{ 0 comments }
Posts tagged as:
book
I remain quite fond of these north country winters, harsh though they may be. Snowshoeing a quiet forest at dusk under a waxing moon, shoveling the driveway (ok – when the snow is light and the accumulation under 6 inches), feeling the solar gain on an early February day, or just the simple way the season turns you inward – its gifts are manifold. Perhaps the best though, are in the heat and dancing light of a good fire in a wood stove, (complete with a cast iron pot full of water to humidify the air) – these have carried me through many a winter.
{ 0 comments }
This was the scene late one afternoon in early January at Maple Breeze Farm, about two hours before dark. The temperature that night was headed toward minus five degrees, before the wind chill. It was about twenty at the time of the photo. The cattle (American Milking Devons) were clearly ready for the shelter of the barn, just out of view on the left.
{ 0 comments }
Though it was only a brief (and unexpected) squall that lasted ten minutes, it was the first time in a few years I have been out walking in a “snow storm”. The light dropped off considerably right before it came through, which should have been a clue to what was coming. Taken with my Samsung Galaxy S4.
{ 1 comment }
A few years ago, I was driving on a lonesome back road deep in northern VT, shortly before sunrise. I came upon a magnificent draft horse standing alone in a hilly pasture, frosty breath streaming from his nostrils. I quickly pulled over and got out of my car. Alas it was too abrupt a change – the car stopping, the door opening, a human – and it seemed to bring him out of an early morning reverie. He turned his head slowly to look at me, and the moment for the photograph in my mind’s eye had passed. I could only apologize for intruding, and interrupting his communion with the beauty and stillness of that early morning.
This photo above of the English Longhorn came much easier, and though the animal is watchful, I was perhaps less an intrusion. It is the equal to the one that formed in my mind’s eye when I first came upon the scene (which I cannot often say).
{ 0 comments }
“There is an endless net of threads throughout the universe. The horizontal threads are in space. The vertical threads are in time. At every crossing of the threads, there is an individual, and every individual is a crystal bead. And every crystal bead reflects not only the light from every other crystal in the net, but also every other reflection throughout the entire universe.”
Rig Veda
(one of the daily emails from gratefulness.org)
{ 0 comments }
Unfortunately I missed this concert by a couple of days, but it was easy to imagine – the sense of community and the power of the songs – in the vibe that lingered.
Mike Aiken comments:
“A town hall, in New England, is exactly that: a hall where the town (the people of the town) can gather to discuss their business, air their concerns, be heard and (possibly) influence the town’s future. The buildings themselves are therefore a statement of faith: that what goes in, comes out transformed by the town mind. And there indeed is a core democratic principle.
Woody Guthrie held this faith, and preached it far and wide, probably in many small towns like Jamaica, Vermont. 21st Century Vermont, however, is not the Dust Bowl of the Thirties, and not even close to the Vermont photographed by the Works Progress Administration in the 30’s. But Woody Guthrie’s songs are remembered, and celebrated, and out of THAT act of keeping faith with the man and his thoughts and words, maybe there is a new world coming along out of what he saw and heard.”
{ 0 comments }
Looking west about an hour or so after sunset. Needed to use a tripod, and was amazed at how much light a 6 second exposure brought in, as I was shooting in what seemed like total darkness. Interesting also that star trails are evident with such a short exposure. (I had also used a self-timer to minimize any moverment.) A Hunter’s Moon rising behind me lights up the barn a bit.
{ 0 comments }