Friday - A little quote and a little note

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." ~ Maya Angelou

My art education class, by virtue of an instructor whose lesson plans are a launching pad rather than a gilded cage, makes me feel young and playful. We paint, we snip off pretty little bits of colored papers, we dabble with shapes and textures and forms. It is like playing in the garden! Today we carved pumpkins. Her whole premise seems to be to prepare new teachers to be unintimidated by any art material or method. She inspires us to believe that thinking "outside the box" is ordinary, and through the class we experience an organic unfolding of the inner-artist we didn't know was hiding within.

Pictured here, my pumpkin with Zuni Sun carving

photos, and photo editing by Aisling, October 23, 2009

Poetry Thursday - "A Wish-Fulfilling Jewel"

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we would be studying Tibet this year, to learn some history and culture of this beautiful land and its beautiful people. The writing of Woeser touches me with both veils of emotion and a stunning, poignant clarity.

In a poem, translated into English, called The Past, we read in one of the stanzas:

"This lotus, withering, cannot be my lotus.
My lotus is the lotus of the past,

Enfolding the snow mountains, lovely,

Many a prayer flag, five colors fluttering,

Oh, many prayer flags, five colors fluttering."

In One the Road, she tells us:

"On the road,

I clutch a flower not of this world,

Hurrying before it dies, searching in all directions,

That I may present it to an old man in a deep red robe.

A wish−fulfilling jewel,

A wisp of a smile:

These bind the generations tight."

In that same way that an other-worldly flower and a smile can bind the generations tight, so Woeser's words can bind cultures together. To learn more about her writing and her stuggle, and to read these poems in their entirety go here. As I read her poems and consider Tibet, I find myself thinking, If only there were a wish-fulfilling jewel...

photo above from June, 2009, with "water-color" photo-editting enhancement.

Wordless Wednesday - Northern Skies

Note: I used a photo editor to "equalize" the colors in the last photo so the rainbow would be more visible; all other photos are unedited.

photos 1, 2, and 4 by Aisling

photo 3 by Haiku

October, 2009

Monday Muse - Indie Films

In addition to informative and oft-times inspirational documentaries, Netflix has afforded me the opportunity to watch many Indie Films that don't play at the local theater, nor appear in my local video store. One movie that I watched recently really spoke to many of my interests... in stories, in cultures, in connection and friendship. That movie was Arranged. The trailer below will introduce you to the two young women whose stories intertwine in this gentle, quiet film. I just loved it!

Sunday Stroll - Tree Walking

The fiesta maple, with its two trunks and lush display of leaves, beckoned me out to the garden this afternoon. Earlier, when the wind was softer and the air a bit warmer, I planted tulip and daffodil bulbs in the butterfly garden. With the wind rising and the temperature dropping, I walked briskly from tree to tree and tried to catch images of the autumn leaves in mid-flutter. The white pine at the north end of the butterfly garden is full of firm green needles and immature pine cones.

The Chinese Elm, the anchor of the butterfly garden, is one of the last trees to change color. It is still providing a green canopy above the fading perennials that grow along the garden trail.

The little Japanese Maple (cultivar Waterfall), growing under the elm's green umbrella, is crimson and gold in mid-October.

I left the butterfly garden and headed down into the wild uncultivated edges of the property. Several years ago we found another little self-planted white pine. It is taller than I am now, and this year some of its needles are turning gold and dropping onto the ground beneath the tree.

At the edge of the marsh in the southeast corner of the propoerty, our oldest daughter's Weeping Willow towers above the shrubs and small trees.

At the end of the garden, this paper birch grows tall and slim and leaning (like so many of our trees) decidely to the east. This tree was planted by our younger daughter and her father 11 or 12 years ago.

Bosc pears are still clingly tightly to the branches of the southern tree in our miniature orchard, and the leaves in the next tree, a Luscious Pear, are a delicious glowing orange-red.

Near the front porch, the leaves on the thundercloud plum are the same deep rich purple they have been since Spring. In the background, autumn colors are evident on the hill just to the east of our property line.

Before hurrying back into the kitchen to start mulled cider and nibble roasted acron squash seeds, I turned to the western edge of our scenic perspective. There is not a great deal of autumn color in that direction, but the blue clouds and the quality of the light give evidence of this mellow season. Wherever you are, whatever the weather, I wish you beauty and contentment.

all photos by Aisling, October 18, 2009

Sunday Stroll Invitation

"Fiery colors begin their yearly conquest of the hills, propelled by the autumn winds. Fall is the artist."

~ Ikkaku, Hosaka and Kawabata, Animal Crossing: Wild World, 2005

If you have time this week for a Sunday Stroll, and if your weather allows, please post about about it on your blog and then come back here with a comment and a link to your post. You may use the Sunday Stroll button at the top of this post on your post or side bar if you would like. I will add participant names to this post so other strollers can walk through your garden too. I'll check back as often as I can and try to keep the list updated.

Look who is strolling today:

Margaret at Periodic Pearls
Christiane at Spiraling
Jessica at Four Square Schoolhouse
Cloudhands at Uncarved Block
Me here at the Quiet Country House

Monday Muse - Inspiration

Replacing our old dial-up connection with wireless a few months ago has changed my internet experience considerably. Netflix has been one of the most enjoyable aspects of that change. I hardly watch any television and our local video store's selection of offerings does not match my viewing taste. How nice that I now have almost everything to choose from.

Recently I watched a documentary called A Man Named Pearl. This man, a topiary gardener, is truly inspiring, and even if I were not a gardener, I would have found him fascinating. If you have a few minutes and have not heard anything about this movie, you might enjoy watching the trailer I've linked to below. There is also a website about this inspiring gentleman here.