Find Your Voice...

A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that gave it wings. Alone must it seek the ether. And alone and without its nest shall the eagle fly across the sun.

Khalil Gibran

Source: The Prophet: 26 poetic essays

A close friend says I have found my voice as an artist. What a wonderful thing to say to me! I do feel that inner focus, that inner creative voice guiding me more and more...and when I let it work through my hands the clay magically becomes form and design from nature. I crave simplicity...but create complexity. I thing I must find a way to meld the two...any suggestions?

Have returned to pottery classes and the interaction with peers is charging my low battery. Each week I become more adept with the clay and more free with my design. Like a child in a candy store...I don't know what direction to go in. Everyone's work is so inspiring....we elevate each other...sharing and trusting...there are so very many styles I want to try...while listening to my inner voice that cries for nature to break through all that is man made and mundane.

Hole in the Ground...Hole in my Psyche...

Have not posted for a while. New Year with New Hope and new intentions of posting more frequently. Feel like I need a ruler smack on the back of my hand!

I have had a fear of deep dark holes...those in particular of a hand dug well...since childhood. I can vaguely remember the national news reporting of a small child caught in a well hole many decades ago...though I can not seem to google the event. Big news in the 50's when we were just getting used to seeing what was happening away from our own small communities. The black and white screen showed people with vehicles all in a small area either to help, or offer aid to the family and workers. Did I dream this??? It is so vivid in my mind....

We came upon an abandoned well this week...and brought back these memories...and reinforced my fears. It was difficult to stand near the place. An attempt to cover the well had been made but still a child or small animal could easily fall to harm or death. Pictures were taken and I even dreaded looking at the hole through camera lens.

But as with most fears...once you are more familiar with the object of the fear it becomes less menacing. Seeing the bottom of the pit was comforting to me...no longer just a bottomless void it did have an end. Though a fall would no doubt cause harm...my mind could wrap itself around the idea of it. This pit of darkness I can make peace with and work near with a good dose of respect.

Lovers Embrace Endures

Ran across a quaint and quite old cemetery this week during a survey. Have passed this location my entire life and had not noticed the stonewall and entwining trees that set not more than a hundred feet off the roadway. So much wonder lays right before our eyes...if we will just see.

Mr. Luke Palmer was born in 1780 and departed this life in February of 1853. He was the father of four children and a still grieving widower at the time of his death. His wife Nancy is buried beside him. His grave marker reads in part "disconsolate widow and father of". At the foot of his wife's grave there are two trees that entwine each other...two different species of trees.

I will add more to this post, after another visit. I did not disturb Nancy's grave and find now that I want to know more about when she died, and the names of her children. I will take two roses for them.

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be th

My husband and I spent the night recently surrounded by autumns color show in a rustic cabin tucked in a secluded glade just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, VA. The cabins were built to house workmen while the Parkway was being built in the 1930's. Though updated with electricity and cold running water, the bathrooms and showers with hot water were located in another building centrally located to the cabins. No TV, or telephone (cell phone had no bars either) made for a quiet evening.
A fireplace would have been nice...I forgot to request a cabin with fireplace...will not do that again..as the temperatures dropped below freezing that night. But all in all it was an amazing adventure. It turned out to be a three dog night, and our Barkley was just not dog enough to keep us warm enough. We three snuggled under wool blankets and down sleeping bags to stay warm in an authentic metal bed that creaked and talked to us each time one of us moved.
The adventure came when nature called and a trip to the bathroom was needed. A coat thrown on and a short hike to the warm bathroom was not the unpleasant experience I thought it would be. And being out in the open, so far away from city lights...the nighttime sky was simply amazing! I was less concerned about the cold and more mesmerized with the depth of the universe that was before me.
The creaking screen door, boiling water to wash our dishes, only the essentials in the cabin, leaving the protection of our shelter to retreat to the bathroom, and the quiet...amazing quiet, except for the singing crickets and birds all made this stay so very special.

Communing With Nature...A different kind of Worship

Spent the morning in the Hundred Acre Wood running through several traverse points to get a tight closure for starting the large boundary. Did Good!!! Got a 1 in 74,000 closure. Not too shabby!

Got work done and able to take more photos of different kinds of mushrooms. This is such a lovely place. I know the work will get harder as we leave the friendly roadway and take off into the heart of the property. But the autumn leaves and new cool in the mornings will make it a pleasure in so many ways.

Checked in on my spider and he was still housekeeping by the road side. He was shyer today and would retreat into his den if I came near. Still managed a shot of him near the mouth of his web...love that telephoto lens sometimes! Not as much texture and definition but still subject clear.

I am trying to figure out how to set up a slide show in gadgets so I can show you the collection of mushrooms and fungi that I am photographing. If anyone knows the name of one, please don't hesitate to name it for me!

Another Day in the Hundred Acre Wood

Today was deliciously cool for a September jaunt. Gathered more photo samples of mushrooms from several spots in Rockingham and Caswell Counties. Saw another of the black textured one in the woods near a stream. Will spend the early nightfall of a Wintry evening looking at photos and try to identify some of these finds.

The most amazing event today was the flushing of a covey of quail..very near the same spot where the fawn was seen yesterday. We have not encountered quail in the wild in many years. Twenty years ago they were abundant...not uncommon at all to flush a covey several times a week. I miss their lovely evening call of... bobwhite...bobwhite ...that seemed a lullaby to me as a child as I drifted off to sleep. One of many simple pleasures that nature affords.

A surveyor finds property lines that may not have been walked in many decades...and always there are treasures of nature along the way. Mossy beds, exotic or simple flora, the occasional snake, and always luring webs of spiders. Give me a snake any day to avoid! It is those pesky spider webs that catch me off guard...and the ever diligent yellow jacket guarding its' nest can not be forgotten!

We breathe an ill wind,nevertheless our kindin mushroom multitudesjostles for elbow-roommoonwards . ATTRIBUTION:Denise Levertov (b. 1923)

Stirred a fawn from its resting place today. White spots and flagging tail were up and out of site before I could get my camera turned on. A major downfall of my little KodakZ710.

While we worked on three different surveys today I took time to photograph the fungi that is abundant this season. The rains and damp grounds I suppose are the cause. I have not seen such variety ever before. I spotted a black capped fellow that I had to retrieve to take further photos of its textures and color. And have spotted Fairies' rings everywhere lately. Always light in color and large caps.

A breeze will blow, or a shadow pass over me at the edge of the woods and I wonder why I spend so much time in the confines of my home. Nature is full of change and emotions run high when I am in natural settings. Fawn, snake, bee, spider...there is always something to see and hear...even the stillness has a sound.

Gossip is News...running ahead of itself in a red satin dress

Etsy is taking over all my free time it seems. But I am enjoying every moment. I created my first treasury page using the colors red/orange/and blue. I used four of my Etsy Mud Team members pieces, and one from elsiee.etsy.com. The others were random pieces that caught my eye. I am very proud of this first page. I hate that the pages disappear in short periods of time...but such is life. Nothing last forever! Especially on Etsy! Amazing how much sells. I have found that if I see something I really like...I had better buy it right then. Some work...really good work hardly gets on the Time Machine 2 before it is snapped up by someone.


My sells are good considering how new I am and the learning curve to draw attention to my site. Still putting together the tools to incorporate this blog, flickr photos and etsy page. Love the challenge and the learning curve!

Set an Artist Free...

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.
-- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Art as Heart

In art the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can inspire.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson