Twilight is a time for sharing -

Twilight is a time for sharing - and a time for

remembering - sharing the fragrance of the 

cooling earth - the shadows of the gathering 

dusk - 

Here our two worlds meet and pass - the

frantic sounds of man grow dimmer as the light

recedes - the unhurried rhythm of the other 

world swells in volume as the darkness 

deepens -

It is not strange that discord has

no place in this great symphony of sound - 

it is not strange that a sense

of peace descends upon all living things - 

it is not strange that

memories burn more brightly - as the things of 

substance lose their line and form in the softness 

of the dark - 

Twilight is a time for sharing - and a 

time for remembering - remembering the things of 

beauty wasted by our careless hands - our frequent

disregard of other living things - the many songs 

unheard because we would not listen -

Listen tonight with all the 

wisdom of your spirit - listen too with

 all the compassion of your heart - 

lest there come another night  - 

where there is only silence - 

A great

and

total

    silence - 

                                                                                                     ~ Winston Abbott

September Harvest

On Sunday I harvested a bunch of goodies from the garden and spent time in the kitchen making yummy things.  Here is the evidence, a picture of the bounty, then a picture of dinner, before we sat down to eat it all up that night.  Flowers, tomatoes, purple and roma beans, carrots, tomatillos, eggplant and finally basil (which is not pictured) were harvested.  

I processed 8 cups of basil leaves and made a bunch of pesto to freeze and to enjoy this week.  

The highlight of the harvest and cooking spree was the pretty lavender eggplant that became a successful and delicious Romanian dish called salata de vinete .  I first learned how to make this dish from my Hungarian friend (who was born in Romania), Videa, who Josh and I visited in Budapest about 7 years ago.  She taught me to make a fresh mayonaise with egg, oil and lemon to then whip in with the fire roasted, peeled eggplant.  This dish requires that you use a wooden spoon to mash the roasted eggplant against a ceramic or wooden bowl so the eggplant doesn't turn color or become metallic in it's flavor.  I haven't tried my hand at making this dish on my own since my time with Videa until I was recently inspired by my Romanian friend, Elena, in Toronto, who made it for us when we were there last month.  She made such a wonderful bowlful of this treat for us to enjoy that I had her talk through the recipe with me so I would have the courage to come back to my growing eggplant and cook it when it was ready.  It was ready to be picked on Sunday and that night we dipped fresh tomato, cucumber and carrots from the garden in it, then all of a sudden it was gone.  It disappeared quickly in our stomachs because Josh and I love eating it so much.

Submission

I spent some time with my sunflowers this past Friday.  I took their pictures and cut four flower heads for me and a friend from some of the plants that toppled over due to their height, weight and the wind.  The sunflowers grew very tall this year...I'd say they average 12 feet!  I planted seeds in the old chicken yard so I'm sure that the nutritious chicken compost was the magic trick.

I've always had an affinity for sunflowers, like their plant spirit and my spirit have something in common.  They have a lot to teach me as I watch them grow, move, follow the sun, ripen and provide seeds for the birds and animals.

The word that came to mind as I admired and thought about my sunflowers the other day was submission.  This time of year the heavy flower heads, full with developing seeds, weigh down and make the plants appear to bow in reverence, bow in their majesty and humility alike, and bow in loving submission to their cellular knowledge that there is a greater power.

Their tall shrouded figures stand like wise women in my garden and bow gracefully to the reality that they are maturing and summer is coming to an end.  Time is moving onward in the cycle.

The sun rules the sun flower.  I love watching the sun and sunflower dance throughout the day as the flower head reaches for, faces and follows the arc of the sun moving through the sky.  The sunflower is graceful in it's dance with the sun as it sways, turns and bows through it's life with truthful expression.  This is a beautiful submission.

What does submission mean?  The sunflower teaches me a pure meaning of this word.  This meaning is not about one's will over another.  It's not about abuse of authority.  It's not about renouncing one's pure essence or expression for the sake of another.  This idea of submission, after watching the sunflower, is about submitting to the divine.  The sunflower is comfortable and confident in it's growth from a seed to grow tall and strong, sway in the wind, follow the trajectory movement of the sun and blossom into a cheerful bright yellow (or red or orange depending on the variety) flower. 

What does it mean to gracefully submit?  The sunflower trusts in the sun, in the rain, in the earth and submits to the flow of its life expression.  It doesn't control a thing.  It doesn't have an agenda.  It is not impatient. The sunflower doesn't need to do any of those things and doesn't try to.  It is what it is and oh, what a beautiful, strong presence it has in the garden.

In this time of personal growth, I look to the sunflower as an ally.  I need to trust, be patient, grow strong roots, stand tall, sway in the wind and grow towards the sun.  I need to submit gracefully and reverently with the knowledge that there is a greater power, a greater meaning and a greater mystery. I must dance with the divine as a partner and follow its lead.

Alison Fleming: Artist

Ali is a good friend of mine who I met when I studied abroad my junior year in Glasgow, Scotland.  She is from Winnipeg, Canada and now resides in Toronto.   I was so happy that we could make the time to visit each other and catch up while I was in Toronto recently.  Her intellect, creative spirit and sense of humor shone brightly just I like I remembered from the time we shared living in the same tenement house and wandering through the streets, pubs and cinemas in Glasgow back in 1996.  It's a real gift to share time with an old friend who you haven't seen in years and years and just pick up from where you left off.

Ali has been an artist from before the time I knew her.  I met her on the front steps of the tenement house that served as student housing within a few days of our arrival.  She had paint brushes holding up her messy hair in a bun instead of barrettes or a rubber band.

I'm featuring six of her paintings here on my blog because I really like her work and I admire her drive to keep making art.  She paints contemporary urban landscapes using oil paint on gessoed wood.  When I first looked at these paintings I couldn't help but think of how she evokes the feel of an Edward Hopper painting.  However, her present day urban landscapes are all her own.  She visits neighborhoods, businesses and buildings that are on the verge of or have suffered from economic collapse.  I find a sad beauty and nostalgia in her work.  Unlike Hopper, her paintings are purely cityscape and there's not one single image of a human figure in these paintings.  This heightens the haunting, lonely feeling that pervades the gritty beauty she creates.  I'm sure that every city in North America has images like these peppering its streets.  Especially during this time of recession, depression, economic downturn... whatever you want to call it.    Ali obviously has a very steady hand and her technique, patience and care show in the way she re-creates the lettering, glass reflections and pealing paint on the buildings she paints.

Visit Alison Fleming on line to see more of her artwork and to contact her if you are so inclined.

Melancholy

It's a cool breezy day here in the hills.  I just glanced back behind me and out the window to my side yard full of brush; dying crispy, brownish ferns,  blooming golden rod and aster.  There is no going back now.  Autumn is on it's way and right around the corner.  The crickets chirping and the drone of small single engine airplanes remind me of the turning of the season.   I'm also aware of and visited by familiar feelings of melancholy, vulnerability, sensitivity and longing this time of year.   It's an unsettledness and sweet pain that's a bit uncomfortable at times.  The drive and push of late spring to mid summer slows to allow more time for reflection.  With this reflection I take stock of who I was, who I am and who I want to become.  I crawl inward to the chambers within the cave that is me and visit places that are familiar yet different at the same time.  I feel vulnerable like the cooling down and dying back that is happening all around me is outwardly mirroring a piece of me that is dying, changing and moving on. 

Mountain Man

Mountain Man, a trio of three  beautiful young women, were a unexpected treat and a highlight of my festival experience and I want to share them with you.  They and their voices in harmony (with simple guitar at times) were an authentic breath of fresh air that literally brought tears to my eyes.  I bought their cd, Made the Harbor to take with me so I can try to recreate the magic moment of hearing something so sincere. Go hear them if you ever see that they are in your neck of the woods.

Solid Sound Festival, curated by WILCO

I've been wanting to write about my experience at the Solid Sound Festival two weekends ago but having house guests during the festival then leaving for a whirlwind vacation during the last day totally made it hard for me to sit down and write my thoughts.  I'm home and it's a rainy day.  I can reminisce now.

The festival was unlike any music festival I've ever been to because it was SO multidisciplinary.  It was not just about music.  It was a festival of the arts.  I loved that at any given moment during the program there were so many choices to witness.  It was hard to chose what I wanted to be a part of and I wish I could have been omnipresent and taken it all in.  The galleries at MassMOCA were open for viewing, there were comedy performances, live music performances, live theater, puppetry, special workshops given by some members of WILCO, specially selected movies to view, good food and lots of drinks to choose from.  

For two days I was a part of something big, yet accessible, connected and thought out and I liked that.  I felt like I was living and breathing the arts and I enjoyed being part of a bigger thing that made available the witnessing of other artist's ideas, talents, energy and creativity.  

Usually music festivals are so predictable.  You walk around from stage to stage, pushing through crowds of people, trying to take in different acts and maybe in between musicians and group performances you grab a beer or a bite to eat.  Solid Sound was totally different.  The campus of Mass MOCA was our playground for the entire weekend.  We could be inside one of the redesigned, old industrial buildings, outside at the dining and drinking patio, we could be in a myriad of industrial courtyards with colorful lighting, interesting textures and sculptural installations, there were indoor state of the art performance theaters, an outdoor movie screen, outdoor stages and one big grassy field with a big stage for the headlining acts, Mavis Staples and WILCO. 

Personal highlights for me were....

...seeing Kristen Schaal's live comedy.  I laughed so hard during her last skit I was crying. 

...Mountain Man's exquisite set of three part harmony singing (more to come on them later)

...viewing WILCO's poster art in one of the gallery spaces

...unexpectedly walking past John Stirratt (bassist for WILCO) twice early Friday evening 

...witnessing Mavis Staples own the stage with such grace and power

...being about 20 feet away and dead center in front of Jeff Tweedy during WILCO's killer, over 2 hour long, set.  They put on a fabulous show.  I was thrilled to witness what monsters/masters Nels Cline (electric guitar) and Glenn Kotche (drums) were on their instruments.

THANK YOU WILCO FOR A FESTIVAL LIKE NO OTHER!  I hope you do it again next year!

Here are some photo's from Friday evening before it got dark and the space filled up with people:

 

10 Fabulous Architecture+Design Highlights in Toronto

Josh and I just returned from a full and busy trip to Toronto and while we were there we explored a lot of sights.  I was struck with how architectural and design elements threaded different parts of the city together in an interesting way.  I love how contemporary architectural elements juxtapose against and mix with older styles in Toronto.  Here's what I'm talking about...

1.  The view down from the glass floor of the CN Tower.  (My knees were shaking as we took the glass elevator that looks out on the skyline up over 340 meters).

 

2.  The CN Tower in the distance and a black and white building on colorful stilts which is part of the Ontario College of Art and Design.

3.  Victorian and Contemporary as neighbors

4.  Steel tree trunk like supports hold up a vaulted glass ceiling which connects old and new buildings.  Standing here was reminiscent of standing in a Gothic cathedral.

 5.  A spiral staircase in the Art Gallery of Ontario

6.  Store front in the design district

7.  The Royal Ontario Museum in between older buildings that house Toronto's orchestra and performance space.

8.  Entrance to the Royal Ontario Museum

9.  Tables and chairs at the Distillery Historic District

10. An alien being watched over a sitting area

Lake Champlain Twilight

Here are 3 pictures taken from a lookout on the Vermont side of Lake Champlain over a period of 10 or so minutes.  I love how the color changes and deepens as the sun sets further below the horizon.  It was a perfectly beautiful late summer evening.

Travel Bug

Oh my, as I enter my blog I glance at the last post date and feel a bit disappointed in myself for not posting anything in over two weeks.  I love being home but I feel that my busy daily routines in summer are not conducive to blogging.  So many other projects call to me when I'm at home plus earning my daily bread factors in to the mix.  It takes getting away for me to sit in a more focused way and post an item or two.  Ok, apologies over (and yes, they're more for myself than anyone else I'm sure) and on to a new entry.

I'm on the road again after a whirlwind weekend spent attending WILCO's Solid Sound Festival at MassMOCA in North Adams.  I had friends staying at our home and on Friday and Saturday I road to the festival with them.  The festival was a great and magical time and I'll dedicate my next post to that occasion.

We drove up to Burlington, Vermont yesterday and what a beautiful drive it was.  The day was cool and overcast and as we headed north the landscape gently turned to a lovely lush green.  I'm saying this because in my area we are experiencing a big drought and I've become accustomed to brownish, parched looking vegetation.

In a way, this a kind of homecoming for me.  I was born in the Champlain Valley over on the other side of the lake, in Plattsburg NY.  It really is beautiful up here!  In my head flashes of old memories and photographs that my parents took while we lived up here run through my head.  We moved away from here when I was three back around 1978/79.  I believe that we hold places within ourselves... feelings, memories, essences.  So, I look forward to heading out shortly to wander around the town of Burlington, meet with an old high school friend and reconnect with the big lake.  On Wednesday morning we will take the ferry across the lake to Plattsburg as we head onward to Toronto.

I'll leave you now with a good taste in your mouth.  Here's a nice photo of an awesome lunch I had yesterday in Brandon, VT at the Cafe Provence.  Pan seared scallops wrapped in smoked salmon served over polenta with a parsley cream sauce and a topping of green asparagus spears.  Yum.

 

Desert Hideaway

I was at a party this past Thursday night and talked with friends that I'm getting to know better a little bit at a time.  You know how it is when you're getting to know someone...  you share with each other and slowly reveal yourself and your history.  The subject of Southern California came up a couple of times in our conversations since Josh and I lived there right after we got married for 3 1/2 years.  The conversations got me to thinking that...

I often reminisce of our time in San Diego since there were so many special qualities to being way out west.  The pacific ocean was 15 minutes away, we could be across the border in Mexico in just a half hour, the LA metropolis was 3 hours away on a good day, the mountains east were a gateway to the desert which was only an hour and a half away. 

I was telling my friends that my ideal living situation would be to live here in western Massachusetts mid-April through mid-January then spend the rest of the time in the desert somewhere in Southern California.  Perhaps out in Anza-Borrego or in Joshua Tree.

I really love the desert.  There is something so timeless, haunting, big, heightened and magical about the desert landscape.  Being surrounded by the desert gives me feelings like nothing else.  Possibility looms, openness abounds outside but mirrors itself within.

I'd like to share some of my favorite photographs taken by me during a weekend trip to Joshua Tree back in the spring of 2005.

The motel where we stayed... I highly recommend it.   Spin and Margie's Desert Hideaway



 Joshua Tree at twilight.  Magical.

I had to include the rock that looks like an eagle head, taken the next day in the bright sunshine.

There's no place like home... Part 4

Here we are, it's almost August and how my gardens have grown!  I'm in the flow of mid summer when the frantic pace of trying to plant, set up the gardens and keep ahead of the weeds has slowed to a steady and comfortable relationship.  I pick some weeds here and there, water when things are dry and now I get to harvest the fruits of my labor.  Most meals we eat at home are pretty heavy on fresh home grown ingredients.  Last week Josh and I made a killer quick pasta dish on the fly.  Brown rice pasta,  sauteed purple string beans, fresh garlic, yellow summer squash, butter, olive oil and fresh dill with grated raw dill farmers cheese and some Parmesan melted on top as well.  Yum.

Now that the gardens are mature and producing I find I have more time to daydream, make lists of creative goals, write in my studio and sketch again.  The visual arts and musical sides of myself are percolating with activity and dreaming.  It feels good to be giving myself attention in these areas again.

I want to share a few pictures with you of my gardens this time of year.  They look so different from the pictures I posted on the blog on June 4th.   Enjoy and hope you are also enjoying the fruits of your labor.

Terraced bed with stone path leading down to the fruit trees and chicken coop...

Sunflowers, Cosmos, Summer Squash, Beets, Beans, Tomatoes, Lettuce, Wild Flower Patch and Orchard...

New winter squash patch with nasturtiums and sunflowers, outback where the old chicken yard used to be...

Front entry garden, a work in progress...

Cabbages that will soon be sauerkraut...

Front yard herb, flower and vegetable garden with a little pond and stone bench...

Arts In My Community: Rosemary Wessel's Resonances

Rosemary with some of her paintings...

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of getting a private tour of my friend Rosemary's art show.  She is an artist who lives in my town and had a show for the month of June into July at the Cummington Community House Art Gallery.  Her work is really unique in many ways.  She's a painter (she uses oils) but her canvases are built up and out like 2 dimensional relief sculptures.  There is a lot of texture to her surfaces.  She mainly works BIG.  It's strong stuff... and so far I'm only talking about the superficial qualities of her work! 

Through her paintings, Rosemary shows the energy she perceives coming from people.  The paintings are not portraits in the traditional sense. She takes her subjects up a notch to the energetic level.  Her training and experience doing energy work feeds into her visual manifestations.  Rosemary uses models, including herself and makes molds of their face and/or body parts.  From these casts she creates interesting portraits of emotions, feelings and energy.  Sometimes I saw myself reflected in the emotion coming from her work, sometimes I saw other people I know reflected back to me.  I can relate to what Rosemary is saying through her images, colors and textures about the energy and emotional landscape we as human beings are all a part of and all experience.  I've never seen work like hers.

Feel free to check out more of her work on her website: http://www.rosemarywessel.com/

Octavia

I fell in love with an octopus this week.  Her name is Octavia.   She lives in the aquarium at the Wetland's Institute, a not-for-profit organization promoting appreciation of wetlands and the coastal environment.  I've been thinking about her ever since I met her yesterday. 

We learned from her caretaker that she has the intelligence of a domesticated house cat.  I have to say,  there was a playfulness, curiousness, flirtatiousness and shyness about her and her intelligence and personality showed through her eyes and came through in the way she interacted with Josh and me.  We had some quiet moments with her all to ourselves when we went back to see her again after kids and families moved on from the aquarium to outdoor activities.  She really liked Josh and appeared to flirt with him, blush and change color, as he talked with her through the glass.  She came right up to the glass and after a moment or two of reaching her tentacles to us she would coyly retreat to her little den behind some rocks.  She peeked at us with her lively eyes from behind the rocks and a moment later would come right back out and start the dance all over.

My feelings for Octavia are mixed with sadness.  Sadness that such and intelligent and lively creature has to spend her short life in a glass aquarium.  We were told that octopuses only live to be about 2 years old.  Maybe she enjoys her time interacting with the public?  She seemed to know and like her caretaker.  Maybe it's ok that she can safely live in a space where she is fed and protected?  It's always hard for me to visit animals in captivity.  Especially when the animal seems so aware of itself, the space and things around it.  I hope she, as a force to be reckoned with,  provides an opportunity for awareness to build around the connection we have to the oceans and wetlands.  Perhaps she instigates thoughts and discussions about how we as humans can better care for and respect her environment?