Dust in the Wind

We run through life doing our very best each and every day. We are crunched for time and seem to be meeting ourselves coming home as we leave the next morning. Working hard doesn't seem to be enough anymore, and we don't seem to have a moment to think about how to work smart. Running around like hamsters in a cage, day in and day out, more paperwork and more computer work, more phone calls and more errands, take the kids here and take on another job. When did life get so crazy?

Watching the mist rise off the lake this morning Kansas came to mind. No, not the state - the group and their song, "Dust in the Wind." I offer these lyrics to you today to contemplate as this is how I'm feeling today:

I close my eyes

only for a moment and the moment's gone

All my dreams

Pass before my eyes with curiosity

Dust in the wind

All they are is dust in the wind

Same old song

Just a drop of water in an endless sea

All we do

Crumbles to the ground, through we refuse to see

Dust in the wind

All we are is dust in the wind

Now don't hang on

Nothin' lasts forever but the earth and sky

It slips away

And all your money won't another minute buy.

Dust in the wind

Everything is dust in the wind

Yesterday's news scared me and should scare us all. Today, I seek consolation but can't seem to find it. Sorry to be such a downer today but ... well ... there ya go.

Added disclaimer: This really didn't have anything to do with the financial mess.

November 5, 2005

Autumn is in the air. The Red Buckeyes are bejeweled with their luscious, textured seedpods. Soon they'll open and these rich, mahogany seeds will drop to the ground and do their best to ensure continuation of the species. Buckeye seeds appear in late summer in a fig-sized leathery pouch. The dark brown seed are large, smooth and take on a rich luster as they harden and are handled. Wildlife, with the possible exception of squirrels, shun the bitter, poisonous seeds. Squirrels have been hoarding these seedpods long before they reach the stage you see above. This photo was taken in 2005, and since then I've rarely been able to find any seeds themselves. The Red Buckeyes are denuded of seedpods much earlier these days.

An old custom is carrying seed pods in your pocket. Supposedly, the seeds are carried as an old remedy to ward off rheumatism and other assorted ailments. Mostly, they are considered lucky charms. The old saying went "You'll never find a dead man with a buckeye in his pocket." Today, their most likely used sort of like a worry stone - something to roll around in your hand.

I have a little clay bowl of dried buckeyes on my table. They dry into a dark, chestnut brown and get slightly wrinkled. They are beautiful accompaniment to my clay and wooden bowls filled with rocks and flotsam from here and other sites.

The little teal clay bowl to the lower left holds about 7-8 buckeye seeds. The solid reddish rocks are from Wales, the gold & red rock is from our backyard.

This wooden bowl from Valdivia, Chili holds smooth river rocks from around the Southeastern region.

This blue pottery plate from Chili holds fossils and petrified bones from our riverbank, plus some seashells from the Gulf of Mexico. If you think I have a lot of rocks, you should see my seashell collection. And these are just the small rocks. My husband tolerates this obsession and actually brings me rocks from his journeys. My challenge is keeping up with where they came from! I'm not that organized, you see.

Humbled

So there I was slumped back into the sofa, looking up to the ceiling after another chat with my teenager when the fan and its shadow caught my attention. There were no more words left for the teen so I shot into the air. I hate this fan 'cause it's just ugly and shows every cobweb, but it does cool the house. But, I digress.

Foiled again by the wily lass I schlump back to my lair (office) to log on and check out my blogging buddies. While one teenager disappoints this particular evening another teenager has honored my blog. Michaela at Floodwaters Photography has been a source of inspiration and delight to me since discovering her a few months ago. She is witty and smart and compassionate and extraordinarily talented. That she likes my humble blog just made my night - thanks, Michaela.

Accordingly, I must share this award with seven people whose blogs fill me up with beauty, thought, reflection, or whatever it is that draws me in. There are many blogs that do this for me, yet some that refuse awards, so I thought about it and here's my list.

Rachel at Blue Algae Creative: http://bluealgaecreative.blogspot.com/

I used to lurk at Rachel's blog simply because I felt it too beautiful for any insipid responses from me. Her blog is an artistic masterpiece. The colors she uses appeals to me just like a clear mountain stream. Thanks, Rachel, for creating such a soothing place to visit.

Nancy at Soliloquy: http://nancybond.wordpress.com/

Nancy Bond's blog draws me in every time with her extraordinary photographs and amazing poetry and prose. Her words and images are so vivid that I can feel them deep inside. They warm me softly and create a pool of contentment in my soul. I visit here every day because a day without Soliloquy is a day without sunshine.

Daniel at Nature at Close Range: http://www.natureatcloserange.com/

I met Daniel last year when he and his wife and 8 kids (you read that right) rented a house across the street while their family home was being repaired after burning. Daniel and I first noticed we loved nature photography, then we discovered we both blogged, and then we found out we were both self-professed Nature Geeks. Daniel and his son Sebastian are particularly close and love exploring nature together. Heck, some of the rest of his brood may be going out with him as well by now! Anyway, Daniel is a walking encyclopedia about birds, bugs, spiders, snakes, fish, and all the etcetera this area offers. Thanks, Daniel for being such fun and I miss you guys being across the street!

Lisa at Greenbow: http://greenbowgardens.blogspot.com/

Each and every time I visit Lisa's blog I learn something. She outlines so much about her garden and her life, punctuating each post with lovely photographs and heartfelt descriptions. Lisa just did a scrumptious piece about autumn berries that I loved, and she has Jerusalem Artichokes growing in her yard. I envy her backyard and it's lovely blooms. Oh, and I love her dog! Thanks, Lisa, for delighting me every day!

Robin at Robin's Nesting Place: http://robinsnestingplace.blogspot.com/

Robin's macro photos of butterflies and blossoms leave me breathless. Her recent post is about raising black swallowtails on her parsley and fennel, complete with pics of the chrysalis' and the caterpillars and the newly-dried butterflies with wings outstretched. I went through this process last year as well. Robin's blog is a whirlwind of gardening frenzy that I love, love, love and her photos ... as I said ... are indeed amazing! Thanks, Robin, for sharing so much of yourself with us!

Carol at The Blessing Counter: http://theblessingcounter.blogspot.com/

Carol is a long-time friend who is an amazing wife and mother of four of the bestest kids I've ever met. Carol is a talented writer and photographer and is my spiritual mentor. (she doesn't know that, but I reckon she will now) I met Carol 14 or 15 years ago when I hired her as my assistant at our television station. I tried hard to keep her at arm's length but our friendship and bond was too strong. Today, we remain good friends and always will. She's become quite the blogger and I know you'll love her as much as I do! Thanks, Carol, for being my friend.

and Outer Banks Mom: http://outerbanksmom.blogspot.com/

Outer Banks Mom is the greenest lady I've ever known. I visit her blog daily for inspiration, information, knowledge, and to get fired up about issues that truly matter. I also visit her blog for cool-o recipes, like the Cilantro Margarita that's amazing! Besides which, Outer Banks Mom lives, obviously, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. North Carolina is one of my favorite States, period. It's the perfect state with wild, wonderful seashores, tides as wide and long as a summer day, lighthouses and wild horses, waterways and seashells and shrimp boats to the east, and rolling emerald hills, clear mountain streams with glorious rocks and cliffs and rapids and old growth trees to the west. Visiting Outer Banks Mom's blog is like visiting my favorite place....without using any gas..and teaching me what it's truly like to be Green. Thanks, OBM for being there.

DANG! I forgot to put the award in here, so here it is!!!! But putting it in messed with my spacing, drat! Rats! I don't have time to pretty this back up but it's all heartfelt.

November 14, 2005

This was the very first photo taken with my Canon 20D when it was brand new, right out of the box on November 14, 2005. I love, love, love my camera, almost unhealthily so. I have a passion for it and love the weight of it, the look of it, the feel of it. It's comfortable in my hand. It's almost as though it's an additional appendage. It's a part of me. It's intrinsically connected to my heart, my eyes, my hands and my soul. The only object that comes remarkably close to this same sort of intimate relationship with an electronic device is the one I share with my iPod, but that's another post entirely.

My first camera was a Yashica FX something 35mm with 3 lenses: 55mm, 28mm and a 70-135mm zoom. That camera documented much of my young adulthood, capturing driftwood and campfires and beaches and lakes and spiders - gosh, the same sorts of things I shoot now. That camera was my constant companion until it developed a serious light leak so she's up on a shelf now. She still receives a good dusting and gentle caresses now and then.

After I reluctantly retired the Yashica I was without a camera for many years. Looking back, those were turbulent times with lots of drifting and seeking...and not finding...myself. In hindsight, and I don't need a "Hindsight Committee" to figure this out, I believe it was because I wasn't out in the field doing what I love. No campfires, no water or lakes, no photography, nothing. It was work and school and work and work and school and actually going out and getting plastered with people I didn't really like. I wasn't me, and I was miserable.

A change of friends helped, as did a new career. Then Bob came into my life and I began to settle. After we were married he gave me a new camera - a Canon Elan II EOS with a sweet 100-300 zoom and a 55mm lens. Oh, wow! Oh, yeah! I played with that for a few years and then along came the first digital into the household when my tech-head husband HAD to buy a Sony Cybershot 5.0 megapixel.

I scoffed. Puh-lease.......that's not a "real" camera, I said in my snottiest voice complete with elitist attitude. Ahem, I'm a PHOTOGRAPHER, honey. Cough, cough. I ignored the little Sony completely, and continued to drive my film into town, picking it up days later and though I was always, always unhappy with the results I kept my unhappiness a secret. I went so far as to consider and plan my own darkroom I was so displeased with my prints.

I can't remember what possessed me to try the Sony but one day I did. That's when I discovered something called Immediate Gratification. Sometime later I discovered Photoshop. Then I got the Canon 20D. Now I want a Canon 40D body. I'm in digital heaven, and I'm loving it. It's completely addictive, and I know many of you are nodding your heads and saying Amen! This isn't to say that film cameras are bad, or poloroids are bad - I'm just not gifted with those mediums. Not to suggest that I'm "gifted" with digital, but that it's simply bringing pleasure and joy into my life.

These days my Canon Elan II sits beside the Yashica and I dust them often, and sometimes I hold them, look through their eyepiece and silently say "Thank you." (to say that out loud would raise eyebrows) Who knows...one day I may take the Canon Elan II out for a spin and see what comes of it.

Autumn

Nancy at Soliloquy has made me hungry for Autumn with its

smokey smells, crisp air and jeweled colors.