Even though the mountains of snow aren't going anywhere soon (and even though more snow is on the way this weekend!), every one of the following posts melted me into a puddle of warmth and sweetness this week. Really, they're all so lovely and heartfelt. See for yourself...
So often, we miss a whole event because we're too busy trying to record it. (As a photographer, I'm totally guilty of this, many times over!) Laura at Circle of Pine Trees wrote an insightful post about what happens when we pay full attention instead: Behind the Scenes.
Even more loveliness, from an English hillside, capped off with childhood nostalgia from Helen at Larglea Confidential: Sunshine on Snowdrops.
I don't think it's possible for me to love this "Book Buddies" idea (from the Animal Rescue League of Berks County) more than I already do, and the photographs melt me into a squishy-hearted mess every single time I look at them (especially the precious one of the little boy in the gray sweatshirt hugging the orange cat). I hope more places adopt this idea of children reading to shelter animals.
Can you ever turn back the clock? Sadly, no, but as stated in this post from Make It Red, one photographer found an ingenious way of revisiting her youth: Chino Otsuka: Imagine Finding Me.
Well, did they melt you, too? Have a warm and memorable weekend!
Time's running out...don't forget to register this weekend for my 10-day photography e-course starting March 10, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You." Learn more and register at this link. (Spoiler Alert: You won't need a special camera, or oodles of time, or years of experience, so why not treat yourself to a lifetime of better photos?)
Don't you just love those rare, sparkling days when every little detail comes together meticulously to create a "dream day" you couldn't have improved upon, even if you tried? I had that kind of day last Saturday.
We were in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. My husband and kids were off skiing with friends, and as I have no interest in skiing, I headed off on my own to the nearby town of Lenox to visit the home of one of my literary loves, Edith Wharton. And that's where fate intervened in my favor, to an almost ridiculous extent.
Edging up the long, slushy, icy mess of a driveway to The Mount, I noticed there were only a few cars in the parking lot, even though it was a sunny weekend afternoon. A friendly young woman walked over to ask me if I was there for "the reading." I had no idea there was a reading, or that The Mount was officially closed until May. It was only open that day, she told me, for a marathon reading of Ethan Frome, which she invited me to drop in on, or--get this!--I could look around the house by myself. Is that a literary jackpot or is it not? Even if Mrs. Wharton's work isn't your cup of tea, just imagine being granted the opportunity to poke around your favorite author's house (old, large, and lovely) at your leisure, completely on your own. No crowds jostling or nudging you along. No velvet ropes to stay behind. Not even a ticket to buy. Plus, a free shuttle service to deliver you back and forth over the icy, slushy terrain. Heaven!
Like the others who trickled in during the afternoon for the reading, I popped in and out of the living room, for the peaceful enjoyment of having a good story read to me by melodic voices with romantic accents. It made me remember why children love bedtime stories--a soothing voice, transporting them to another time and place. But the photographer in me was champing at the bit to look around--and look around I did!
I turned off my phone so as not to disturb the reading in the main room, and slipped back into an earlier time of simpler pleasures, before you could carry a telephone in your pocket. Back to the days when if you wanted to contact a friend, you penned a letter for the post to deliver, instead of texting or emailing. If you traveled in certain privileged circles, as Edith Wharton did, you invited friends for fancy dinners or long holiday weekends. Her circle of friends included Henry James, another one of my favorite writers, and signs of him were present all around the house. An elegant table was set in the dining room, complete with place cards of the luminaries who frequently dined there.
In the guestroom designated for Henry James, I looked out the window to admire the relatively unchanged woods and landscaped gardens that James would have seen during his stays (although I believe his visits were in summertime, to escape the New York City heat).
My favorite part of my solo tour was Edith Wharton's bedroom, the place where she liked to write her novels (in bed). Some original, handwritten pages from one of the drafts for The House of Mirth were lying on the coverlet. It's my second favorite of her novels, after The Custom of the Country. I felt the equivalent of starstruck, seeing the pages spread out before me.
I'm so grateful that I was able to study these pages up close, without even a glass between us. (No, I didn't touch them--natural oils on fingers!) It was like being able to read her mind as she wrote the novel. (And, ignoring all the cross-outs, isn't her penmanship pretty?)
I remember once seeing a T-shirt in an airport shop that read "Happiness is Expensive." Last Saturday afternoon was proof that happiness is not only inexpensive, but sometimes completely free-of-charge. Happiness that day for me was...
...turning off my phone and listening to my own thoughts.
...the peacefulness of a snow-filled woods on a sunlit afternoon.
...exploring thoughtfully decorated rooms from a bygone era.
...taking photo after photo, on my own schedule, not inconveniencing anybody by snapping pictures for hours.
...and, most especially, carefully studying the life of one of my favorite women in history, in a way I never imagined was possible.
**********************************************
Before you go...
Did you enjoy this post? Get more like it by subscribing to Joyfully Green via email or RSS reader: just click here.
Only two more weeks to register for my March photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You." The following link has all the details: Learn more and register here.
Although I have a green blog, I'm far from being "the perfect environmentalist." I've already admitted (in The Many Shades of Green (or: "Get Off Your Green High Horse!") that I still drive a mini-van and live in a house bigger than necessary for four people (and one high-energy dog). And yet, I do what I can (composting, shopping as little as possible for new things, growing some of my own herbs and vegetables, buying organic and local, being an advocate for nature and wildlife...you get the drift). I try to add more green efforts little by little, and I'm always looking for new ideas. To that end, the bloggers featured in this weekend's round-up of Joyful Reads represent the Green Superheroes for me--people who are walking the walk and talking the talk, BIG-TIME! See if they can inspire you to change at least one of your daily habits. Every little bit helps, right?
Lois Field at Living Simply Free wins my award for the most thoroughly green person I know. It seems like every aspect of her life is kind to the planet. See how many of her ideas you can adopt by checking out Part 1 and Part 2 of her Change the World Wednesday.
With these inspirational ideas to ponder, I hope your weekend is greener than you ever thought it could be!
Your turn: Who's your green superhero? Any blogs you'd like to recommend for a greener planet, minimalism, or non-consumerism? Please share in the comments section below.
Did you enjoy this post? Get more like it by subscribing. (Enter your email address in righthand column, or hit the RSS reader button.)
Register for my March photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You." The following link has all the details: Learn more and register here.
I was at a conference last summer (BlogHer '13) with five thousand other women (plus about twenty token men, brave souls!) and nearly three times that figure in smart phones, laptops, iPads, Blue Tooths...you name it, those women were WIRED, and I'm not talking about the coffee. (I'm including myself in that figure, with iPad and iPhone in tow.)
I hadn't been to a professional conference in years, so I was genuinely shocked at the collective Attention Deficit Disorder in the conference hall, where very few people looked at the speakers for longer than two minutes straight. Sure, many attendees were typing notes from the lectures on their MacBooks. But they were also busy Tweeting, Friending, texting, snapping photos of each other, and updating their blogs during the keynotes. One attendee was using her laptop to order shoes from Zappos. (I kid you not.)
The Zappos customer wasn't the most surprising tech-addict in the bunch. No, I'd give that title to one of the panelists, who was texting while she was sitting on the stage and another panelist was talking. Updating her Twitter feed or texting her nanny? I don't have the answer. I only know that I found it jarring to see somebody on the stage paying more attention to her phone than to her audience. This isn't a critique of BlogHer, because it turns out (from talking to others about this subject) that this is the norm for conferences these days--even conferences that aren't inherently about internet-based careers. Low attention span mixed with hyper-connectedness is just a given.
But why are we hyper-connected these days, online more than we're offline? I have a few guesses. Do any of the following ring true for you?
We're bored. The people online might be more interesting than the people we're with.
We need a crutch in social situations. It's hard to make conversation with strangers.
We're programmed to be multi-taskers and don't like wasting time by "just sitting there."
We're afraid of missing something. ("FOMO" is the new term for "Fear of Missing Out.")
We crave some instant validation of the online variety, that little "thumbs-up" that we're doing something smart, creative, funny, or envy-inducing.
There was a popular "Hippie" phrase back in the 1970's: "Be Here Now", coined by Ram Dass, a spiritual leader. It seems like we could use more of that mindset today, don't you think?
More mindful focus, less mindless distraction.
Not giving anybody in our presence the idea that "you're my second choice."
Because the more our eyes are glued to a screen, the less likely we're having a focused conversation.
...Or reading something more meaningful than the latest celebrity gossip.
...Or taking a walk in the park and really noticing our natural surroundings.
...Or just plain old daydreaming, which I happen to think is a very worthwhile, highly undervalued thing to do.
As a blogger who needs to be connected to a screen while I work, this is an ongoing struggle for me. But I'm trying to keep it all in balance. I'm trying (and sometimes failing) to "Be Here Now."
Don't get left out in the cold! Register now for my March photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You."Learn more and register here.
Don't get left out in the cold! Register now for my March photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You."Learn more and register here.
Don't get left out in the cold! Register now for my March photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You."Learn more and register here.
Never miss a Monday Snapshot...subscribe to Joyfully Green today! (Enter email address in righthand column, or hit the RSS reader button.)
Register for my March 2014 photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You." The following link has all the details: Learn more and register here.
In honor of Valentine's Day today, I'd like to share a few sweet items that warmed my heart this past week. I hope they nestle cozily into your own heart, too!
Right now in the northeastern United States, you can't throw a snowball without hitting someone who is really, really sick of the snow. So I found this post from Posie Gets Cozy (based in Portland, Oregon, where snow is a rare occurrence) to be a sweet attitude adjustment: Snow Birds.
I find it nearly impossible to be glum when I look at these adorable photographs from wildlife photographer Melissa Groo (via Mother Nature Network) of fox kits growing up.
This isn't a "read" but it fits the theme. "Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof" to this super-popular music video from Pharrell Williams: Happy. It's our 100% guaranteed mood-lifter at our house.
I hope this weekend finds you warm...and well-loved.
Give this valentine to yourself or someone you love: Register now for my March photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You."Learn more and register here.
This post, from January 2013, just got a little face-lift for a re-post, because (1) the facts remain largely the same--the weather is c-c-cold!; (2) many of you didn't see it the first time around, as the blog was still in diapers; and (3) I'm putting the finishing touches on my nature photography e-course this week. So, without further ado...
Today's guilty confession from this nature-loving blog girl: I haven't really been outside for a week. There, I've said it. In my defense, the temperature in the mornings has been hovering between 4 and 8 degrees--Fahrenheit, not Celsius--with a bitter, bone-chilling, unrelenting wind. What I've learned from this run of really, really cold weather is that I'd make a terrible Canadian. Or Chicagoan, for that matter. I'm half-Swedish, so you'd think I could handle the cold by genetics alone, but my other half is Italian, so it all evens out.
Most of the snow has been covered with a thick sheet of ice, so simply walking around outside has become an extreme sport. When I took our books back to the library yesterday, I promptly fell flat on my back, feet whipped out from under me, on a sheet of black ice. I was somehow heart-warmed to hear a total stranger blurt out a blue streak of obscenities in raw, unadulterated concern for me as he rushed over, lickety-split, to help me up. "You're lucky that you're not an old lady--you would have been TOAST!" he gasped in relief after I assured him that I was fine.
Other than still walking the dog four times a day (not as far as usual), I just haven't had the same get-up-and-go to get out there. My blogger friend Debi at Go Explore Nature (whom I told you about in 10 Green "Gifts" That Won't Cost You a Dime) has been on a mission this month to post a suggestion every single day for getting outdoors with the kids. (Debi lives in L.A., mind you.) She has some very clever and creative suggestions, even for cold weather, and I plan on following many of them...as soon as the temperature inches up into the double digits again.
But until then, here's what I'm doing to appreciate nature...
As soon as I open the blinds, I watch the sun rising. It rises a little after 7 a.m. now---not such an ungodly hour. When I wake up the kids, they watch the sun rise with me. Peaceful.
As I eat my breakfast, after the kids have gone off to school, I watch the large herd of white-tailed deer wandering out of the woods for their own breakfasts, or cozying up along our stone wall in the back yard, shielding themselves from the wind. I saw this momma deer keeping a watchful eye on her fawn while pretending to relax. (I could relate to her.)
Another doe, pictured below, seems to have bitten into something that bit her back--a thorny bush, perhaps. See her tongue split in half and hanging out? Her tongue stayed out, flapping limply in the wind. Poor thing!
I am a firm believer in "a room with a view", so the desk in my office faces a window where I can watch the day unfolding outside. If I stared at a computer screen all day without these visual breaks of nature, I would not be a happy camper and I'm sure I'd need eyeglasses much thicker than the ones I own now.
When I do get outside for the dog-walks, I often hear Canadian Geese overhead. I marvel at their V formations and the way the leader honks to the others to guide them along, and they honk right back in response. (Nice teamwork, guys!)
When it's too cold to go out at night, we can still gaze at the stars from the warmth of our bedrooms. Tonight we found Orion, and my son re-read the story behind the constellation. My favorite constellation has always been the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters, so that's the first thing I seek out. We also study the phases of the moon--my daughter is a bit obsessed. ("The moon! The mooooooooooon!" she shrieks whenever it's full.)
In the daytime, we can look out on our forest and see what's afoot or aflutter. We keep our two plexiglass bird-feeders well-stocked with seeds, so from the kitchen and master bedroom, we can watch who's flying in for a bite. (Below: Tufted Titmouse; Black-capped Chickadee.)
It's helped us enormously that we bought an easy-to-use field guide for birds of New Jersey a few years back. Sure, we already knew the Blue Jays, Cardinals, and Chickadees, but now we also know what a Dark-eyed Junco is--turns out we have LOTS of those little cuties!
So, yes--we are indoors for now, but we are still finding our own ways to appreciate the Great Outdoors.
Your turn:How do you appreciate nature from indoors? Please share in the comments section below.
Don't get left out in the cold! Register now for my March photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You."Learn more and register here.
Need something else to look forward to? Register for my March photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You." The following link has all the details: Learn more and register here.
Isn't it amazing that you can live on this planet for over four decades and still learn new words, words you never even knew existed? That deserves a post all its own, don't you think? Without further ado...
I'd never heard the word "klediments" before, but it turns out that I probably have hundreds of them! Thanks, Fred First, for once again teaching me a thing or two: With You, in a Box.
*My one word for 2014 is "Focus." On that note, don't forget toregister for my upcoming photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You." The following link has the details, including the answer to such burning questions as "What if I have a full-time job?" (Spoiler alert: If you do, then this online, self-paced course would be justperfect for you!) Learn more and register here.
