Nature Wallpapers

Source: http://absweety.blogspot.com/2010/08/nature-wallpapers.html

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Flower

Photo taken from Cameron Highlands. ok sorry la har i don't know what flower is this. hahaha.

Source: http://oh-chineng.blogspot.com/2010/08/flower.html

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Fall is in the air, I can almost smell it...

Photo Art by RLHall, ArtfulExpress

Fall is in the air, I can feel it. It's been rainy the last couple of days here in New York. But the night air is cooling down and I've seen Canada Geese in v-formation, and smaller song birds are starting to flock up as well. Lately the calls of the Blue Jays seem to be announcing the season's change.

We took a short cut over the hills yesterday, and on the way, climbing up a seasonal dirt road I commented that autumn was just around the corner...the woods are starting to thin out now, you can see the deer through the forest trees as they start moving towards the streams to drink just before dusk. You have a little more warning, as they prepare to cross the roads as you pass by. We stopped for a mother and twin fawns, who had probably just lost their spots recently, to let them cross in front of us safely. And caught sight of many more whitetails both in the more distant fields and nearby at the woods edge. As we finally reached the very top of the hill we saw our first view of Maple Trees whose leaves had begun changing to that almost fluorescent orange color.

Yes, Fall is in the air, I can almost smell it. I don't think I could live anywhere that doesn't experience four distinct seasons. I welcome each one with joy, but tire of it as it's end draws near. Though autumn is my favorite time of year, it always brings a kind of melancholy feeling along with it. I suppose because it brings to mind the harshness of the winter months, and loss of the vibrant life that surrounds us in more hospitable times. It's a time to reflect on our lives as another year's end begins to seem within reach and to regret all the things we had hoped to accomplish while the weather was fine, but never quite got around to because we were too busy with our carefree summertime living.

There is still the fall, with it's more comfortable temperatures and that colorful beauty that inspires us anew every time it comes around. There is still that wish for peacefulness and quiet that the cooler seasons brings, and the hope for spring with it renewal of life and love and another new vivacious beginning.        

Source: http://artfulexpresscreativelife.blogspot.com/2010/08/photo-art-by-rlhall-artfulexpress-fall.html

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Going The Rounds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Although I do not post comments on the blog I always read them. So many thanks to all of you who commented on my comments and poem yesterday’s. I got the impression that some of you thought I was sitting on a fence or sorts. However, I think I made my feelings clear and it is not for a poet to dictate how his or her reader should react to a poem, only open avenues of thought.

Meanwhile…

It is true what they say. What goes around comes around. The fashion scene, for one, can testify to that.

Hopefully, the same will not apply to attitudes towards gay relationships…but I have my doubts. If certain individuals and groups within the world’s major religions - predominantly Christianity and Islam (they that like to present themselves as models of peace and love!) - have their way the clock is already turning backwards for us. Even laws meant to give gay people equal rights and protection can only go so far.

At the end of the day, you cannot legislate for bad attitude. If emails I receive and discussions I’ve had with both gay and straight readers are anything to go by, there is still plenty of that around among the world’s predominantly heterosexual communities, even in the so-called liberal-minded West.

This poem is, yes, another villanelle.

GOING THE ROUNDS

What goes around, comes around,
no matter gay or straight
on history’s merry-go-round

Let time, our mistakes, compound
(love will always see us right?);
what goes around, comes around

As dogs of war run peace to ground,
see humanity put to rout
on history’s merry-go-round

Let martyrs quit this mortal round
where light and dark mate,
what goes around, comes around

In all nature, no finer, sweeter sound
than love songs killing hate
on history’s merry-go-round

Where sexuality dares speak its mind
or society constructs a closet…
what goes around, comes around
on history’s merry-go-round

Copyright R. N. Taber 2010

Source: http://rogertab.blogspot.com/2010/08/going-rounds.html

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Little Yellow Flowers (Item Code #0130)

Source: http://jenericphoto.blogspot.com/2010/08/little-yellow-flowers-item-code-0130.html

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Wild child

I like Ann Hart's blog: SouthernMamas.com. She always has the scoop on things to do in Savannah for families, and other relevant content for moms. For example: Skidaway Island outdoor activities listed for this week.
Thanks, Anne, we're overdue for a trip to a state park - great listing!

City kids need their nature-time scheduled in, this feels weird to me, the same way playdates felt like an awkward way to socialize - I always imagined troops of children playing together as the healthiest environment - but we have no kid neighbors, no cousins, and all our friends live in different areas of town. So we have to schedule free time for running around and playing pretend. And we have to schedule in trees and dirt.

Luckily Savannah is tucked between a lot of wild environments. The beach landscape is a festival for the senses no matter how many times you experience it. And the marshy forests that bridge the barrier islands are dramatic and fertile. Skidway Island State Park has a trail we love to trek for our dose of moss-draped palms, muddy crab homes and a cycle of blooming brush.

It's too hot for the newborn to attend. And I've got her milk. But since our springy, muscle-growing five year old is soon going to spend his days in a kindergarden classroom, it's the perfect time for a wilderness visit with dad.

Source: http://screenedinbackporch.blogspot.com/2010/08/wild-child.html

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VIDEO: I HATE NATURE

I Hate Nature from Olde English Comedy on Vimeo.

I Hate Nature 2 from Olde English Comedy on Vimeo.

Source: http://cosmo360.blogspot.com/2010/08/video-i-hate-nature_17.html

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School Under the Sky

We're determined to do as much outdoor school as possible, since we'll be missing these warm days in a couple of months! Today we spread a blanket on the grass and started our biomes unit study. I'm using Amazing Biome Projects You Can Build Yourself by Donna Latham and Farah Rizvi as a springboard for the unit. We read the introduction, compared different biomes and discussed the threats that each of them face.

Then we used sidewalk chalk to list the eight (nine if you count the oceans) biomes covered in the book.

Super tried to write "tundra" in icy letters, but it was somewhat challenging using chalk on a crumbly sidewalk!

We talked about deciduous and coniferous trees, and found examples of each. Deciduous trees typically grow in areas with four distinct seasons, and they lose their leaves in winter.

Coniferous trees have thick, waxy needles that conserve moisture. They don't lose their leaves, which is why people refer to them as "evergreens."

We have both types in our neighborhood. In fact, we seem to have a little of everything here...

We'll be talking about animal adaptations in our biomes unit study, so we read Animal Senses: How Animals See, Hear, Taste, Smell and Feel by Pamela Hickman and Pat Stephens. Have you ever wondered what it's like to see with compound eyes like an insect?

Or to see ten times better than a human, like a hawk?

We did an experiment to find our field of vision: hold your arms in front of you and slowly move them to your sides. When you can't see them anymore, you have found the limits of your field of vision. We learned that frogs have a huge field of vision because their eyes are on top of their heads. But humans have "binocular vision," meaning we focus both of our eyes on the same thing. We can't see behind us, like a frog, but we can focus better on what's in front of us!

Then it was time for some gumdrop geometry...

Count the Dots to find the number of vertices.

It turns out, our geometric solids are useful as grasshopper catchers, too!

Don't worry, we let him go after lunch!

Source: http://karmamatopoeia.blogspot.com/2010/08/school-under-sky.html

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Summertime Miscellany: Right Brain/Left Brain

There is a very provocative book I read years ago that I keep thinking of: The Alphabet Versus the Goddess (Viking, 1998), by physicist Leonard Shlain. Basically, it claims that our left brains became more prominent after humankind began to communicate through text, versus the pre-print era when we thought and communicated more visually (via the right brain). In this age of the Internet, we move more towards a balance of the two. Shlain aligns text with linear male thinking and women with more holistic, visual states of mind, a premise that seems too simplistic for me. Yet I am fascinated by the rapid changes in our culture as far as modes of communicating go. We have become very graphics-rich. Everyone is a photographer. Graphic novels are beoming de rigueur. We consume visual content via tv, ipods, film, YouTube, email photo attachments, you name it....

Sitting down to blog this week, I felt less verbally inspired than usual, so I reached for my camera and went out to the yard. Yesterday I snapped the photo of our one lone cucumber growing in the garden, hardly worth the dozens of gallons of water we've poured into it, not to mention compost, mulch, etc. But maybe there will more cukes coming. Sometimes I think the cuke and squash flowers just don't get pollinated correctly since it is always a challenge to succeed with these veggies in hot humid, Houston. Why do we even try? Darned if I know, but that's a different post..... I thought about doing some research on cucumbers and composing a whole post about that, but it felt too forced. So this morning I took a few more photos of things growing in the yard and wanted to be done with it, just post a few photos and move on with my week since I am busy getting ready to hang my art show.

But this notion of visual versus text kept gnawing at me. My brain is leaning more towards the visual these days since I am making so much art. But then again, I also read a lot. I'm not sure I can conceive of a world without text. Artist's Way author Julia Cameron recommends giving up reading for a week or so if you are a blocked artist. I'm not sure I could ever do that! There is much to be said for being fluid between both modes of communication. I love to pour over native American war and pony paint symbols, cave paintings and other pre-text images. Apparently most people picked up paint or sticks to draw before there was text. They took "art" for granted.

Drafting an artist's statement for my forthcoming show, I wrote that I love collage because it serves as an alternate reality where anything is possible. Because it is often multi-layered and complex, collage has the potential to portray the states of paradox, fancifulness and imagination common to the human brain. Only through collage do I feel I am saying things words can't express. We have become very sophisticated in our visual communication, and I do believe that involves some integration of the mind's ability to move back and forth between the brain's hemispheres. We have so many digital tools that allow us to express ourselves. Talking to or everyone (or no one) here in the blogosphere, I am grateful for this mode of communication that blends words and pictures. Peace out!

photos by KAO" Lone Cuke, Chickens a Pecking, Plastic Flamingos "Pete & Petunia", Yard Flowers with Metal Chicken Figurine

Source: http://speedoflight-lonestarlibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/08/summertime-miscellany-right-brainleft.html

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