delicate

a palm sized composition of tiny bits of  found nature. it’s delicacy feels relevant somehow–a collection of fragile pieces all held together by a single crescent moon.

composition of found nature

gradients

i have been reading a book on the aesthetics of joy, and according to the author gradients often trigger associations of transcendence and harmony–two, of ten, elements that comprise her aesthetics of joy.  it’s an odd challenge, in my opinion, to try and classify joy. i wasn’t at all convinced it was a worthwhile endeavor at the outset. but it was clear the author had done a lot of data gathering, and research, and she had some interesting design chops, and so i stuck with her. then a funny thing happened. the more i read, the more it became evident that she was very nearly perfectly defining the aesthetics of STILL. at first i was surprised, maybe even a little shocked, but as i sat with it a while, it made more and more sense. STILL is about being still. about being present. about seeing (doing) one thing at a time. but it is also very much about joy. about celebrating our natural world. about renewal. and harmony. transcendence. and abundance.  STILL is about slowing down…to find joy.

white pine needles

p.s. if you are curious about the book, you can check it out here.  because i know you will be wondering, here are the ten elements of the aesthetics of joy that the author suggests:

• abundance
• harmony
• freedom
• transcendence
• renewal
• energy
• play
• surprise
• magic
• celebration

72 and friendly

today we celebrated easter by hunkering down beside the fire as temperatures dropped below freezing, and five inches of snow fell outside. this had us all a little nostalgic for southern france. then, out of the blue, several of our friends from languedoc checked in to make sure we were healthy and happy and  social distancing. which made us nostalgic for more than one type of warmth.

brunswick fig leaf detail

the new economy

if this is the new economy i’ll take it. fresh eggs and overwintered parsnip delivered by neighbors who are raising their kids to love nature and animals. i’m guessing we’ll get back to lots of plastic, and videos flashing from websites into my eyes. but i’m not in a hurry.

parsnips (Pastinaca sativa)

a varied diet

i found this collection of gnawed black walnuts on a single tour of my backyard. i was looking for the earliest green buds and sprouts i could find in this strange spring of ours, and instead what i found on almost every stump was yet another black walnut, either gnawed painfully open through sheer willpower, or cracked in half and offering its meat without resistance. squirrels are a bit of a nemesis around here, because of their incredible ability to find and raid birdfeeders. but i found myself admiring their persistence, as i came across their table scraps.  i began to understand how long the winter must have been for them, subsisting on the varied diet of black walnuts, followed by black walnuts, followed by black walnuts.

squirrel eaten black walnut shells (Juglans nigra)