Arms outstretched gratefully...

Arms outstretched..reaching for stars                        
or readying to take deep bows
Kindness from strangers lets me
basque in sunlight
under their admiring brows
The contented feeling comes when
breezes blow... life
borne of a mystery..
One with the universe..
residing here forevermore;
part of stories, lore
and history
I am the Windmill

But my wish is to dance
through the hills to the sea
drinking old sherry
meeting others like me
Turning gracefully with
winds calm and serene...
.. I can also be wild,
felicitas and merry
I love museums, a bullfight;  I'd defend
my country..
I love a good wind storm to
unleash the emotions I feel... for I want to
be a part of the reverie...
...I wonder..
can anyone see that in me?
We landmarks are never wary..
but Cervantes gave me immortality
,,for his rendering of
a chivalrous man,
his horse, his friend and heroine..
built with stone, mortar and wood
I'm a model for others worldwide
Painted bright white,,
gleaming in the distance
as though in a Van Gogh delight
I mean many things to different minds
I serve as a reminder of dreams gone by
I stand for hope for the future  - ideas,
vision and forsight....for,
all windmills have souls on site

Victoria at dversepoets.com    invited us to write with imagism, using descriptive visuals to describe a feeling..

Moody tides...

Fun to put together this little piece of art for Photo Art Friday
this week.  We are asked to write a 7 word sentence that describes our life experience in 
relation to our art or craft..how we became who we are.  And then we must create photo art to illustrate that sentence.  I knew right away what I wanted to do; of course 
it had to include the ocean.  



Without going into a lot of detail, I feel life has coddled me, 
tested me, changed me, molded my talents to the point where they are reaching their 
peak in my (eek) senior years.  True for all of us...as the sand and waves beat the seashore over time,  rocks, shells, sand dollars are smoothed to reveal their true beauty, diamonds their shine.  When discovered 
by human hands, they are treasures with 
ridges and buffed sides, not perfect, but fresh, original, unique.   

If one has natural abilities, all the better, as they will get 
 ahead in life using those skills.  For a lot of us it's about re-discovering creative outlets where 
before there were too many restrictions or other obstacles.  So, like my mother who tried all kinds of vetures later in life after raising four children, I am an
 amateur.  Some of the soaps she created looked like rocks, the Wise Men she made for Christmas
 out of burlap, plaster of paris, pieces of felt and sequins were hilarious  ;-)

 She painted birch trees almost like Grandma Moses and made 
a needlepoint tapestry of animals in a forest, the bunny much larger than the bear and the
 scale of the scene was, well, interesting.  She was a great Girl Scout leader, so we  made all kinds of crafts that she taught us...unusual ones.  She was an avid reader, with a few artists on her side of the family tree. She tried her hand at writing poetry and probably would have been a great photographer had she the technology of today.

So, here I am, like her, finding pleasure in dabbling in 
small projects that might be appreciated by another, or not.  A talent I once wanted to pursue involved a desire to be a doctor + interpreter and work with Albert Schweitzer, but I won't go on....
Have a great weekend!

More daisies...

A last minute posting for  Flower Art Friday ...more daisies, as I posted one on Photo Art Friday yesterday; but this is an experiment which obviously shows I need more practice with textures.  I just threw this together...far from looking like the other professional photos here...but I like a good critique now and then ;-)

Jonathan Livingston Seagull .... with Bokeh...

  Linking with Photo Art Friday using a bit of Bonnie's bokeh technique...combining my one photo of   Haystack Rock in Oregon and 3 other photos...

“To fly as fast as thought, to anywhere that is,” he said,”you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived…”


 “I don’t mind being bone and feathers, Mum. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can’t, that’s all. I just want to know”

Did you know that the precursor to Jonathan is Attar's "conference of birds (Persian poet, 12th century)?

Spring flowers and stained glass...

I found Tones on Tuesday -     

I've been busy...missing Macro Monday, Texture Tuesday, but maybe these will work for 
Wordless Wednesday  (that's out) or one of the other fun sites where everyone shows a sample of their photography.  Mine is still considered "beginning"  photography because one needs time at the computer to "play" and there hasn't been much of that leftover recently.   I found it interesting today , but not surprising, that the three stained glass butterflies that belonged to my mother match perfectly the colors displaying in my garden right now.  The lilac is slow this year but it certainly would fit in with the purples..and the orange geum and yellow coriopsis would fit right in here, too, but they are not blooming quite yet..then again I guess most any flower would find it's shade in them.


Here, you see bluebells, early snapdragons, bleeding heart, tulips, and pansies..and
the cornflower.  Also the very wonderful red amaryllis!
Enlarge for better view..

Haiku Wednesday.. and a Room With a View Slide Show......& 52 Photo Project..

Haiku Wednesday ..Happiness

Peacock shards of light

pierce lacy stretching branches

nature's fibrous frame

Let your soul capture

the blue bird of happiness

alighting therein

Winter passed just days ago and I find myself with fresh views from my bedroom which 

faces Clover Creek.  Before, an ice storm snapped tree branches, my sweet cat, Molly, could not 
find her way back home to me, and then the loss of a dear neighbor and friend.  The visages of age are made apparent with a red fiberglass cast on my left arm (more about that in  my next post). How did 65 years go by so quickly?  March 31, 1947.  Like thousands of feet of mini dreams spliced together on a flickering 
reel of old film, it continues like the slow locomotive flow of the creek.  

I pretend I'm sitting on a cloud, like a child imagining, and ask:  Were there still fairies that 

disappear in a half wink among the trees?  Will there be bands of gold when I reach the sea?  And will the heirloom seeds I planted yesterday grow?  How to control the fluttering at my collarbone as I see moonbeams reflect on the creek, so different from the phosphorescent  light tripping at night. 
 Sought after dreams are still dreams.

"Picnik Show"

Create a free slideshow with Picnik!

But I take heed of the trees' whispers, as more color spills from the garden by day, new lilacs
 and honeysuckle budding, waiting for monarchs and hummingbirds to arrive.  The fluffy yolk of the sun  forms a bridge to my front door where I will hang a springtime wreath.  Quilted jelly jars on the shelf, waiting to be filled with blueberry jam.  I hope the hollyhocks bloom a regal red.  Spring breathes eternally and faith is restored with buttercream frosting on my cake.  Family and friends mark the date with cards and forever smiles.  As the creek flows into a lake, it becomes a river which flows to the sea.  The mosaiced ocean 

calls for me.  A misty morning on the boardwalk, pink clouds shaped like ponies on the horizon, gulls 
write an opus in the breeze. The eye follows till it reaches the blue midnight air. A new- found, 
heightened state of joy and peace is at the heart of me.

52photosproject

Outside my door

Scavenger Hunt Sunday 3/18/12...

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Today's words for the photo search for the week are vintage, word or quote, nature's own, people, and photographer's choice.  I spent a lot of time going over photo's that I took recently so I wouldn't have to delve into old stored photos.  I thought incorrectly that the challenge for the word 'quote' would be fun and easy, but it proved to be hard to produce, but the rest I had and are fairly representative of my tastes as well:

Vintage...old dark green drinking fountain in Balboa Park. San Diego..I had a lot of options for this one, but I like the setting and colors here..

Word or quote...

Someone carved his name and a heart on a wooden swing in a park nearby overlooking the water.  Often I see two people sitting and swinging slowly; it is old, has many other initials on it, and creaks loudly. I should have taken a picture of the entire swing which has two seats...the grass is beneath.  I enhanced this photo with textures..

Nature's own...

Many of us have bulbs sprouting up, some blossoming, and I do have  photos of hyacinths, crocus and snow drops, but I couldn't resist this snap of the nearby silver dollar plant with it's waxen seed pods taking in the sun..I don't know the scientific name for it.

People:..no one new in my camera this week.... I suppose if I had taken it to one of several places I went this week I would have more to offer...I saw many interesting faces and characters at the store, library and doctor offices..but this is a kaleidoscope featured effect on picnik.com and I was delighted to see my granddaughter's face,  and her friend's, mirrored a hundred times in the final saved version..it was fun playing.

Photographer's choice...

Last, but my no means least, is the close up or Macro shot I took of my friend's Spanish wall pocket planter containing this plant that looks like a string of peas, but it is called a?? vine...right on the tip of my tongue...it may get entered in Macro Monday tomorrow..the composition isn't quite what I want, though.  But I love the colorful little pot.

Thanks for stopping by the Eyrie Road.;)

Photo sharing...Rolling on...

Today is the last day Lisa at  The Creative Exchange will have her Monday showcase
of photo art and many people are going to miss her.  Thank you, Lisa, for giving us the
opportunity to experiment and dare to break new ground individually via your web site.  Still a beginner and perhaps always the amateur, I am glad I discovered it when I
did and was able to participate for awhile. 
 Good luck, Lisa.
 *** The errors from yesterday ought to have been corrected now...

  During a sun break between hail storms yesterday, I snapped these photos of the swelling, drifting 
creek in my back yard which is full of debris still from the ice storm.. much of it coasted 
downstream, but what remains would be a great location for an ingenious beaver to build a 
dam, but I've never seen one here. The ducks and geese and occasional heron like to feed from the
 landing that the branches provide to the middle of the stream.

I wanted to share the broader view 
of the creek in one direction, two closer views at the "island", and then the final shot of a fallen twig being bashed by the continual little waves, careening and bouncing themselves westwardly into nearby Gravelly Lake. I simply adjusted the contrast and exposure of the top three photos.















I took the liberty of enhancing he
 last shot with picnik.com; you can clearly see all colors of the rainbow, as is true everywhere in nature. However, I really think I should have filmed a short clip of the small branch's fight, splashes all around, creating an enjoyable  babbling melody...
why didn't I think of that?

Photo Art Friday...Combining photos...

Sharing today with Bonnie's..

 

I am still thinking about the nice trip to meet two old friends in San Diego.  This will be 

a reminder of that time for many years.  Embarrassingly I did find that one could overlay photos on picnik.com ...the process was right there in front of me all the time..I was doing things the hard way! 

 I had a little trouble figuring out the fade qualities because I am new at this.  There you see us on the ferry  

(Laura, Bonnie, and myself) from Coronado in the second layer used over the photo taken on the way

 back when it was getting dark..then I add the flower by photographer Nancy Claeys...you may see something else hidden.  Any suggestions? Anyway, now that the site will be closing soon, I'm sure I'll find another I like, 

maybe even better.  

         Today was full of sunshine - tomorrow holds rain and cold, our typical fickle March weather ;)

Beachcombers...

Shown at:  http://pixeldustphotoart.blogspot.com/ 

The above photo is a poor shot.  My two friends had gone down to the water while I waited, somewhat fatigued and wearing the boot the podiatrist told me to wear until my heel is healed.  But I don't know why I did not move closer for a better shot??

When I arrived home I decided I wanted to still capture that moment with what I had, so I used all the effects I found on picnik.com to come up with something worth saving as a memoir of our visit.  I'm trying to decide which of the various results is my favorite and I think I've found it.

Which is yours?

Click to enlarge.

Mine is the last one or the one with 

sepia and sun...does it

 deserve a frame I wonder...

Last but not least I went back today and used the hypnotic effect and lo and behold, a clam shell!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday... 2/12/12

This week's prompts:  facial feature, shadow, spicy, gold, fabric:

Facial feature...Old Royal Doulton mug..a sailor's wink with classic nose and chin...

Shadow...I'm holding an old fountain pen...

Spicy...Old mustard spice tin and vintage cloth...

Gold...The corner of a gold frame in my living room...

Fabric...Needlepoint done by one grandmother for a child's rocking chair...

http://ashleysisk.com/search/label/Scavenger%20Hunt

http://ashleysisk.com/search/label/Scavenger%20Hunt