My laptop is definitely happier to be working from home.

       I am finally home, after 12 days driving around New England visiting family, good friends, and a few special scenic places.  I drove from Kentucky to and from NYC with a good friend, and we laughed a lot. She stayed in NYC, and I went as far as Maine!  

        She and I did some serious driving through periods of heavy rain, especially in Pennsylvania the first day of our trip.  I see tonight  -- when I am finally able to put together last Sunday's blog -- that there are currently tornado warnings in those very same places! I was fortunate that my friend is an intrepid traveler AND a very cool headed driver.  

         As for the delay in this week's blog, it was all about not being able to transition smoothly from one network after another on my laptop in all the places I visited.  I'll be asking a lot of questions soon about what mistakes I was making as I changed networks so steadily.  I will be making today's effort short, because there are still some "production issues".

         First Smith College and the rock garden behind Chapin House, my "dorm" for 3 years.  None of the college buildings were open to the public last week, including the greenhouses, but the rock garden was lush from the rainy spring and summer in Massachusetts.

The heron is a sculpture in the greenhouse pond.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) Maine, where my cousin Sarah and her family live:
    

     This is the view of the cove from the house .  There were a dozen of us cousins gathered there for a few days; we do this every few years. Both my sisters were there.  The lobster tradition continues, as does a good game of dominoes.

 

     We did get out and about a bit:

 

 

dinner prep! 

BLUEBERRY PIE

 
            There will be more, but not yet. (That means more photos, I'm afraid, and not more blueberry pie....) I will be adding a video at the end next time, from Hamden, CT, near New Haven, where everyone on the block seemed to excel with some plant or other.  Lovely, lovely.

            May we all be spared from harboring anger toward our neighhbors, and may we be there to support each other and fill the room with kindness.   Also, Bon Appetit --  Ann                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

 

Slight delay

Dear devoted visitors, 

     Yes, tonight is two weeks from my last blog entry, but since I have been in New England most of these two weeks, I am, as we say, wore out.  My post will be a day late -- so tomorrow night, July 26, I will share some photos and observations from my wanderings and visitings.  I still don't have perfect dealings with the GPS on my phone, yet here I am in Northampton, Massachusetts tonight, as planned, and I will be home this week!!!   

     I hope everyone is well, as well as vaccinated (PLEASE PLEASE) and thanks for your interest in my work.    Ann

Once again it's two more weeks! Summer is a-goin' in -- a hurry

        I stay amazed that light around us changes so much even when we are not paying attention. I think that being aware of light and working with ambient light is one aspect of my creative life that keeps me grounded. It's like checking out the temperature of the water without a narrow purpose. Even the darkening evening sky is part of that constant awareness. As I am writing this, the sky is blue, gray and pink, blended with nuance but without fanfare in the sky over me.

        Today's photos are all recent, and perhaps they seem to be random, but they are the light that I see and respond to. 

        This first photo is along Sideway Road, past where my house is. For some reason unknown to me as yet, the field has not been mowed this year:

the day lilies -- in their prime -- from inside my home

This is the phoebe who, from above the lilies,  monitors my coming and going from the house.

family outing, totally unexpected, as the sharpness (not) of this photo reveals

I do love this photo, which I would label "Barbed wire, new gate, and hay ring." To me there's something about these combined layers that mirrors poetry.

        OK, now two Rebecca photos, one by her and one of her-- the first one PROOF that the rhododendrons bloom this year, down by the waterfalls! (The blossom is showing signs of a recent heavy rain.)

photo by Scott Pryor, waterfall really looking just like it does here

        Now, to end this collection, another 30 second video, of the first curve on my former driveway, after it passes over the cleared area for the pipeline.  Lots of ice storm depris can still be seen. Notice the scarcity of flat surfaces.

        Once again, I really enjoy sharing these photos and stories on this blog.  Two weeks from now will be July 25, and I will have photos from an altogether different place.  

        Also once again, I want to encourage EACH ONE OF US to have a vaccine, FOR THE SAKE OF ALL OF US.    Ann