Author Archives: scillagrace

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Town Mouse/Country Mouse

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A Town Mouse once visited a relative who lived in the country. For lunch the Country Mouse served wheat stalks, roots, and acorns, with a dash of cold water for drink. The Town Mouse ate very sparingly, nibbling a little of this and a little of that, and by her manner making it very plain that she ate the simple food only to be polite.

After the meal the friends had a long talk, or rather the Town Mouse talked about her life in the city while the Country Mouse listened. They then went to bed in a cozy nest in the hedgerow and slept in quiet and comfort until morning. In her sleep the Country Mouse dreamed she was a Town Mouse with all the luxuries and delights of city life that her friend had described for her. So the next day when the Town Mouse asked the Country Mouse to go home with her to the city, she gladly said yes.

When they reached the mansion in which the Town Mouse lived, they found on the table in the dining room the leavings of a very fine banquet. There were sweetmeats and jellies, pastries, delicious cheeses – indeed, the most tempting foods that a Mouse can imagine. 

But just as the Country Mouse was about to nibble a dainty bit of pastry, she heard a Cat mew loudly and scratch at the door. In great fear the Mice scurried to a hiding place, where they lay quite still for a long time, hardly daring to breathe. When at last they ventured back to the feast, the door opened suddenly and in came the servants to clear the table, followed by the House Dog.

The Country Mouse stopped in the Town Mouse’s den only long enough to pick up her carpet bag and umbrella. “You may have luxuries and dainties that I have not,” she said as she hurried away, “but I prefer my plain food and simple life in the country with the peace and security that go with it.”

Poverty with security is better than plenty in the midst of fear and uncertainty. – The Aesop for Children, Library of Congress

Thanks to Tina for suggesting this whimsical and wise tale for our weekly challenge! Do visit HER SITE for a broader interpretation of contrasting City/Country photographs.

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Saudade (Longing)

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We met in High School. He was 17; I was 15. He was my first love and the love of my life. All of the songs about first love come to mind: the awakening, the thrill, the thought that no one could ever have felt this powerfully in love before…and yet, of course, so many have. The absolute certainty that this is THE ONE!! We were so young, so hormonal, so smitten, so carefree.

photo by my brother, Dave

I was 21 when we married. I was 22 when we had our first child…28 when we had our fourth and last.

It was only a few months after I took this photo that my husband had his first heart surgery. He was 31. I am so grateful that we had more time to raise our family, to grow up together, to become strong and passionate and faithful.

We got 16 more years. When he died, he was 47 and I was 45.

And now, I’ve been without him for more than 17 years. Those are the numbers, the chronology. But ‘saudade’ is about the feeling. It is about the tapestry of visual memories, of the sound of his glorious tenor voice in song, of feelings I cannot imagine ever having again, of the trust I gave him and the identity I built around him. All of these things I miss. I will feel forever nostalgic, forever bereft, and forever grateful for knowing him. I long for my husband with all that I am, physically, mentally, spiritually. And he is out of reach, yet somehow always accessible inside. Perhaps this is what this foreign word translates to in my own life.

I thank Egidio for introducing me to this word and for the opportunity to introduce Jim to all of you. May you enjoy your longing as something that helps you know that you love.

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Quiet Moment

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A quiet moment
In harmony with nature
While tourists stroll by

I got an opportunity to visit the Portland Japanese Garden today. The juxtaposition of clean, geometric lines and natural areas was so very calming. The uneven surfaces required a slow pace. Visually and mentally, it created quiet in me, even though there were plenty of people around. And now, at home at my laptop editing and posting the photos I took, I am enjoying a very quiet moment indeed. Thank you, Ritva, for inviting me to share it!

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Virtual Scavenger Hunt

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I’ve rummaged through my archives and found some treasures. A small shoe my son wore long ago. A green-eyed friend I once spent Christmas with…

…a glass of champagne from my daughter-in-law…

…some bumpy rope from a three mast Great Lakes schooner…

…my sister’s camera…

…a soft waterfall…

…a round nail-head in an old fencepost…

…and some beautiful jewelry that resembles my daughter’s work.

This Scavenger Hunt reminds me of a favorite song by Dan Fogelberg:

Here is a poem that my lady sent down
Some morning while I was away
Wrote on the back of a leaf that she found
Somewhere around Monterey

And here is the key to a house far away
Where I used to live as a child
They tore down the building when I moved away
And left the key unreconciled

And down in the canyon the smoke starts to rise
It rides on the wind ’til it reaches your eyes
When faced with the past the strongest man cries
Cries

And here is a sunrise to set on your sill
The ghosts of the dawn moving near
They pass through your sorrow and leave you quite still
Sitting among souvenirs

And now, I’m feeling quite nostalgic and content, grateful for my life and the beauty that surrounds me. Thanks, Anne, for this Challenge! Do visit HER POST to see all the possible items to search for in Lens-Artists posts this week.

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Doors (revisited)

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Sofia invites us to revisit Lens-Artists Challenge #20 – from 2018. Sofia has done extensive and exquisite Door photography – do visit her blog! I found another Lens-Artists Challenge on Doors from 2022. Here’s a link to my response to that one.

How has my perspective on Doors changed since then? Have I found new doors to photograph?

Yes. I have discovered even more portals. And I’ve even learned a new term – “multiverse”. I try to imagine the infinite possibilities of doors.

“The un-wanting soul sees what’s hidden.
The ever-wanting soul sees only what it wants.
Two things, one origin, but different in name, whose identity is mystery. Mystery of all mysteries, the door to the hidden.”
~ Tao Te Ching

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Live and Learn

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“Crater Lake inspires awe. Native Americans witnessed its formation 7,700 years ago, when a violent eruption triggered the collapse of a tall peak. Scientists marvel at its purity—fed by rain and snow, it’s the deepest lake in the USA and one of the most pristine on Earth. Artists, photographers, and sightseers gaze in wonder at its blue water and stunning setting atop the Cascade Mountain Range.”

“Iron Mountain Lookout, located in the Willamette National Forest, was a fire lookout structure that stood on a prominent rock pinnacle above Highway 20. While the lookout is no longer there, having been destroyed in 2007, the site is still a popular destination for hiking and wildflower viewing. The mountain itself is part of the Old Cascades and offers stunning views of the surrounding peaks, including the Three Sisters.”

“With its ideal location on the magnificently rugged Oregon Coast, the entire city of Newport is a natural observatory that offers a number of fun and educational activities for the whole family. Spend the morning exploring tide pools, combing the beach for fossils and spotting marine life in their natural habitats. Then head over to the Oregon Coast Aquarium where you can pet an octopus and walk through a glass tunnel surrounded by sharks. Newport is also home to two lighthouses, one of which is the tallest on the Oregon Coast. Historic Nye Beach, with its colorful cottages and laid-back atmosphere, is the perfect spot for a picnic and a quick rest from all the sightseeing.”

You hold in your hands a guidebook of destinations. With a rush of excitement, you realize that these are not far away, they are within a few hours of your home. How were these amazing places formed? What is their geological history? What species live there? What kind of seasonal changes affect them? Are there trails there that I can hike? And finally, how can I get there from here?

There is so much to learn and so much to live for. I am so grateful to have such beauty surrounding me! Thanks to Tina for inviting us to share so many things we’ve learned and for her examples of photography techniques

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Into the Woods

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“The way is clear, the light is good, I have no fear, nor no one should.
The woods are just trees, the trees are just wood.
No need to be afraid there– there’s something in the glade there…
Into the woods without delay, but careful not to lose the way.
Into the woods, who knows what may be lurking on the journey?
Into the woods to get the thing that makes it worth the journeying.
Into the woods–” Stephen Sondheim

I was at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival last weekend and saw a production of “Into the Woods” at the Elizabethan theater. How perfect that this is the Lens-Artists challenge theme this week! Thanks, Egidio!

My neck of the woods includes a great number of Douglas Fir trees and a carpet of Solomon’s Seal, ferns, and wood sorrel. Lichen and moss cover the branches of oaks. This is the temperate rain forest.

For much of the year, you could literally bathe in the forest. Walking through clouds is not unheard of, either.

My weekly Monday walks give me the benefits of forest oxygen and sanity, cardio exercise and socialization.

Sleeping In The Forest

I thought the earth remembered me, she
took me back so tenderly, arranging
her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds. I slept
as never before, a stone
on the riverbed, nothing
between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated
light as moths among the branches
of the perfect trees. All night
I heard the small kingdoms breathing
around me, the insects, and the birds
who do their work in the darkness. All night
I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling
with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.

– Mary Oliver

I wish you all time and place and space to vanish into something better. May the trees shelter and breathe you once again.

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Quiet Hours

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“That country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain.”
― Ray Bradbury

“The quiet sense of something lost” ― Tennyson

“All [peoples’] miseries derive from not being able to sit quiet in a room alone.” ― Blaise Pascal

“…If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.

Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.” ― Pablo Neruda

In response to Lens-Artist guest host SH.

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Looking Back to 2019: Creativity

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Lens-Artists are starting a periodic series of retrospective challenges. This week, Ann-Christine is reaching back to revisit “Creativity”. Click HERE to view my original post on that theme.

So, once again, creativity inspires more creativity, like a series of mirrors.

I can’t say that I’m a painter, except that last month I helped paint the interior of a preschool. I used a roller and a 4-inch brush. I did exactly as I was told, with very little creativity.

Sometimes I will try hard to do a craft. Again, I follow directions and try to copy the example. The results are routinely unremarkable.

I am more adventurous with music and dance and often improvise. I love the freedom of expression I’ve gained after decades of practice and years of aging to the point of no longer trying to impress. Maybe that’s something the very young, the very old, and the very confident can get away with.

Once upon a time, I gave dinner parties. I’ve never been a good cook, but I can follow a recipe. What I really enjoyed as a creative exercise was setting the stage!

My daughter Susan is a very good artist. She took me to an open studio bar once for a Mother’s Day gift. We had a blast, and I got to keep all the art.

At a healthy, creative restaurant and store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I came across this re-purposed cigarette vending machine that was selling original artwork the size of a pack of cigarettes. I’d never seen anything like it before or since.

No one creates in a vacuum. We are all influenced, we all use shared resources. We are co-creators or collaborators, really. I’m most proud of the contribution I made to creating four wonderful human beings. They are all stunning, vibrant, living works of art. I’m proud of the work I do each day to try to create meaning. I’ve scrapped much of that work, but I keep at it. The exhibit that is my Life is a work in progress. I’m grateful for the opportunity to engage in the process that Einstein called “intelligence having fun”.

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Reflections

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Reflective poetry gives voice to musings about life. As I walk around Cronemiller Lake in Peavy Arboretum, my thoughts tumble about, touching on the past, the present, the future, the things that worry me, the things that confuse me, the things I long for, the things I ought to do.

It feels jumbled, directionless, unsettled. I need to sit. I need to breathe, slowly. I practice leaning into gratitude, allowing the layered impressions of life and radiance to swim together in the water that surrounds everything – fish beneath, duckweed floating on the surface, dragonflies and branches above. We are all water, we are all together in the flow, we are all reflecting the light of Life.

“Wonderful how I celebrate you and myself!
How my thoughts play subtly at the spectacles around!
How the clouds pass silently overhead!
How the earth darts on and on! and how the sun, moon, stars, dart on and on!
How the water sports and sings! (Surely it is alive!)
How the trees rise and stand up—with strong trunks—with branches and leaves!
(Surely there is something more in each of the trees—some living Soul.)
O amazement of things! even the least particle!
O spirituality of things!” ~ Walt Whitman, Song at Sunset

Thanks to Anne for this inspiring Challenge.