SHEL POETRY

One Inch Tall by Shel Silverstein

If you were only one inch tall, you'd ride a worm to school.
The teardrop of a crying ant would be your swimming pool.
A crumb of cake would be a feast
And last you seven days at least,
A flea would be a frightening beast
If you were one inch tall.

If you were only one inch tall, you'd walk beneath the door,
And it would take about a month to get down to the store.
A bit of fluff would be your bed,
You'd swing upon a spider's thread,
And wear a thimble on your head
If you were one inch tall.

You'd surf across the kitchen sink upon a stick of gum.
You couldn't hug your mama, you'd just have to hug her thumb.
You'd run from people's feet in fright,
To move a pen would take all night,
(This poem took fourteen years to write--
'Cause I'm just one inch tall).

Gladly Beyond

We headed down to Pike county to visit the folks recently. My mom is a gardener and good at it! It looks like a lush jungle of plants. I can never stop taking pictures of the flowers.



somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look will easily unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing



(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

E.E. Cummings

Three baby birds ready for dinner. I used mega zoom to get this close up. click on the pic and notice their eyes...Not even open yet! Translucent even!


This is an old house overgrown with vines near Big Canoe. We romped through the tall grass and snapped this one shot and then my camera died and wouldn't come back on. Hopefully we will take a few more later. It is hard not to imagine what this must have been like years ago..in its prime. Children running in and out, maybe a barn with animals, maybe a modest home. Now the windows are all nailed shut and the ivy has taken over...however, the mailbox still stands. Maybe I'll send a letter...

Cosmically Sanctioned Imagery III

A portrait of an old friend Alicia. A fun colage of photos.


Another fun one...Abee!


Photo of the Day
A photo of an old barn taken in Pike County. It had painted tin along the bottom of the barn...almost looked like graffiti.
Paint the sky !

Sail Away With Me

Sail Away with me...


Photo of the Day
There is something so graceful about a sailboat on the water...It glides, majestically with never ending destinations at the mercy of the wind. I want to sail. I need to sail.
Adam and I have been looking for a long time at sailboats. It's beginning to pull at my heart strings a little harder.

These photos are taken off the coast of Italy with the cliffs of the Isle of Capri standing stoically behind the sails.

Learning to sail is probably a tough skill to master. It may be just the right time.
We shall see where the wind takes us.


The ancient walls built into the cliff of Capri, Italy. The water was a color that no paint could match.

Le Tour

Photo of the Day
Luxembourg, 2006

Le Tour de France has become an event to enjoy recently and I have a blog post dedication to the Schleck Brothers of Luxembourg. This is a tiny country, situated between Belgium and Germany. A gem to be discovered! The Schleck brothers seem to be doing very well in the tour this year and I was privileged enough to visit their country in 2006. We didn't get to see much because we were on foot with heavy backpacks, but we saw enough to know Luxembourg was worth the visit.


The train we were on left Brussels, headed to Luxembourg and then on to Paris. A very nice train ride! LOVED Brussels. and the Belgian waffles are a must!

Rays of Light and Love

On a recent visit to Statesboro, GA (home of my alma mater, Georgia Southern University) I was visiting a great friend of mine, someone I hold so close to my heart, Amee B. We were speaking on the topic of spirituality and she pulled out a picture that she took in her kitchen. The sun was setting and the rays coming through her window were a brilliant stream of light moving upward. It is in moments like these that you can tap into your soul and see the light so clearly. This is a picture of a picture.


This blog has become a home for my favorite moments, photos, books and PEOPLE. These are two people who have made a huge impression on my life. Mert and Jack adopted Melissa and I during our last few years of college and shared their love and wisdom with us. I cherish these two so much! And their wonderful stories!!!


These are a few photos taken from underneath the flowers! A different view of their world. Purely magnificent.
Try new perspectives! Open your mind to different angles. Sometimes what we find can surprise us.

REEEAD

This book was given to me as a gift by Miss Katie Anderson. It was a fantastic read. So hard to put down; I probably read it in two days. It's entertaining and deeply soft at times. A memoir to remember.

Zurich: A Swiss Experience

The Zurich Train Station is a very unusual welcome into Switzerland. First of all, it's enormous. There are multiple levels and thousands of signs that read something like Eigergletscher a Zweilütschinen...yikes. We were lost within the train station around midnight on a Saturday and there were about one hundred teens, black leather with chains, mutiple holes in their faces, staring at us menacingly. We didn't feel too welcome.
However, on our way out of Zurich at the end of our stay, we were in the train station early in the morning and found the bakeries and flower shops on the top level..a nice goodbye.

We finally made it to the right place, thanks to the angels who appeared along the dimly lit street who just happened to be heading in the same direction.

Of course, as the sun rose the next day we walked along the rivers leading to the lake of Zurich; taking turns into winding Swiss neighborhoods passing gorgeous purebred dogs, elaborate storefronts, the smell of freshly baking bread wafting through the air; never a dull view...eminating the Swiss culture.


Photo of the Day
We came along scenes like this...Swiss chess is a popular hobby!


Zurich has to be one of my favorite capital cities in Europe!

Echo of Nature

The same stream of life
that runs through the world
runs through my veins
night and day in rhythmic measure.

It is the same life that shoots in joy
through the dust of the earth
into numberless waves of flowers."

Rabindranath Tagore


Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island. The trees look like they are alive, swimming through the sand. The beach is always changing...the trees are always moving.

"God creates each soul differently,
so that when all the mud is finally cleared away,
His light will shine through it
in a beautiful, colorful, totally new pattern."

M. Scott Peck

Mazon, IL: Population 920

Surge Dairy Farm
Photo of the Day




Mazon, Illinois is a village of people surrounded by cornfields. Including a very special 90 year old Grampa who inspires.

I want to LIVE, love...and learn to fly.

This was taken at the Fillman Farm...It looks like this pipe goes up and up, thru the clouds.

T R A I L

A hike through the woods behind my house ended up being a fight against the spiderwebs this evening. It was nice out. Everything is so lush, green, in bloom. What a great time of year.
Here are a few pics from today.

Emotional Wallpaper

This was a weird shop in a wacky part of London. I strolled in and didn't really get very far before I realized I was walking on someone's face.


Photo of the Day


LOOOOVE this concept though. Black and white, photobooth style, all types, all shapes. I didn't venture to the back of the shop...too many dudes were crowded around a big screen; who knows what they were watching. I was busy watching the emotional walls.

Savannah

The statues and tombs of Bonaventure are frozen into time. They seem to invoke deep thought.


This was taken in the historic Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, GA. Shaded under Spanish moss and winding with walkways, this 160 acre cemetery is a must-see if you are traveling through.


A few of us spent the day on the beaches of Tybee Island; skipping class for a day in the sun. This is Michael aka "Beanie" ...Very James Dean in this picture.


Photo of the Day
This is a steely gaze if I've ever seen one. I cosmically sanctioned this for an art class. It became a print on homemade paper.

HEIMA

http://www.heima.co.uk/video/

You must check this out. It's a musical documentary by Sigur Ros and an exploration into Iceland. They play all over their country...in an old fish factory, a huge venue, in someone's living room and in an old village, on a hill with a heavenly landscape behind them. Their sound is unlike any other and is a perfect match to the extraordinary landscape of Iceland.
LOOOVE this vid...

Colors Subdued

An old ancient doorway leading to another world...I snapped a picture of my shadow, slowly turning the doorknob, about to escape...almost there...!!


A close up of this bird, perched in front of an old dilapidated dock... Contemplating his existence perhaps?
Taken in Chicago...on the pier. A loud bluesy jazz band was playing behind me. Maybe the bird just wanted a little jazz in his life...I can't say that I blame him.


Photo of the Day
A huge display on the side of a building in the Soho district of London. I came to this building and stood in awe at the size of this image! It looks like the boy is trapped on display for anyone to gawk at. I couldn't help but stare.


These are a few friends from Chumical, Panama standing in the doorway to their new home. It was built a year before by the professor who led our trip. They were always so curious and LOVED having their picture taken!
There isn't much color to these photos, but the colors seem to shine through in different ways.

Cosmic Imagery: The Transition

Climbing Above the Clouds