WOW. It's so loud out there lately, isn't it? All of the world noise--I mean news--has made me even more grateful that we adopted these two little cuties for my daughter's tenth birthday this week. Say hello to Daisy (left) and Clover. The only sounds these guinea pigs make are the sweetest little squeaks and chirps. It's heaven!
We've never had guinea pigs in our family before, so this is a learning curve for us--a curve that often has surprising turns. For instance, we didn't know that potatoes are poisonous to guinea pigs. Or that they love grapes (which are poisonous to our dog). I've always had a soft spot for dandelions (here's the proof), but now I like them even more because they make our guinea pigs giddy with excitement. Most of all, I love the happiness these pets bring to our daughter as she reads them bedtime stories each night. (How sweet is that?!)
Our teenage son was worried about getting the guinea pigs, thinking it would hurt our dog's feelings. (And how sweet is that?!) To this, I responded with the title of Amy Bloom's short story from a few years ago: "Love is not a pie." There's always more love to go around.
This much I know for sure: Pets make the world a softer, kinder place.
P.S. Next week, I'll be opening registration for my July 2017 online photography course, Soul Focus: Finding Peace Through Photography. Subscribers to Writing with Light (my free, monthly-ish newsletter about my favorite photography techniques and latest inspirations) will get early bird entrance to this space-limited course and a BIG discount. They also get my free, downloadable guide,Hey, How Did You Do That?! 20 Apps to Totally Transform Your Phone Photos. If you're interested in one or both, don't miss out...
I just got back from a lovely ski weekend in Great Barrington, MA with my family. (Well, to be technical, my husband and daughter went skiing, my son went snowboarding, and I went photographing!) While I'd love to show you some pictures from the ski trip, I thought you might like a little break from all of the snow and ice lately...to take a little vicarious vacation to Hawaii!
Aside from a couple of posts featuring the work of my photography students, I've featured other photographers here only twicebefore. But I'm making an exception again, for one of my nearest and dearest friends, Michael Graziano, whom I've known since we were 16 years old, when we met at a summer arts program for high school students at Wesleyan University.
Michael and I are birds of a feather. We both grew up in Connecticut; we both lived in New York City for many years, where we were both in creative fields; and we're both crazy about the music of Neil Finn and Liam Finn (but oddly, not Tim Finn). He's one of those friends that no matter how much time passes between get-togethers, we start right up where we left off. (I love that kind of friendship, don't you?)
For the past twenty years, Michael worked at Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and as its Producing Director, he helped raise millions of dollars for its charitable efforts. Last August, he decided to step down from his high-profile job and step out into the Great Unknown. I've been thoroughly enjoying his Facebook updates (let's be honest: how many friends can you say that about?), and I'm betting you'll enjoy this armchair trip, too.
The following quotes are Michael's updates from Facebook, and all of the photographs in this post are his, taken with his iPhone (all used with his permission, of course!).
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September 23, 2014: "An adventure begins this week. I am off to live in Hawaii for 4 months, volunteering at Kalani retreat on the Big Island. I'll be living in a tent, which I bought from an Italian gal who is leaving for Costa Rica. I am bringing few possessions--clothes, some good books, a journal, my good-luck necklace that I bought in Amsterdam when I was 20 years old. I will be living in the shadow of the Kilauea volcano, nature's reminder of its own awesome power. How will I be touched, humbled and changed by dangerous Pele, the ancient Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes?"
October 15, 2014: "I am making friends with some new members of the animal kingdom here in Hawaii such as this gecko. There are also the feral cats that live on the property and are very sweet. Less friendly are the wild pigs that roam around my tent at night but they scare easily. I am trying to avoid the dreaded fire ants which pack quite a sting. Sea turtles can be seen in the ocean nearby but so far they have only poked their heads and shells out of the water and not ventured onto the land. So many living things to encounter!"
October 26, 2014: "The lava approaches. We shall see what Madame Pele has in store for us this week. The closest town may have to evacuate but we are not currently in the lava path. It will likely cross the highway, though, so we will be cut off from civilization as new roads are made. The lava changes its path and rate of flow all the time so nothing is certain."
November 15, 2014: "This guy has been living in the shower stall for a few days now. Seems to be friendly so far."
December 10, 2014: "When I arrived in Puna in October, it was hot, humid and rained every day. Now that we are in the 'rainy season' of December, it is glorious with the sun shining, lower humidity, cooler nights and no rain for days. Perfect holiday weather."
December 24, 2014: "These palm trees looked to me like snowflakes against the sky. Happy Christmas Eve from Hawaii!"
January 12, 2015: "Night falls over my tent."
January 13, 2015: "Cats. There must be close to 100 feral cats on property, fed by animal-loving volunteers and whatever they can find in the jungle. These cats act like dogs, begging for food or attention. This is Wilbur."
January 17, 2015: "Sunset at Mauna Kea into the clouds at almost 14,000 feet."
January 18, 2015: "Goodbye Kalani! I depart today after 3 and a half months filled with laughter, challenge and creativity. I shaved off my beard and hair yesterday in prep for the next leg of the trip. Time for new growth. I'll be exploring the islands for the rest of the month and head to New Zealand in February. Aloha Kalani friends!"
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Safe travels, Michael, and thanks for letting me share a little part of your Hawaiian adventure here! I hope New Zealand is EVEN BETTER! xox Joy
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I now return you to your regularly scheduled weather. (How GORGEOUS were those pics?!)
I've written about this lopsided, heart-shaped pear tree in our yard before. It's one of those things that I see every day, but often don't even notice. I just look beyond it, to see what else is there--a neighbor walking a dog; a teenager doing dangerous tricks on a bike; a student driver muddling along. When I do happen to notice the pear tree, I admire it. I appreciate it for persevering through storm after storm, beleaguered but not finished.
But now, it is broken--really broken--beyond help. Last week's snowstorm was the final blow.
Not that I didn't try to help the tree, because I was out there as the snow was falling, snow that was weighing heavily on its branches. I was already worried, knowing the tree's troubled history with snow. So I had a very looooooooooong chandelier-dusting pole--one of those telescoping contraptions that quadruples in length--and I was clumsily loosening big heaps of snow with each poke. (Go ahead--just try to be graceful while wielding a 30-foot pole in a snowstorm!)
But in the end, the storm won.
This week, the snow is melting and the deer have come 'round to pay their respects to the tree, nibbling on the leaves and branches which are now within their reach. The deer have joined the ranks of "Nature's Clean-up Crew", a name I'd given to the turkey vultures that frequent our neighborhood and do the sobering work of cleaning up the roadkill.
There are buds on the fallen branches, buds that will never see the springtime.
But I don't want to be sad about this tree. I want to take a Buddhist approach to it, as Thich Nhat Hanh would do--imagining the new blossoms that will grow from the mulch of the fallen tree. Or as Richard Carlson wrote in his best-selling book, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, in the chapter called "See the Glass as Already Broken (and Everything Else Too)":
"The essence of this [Buddhist] teaching is that all of life is in a constant state of change. Everything has a beginning and everything has an end. Every tree begins with a seed and will eventually transform back into earth...all will wear out and crumble; it's only a matter of when. There is a peace to be found in this teaching. When you expect something to break, you're not surprised or disappointed when it does. Instead of becoming immobilized when something is destroyed, you feel grateful for the time you had."
So today, I'm not sad for this pear tree. I am grateful.
Heart-shaped pear tree in full glory, Spring 2013.
SPECIAL NOTE: The Early Bird discount on my photography e-course "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You" has been extended 'til next Wednesday! (Thank you kindly to my new friend, Elisa in Australia, for alerting me about a techno-glitch with sign-up, which has now been fixed; I thought it was only fair to extend the discount.) Save $15 with the Early Bird Discount if you enroll before Wednesday, December 10, 2014 at 11:59 pm EST. (If you're giving the course as a gift, please let me know the name and email of the student, in the PayPal comment section at checkout.)Click here for details and registration.
I've lost count of how many times I've visited the American Museum of Natural History in New York, but I can tell you this: It never gets old for me.
There's something equally comforting and eerily magical about visiting the Hall of African Mammals and seeing the wise, old face of the lion--again. He's my favorite animal in the whole museum (with a respectful nod to the 94-foot-long, 21,000-pound Blue Whale that somehow hovers weightlessly above us).
The museum itself is a study in opposites. It alternates between darkness and golden light. (If I had to pick one color for it, I'd pick cinnamon.) It's crowded--always!--but as you study the tiniest details of the exquisite dioramas, a part of you fades into them and it feels like you're the only person in the world.
I visited the museum this past Saturday with my children--not for the first time. I think I've lost count of their visits as well. As they dashed from one diorama to another, they were mesmerized, balanced in a place of peacefulness and wonder. I felt it, too. It's a warm feeling that washes over me every time I walk through the doors.
I hope the week ahead is full of peaceful wonder for you.
Start off the new year with a new skill: My photography e-course, "How to Take Better Photos of Nature and the World Around You" will be running again this January! Save $15 with the Early Bird Discount if you enroll before Wednesday, December 3, 2014 at 11:59 pm EST. (If giving the course as a gift, please let me know the name and email of the student in the PayPal comment section at checkout.)Click here for details and registration.
When I was in my early 20's (sheesh, back in the Stone Age!), I was on vacation in Antwerp (a lovely Old World city), and my Belgian boyfriend introduced me to Nutella. I could be mistaken, but I think I heard a choir of angels singing--the taste was beyond heavenly. A chocolate-hazelnut spread! On toast, topped with fresh fruit! That was my version of ambrosia, the food of the gods.
Well, my relationship with Nutella lasted a LOT longer than the one with my Belgian boyfriend. When I got back to New York, I found Nutella in the ultra-high-priced Upper East Side gourmet markets (and only there). I've been enjoying it for years since then--although it's gotten decidely cheaper, now that it's widely available in supermarkets, and pretty close to everybody in America has eaten it straight out of the jar by the spoonful. (Especially my kids.)
So, why did I give up something that I LOVE to eat? Because I found out that Nutella--along with the generic supermarket versions of it and the knock-offs from Jif and Hershey--is made using palm oil. And palm oil is a deal-breaker for me.
The palm oil industry has so many ugly problems, it's hard to know where to begin, but here's a start:
According to the World Wildlife Fund, an area the equivalent size of 300 football fields of rainforest is cleared (burned) each hour to make way for palm oil production.
Rainforest animals "get in the way" of the palm oil industry, and animal cruelty and killing is rampant.
Many species are being pushed to the brink of extinction, including Orangutans and Sumatran tigers.
The extent of the problem is HUGE, because palm oil is used in...oh, let's see...almost everything?! Here's a list from the World Wildlife Fund to illustrate that point. Check those ingredient labels!
Believe it or not, there's something good to report: Six months ago, Ferrero, the makers of Nutella, switched over to 100% sustainable palm oil. Hopefully, they'll update their label with that fact, and soon. But not all companies use sustainable palm oil, so if the label doesn't say it, check the product website or call them to ask.
FYI: There are several all-natural or organic chocolate hazelnut spreads made without palm oil. Check out this list called "Move Over, Nutella! We've already tried two of them at our house: Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter (too salty for me, but the kids liked it), and Nocciolata Organic Hazelnut Spread (that one's a winner!).
Tonight, feeling nostalgic for my Nutella days, I melted down some semi-sweet chocolate chips, mixed in some toasted almonds (no hazelnuts in the pantry!), and added a pinch of sea salt. It's pictured at the top, with sliced apples. Didn't taste a thing like Nutella, but I think I heard two angels singing. Or maybe that was just my kids...they loved it.
How 'bout you? Have you ever given up a product for ethical reasons? Do tell in the comment section below!
It's hard for me to believe it now, but I lived in Manhattan for eleven years (in various tiny apartments with thin walls and loud neighbors), from my early 20's to my early 30's. So I can tell you from experience that New York truly is "The City that Never Sleeps." On Friday nights, it was perfectly normal for my circle of friends (as well as thousands of other circles of friends) to start heading out for the evening activities at 10 p.m. I can remember one Friday night when I was coming home to my apartment at 2 a.m. and my next-door neighbor (a young guy who played in a grunge band) was just heading out for a gig downtown. (Did I mention it was 2 a.m.?) Such is life in New York City...
When I moved to Philadelphia with my soon-to-be-husband, it was a shock to us that the streets of our new city emptied out between 9 and 10 p.m. The only people still out walking around after that hour were hoodlums and homeless people. Everybody else seemed to be tucked in and tuckered out.
I guess it was a preview of my life to come. When you have a new baby, you're sleeping (or more accurately, not sleeping) at crazy hours. Naps are like gold. And even though my children have both outgrown their babyhood, I haven't grown out of naptimes. (The Spaniards really are onto something with those siestas, don't you think?)
Having a blog, I sometimes find myself typing away towards midnight, but the truth of the matter is that I'd rather be fast asleep at midnight at this point in my life, and more often than not, I'm nodding off at 10 p.m., the time I'd just be starting to head out the door during my New York era. I think the technical term for this is "aging."
But there's more to it. Since becoming a very active photographer, I've learned how essential it is to catch at least one of the "Golden Hours" when the sun is low in the sky, at the start and end of the day. I would've missed capturing some of my favorite photographs if I'd been snoozing the morning away. Images like this one:
Or this one:
I have all kinds of new neighbors to greet (and photograph) in the early morning hours. It's not just the early birds who are out for the breakfast buffet--I often see deer, foxes, rabbits--and they're long-gone by lunchtime.
That's the thing about morning: You have to catch it before it's gone.
How 'bout you? Are you a night owl or an early bird? Why? Let's hear it in the comments section below--I'm all ears!
Would you get on a sailboat for 7 days with 10 members of your family? Would you still love them on Day 8? Well, I did, and I do! To celebrate my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary, my extended family headed down to the Abaco Cays in the Bahamas for a week of sand, surf, and...sweat! It was crazy-hot and humid, but that's what we get for booking a Bahamas vacation in August, right? (For those of you who took guesses at the location of my "Monday Snapshot", here's your answer: Treasure Cay.)
Despite the heat, it was a very cool trip! Here's what I learned in the Abaco Cays (pronounced "keys"):
1) Lizards, lizards, everywhere! In Rome and in Israel, cats are roaming around everywhere you look. In the Bahamas, the official critter seems to be the lizard. We saw mostly the curly-tailed variety, but those little guys were too quick and camera-shy, so here's another type, below. Handsome fellow...
2) The Bahamas are (sort of) eco-friendly. As you can see in the top photo, the beaches of the Abacos are pristine and relatively litter-free, but oddly, I saw no sign of recycling during the whole trip, aside from (maybe) one trash bin (possibly) for bottles. It felt weird and wrong to throw out cans and bottles with the regular trash. Bahamians are not "un-green", though. Look at this playground in Hope Town, pictured below, that was built around a tree instead of cutting it down. How cool is that?!
3) The spiders in the Bahamas have their own Halloween costumes!
I learned this red spider with the crabby "face" on its back (to fool prey) is called a Spinybacked Orbweaver. It's harmless to humans, which is good because I was getting "up close and personal" to snap pics!
4) Sharks hang out at the docks. I've seen two sharks "in the wild" before, both in the Bahamas, and both times, they were in shallow water right below the docks. I'm not talking about Great White "Jaws" type of sharks. Just small ones--nurse sharks or dogfish. We also saw a couple of sea turtles!
5) Toads are tenacious. This guy (below) hung on for the boat ride for a good hour, unbothered by the "paparazzi" (my family) snapping away. Then he calmly hopped off the deck and splish-splashed away. (What's the difference between frogs and toads, you may ask? For starters, toads can be out of the water for extended periods of time, have bumpy skin, and aren't shy around people.)
6) To get your "land legs" back faster, take long walks, ride a bike, or drive. There's a weird physical sensation that can happen after you've been on a boat for an extended period of time. For hours or sometimes days afterward, you feel like you're still on a boat, with your world gently rocking back and forth. My husband (a die-hard sailor) loves the effect, but I was getting dizzy just sitting still in a chair. (I'm still feeling the occasional boat-rocking, two days later.) Looking around the web for answers, I found out that the more you move around on land, the quicker your body will readjust. Good rest also helps. I kept myself moving the first day home by unpacking the bags, straightening up the house, and giving Delilah extra-long walks. (I missed her velvety ears so much while we were away.) Then I took a nap!
All in all, it was a great trip--hot and cool at the same time!
Your turn: What's the most educational trip you've ever taken? Let's hear it in the comments section below--I'm all ears!
For my "Week in 5 Photos" posts, I usually try to spread out the photos over a few days, but I recently spent one fascinating day at theBruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut, and I wanted to share it with you here. No, it's not a museum dedicated to Mr. Springsteen. It's one of my favorite types of museums--a well-curatedcollection of nature, art, science, history, anthropology, and random oddities. Another bonus: It's not so large that you become one of those "Museum Zombies" shuffling along endless corridors!
We were drawn to the Bruce Museum for theirRoz Chast exhibit, titled "Being, Nothingness, and Much, Much More" (open through October 19, 2014), a collection beyond what's been famously featured in The New Yorker. We had a lot of laughs looking around the exhibit, but my favorite cartoon was How Grandma Sees the Remote, which included buttons ranging from "Utter Mystery" to "Cause Nationwide Blackout." (I just finished reading Chast's new book, Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? It's about the last years of her parents' lives--I laughed, I cried, I nodded in recognition. It must be the ultimate form of therapy to be able to draw--in intricate detail--the most painful scenes of your life and find the glimmers of humor in them. Roz Chast is an absolute master at it.)
Here's what else we saw at the museum...
I always have mixed feelings about real animals that have been stuffed for museum displays, but on the good side of the mix, I'll grant that they do help us learn more about the animals, simply by observing them much closer than we could in the wild.
This fox above, with her paws crossed oh-so-daintily, seemed to be saying, "Well, I do declare...!" (Channeling Scarlett O'Hara.)
I loved the look of this vintage typewriter, especially with its caption, billing it as a lightweight travel typewriter for outdoor use, "to be enrolled as an assistant in nearness to nature." (The precursor to the iPad Mini!)
Other than the Roz Chast exhibit, my favorite was "Extreme Habitats: Into the Deep Sea" (open through November 9, 2014). I'd seen a "Nova"-style documentary on ocean life a while back and was completely awestruck by the many deep-sea creatures that never see light, so they create their own light with their bodies to protect themselves and to capture prey--it's called bioluminescence. (So cool!) Unfortunately, it was too dark to shoot anything at that exhibit, so I took a picture of the cute little hermit crabs scrambling along in the touch-tank for kids (photo at the top).
On our way out, my son was mesmerized by the warrior statues. So much to see, for every age. We'll be back!
This post contains an affiliate link to Amazon.com, which means that if you decide to buy the book, I'll get some spare change, at no extra cost to you. But by all means, check your local library!
With another Memorial Day behind us, summer has sprung! (Doesn't have quite the same ring to it as "spring has sprung", huh?)
Would you ever have guessed from the picture below that the beach was crazy-crowded on Memorial Day? I love how my son found this little pocket of peacefulness...
The opposite of peacefulness was this Papa Goose when he saw me approaching his family with a camera! He gave me a couple of warning honks and I was off...
Back to a sense of summer serenity: Sunlight and shadows...
As soon as my son got eyeglasses a few months ago, my daughter started saying that she needed glasses, too. We chalked it up to "eyeglass envy" (after all, she tried on many cute pairs when we were choosing glasses for him). Turns out that she really does need glasses after all, as we found out by week's end. I love how this contraption at the eye doctor's office looked like some wacky invention from the late 1800's, or perhaps Elton John's concert glasses circa 1974...
Here's to a summer filled with spectacular spectacles!
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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.