Monday, May 30, 2011

Project 365 - New York Steps

...The first step is a doozy.

Project 365 - Crystal Palace

Outside this crystal palace, life carries on.  It is a warm day.  People have taken a moment to sit.. chatting, reading, resting.  You can catch whiff of a late afternoon lunch being served al fresco under the shelter of market umbrellas just out of sight to the left.  To the right, there will be a concert under the stars tonight.   But, none of this bothers those at rest.  Moments stolen from the bustle just out of frame.

Project 365 - Let Freedom Ring

..."This is our hope.... With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.  With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.  With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together...

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning, 'My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.  Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.'

And if America is to be a great nation this must be true.  So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.  Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.  Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.  Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado.  Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.  But, not only that, Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain Georgia.  Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.  Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.  From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free and last!  Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!' "

~Dr. Martin Luther King
  Washington DC 1964

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Project 365 - In the Right Place

Sometimes you are just in the right place at the right time.  A moment in time when the planets align and you are at the center.  Eyes and heart open and ready.

Doors open at these moments. The only question is, will you walk through it, or stand at the threshold and hesitate?

A moment later, and the light is gone, the clouds have shifted in the gentle evening breeze.  The shot is gone and the planets have rotated just a bit off center.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Project 365 - On the Rails

There is no train station in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.  You step off the train and there you are.  Pretty much nowhere.

I was born and raised not far from here. Growing up in a sleepy little town steeped in New England heritage and family history.  I left in 1978 and have lived in Pennsylvania ever since.  But, to me, this is still home.

A woman got off the train right behind me.  She spent some time pawing through her bag and eventually she pulled what looked like a map out.  She looked at it for a while. Eventually she turned to me and asked me if the bus came by here.  I paused. I was trying to be kind.  There has never been a bus anywhere near here.  She read my look and said she understood, I must not be from around here either. No, I said, I guess not.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Project 365 - Train Travel

Is there anything better than a train station?  Grand old houses gilded in gold.  Life moves in and out traveling home or away, napping on benches, running with baggage.  The clapping of destinations, tracks and time send  travelers scurrying like ants.  Ques form and empty down stairways.  Doors open and close. Trains glide away into the dark.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Project 365 - Downingtown

Villages like Downingtown, Pa. are a dying breed.  It is steeped in industry.  Mills and factories fueled this town.  Brick and mortar mixed with stucco and stone.  Homes were modest and often multi-family.  Families were raised here in the shadow of smoke stacks.  Histories lived.

Times have changed.  The farmlands surrounding Downingtown are now sprouting sub-divisions.  Spreading neighborhoods. One acre yards of grass replace stoop and block.  Most of the mills and factories are silent.  Their buildings filled now with trendy restaurants.

But, still, a whisper of history lingers.  It is in the air.  A whisp of twilight glow connects past to present.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Project 365 - Trillium

The Trillium are in bloom.   Three different varities reside in a quiet corner of my woodland patio garden.  Out behind the boxwood, lingering under the Cedars these beauties seem content.  Demure and gentle, they will not be here long.

Project 365 - Without

Some days, I am better without.  Without the noise of the outside world.  Without having to move at a rate determined by the flow of strangers.  Without thoughts of who, or what or how. Without color or the distraction vibrant thought.  And some days, my camera sees it too.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Project 365 - Into the Woods

Follow me.
Together we will wander down this path.
Into the woods on a spring day.
The sky is clean and clear.
The leaves vibrant fresh in their newness.
We can take our time.
The air is cool.
The sun bright.
The days longer now.
Take my hand.
Into the woods we go.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Project 365 - Oppenheimer's Farm

This is Oppenheimer's farm. Around the bend and up the road a bit, is house that John and Jane built.

I have driven by this red barn for over 40 years.  I have had to stop on ocassion to allow the cows to come home on a summer evening.  I have slipped slowly around the corner on snowy New England winter days.

I have come and gone many, many times.  Never stopping to bring the view truly into focus.  Today I drove by, intent on making it to the house in time to get a shower after an afternoon spent with my camera.  Out of the corner I saw the sky clear..  Today, I turned around.  Today, I brought Oppenheimer's home with me.

Project 365 - Study of a Cala

The heart of a cala
glows yellow.
A warm, soft light
that radiates life.