for fifteen years i have kept a visual journal. the contents have evolved over the years, but in general there are lots of doodles, lists, notes, collages, and more recently small abstract paintings. sadly, ever since i got an iphone i journal less often. my journal still travels with me most days out of sheer habit, but it gets used less and less frequently. i can hear all of you out there in unison saying, “noooooooo!”. and that is how i feel too. so am going to make it a priority to start putting pen to paper again. i don’t have any bright ideas about how to find a better balance between pen and pixel, other than pure self discipline. if any of you have wrestled with this same thing, i’d love to hear your suggestions.
hackberry twig tips
lake phalen, saint paul, minnesota
we are a family of four, with our identities mostly intact. but the lines that separate us get a little blurry. and there is a certain amount of mess around the edges.
crushed organic matter in four color categories
minnesota
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this pic is beautiful – a piece of art!
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yesterday my tax-preparer husband was stuck in his office for half an hour with a client, while the client’s spouse ran home to track down some forgotten paperwork. what might have been an awkward, so-how-are-the-kids kind of light socializing, turned into a lengthy discussion of his client’s passionate avocation, which he calls ecopsychology. he is a therapist who operates on the assumption that the source of much of our illness and addiction can be traced to our disconnection with nature. and that the path to healing involves more “vitamin n” or time spent in nature, as well as OBE’s or “out of building experiences.” it sounds a little bit mystical and flower-childish, but i have to say, when i don’t get outside for my daily walks among the trees, birds, and grasses, i start feeling a little bit less sane.
tamarack cones in march
sucker lake regional trail, saint paul, minnesota
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it’s abslutely true. human beeings need an intensive contact and connection to nature, because: there they lived more then a million of years of evolution…, not in the square-cut houses of stone an artifical materials, these have been only seconds…, and body, mind and soul remember the relation to nature, whose plants and animals are so alive like me and you, but so many people forgot and don’t know what they’re really missing in their life… What you’re doing is a very good and expressive daily ritual to live and to feel this relation… I love to come here and to reflect my own close link to nature, thank you very much! Ghislana
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This sounds like the jist of Your Brain On Nature by Selhub and Logan. A great book. Now, if I would only practice it.
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Agreed! Richard Louv has written books and started a “movement” Children’s Nature Movement. He believes we need to get kids into nature-they are nature deficient. I think your blog helps all us kids to stay connected! Thank you!
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i know i need vitamin n daily and my mind and body really notices its absence when in the super cold months of winter. I think that is why I have a beautiful collection of houseplants in my sunny kitchen corner.
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i try, most mornings, to be like the adoring husband who knows your deepest desires and presents you with beautifully curated gifts that both express his own love for you, and simultaneously fill wants that you didn’t know you had. but this morning, i’m the high school boyfriend who remembers on december 24 that something vaguely important is going to happen in the next day or so, and who races off in his rusty toyota corolla to troll the mall in a sweat for any kind of gift that will check the box. i’ve been spending whole afternoons putting images together for a big project, and it’s taking almost all of my attention. like basketball practice. like homework. like video games. and so, on this special occasion, i present you with this iris. it’s from the flower shop in the mall. it’s pretty, like all the other irises. please don’t break up with me.
greenhouse iris
bachman’s, saint paul, minnesota
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it worked! We’re still on because the green shapes are so lovely! : )
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the hackberry tree branch i brought in the house a couple of days ago appears to have hatched this swarm of hackberry bugs. (now you see why it is so hard for me to get mad at my eleven year old son? he absentmindedly made these up while he ate his breakfast this morning.)
hackberry fruit
lake phalen, saint paul, minnesota
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Couldn’t you just eat him up ?????
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They look to me like some kind of genome project… well, I guess they are, kinda.
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I have journaled most of my life but I readily admit that it comes and goes. Right now I’m just doing to-do lists and such. But when I’m feeling down I journal every night as a brain dump that helps me sleep. I always have it with me. Lately my journal pages have been filled with photos that I have printed out (putting the pixels on paper). I talk to lots of folks about journaling so I feel disingenuous when I admit I haven’t really connected with my journal in a while but I know it is always there with me in my bag.
Using pen, paper, pencil, etc is wonderful, but if you have nothing but your iPad or phone with you while you are waiting at the dentist, Dr, whatever, you can download any number of art apps and doodle and draw to your heart’s content. I will mail you an example or two. No matter what just keep up these great photos. Cannot get through the day without them