and 
Mt. Etna
Solvang, Ca 3/14:
My daughter called me eccentric this morning. (?)
Hypothesis of the Day: Mother Nature is the quintessential intimate portraiteur (I like this better than portraitist and I did find an artist that is using it in this way – and, anyway, I like words that end in “eur”, like connoisseur, millfleur, secateur, raconteur, provocateur, amateur). This seems fitting to me.
I’m hereby proclaiming she is, indeed – as she must be first conceiving of all, in her own mind’s eye, before she creates it, no????
How can it be that I have been on this earth for a long while and I have just begun to become obsessed with seeing – through the lens, that is? In these four photos above, you can see the title, Near and Far – Mother Nature’s Own Agenda. I tried to encourage Christin this morning, on the way to the train at 7am, to focus on the intricacies of this lace cap bud. If you look closely, and I did, you can see literally hundreds of blossoms and stamens on this one bud. They are perhaps at their most beautiful at this very moment.
I was obviously enthralled with it very early this morning – perhaps at 7am I can’t expect Christin to get into it? Gee, what’s the problem? Anyway, it just got me to thinking about how the world comes into focus at a very near gauge and a very far one.
My favorite “far away” (my-own) photo is the one above of Mt. Etna, taken from the terrace of Grand Hotel Timeo in Taormina, followed closely behind by this well-shaded and leveled portrait in Solvang, California that I snapped in March.
Anyway, for me this morning, I just got to thinking about how incredibly, Mother Nature plays out her entire agenda, including the visual one – and it’s all just out there for us for the taking, in. I just don’t want to miss any of it, do I! (that’s not a question, that’s a statement) It’s these things that excite me on a daily basis and knowing that I have my very own open-ended “discovery channel” turned to “on” out there, well, this is what I’m living for………. There are so many extraordinary things to see, from near, from far…….
And, lest you wonder, yes, I am fully aware that there are thousands of others who have already stumbled onto this bounty of wonderment and have a lot better camera equipment (I was wishing I could get a real close up of this bud this morning, but I couldn’t) and eyes than mine, but heck, this is my post-kids idea of a fun time and I’m just going with it – and I am very happy that I stumbled upon myself – in what Christin this morning described as “my eccentricity”. Really? She thinks I’m eccentric? I’m just going for the beauty and the yucks while I can, I tell her….. Fools rush in, I guess.
trouble with the lens, but you get the picture and my intent
Ok, so, yesterday it was war on the Japanese Beetles. By 9:05 pm I was out with the spray bottle, carefully, strategically, if not artfully, attacking those creatures and praying for new rose buds. By 10 something the rain came, most likely erasing in a few moments, all of my efforts, let alone investments. Oh well. Mother Nature has her own highly intricate, yet oh so splendid eye for the camera and agenda. Wow, is all I have to say.
This morning, I awoke again at 4:52. Hmmmm. I can only attribute this to the positioning of the sun vis-a-vis the equator – for when I awake at this time I can see and yes, feel the sun moving up into the tree tops over to the east and somehow, my senses are in tune with this.
Walking the dog every day gives me an excellent opportunity to focus on the details around me. This is because I have the #1 dilly-dallier dog in the world. Often, when I’m getting particularly exasperated with her as she pauses incessantly to investigate who-knows-what, I actually get a little bonus gift if I look closely around me. It often makes me wonder how much of life we pass by unwittingly every day – I guess that’s where the phrase, “stop and smell the roses” came from. Anyway, I am constantly reminded that most everything I think about is not anything new but then I think that if it’s new to me, well then, I’m all the better for it.
Anyway, Mother Nature didn’t just put all of this here for her benefit, did she?
two visitors at once
beloved, in my kitchen this am
further study in lace caps:
Confession: I just pulled a beetle off a rose and stomped it into the patio in a fit of anger.
Well, ok, maybe I am just a little eccentric, if loving crazy things is eccentric! Ok, but when I’m gone to dust, will someone please keep my pictures?