Oh Lovely Earth....

Wishing I could make this photo ENORMOUS and put it on a wall somewhere!

When you work up close as artists do, getting space is essential so that you

can keep your viewpoint fresh.

This gorgeous scene was on a light misty rain sort of day in the Maryland countryside.

That's Sugarloaf Mountain in the background.

Well around here, WE call it a mountain!

Even in rain

I attended a concert this summer that was on wonderful open park grounds. Part of the theater is under cover, but then there is very popular lawn area as well.

I passed this scene as we were walking to the theater.

We had just eaten (under cover), but here you see someone who was having their meal only under cover of dripping tree branches and their umbrella.

How it actually felt to be there and how it looked is quite different.

I see romance in this scene as I am not having to directly experience it!

Then I think of what photographers have to do to get their artful shots.

We see the striking end result, never thinking that theyare

suffering heat or freezing cold, cramped waiting, bugs, scary heights,

and lord knows what all.

Artists often make the art they see more important than their comfort.

The Grass is Just as Green

Here is my very own garden.

I see it every day.

Do I SEE it every day?

Hmmmmm.

Look.

That's the thing.....LOOK!

Nature Called me

It was 5:45 a.m. earlier this week.

Having gotten up to answer one type of nature's call,

I noticed it was very bright out the window.

And so I saw that nature had called me in yet another way!

I had my camera upstairs with me which isn't always the case.

Being barely awake, I lifted the screen and propped the camera on the

windowledge.

Wow!

I got this shot and even the stars!

I seek to experience the beauty of this planet wherever and however I find it.

Stars at dawn.

Ummmmmmmmmmmm......nice, very very nice.

The possibilities are endless

I carry my bright magenta compact Olympus camera with me all the time.

As I sat at a stoplight on a rainy day last week I was looking out the window at this scene.

I wondered how the camera would capture it and

here you have it!

I have had this small camera for over a year now and

I continue to find new shots to make which wouldn't have occurred to me before.

This is one of those.

Will I make a painting out of it?

Some shots just stand on their own!

I will miss this beauty

Until this past Monday, I could look out my window and see this lovely arm of pine needles on a branch that would sway lightly with the breeze.

Now it is gone, but still I celebrate the beauty it gave me.

Sometimes one has to destroy things in order to create newly.

A hard lesson, but one that is necessary on planet earth.

Elegy for my trees

This is the last day in the life of this enormous pine tree that is between my home and my neighbor's. It is the first in a row of three that goes downhill.

The middle one, which you cannot see here, is dead.

And that lead to evaluating the three of them and the problems such huge trees cause having

grown to maturity in a small space.

The one farthest downhill is leaning toward my neighbor's roof for one thing.

But I LOVE trees and I hate the thought of seeing these living things cut down. Living things that bring me pleasure in their majesty.

They soften the hard lines of the houses.

They sway and whisper in the breeze as pine trees do.

And they hold snow fall better than any tree alive.

Please forgive me.