressionist

Japanese Bridge, Claude Monet 1899
Outdoor room No. 2, Sean O'Keeffe 2009

muriel's birthday

Fuji chrysanthemums @ ladies' lunch out. So very ... Martha

Saturday in the park ...

I enjoyed a wonderful 4th of July with friends ... dining al fresco at Karma Cafe in Hoboken, hiking along the waterfront, up past 33rd street ... for a heady impressionistic display of fireworks against the Manhattan skyline. All on the loveliest of summer evenings. (Photos, not my own!)

second scene

Things seen while walking in a woodland garden. A creamy white rose from a wedding bouquet, and old wooden window frames for hanging in the trees.

robin's egg blue

Empty Bowl Meditation ... what's in your head, let it go... what's in your hand, release it ... what's in front of you, face it.

sweet peonies

Last year, I was drawn to a cheerful and open-faced peony, the Krinkle White. This year, I am lost in white, a cool and dreamy, wordless white.

rose and redbud

the world is sweet and the world is wide ...

tete-a-tete

These daffodils were the "extras" that came with my fall planting order. After ~ 13 weeks in the refrigerator (in moist potting soil, under a foil tent) they were transferred to a moderately sunny spot in the kitchen. Click on the photo to see how the light plays off the creamy petals.

paper white

narcissus ... narcissus ...

winter canvas No. 1

Shadow and light on plaster.
(Jan 2009)

“And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.” — Rainer Maria Rilke