Quotography - Hawk's Feather

"Not everyone likes to look at what they call 'little birds'. They want to look at something big. They like to watch the hawks."
 Margi Huber

This quote must be true.  Or, at least I was thrilled to find this feather in the park when walking Chet recently.  Last fall two hawks stayed in a tree in my suburban back yard long enough for me to get a photo.  Better than any cardinal or even hummingbird! (I think this may be a red-tailed hawk feather.  What do you think?)

For more quotes and photography celebrating a July favorite, be sure to check out My Perspective Blog .

Quotography - Irish to the End

"Life's too short not to be Irish!" Anon

 "Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal."

on headstone in Ireland

Spotted the resting place for a proud Celtic soul in the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.

For more quotes and photography celebrating just about anything, be sure to check out My Perspective Blog .

Quotography -Swimming

"Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath."

Michael Caine

For more quotes and photography celebrating swimming, be sure to check out My Perspective Blog .

Quotography - Black & White

"If you see the world in black and white, you're missing important grey matter."  Jack Fyock

At around five months old Chet, my beautiful black and white puppy, started getting these pale spots all over.  At first I was sorry to see them.  But now, as with more important issues in life, I'm starting to appreciate the grey.

For more quotes and photography celebrating Black & White, be sure to check out My Perspective Blog .

Quotography - Red, White, and Blue

"You may be a redneck if. . .your lifetime goal is to own a fireworks stand."

Jeff Foxworthy

Or, more seriously - "Where liberty is, there is my country." 

Ben Franklin

For more quotes and photography celebrating the Red, White and Blue theme, be sure to check out My Perspective Blog .

Quotography - June Favorite is Digging Holes

"When you're in a hole, stop digging." Denis Healey

This is Chet on June 2 after being left unsupervised in the backyard for less than an hour. . .

For more quotes and photography celebrating the June Favorites theme,be sure to check out My Perspective Blog .

Quotography - Water Magic

 

"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water." 
 Loren Eiseley

A little creek magic--sun's reflections sparkle on the water at mid-day.

This week, for more quotes and photography celebrating water, be sure to check out My Perspective Blog .

Ouotography - Cowboy Advice

 

"Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction."
 Cowboy Saying

This photo was taken in London in 2008--some royal "rears" of Queen Elizabeth's Royal Horse Guard Parade.

 For more quotes and photography celebrating Anything! this week, be sure to check out My Perspective Blog .

Quotography - Orange

"The sunset faded and blended from pink to peach to mango in a smoothie in the sky"
Jarod Kintz

 Or, a dreamsicle. For more quotes and photography celebrating the color orange, which Frank Sinatra calls the happiest color,be sure to check out My Perspective Blog .

Quotography - Happiness is a Plane Ticket

"Jai longtemps habite' sous de vaster porticos." Baudelaire ("I have long lived under vast porticoes.")

One of the greatest sources of happiness for me is travel to many different countries where I can experience different cultures, meet interesting people, and see the natural beauty of many countries. Most especially, I love the challenge of traveling solo and it certainly makes me happy to be able to navigate a strange airport or find my way around a new city.

I got my first passport in the early 1970s, just two years out of college, so that I could live and teach in the West Indies for three years. This was my first taste of travel outside the United States and from that time forward I have been hooked, always plotting my next trip, next country. I'm on my third passport as you can see and have visited about 20 countries, mostly in the Caribbean, Great Britain, continental Europe, and New Zealand. New places I hope to get to while my health and mind (!) is still good, include eastern European countries. So far I've only been to Ukraine and am signed up for a river cruise in Russia, St. Petersburg to Moscow, this September. So many places to see, so little time--and money!

Today's "vast porticoes" quote by Baudelaire was on a stuccoed wall at a farmhouse just outside Sienna, Italy: Villa L'Apparita is situated in the rolling hills overlooking Sienna in the Tuscany region of Italy. According to it's owner, the writer Giovanni Guiso, it is the most beautiful farmhouse in Tuscany. Dott. Guiso made this grand pronouncement when he entertained the group of gardeners that I was traveling with on a horticultural tour of Florence and Tuscany in 2000. The farmhouse was built in the late 1400s and was indeed beautiful, especially the rosy brick facade, the arched doorways covered with clipped greenery that could accommodate horses and mounting posts in the lower level, and these lovely red roses--the flowers of love--growing up the walls.

Visiting this garden was different from other Tuscan gardens. While the surrounding landscape was beautiful, our host had more theatrical interests that he wanted to share. For he was involved with Sienna's theatrical society, writing and designing costumes. He also used Villa L'Apparita as a stage for some of his productions. Before lunch we gathered in a small drawing room for a miniature opera in his puppet theater. Everywhere there were reminders that this place existed to celebrate the beauty of love, landscape, and words.

For more April 16 "quotographies" be sure to check out My Perspective

Water Quotography - Norwegian Stream

"If it weren't for the rocks in its bed, the stream would have no song"
Carl Perkins

This quote applies to our lives as well, don't you think? A few rough places makes us appreciate the good times. This isn't the greatest photo, but I couldn't resist because in one shot you have a boulder-filled stream, a waterfall, and glacier. Taken in 2011 on a rainy day hike to the Birksdal Glacier near Loen, Norway.

And, I'll sneak in a little bonus so you can see these fabulous rose-flecked and mossy boulders in the stream. For more Water Quotography be sure to stop by Kelly's place at Living Life in PA for other player links.

Quotography/Friendship

"Friendship is certainly the finest balm."
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

Actually young Catherine Moreland says "friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love" when she fails to see her Mr. Tilney at the Pump Room in Bath. Instead, she meets a new friend who promises to be very amusing and will help take her mind off Mr. Tilney. In the modern age where words are often taken out of context --often with disastrous results--Jane's words are true in both quotes. My good friend and excellent needlewoman Sally embroidered this sampler for me because I'm such a fan of Jane Austen.

For more Monday quotography be sure to check out Kelly at Living Life in PA .

Colors of Spring

Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night. ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke

In anticipation of the first day of spring I've been on the lookout for the color wheel of the season. Here are my favorite photos that just shout spring--like the masses of pansies above:

Yellow - forsythia
Green - the soft green of the weeping willow

Pink - saucer magnolias that so often bloom too early and then get nipped by frost or freeze

White - bradford pear blooms, like a spring snow storm


Purple and orange - someone described this sunrise as a psychedelic slurpee!



Purple - crocus


Red - Kentucky cardinal, our state bird and the perfect harbinger of spring around hereWhat says spring in your parts?