Photoblog: SWIMMING IN A KANSAS SKY

I grew in the late, great, state of Kansas–the actual middle of the continental USA in a section of the state where instead of being flat (as people expect)we have rolling hills that meet the endless sky at the horizon all around you.  Every year I go home for a few days, and take pictures trying to capture the vastness of it all. Yesterday, I happened to be in a car on the highway at sunset and was able to take some of these shots. I can’t wait to blow them up….

high clouds

horizon 1

dark horizon

rolling hills

high clouds2

Photoblog: Enjoying Lily Ponds…

Last week, I finally braved the NYC heat wave to see the Lotus ponds in bloom at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.  Of course, since my favorite color is yellow, and I was giving my chakras a boost I was all in yellow–including carrying a yellow parasol(sun umbrella, to you)……

Photoblog experiment Wadsworth Terrace Park #2

This is a little public park behind my apartment building which is almost empty during the day, but (unfortunately)very busy on Spring and Summer nights with cars blasting their radios.  Right now, covered with snow, the park has the beautiful serenity the designers intended…I converted it to black and white, then realized there was no need.  The early March  light at 4:30PM had a slight yellow tint of its own… Note: this was taken with an old 7.1 pixel digital camera.

Photoblogging Assignment-Water

Some of my favorite water photos, taken with my Nokia Lumnia Cell phone.   This is the Lake at the Japanese Tea House art the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The top photo was taken during the Summer, and for comparison I took a photo of the same location in winter…It was interesting that I loved it both ways….

The Power of Pink and Purple

These are some of my favorite photos in these colors–most taken at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, and a great poem to go with them, by Pamela Brown’s book “Nature’s Gifts”.  Photo above is me in summer regalia taken at the (temporary) installation “Monet’s Garden”at the Bronx Botanic Garden.  People thought I was part of the exhibit…

May you, just once or twice in your lifetime, see something infinitely rare and strange and beautiful.

I wish you delight of plants – the small miracles of graft and cutting, seed and bulb and corm. of new life from the earth.

I wish you the gloom of the garden in winter – and after months of anticipation, the small, green signs of spring.

 

A VALENTINE FROM RUMI….

 

“I want to see you.

Know your voice.

Recognize you when you
first come ’round the corner.

Sense your scent when I come
into a room you’ve just left.

Know the lift of your heel,
the glide of your foot.

Become familiar with the way
you purse your lips
then let them part,
just the slightest bit,
when I lean in to your space
and kiss you.

I want to know the joy
of how you whisper
“more”
― Rumi

Botanical Gardens–a Winter Salvation!

I moved to New York in 1993, just in time for the biggest (at the time) snowfall on record.  That winter was so relentless that I would have  been willing to shovel off a large patch of snow jsut so I could see something green and walk on it.  Instead, I discovered there was a wonderful place called the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where they had tow warm conservatories full of green plants.

I jumped on a train for the long trip (2.5 hour) trip, and arrived at the Gardens to see a huge expanse of more snow and bare trees. Then coming around the corner from the sundial, the three conservatories came into view. They were giant domes of glass barely held together by arches made of metal.  The first building was clearly a glass enclosed event hall, but the second conservatory was labeled “Tropical”.  Walking through the glass doors, suddenly I was surrounded by warmth,  and standing in full sunlight, surrounded by tropical plants–some in bloom).  I wandered around incredulously, saying over and over, “ooooh”, “Oh my God”.   I’m sure the guards thought I’d lost my mind.

The next section was a desert, and I was stunned to realize that I recognized many plants from my home state of Kansas. I’d always heard that Kansas was actually a desert, but until that moment I’d never believed it, because as a city dweller, I’d seldom been out on the open plains.  As part of high school freshman class initiation, the seniors took us out to the prairie on a field trip, to whitewash the 20 foot high cement letter “J” (for Junction City), that had been set into a very steep hillside overlooking the city.  Of course, they also warned us to look out for the different varieties of rattle snake known to hide in the low grass.  Of course they were just trying to scare us, but I found out later that they were right, as well…..Walking through the desert conservatory was like going home…it had all the grasses, prickly plants–including a variety of flat cactus that’s almost invisible in the grass until you step on it–and yucca plants…..

I stayed until it started to get dark outside drinking in the heat and light.  I must have been a plant in another life….

Now, whenever I get a “green craving”  I know where to go.  I jump on a train and head to the gardens….Bonus point: they had great carrot cake with coconut chocolate chip icing, and chili dogs…..