P70822751 – Japanese Beetle? Originally uploaded by jhjohnso/helen. I try to take a walk every day. I used to focus on where I was trying to get. I could walk pretty fast and the accomplishment made me feel good. These days I walk more slowly and cover less distance. But I have realized that there…
Bad Hair Day
P61104361 – Bad Hair Day Originally uploaded by jhjohnso. This picture reminds me of when I lost my hair during chemotherapy in 2000. It came out in clumps. Looked awful. I actually used sticky tape on my scalp to finish the job cleanly. So frightening! At first, my song was a lament: ~oh, vanity lost!…
Mosquito Haiku
P6110424x – mosquito haiku Originally uploaded by jhjohnso. unfortunate soul cause of death: blunt force trauma alas, no one mourns I have neglected the smaller creatures (like insects) in my musings. Perhaps they lead interesting lives, as well. I suspect that it’s all a matter of perspective.
fly haiku
P6050002x – fly haiku Originally uploaded by jhjohnso. were I a fly on a dusty summer screen what would I (could I) see?
Morning on the Lake
P6050056x – Morning on the Lake Originally uploaded by jhjohnso. Weekend at the cabin (up north). It rained/misted continually. Bad news? No way! It produced this lovely misty morning for fishing. No wind. No bugs. No sunburn. Noone else around. No fish to clean. (We released them) Couldn’t think of a better way to spend…
Pippa’s Song – and mine
P5290003x – Rose Breasted Grossbeak Originally uploaded by jhjohnso. The year’s at the spring, And day’s at the morn; Morning’s at seven; The hill-side’s dew-pearl’d; The lark’s on the wing; The snail’s on the thorn; God’s in His heaven– All’s right with the world! – Robert Browning The sun’s schedule and mine finally came together….
Afternoon on a Hill
P5210111x Originally uploaded by jhjohnso. I will be the gladdest thing Under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers And not pick one. I will look at cliffs and clouds With quiet eyes, Watch the wind bow down the grass, And the grass rise. And when lights begin to show Up from the town,…
Spring in the North Woods
P5200004 Originally uploaded by jhjohnso. Spent the weekend at the cabin with the grandkids. The weather wasn’t wonderful. But all the rain has lots sprouting and fresh. We had photo opportunities everywhere we turned.
Sisters
Sisters Originally uploaded by jhjohnso. Having a sister is like having a best friend you can’t get rid of. You know whatever you do, they’ll still be there. -Amy Li Whatever would I do if you weren’t? Happy Birthday, Jo. I love you.
Spring Flowers
P4240121x Originally uploaded by jhjohnso. Last fall, Jim planted hundreds of tulip bulbs. That’s such an act of faith. It’s a long winter between putting them in the ground and seeing results. This spring, we’ve been disappointed by the results. Perhaps the weather has been just too strange. Maybe we’re too early. Could be that…
Happy Birthday Dad
So, today is Dad’s birthday. It’s a big one and deserves a lovely picture here to commemorate it. But, as I shuffled through the mountain of family photos for one that represented him well, I noticed something. His absence from the frame. Not because he wasn’t there. It was because he was ALWAYS there, behind…
It is as it should be….
I come from a line (two lines actually) of strong women. Women of imagination and interests who found wonder in what they saw. Women who educated themselves, and sought opportunities to know and contribute to the world around them. Creative women who found joy in what they could make, and what they could share. Women…
Who’s News
The End
My hip has been hurting lately. Actually my hip, my knee, my ankle. It’s the result of getting older. (ouch) I’m planning on another 30 to 40 years of use. But, already my parts are wearing out. The doctor has already mentioned the possibility of a hip replacement. I recognize the value of such replacments….
The Sky is Crying
P4260127 rainy day, originally uploaded by jhjohnso. Today reminded me of this song: The sky is crying, Look at the tears rolling down the streets. The sky is crying, Look at the tears rolling down the streets. I looked out my window, The rain was falling down in sheets. My baby left me this morning,…
yellow
yellow Originally uploaded by Tama. From Helen at helenkelley-patchworks: Fine quilters have an “eye” for combining separate (and sometimes unlikely) colors and patterns into a grand image. It is all about building pictures with pictures. I came across this web site where the flower pictures look like lovely quilts in rainbow colors. Tama, the photographer…
Moon
P4210049 Moon Originally uploaded by jhjohnso. Silver Slowly, silently, now the moon Walks the night in her silver shoon; This way, and that, she peers, and sees Silver fruit upon silver trees; One by one the casements catch Her beams beneath the silvery thatch; Couched in his kennel, like a log, With paws of silver…
Poetry
Nothing Gold Can Stay Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. – Robert Frost P4180001 – Seedling Chamomile Pic from Flickr.com by…
Small Things
Summer is about abundance. Fall is about loss. Winter is about minimalism. Spring is about small things, new things, firsts, only’s. In spring I am excited about the little discoveries that I would never notice in other seasons. P4090169 Pic from Flickr.com by jhjohnso.
Goldfinch
P4020008 Originally uploaded by jhjohnso. The birds in our yard are beginning to shed their winter colors. This little guy is partly there.