Heart and Soul

Keyhole

Keyhole © 2010 Bo Mackison

It’s a lot easier to be lost than found.  It’s the reason we’re always searching, and rarely discovered — so many locks, not enough keys. ~ from Lock and Key by Sarah Dressen

Tree Walkers

Reflection in Sugar River

Reflection in Sugar River

Oh to be free of myself,
With nothing left to remember,
To have my heart as bare
As a tree in December;

Resting, as a tree rests
After its leaves are gone,
Waiting no more for a rain at night
Nor for the red at dawn…

~~Sara Teasdale, from “The Tree”

Holding Hands – A Self-Portrait

Holding Hands with Nature

Holding Hands with Nature

On the most basic of levels, this is a photograph of overlapping leaves that I took using a Lensbaby Composer. But when I saw the photograph, it seemed to be much more than a few leaves, it seemed to be another one of those self-portraits I occasionally take that aren’t an actual self-portrait, but a metaphorical portrait of self.

I look at this and see a photograph of holding hands. And I make the connection. I hold hands with nature when I am out in nature, sometimes taking photographs, sometimes hiking or camping, in lots of ways, in close relationship with the natural world.

Orchids in Pink and White

Phae

Phalaenopsis Orchid – the Moth Orchid

This Wisconsin winter hasn’t been all that bad. Really. Even though we’ve had a fair amount of snow and a week or so of frigid weather, we are halfway through January and the days are growing noticeably longer. Today the temps climbed into the 30s. Even so, I was in the mood for a place warmer than 30˚, so I visited the warmest, greenest place I easily drive to  – the Bolz Conservatory in Madison’s Olbrich Botanical Gardens.

Ahhh! Tropical mist, lots of green plants, birds chirping in the background, a tiny waterfall trickling down a stone outcropping, orange and white koi swimming in the meandering water and . . . dozens of orchids. Nearly paradise!

I sat quietly on an out-of-the-way bench for the first half hour and let the misty atmosphere seep into my body, mind, and soul. Then I got out my camera gear and took photos for an hour – the first photos I’ve taken in a week.

I shoot almost every day, so a week away from the camera is unusual for me. All that greenery and warmth got me going again. A good thing.

American Gothic 3D

Farming on Michigan Avenue

Farming on Michigan Avenue