Feel the Brown, Hope for the Spring

“It's spring fever.... You don't quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!" - Mark Twain

We have had bright sunny days here and warm-ish temps for the past few days. The 40's!! I had to shed my coat yesterday when I went on a walk if that tells you anything. The snow is beginning to melt revealing the brownish-ness underneath.

When the sun comes out, the brown can be actually quite beautiful!

On my walk, I heard a rushing stream which came from the melting snow.

And then, to top it all off, I saw a neighbor who told me proudly of her daffodils sprouting through the earth. I wanted to see it for myself.

Flash Back Friday 150

John & his brother Dave, Three Rivers, California, mid 1970's

Winter Wonderland

Ok, I am finally getting with the program here, accepting the fact that winter has arrived. We had our first official snow this past Thursday night and most of the local schools were closed on Friday - not for our kids though! I had a quiet Friday to catch up on some photo things I needed to do - edits, ordering, taking winter time pix, getting into the season, etc. - just what my soul needed! I LOVE the first snow, it is so, so beautiful, but I admit, it gets old sometime in the vicinity of January/February.

And just in case you can't get enough of winter, here is my December 09 Snow Set.

We Three Hydrangeas

I always like the look of these all dried out and brown in the fall

Beautiful Weekend!

November Sun

Wouldn't you just run for your camera if you saw these under the sun?

Leaf Love Thursday

Still out there if you look...

The Leaves are Leaving Us

I finally had the time and energy and weather cooperation yesterday to capture what was left of the leaves on the trees.



Most of them however, were on the ground with frost on them and some were in the puddles...



They were still a sight to behold.

Red Velvet

Each fall, the leaves on our Japanese Maple which we see through the front window turn such a fiery red and they look so graceful hanging from the branches.



Then sadly, they fall to the ground...



... reminding me of red velvet cake.



Just in time! Guess what next week is? :)

Golden

I looked out the window, as I was recovering from the flu, at the beautiful golden tree out in the back yard. The colours are so gorgeous this week that I know something is wrong when I don't even want to get the camera out. Finally, I did.

Then when Leo came to the backdoor, he was looking golden to me too.

Paintings

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.” S. Horowitz

A River

Here we are on a Sunday night watching A River Runs Through It for the Umpteenth time. I thought of the river pix I took a few weeks ago. This weekend was featuring beautiful fall colours in Michigan, but dreary weather, so I didn't get out for new pix. So sad.

"My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things - trout as well as eternal salvation - came by grace; and grace comes by art; and art does not come easy." -Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

Fall Photo Shoot

You know how when every Fall the leaves are changing and you know soon the colour will be gone and it will be winter for a very long time? This is when I feel the need to get out and capture some of it with my camera. Deirdre was up for the adventure, so we headed out Saturday, October 17. Well peops, Fall is late this year! We still have a lot of green left on our trees.

The Flat River reflecting some of the green and gold in Lowell, MI

Well, if the leaves aren't quite ready, I always love to do people shots...

We turned our attention to this milky stream in Fallasburg Park. It was dark enough there in the late afternoon for 5-6 sec. shutter speeds. Fun.




Real fun.

A River Runs Through It

After we moved Edward back to Calvin, we commenced a restful Labor Day weekend. Sunday afternoon, John & I went up north to the Rogue River where he could fly fish and I could take pictures for a couple of hours.

Kayaking on the Pere Marquette

Photo by Melissa "DB" VanderTuuk

John & I spent the day Saturday up north on the Pere Marquette River at the cottage of friends from church. I didn't take my camera on the trip down the river, but my friend Melissa did. She gave it to another friend just before she & her hubby flipped over, thus saving the above pic. Phew!

Clouds

There is nothing on this earth like a day with great cloud cover like this. Last week we had so many days in a row like it and I went nearby to a field with Maria to capture some of it. I do love sunny days, but think of all there is to see when the clouds have such great form. I thought of the Joni Mitchell song:

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
Ive looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

Ive looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
Its cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

These Never Cease to Amaze Me

I mean, can you believe anything can be so beautiful? They always remind me of this poem by Mary Oliver. I've posted it before, but I will again because of how it captures their wild and perfect beauty the way I try to in the photos.

Peonies
This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

and they open ---
pools of lace,
white and pink ---
and all day the black ants climb over them,

boring their deep and mysterious holes
into the curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away

to their dark, underground cities ---
and all day
under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,

the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise,
their red stems holding

all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again ---
beauty the brave, the exemplary,

blazing open.
Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?
-Mary Oliver