Some Perspective Today

After Years

Today, from a distance, I saw you

walking away, and without a sound

the glittering face of a glacier

slid into the sea. An ancient oak

fell in the Cumberlands, holding only

a handful of leaves, and an old woman

scattering corn to her chickens looked up

for an instant. At the other side

of the galaxy, a star thirty-five times

the size of our own sun exploded

and vanished, leaving a small green spot

on the astronomer's retina

as he stood in the great open dome

of my heart with no one to tell.

Ted Kooser, from his book of poetry called "Delights & Shadows" which won the Pulitzer Prize. He is the 13th Poet Laureate of the United States.

Happy Tuesday.

Mommy, Look!

I happened to have my camera this time...


And this time...


And this time...

:)

Beauty and Frailty

Every year we make the drive from Arlington to New Mexico along US 287 for our family holiday in the mountains. Each year, I long to stop and take a closer look at the old cotton field farm houses in Memphis, TX. Well, recently, I finally had the opportunity to stop at a few of them.

Some would say they look sad, but I believe that houses, like people, have a lifespan. These houses remind me of elderly women - frail, full of memories of a life only she will know, resigned and breathtakingly beautiful.

This particular house is located at approximately 2769 US 287 in Memphis, Texas. I have a couple more of this homestead in my Flickr.

More on these houses in future posts.

Vintage Horse Love

As a child, I had favorite book that will forever be etched in my memory: Album of Horses by Marguerite Henry. It was filled with winsome paintings by the illustrator, Wesley Dennis. I spent hours poring over that book and even more hours on the floor in the sanctuary of my bedroom with typing paper and a No. 2 pencil attempting to draw each horse featured in the book. I loved that book.

So when I found a few vintage Breyer horses at a flea market a couple of weeks ago, I knew just what I wanted to do with them: PLAY. And that's what I've been doing.

This is the beginning of a series of photographs inspired by my favorite book, Album of Horses. Stay tuned for more. If you'd like to see more of this horse, please check out my Flickr. I've named her Honey.

To Plant a Tree

At the beginning of this summer we were forced to have a 100 year old oak tree removed from our front yard because it had a disease that could have infected all of the other beautiful old oaks around our home. The tree stood by itself and shaded half our front yard. I used to gaze out my second floor studio window at the birds that visited that tree in the spring and summer. And in the wintertime, I'd catch myself studying the shadows the tree left on the ground after it shed all its leaves.

I miss that tree, terribly.

This spring we will plant a new tree in its place. We've not yet decided which kind of tree to plant, but I just found the most amazing tool to help us with our decision. Greg McPherson, who is the director of the Center for Urban Forest Research in Davis, California, has helped develop a downloadable tool that can calculate the benefit of whichever tree you want to plant - or a tree you already have. It's called the Tree Carbon Calculator and it requires just three bits of information about your tree to calculate the amount of carbon dioxide it will store or has stored. Cool, right?

Find out more about the Tree Carbon Calculator and download it here.

Inspired? Good. Go get yer shovel.

Vintage Photography Book Find

Lookie what I found!! Published in 1972, packed with beautiful photographs from that time AND a special section devoted to One-Step Photography. Specifically, my love: the Polaroid SX 70.

Below is a statement by a wonderful man, Edwin H. Land, that I just had to share. (Click on it to see it larger so you can read it, silly!)

And here are the diagrams from the book that illustrate exactly how this wonderful camera works. (Click on the diagram to view larger.)

Brilliant, huh?!

Vintage Snap Love

Aren't they sweet?

And look at that killer smile!

Went to the Cattle Barn Flea Market in Fort Worth this weekend and scored some random goodies. I fell in love with these two photos and had to take them home with me. I also found a completely filled diary from 1927. The daily entries are a tiny glimpse of the life of a college girl living the north east. There are mostly facts recorded: what she did that day, where she went and who she saw. A nice little glimpse into life in the 1920's.

Baby Shower Invitation

It's gonna be a BOY!!

This is a little image I created for my sister-in-law's baby shower invitation. I printed them on square Crane & Co. cards. AND I finally learned how to make rounded edges for my images using Photoshop! Click here to learn how, too!

I will be listing this as a Custom Baby Shower Invitation in my Etsy shop soon. Hmmm.... I suppose I should make one for girls, too?