Category: Nature

Portrait of the Artist as an Old Woman

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Recently, a good friend told me about Nell Painter’s book, Old in Art School.  I knew immediately that I had to push it up to first on my summer reading list.  I am indulging in Nell’s journey from Princeton history academic to an BFA at Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of Visual Arts to an MFA from the prestigious Rhode Island School of design.  Much of Nell’s book is familiar because she is a Jersey girl and I also attended Rutgers as both an undergraduate and graduate.  The essential questions of what is art and who is an artist repeat as a refrain in this memoir.  I took a long slow read, trying my best to experience what Nell had lived.

Summertime Whimsy

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It’s summertime.  The world goes spinning on, off kilter.  Over my decades on this planet, it seems that the world has always spun off kilter.  There is good and evil in this world and both push and pull.  I believe good will win out in the end.  I believe in art, education, nature, and the human spirit.  I know these things make life hopeful.  And though, there are many things I can be anxious about right now, I choose joy and laughter.  Summer is here.  I want to face it like I did when I was a young girl, with hope and wild abandon.

Spring Break Artifacts

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It is my last couple of days on spring break.  I’ve slept late, ate good food, written poems about food, and took long walks capturing the beauty I saw with my camera.  I am trying to do things that nourish me, that uplift me, that help to better understand my purpose. The sunshine and warm weather has definitely lifted my spirits, and I hope I have absorbed enough of its healing energy to bring back north to our muddy March season.

February Snow

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On a recent trek to the park, I watched families sled down a small but slick slope.  It was fun to see parents cheering on their children.  One little girl with bright pink cheeks had a death grip on the edges of her snow disc as she screamed all the way down the hill.  She ran back up shouting, “That was TERRIFYING!  Let’s do it again!” 

Earth Gratitude

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I immediately started reading “Returning the Gift” by Robin Wall Kimmerer the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants.  She is also a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.  Kimmerer noted that in today’s modern world we often miss Earth’s gifts and need to pay closer attention to truly feel part of her to adequately protect her. 

Journey to the Land of Wild Blueberries

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I know Maine is renowned for its lobster, and I do enjoy that treat dipped in drawn butter.  I confess, I’d like almost anything if it was dipped in melted butter. But on this trip I focused on the blueberries.  Even though in late August the wild blueberries are gone,  I marveled at all the wild blueberries bushes that line the trails.  They seemed to grown everywhere.