Sunday Churchgoer

I still go to "church" on Sundays. It's just a different denomination than the one I attended when I was a kid.

What a Beautiful Day

It doesn't get much better than this around here. At least not in the winter. (I know, I know, we are in the middle of autumn. But anything past November 1 seems like winter to me.) I love these bright, sunny cold days. I'd be happy as a clam if we got sun all winter. It wouldn't matter to me how cold it got. Wasn't it author Tom Robbins who likened the Northwest winter cloud cover to a damp, dirty washcloth?

The only thing that would make me happier right now would be to get a good look at the orca whales.

Here is a patch of now dead frosted leaves lying in the shadows. I love their furry coat of ice crystals. Just a few weeks ago these leaves were bright as the bell of the ball. How quickly their fortunes fell.



I posted a photo of this feathered phone pole the day I first "saw" it. I had been walking by it for weeks before I noticed it. UGH! I'm posting it again not so much to highlight the phone pole itself as much as an example of how stunning the light was this morning. Light as subject matter? We artists understand what that is all about.

Have You Heard?

About Artist Shirley Scheier? She is the University of Washington art professor who was detained by police for taking photographs of electrical wires. She was planning to use the photos as reference material for her art prints. Unknown to her, the wires were attached to an electrical substation identified by the Department of Homelad Security as a "critical infrastructure" target. For more details about her story, click the linked Title above.

I know a lot of you out there probably have no idea why an artist would be interested in power lines. I for one love the intriguing negative shapes formed by the stark black lines when viewed against a light field of skyscape. I'm attracted in the same way to the black lines of tree branches that are exposed in autumn when the leaves fall from the trees.

So, I'm out there walking in a residential neighborhood early Sunday morning. And I start to see all these beautiful branches and twigs and pieces of sky that weren't there a few weeks ago. I just had to record them. I whipped out my camera and started snapping away. But I got this paranoid feeling that the neighbors wouldn't like it. That they would be suspicisous of some stranger in a sweatshirt and baseball cap taking random photos of their territory.

A part of me kept wondering (truly not seriously, but the thought did come up) if someone would call the "authorities" who would then come and take me "away." We are living in such a different world these days.

Singing By Water

This is one of my favorite "beach" photos. These women were singing and dancing together in the cold breeze out on the point this morning. One of them had taken off her shoes and was standing on the rocks in her bare feet. I blurred the photo because I felt as if I might be invading their privacy by posting a picture. I'm so curious about what they were up to. Was it a ritual of some sort? Or were they just having fun? Maybe they were singing to the newly arrived orca whales. Right after I took this photo they walked away and the moment was was gone.

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More "Stars"?


Or are they Fall Leaves?


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More Leaves
I can't remember the Autumn leaves ever being prettier than they have been this year. A friend thinks it is because of all the rain we got this summer.


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No Orcas Yet
I'm so excited to hear that the orcas have arrived. I was disappointed that I didn't see any last year at all. Hopefully this season will be different and I will get lucky.

Starry Night

The sky was so pretty the other night. Crisp and clear. Twinkly stars against the black sky. This morning on my walk as I'm looking toward the ground, I see the starry skies repeated in the fallen autumn leaves. Nature does that, often.





On one phone pole there is bubble gum (see Installation Art on July 20, 2007). On another, feathers.


I have seen the graffiti in Alki and I too will not post it.

November Sunset

Now that the sun is setting an hour earlier, the winter darkness is closing in for real. For me, the antidote has always been to get outdoors. The more I can get outside, the better I always feel.

A New Leaf

Okay, this is Green Lake and not Alki............Sometimes I need a change. I had almost finished walking around the lake and enjoying the fall foliage, when my eye was snagged by this rather odd "leaf" perched among the branches. I didn't really think of it as litter. I think it was hoping to be retrieved by its owner. The juxtaposition of the natural with the unnatural made me laugh. I have a very odd sense of humor.