just 3 lines: 2024

1530. simply gorgeous

canada geese

lifting off up into the sky

breaking the silence

It was sunny and just a bit breezy. Around the golf course across the expansive of shiny white ground, multiple groups of Canada geese had gathered together to forage through the snow. There was the occasional soft quacky murmur or throaty growl, but mostly there was silence. My eyes skimmed the scenic view in slow motion, when all of a sudden a cacophony of honking flew into the air in front of me. I looked up, then saw another group of geese lifting off over my head, and then in the distance another as if someone or some thing had turned on a switch or sounded a call for every bird across the golf course to take flight. It was simply gorgeous.

1529. me-you-us-them

there they are:

up-down, down-up, here, there,

they’re everywhere!

In the museum, so much to look at so much to see.

1528. woohoo!

no moon tonite

train lights up the way—then

whistles

December 21, Winter Solstice, the shortest day and the longest night. The snow was slanting down. Out the back window, empty trees and clusters of shrubs covered in white. Off to the left I heard the distant whistle. The headlights lit up the overhead power lines as the train hurried on by with another whistle. It was snowing—woohoo!

1527. making marks

smoke rings

floating up from a pot of tea

ahhh…

Fragrant smoke rings, wafting up from a pot of hot jasmine tea on a cold morning. Detail of a small painting at an exhibition. I didn’t paint this…wish I had. It’s the little things that turn me on.

1526. asters

autumn freeze

tiny flowers daring to bloom

in the morning sun

Tiny white flowers look like they are enjoying the warm morning sun. It’s still autumn, three more days winter comes in. I wonder, will they still be blooming.

1525. all ears

my, my,

what big ears you have, my dear….

the better to hear you!

Was that the Big Bad Wolf or Mickey Mouse?!

1524. love poem

stepping back

for a closer look

at love

“Amor Caritas,” Angel of Love at the Michener Museum.

And the Angel of Love came down and waved its magic wand all over the world. Rumi said, “Love is the bridge between you and everything.” Love is essential, if we are to grow. Love what you love—music, paintings, poems, books, science, nature, hopes and dreams….your home, animals, children, your lover. Hafiz said, “Your heart and my heart are very, very old friends.” This is what love feels like for me.

1523. sunday morning

chilly morning

let’s build a fire to warm up

the maple syrup

Sunday morning is for pancakes. Dan likes to warm up the maple syrup.😘

1522. jolly good!

a pumpkin:

it can’t see or think or feel, but

it sure does taste good!

Gobble gobble, stuffing its cheeks—a jolly squirrel! ‘Tis the season!

1521. the sun

there goes the sun

same old, same old, and yet….

speechless

There goes the sun, just doing its thing. It’s really something. Isn’t it? Makes me think of that old Frankie Laine song that goes, “That lucky old sun got nothin’ to do but roll around heaven all day….”

1520. doggie of the month

center stage—

posing with perfect poise

la centerfold!

Stepping out from behind the curtain to pose with perfect poise—drumroll, please! There she is: Mizz December!

1519. up against the fence

no one

teeing off—the 13th hole

foggy

Balmy morning, fog rising up from the ground. Far in the distance, ground sprinklers going full blast! No one out on the golf course. Soft sounds of silence, thick enough to hear an echo. Pretty. 🎬

1518. rain gods

dawn—

velvet footprints of the rain gods

dancing

Dawn, it’s been raining—rain, rain, rain twelve more hours, maybe more. There goes a car off to work….glad it’s not me.

1517. moments

me and you

taking pictures—

late autumn

It’s still Autumn. Some days warm, some days cold—in the 20s or 30s or 40s, even 50s.

So much to see, taking it all in. I never tire of seeing you in action.

“The best things in life are not things, they are moments.” Some moments go by in a flash. Some moments linger. And some moments go on and on.

1516. tiny wonder

cherry red

the flowers in my garden

…a ghost?!

Delightful, the cyclamen in my window-sill garden blooming in time for the holidays. Watching the pot of soil drinking up water from the saucer below, I look close, then a little closer….a wispy spider, white as a ghost! Where’d it come from?!

1515. leaning in

waiting room

nodding against the wall

feeling woozy

Waiting to see the doctor—even the office plants grow weary waiting!🫠

1514. three chairs

one…two…three

and they all fall down, or

ojigi?

Hmmm…At the edge of the woods, three chairs, each one red, toppled over, head low to the ground. Are they all playing a game? Or was it the windy wind? Or ojigi? Ojigi is the Japanese word for bowing, which is a fundamental part of Japanese culture and a common way to show respect.

1513. the dreamer

i once had a cat

she was black on black—

i called her Lucy

“The Dreamer” — 10 x 8” — Origami Composition

Like leaves on a tree or pages in a book….day by day, dreaming the night away. Cats are great sleepers, and dreamers too. Lucy, making the most of her days and her dreams. “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” Walt Disney

1512. two guys

two guys

down in the wooded hollow—

locking horns

We were standing at the top of the 30 foot concrete wall, gazing down into the wooded gully, looking to see what we could see: krkk! k-kk! klkk. k-rkk! k-kk! First, we heard the distant clacking sounds then we saw them—two big bucks locking horns. We watched their horns making contact and hooking, stepping back then hooking again and again. Transfixed—hooked on what we were witnessing—we wondered what was going on. They didn’t appear to be angry. But were they fighting? Were they vying for herd dominance? Were they scraping off their antlers? Or were they just two guys roughhousing? We did see a doe nearby. Hmmm….

1511. abundance

early winter, frosty

ground loaded with acorns—

ooh, a smorgasbord!

I used to think that only squirrels relied on acorns for food. I had no idea of all the other animals—rodents, birds, and mammals—who also eat acorns. Chipmunks, mice, and squirrels. Blue jays, woodpeckers, tufted titmice and common grackles. White-tailed deer, gray and red foxes, crows, wild turkeys, rabbits, raccoons and opossums. Thank God for Oak Trees!

1510. the seagull

standing tall

between earth and heaven

the wind blows

Under the sun, we all live. The tall grasses, trees, rivers, rocks, and seas….the fox, the heron, deer, horses, birds, and bees….cats, dogs, fishes and fleas. And the whole of humanity, too.

This is the last of my posts inspired by three days in Cape May and life by the sea.🙏

1509. seven Santas

two on the porch,

two more in the windows,

and three on the roof!

After all these years, Christmas is still my favorite holiday and Santa can still surprise and delight me. December 2, twenty-three days to Christmas….and seven Santas appear! Will the real Santa Claus please stand up!🎅 🥰

1508. all is well

sounds of the sea

are mesmerizing

even to a gull

On the beach, looking out on the sea….paying attention to the rolling sounds of the ocean returning to itself wave after wave. Mesmerized. Feeling a deep sense of peace in the world outside and inside and for a time, all is well and all is well.

1507. what’s this?

on broadway beach

sand, seaweed, seagulls, shells….

but what’s this?

Looking down at the ground can be more interesting than looking up at the sky. I found this on the beach. Its natural elegance intrigued me. It seemed so significant, and yet. It made me wonder. Can anyone tell me what this is?

1506. home again

“farewell, my friend

it’s been great to see you around—

c’mon back now”

I swear, I heard the sun talking to me again….

(We’re back home now. Cape May was a good time, as always. One of the best parts of the trip is the things we see and save: our souvenirs. After this one, I’ll have a few more to share.)

1505. splendid

riding the waves

leaving no footprints—

seven seagulls

At home in the world. The sky, the sun, the sand, the sea and seven seagulls riding the waves, just for the joy of it. Splendid.

1504. Cape May

there’s Dan,

anything for a good picture—

“oh, my aching ankle!”

Some things are worth a little pain—for the sake of a good blog post! No kidding, he got a great photo!

1503. old age

and so,

here is yet one more leaf

fading away

decaying leaves—

soon there will be nothing left

to blow away

In Autumn, as the year slowly comes to an end, Nature decides to decorate itself with endless color—reds, yellows, orange, gold. Countless leaves falling down from trees. They seem so alive. When the winds of Winter blow in, what will I write about then….the whiteness of falling snow? I hope it snows, but not over-the-top!

1502. looking up

looking up

craters on the moon

for the hornets

No need to fly all the way to the moon, all you have to do is simply look up to find another wonderful wonder. What would it be like to go for a day without ever looking up? Three days to Thanksgiving. It’s cool now, safe to linger and admire the perfect perfection of life all around. Some say that life is short, and yet every day can be a lifetime, with much to admire. I don’t want to waste a day without ever looking up.

1501. turn turn turn

some days

i don’t know which way to turn—

just like this leaf

I know I know, yeah yeah, it’s just another leaf! But here’s the thing: How many ways to change its colors from green to yellow to gold…orange…rust…red…burgundy…brown. How many ways to change my thoughts and feelings? 😘

1500. it’s all good

bending down

to re-tie my shoe, a leaf

hitchhikes a ride

Life is a scenic walk on a long, long road. Ups and downs, bumps and curves, potholes, detours, and all kinds of dead ends that lead in new directions. That’s what makes life interesting. Enjoy the journey. Slow down, stay in touch with the good Earth, and don’t carry too much baggage. Most of all, remember to stay open for good company along the way.

(Shout out to Charo for telling me to “stay down, don’t move” so she could take this picture.)

1499. TGIF

oh boy, all set:

it’s friday, today’s trash day—

ready, set…let’s go!

This morning Dan sent me this picture. I couldn’t resist, had to use it. That’s Willey! He was the most fun. He’d do anything for a treat. We miss him big time.😻

1498. pretty fix

almost thanksgiving

and roses are nodding

in the breeze

Whenever I’m in need of a ‘pretty fix,’ I go for a walk around Morris Arboretum.

1497. feelin’ all right!

rain

in the forecast, next three days—

polishing my boots

When I sit down with my morning cup of coffee, first thing I do is look at the weather. I’m so happy, I could go dancing💃 in the rain! ☔️

dan and me

he he!

1496. just hangin’

is he dead?

fish in the fish bowl—

nope! that’s finny

Headstand? Nose dive? Sleeping? Nope—just hangin! I had to look again…and again…and again. For the longest while, he wasn’t moving at all, just hanging bottoms up. Made me think of another time Finny was just hanging belly up for the longest time. Belly up. Bottoms up. That’s Finny, He’s a funny fish.

1495. ooh!

ooh!

a hundred yards away or more—

it’s huge!

That’s no hawk, it’s huge! It’s an eagle! White head and tail feathers—its imposing size sitting solidly in that tree, 100 or 125 yards away. Unmistakable. We waited and waited, hoping to catch site of the magnificent bird lifting off and soaring into flight. It didn’t.

National emblem of the United States, the eagle has no fear of adversity and lives 20 to 30 years in the wild. The mature bird stands 3 feet tall or more, has a wingspan up to 7.5 feet, can weigh 15 pounds, and dive at the speed 99 mph. No wonder it’s called, “king of birds.”

1494. chilly morning

chilly morning

sunrise lighting up the creek

ooh, there’s a buck!

Looking at the sun, focused on how its light spread across the waters of the creek, it wasn’t until I lowered the camera from my face that the buck crossed my vision, ambling away. Another instance of how I wasn’t seeing what was right in front of me.

1493. which way?

up in the air

waiting for the light to go—

ninety-six pigeons

Every time I arrive at this intersection, I look up for the birds. They’re always there. Sometimes they all face the same direction, other times they’re facing every which way. Those birds fascinate me. I can’t tell you why for sure, but I think it’s their sense of community. It’s like a religion—pigeon religion.

1492. looking back

eye-to-eye

in the middle of the road

deer and i

On my way home after work, eyeing a deer up ahead in the middle of the road, I slowed the car, inching my way, rolling down my window, pulling my camera. Then I stopped and just waited. Eyes wide, this deer seemed more curious than alarmed, just standing there, staring. Then slowly, step by careful step, the deer came close, eyes steady, and passed me by. I glanced into the side-view mirror and smiled, wishing it well.

1491. hand in hand

after all these years

i can still feel her touch—

my mother’s hand

This postcard is quite old. Now and then when I take it out to hold and read yet one more time, I can feel my mother‘s hand holding mine. It’s sad to think that one day love letters written by hand may become a thing of the past.