Where Springtime Lingers

I have time for a walk between the haircut and the grocery store. Walking in the city, it seems there are small surprises tucked in every corner and crevice. I am open to them all. Present and calm. I stop to peer into a window, and I meet Meredith of Secret Flowers; she is a floral designer and her workspace glows with the warmth of morning light. I am delighted with her sculptural designs. But the designs of natural elements are not confined within her space; the abundance of spring simply overflows into her workshop, along sidewalks, down alleys, onto front porches and the pavement of road, into the air and the sky and all around. I am reminded that nature heals. Again, I inhale prayer and exhale gratitude.

On my mind

  1. I finished my current project, Conversation Pieces, and sent it off for printing with MILK photo books. (Did you know that MILK is an anagram for Moments of Inspiration, Love and Kindness?) You can view the completed digital book here. Or if you’d just like to see a snapshot view of the photographs without the accompanying text, you can check it out under the Projects navigation tab.

  2. A really good read. Still, a mindful practice for photographers, by Paul Sanders.

  3. Best advice from poet James Crews. Try softer, not harder.

  4. We spent the better part of the day driving along country roads trying to remember where our favorite beaver dam was located. The one we did not get around to visiting last year but I have photographed multiple times. And when we finally found it, it wasn’t the same. Things are always changing, whether we like it or not.

  5. I think I am going to switch over to film for the spring and summer and move my creative speed to slow. Maybe fewer posts here . . . we’ll see.

  6. Excited to receive a photo book in the mail today, IOWA by Nancy Rexroth. I am fascinated by this work created with a simple toy camera. Everywhere I turn lately folks are lamenting how short our attention spans have become and how addicted we are to screens and how we seldom let ourselves become bored anymore. And it all rings pretty true for me. I wonder if I can swim against the tide?

  7. For my entry on March 25th, Signature Styles, I posted a picture of a small soapstone sculpture. My oldest son just called to tell me that the sculpture looks like a foot, complete with toes, big and little. He is right. And now all I can see is a foot waving at me, and that picture makes me crack up laughing.

Flower Arranging by Number

Illustration 19, Box D, page 95 from FLOWER ARRANGING by number, By Peggy Boehm and Shizu Matsuda (Gramercy Publishing, New York, 1961).

“Make it alive and vital by adding a few flowers: a tulip, 1 broad tulip leaf and a spray of mimosa, all impaled on a small pin holder.”

Signature Styles

  1. Top Left: Country Home, vintage oil landscape by Hart, found in antique mall

  2. Top Right: Soapstone sculpture from Labadee Haiti

  3. Lower Left: An Introduction to Trees by John Kieran, owned by Ilene Reid of Alexandria, Virginia (embossed information)

  4. Lower Right: An Introduction to Wild Flowers, by John Kiernan