The Grand Canal, Venice JMW Turner 1835

Slave Ship JMW Turner 1840

Simon Schama's Power of Art http://www.pbs.org/wnet/powerofart/view.php?page=turner is a marvelous series on PBS. Tonight's show was about JMW Turner... a personal favorite. Turner bucked the art establishment with his use of color and later when he turned his eye toward the horrors of the slave trade.

In late February an extensive exhibit of Turner's work is coming to the Dallas Museum of Art.

http://dallasmuseumofart.org/Dallas_Museum_of_Art/View/Future_Exhibitions/ID_151546

Some of the painting in this exhibit have never been shown in the US before. I saw a smaller Turner exhibit at the Kimball in Fort Worth several years ago ( his Venice paintings) and it was wonderful.

I am so excited and eager to see this exhibit.

Turner and springtime both in the offing... Life is good.

Off to the post office... which is NOT pictured above. Nope, ours is a bland 1970-ish brick block.

If I don't return blame it on the wind, which is pretty frisky today. It is blowing from the north, so if I catch it just right I should be in Mexico by dinner time.

If I had a boat
I'd go out on the ocean
And if I had a pony
I'd ride him on my boat
And we could all together
Go out on the ocean
Me upon my pony on my boat.

~Lyle Lovett

I love that song...

I tried to go back, as if I could
All spec house and plywood
Tore up and tore up good
Down on copperline
It doesn’t come as a surprise to me
It doesn’t touch my memory
Man I’m lifting up and rising free
Down on over copperline
~James Taylor

Tao Te Ching~ on Tools

Thirty spokes meet at a nave;
Because of the hole we may use the wheel.
Clay is moulded into a vessel;
Because of the hollow we may use the cup.
Walls are built around a hearth;
Because of the doors we may use the house.
Thus tools come from what exists,
But use from what does not.

winter sky with birds

winter sky with birds, originally uploaded by Sea Dream Studio.

Well, not today's sky, which is dim & grey. Stupidly cold here today. I have to go out. Need to deliver some food for Journey of Hope dinner. Amazingly, I am NOT out of gas! Seems the worse the weather the lower my gas gauge.
Lovely to scan the paper today and see the news of all the international stock markets tanking... and the promise of ours following. Hmmm... what shall I, suburban dweller, do about that today??

At least the war is over! Right? It must be because there's barely a whisper of it in the Dallas Morning News today.

Off to bundle up... yuck. I hate coats!

"Hello, creature of the forest."

"Hello, creature of the forest.", originally uploaded by mi - a name i call myself.

I stumbled upon this amazing photo on Flickr this morning. Imagine seeing this on your patio! Look closely... the deer has brought a friend along.
Very cold here today... well, for Dallas... high in the mid 40s and gloomy so far. Kids are out of school for MLK Day and all stil asleep.
I have a special order tiarra and wand to make, so if you're looking for me follow the trail of sequins and glitter.
Stay warm...

well, indeed...

DSCF1394, originally uploaded by ollyj.

Wise words, I think. Less glass banging... more quiet watching...

tranquility~ from the Tao te Ching

The Way takes no action, but leaves nothing undone.
When you accept this
The world will flourish,
In harmony with nature.

Nature does not possess desire;
Without desire, the heart becomes quiet;
In this manner the whole world is made tranquil.

that being said

I speak into the walls, the dirt, the wind
that rises off the prairie, small noises
distorted by the earth’s arc. What reaches you
bears no likeness to the benevolence

I cradle like a fallen star. Never are my words
the alar emissaries they might be.
Instead they take the air as taloned things,
look to light upon the softest place.

Silence suits me best. In its white dome
my voice is snowfall on the water.
And you are there, cupped hands lifted,
the taste of sweetness on your lips.

the eigth

He will not let go her circumstance
even when she offers silky throat,
thin wrists, a knobby spine.
Still he sees her as a novitiate,
face pressed to the marble floor,
the willing bride, the petitioner.

There is no forgiveness in his touch.
The slap of prayer against truth
builds, stone upon slick stone,
ever higher. She does not kneel,
not anymore. Instead she stands
near the window slit, eyes

the bone-shard moon that tilts westward.
If understanding were a knotted rope
that she could climb, then climb she would,
but there are only the vaporous remains
of elegant words, fragile strands

that will not hold together or bear the weight
of daylight. No it is not the Angelus
that waits behind her lips. She trembles
with fear at what he places on his altar,
despairs how easily he lights the fire..

to infinity... and beyond...

Last week the world bade farwell to a true man of adventure... Sir Edmund Hillary, who summited Mt. Everest before it was littered with spent oxygen bottles and had a bar at base camp. In 1953 it was still unsure if it was even possible to reach the top of the world. In May of that year Hillary and Tenzing Norgay (a native of Nepal) did indeed accomplish what no human being had ever done before. Hillary died last week at the age of 88 in his native New Zealand. He left behind a legacy of adventure, but also a love for the enviroment and a passion for humanitarian work on behalf of the people of his beloved Nepal. Godspeed, Sir Edmund. I hope you are on your greatest expedition somewhere amid the stars.

Norgay and Hillary at base camp after the 1953 summit. http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/hil0bio-1

And for a look at the thriving business and ego trip climbing Mount Everest has become at present, check out... http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/everestbeyond/everestbeyond.html

winter morning

winter morning, originally uploaded by Sea Dream Studio.

I hate to harp on this, but I love the sky in Texas. I snapped this out my car window (while driving, I'm ashamed to confess) this morning. I was taking Will to school. There is a huge farm that borders the school on 3 sides. There are cows, a pond, old barns... very pastoral. Today it will be near 70. This is a winter I can survive!!!

Coquina Beach, NC

Coquina Beach, NC, originally uploaded by Luke S..

Always the sea calls me. My heart's true home.

Russian heart

Happy Saint Valentine day, originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/martovskiy/.

Outside Moscow the snow was clean,
a pressed white sheet spread and tucked
into the edges of the day. Your kiss faded
faster than the winter sun. Its pale memory
held no warmth or shadows where a dreamer
might find refuge. Night brushed the treetops
with grey smudges and crept across the sky
as swift and canny as foxes in a thicket.

Solitude was not enough for me, the losses
grown stale and distant. I came to Russia
so that I might shiver at her pallid dusks,
might feel my heart's wounds like broken glass
pressed hard against my bare palms.

At Suzdal I dipped my hands into the snowbank
past my wrists until the cold bit so deep
I could remember everything the world
had taken like a petty thief. There I drank
the twilght's rimed wind, an aperitif as sweet
as summer's lush and long forgotten bower.

~this poem was inspired by this lovely photo taken by Andrey and posted on Flickr. As he says in his post... "There we founded this heart."

brrrrr... not!

Oh, joy! It is so WARM here!!! 75 marvelous degrees on Jan. 7th!!! Yessss!!! This is what I call winter!!! If this is global warming (forgive me) I love it!!!

Thank you weather gods!!

... the guest of honor at my imaginary dinner party.

Venice by Turner

Venice by Turner, originally uploaded by pijus.

Ah, I love JMW Turner... How magnificent it must have been to see the world through his eyes... sigh... His way with light... what a gift...

How did I miss this?

Library Parking Garage, originally uploaded by jonathan_moreau.

Rats! I wish I'd seen this on my trip to KC in October. Is this the coolest parking garage, or what?

snagged moon

snagged moon, originally uploaded by Sea Dream Studio.

An enchanting sunrise like this makes me forget that it is 26 degrees here this morning.
Kids are back to school, except Kate. Her classes resume on the 14th (lucky girl). I am savoring some silence and making mermaid art. And staying warm...