Earth Day 2008 - 2

nectarines and roses

collage: citrus

collage: irises

white dove

every time i've looked this afternoon and evening, a lovely, chubby white dove has been sitting perched on the fence outside jane's door. sunday will be advent 4, and i tried to find the lyrics to johannnes brahm's annunciation (25 march) song, "a snow white dove from heaven descended to earth" but my best success was with a dead link that taublein weiss yielded. however, i wanted an excuse to post this frosty-white looking christmas tree plus i found a great poem set to music by william grant still (1895-1978):

Grief

Weeping angel with pinions trailing
and head bowed low in your hands.
Mourning angel with heartstrings wailing
for one who in death's hall stands,
mourning angel silence your wailing
and raise your head from your hands,
weeping angel with pinions trailing,
the white dove, promise, stands!

LeRoy V. Brant

...the spirit of resurrection...

Federal Street Salem

This Cat's Meow collectible almost exactly matches the Orne-Prince House (1788) we lived in at (108)-110 Federal Street in the historical North Shore city of Salem, Massachusetts. The only difference is the windows in our 3rd floor were 6 over 6 like in the 1st and 2nd floors—even the yellow painted clapboard siding is identical! Lined up into a streetscape flush with the sidewalk, you also could appreciate the Leach-Nichols House (1782) at 116–118 Federal Street and the Page-Lawrence-Farrington House (1786) at 112–114 Federal Street. These are phenomenal representations of successful business owners' houses from the post-Revolutionary War (for Independence) Federal architecture!

plants installed

cross-posted from this far by faith...

Without a doubt I wanted to show off the picture I made after our meeting...among other activities, I'm on the Landscape Committee of our condo home owners association. It's an amazing experience, especially because it's jarring to not open and close a meeting with prayer, and I sometimes get a little concerned that I'll offer to do so (haven't yet, though). Ten days ago we did a detailed walk-through the courtyard and front of the complex with the professional landscaping contractor (that may be redundant, given that pro and contractor both should have both experience and a license), and a week later at our membership meeting they kept talking about plants being installed. Plants installed? "Install" sounds like something you do with a computer, with software, with a sprinkler system, to a pastor(?!) into his or her formal role, but how about living, breathing, growing greenery? True this geography should be xeriscaped more than landscaped, but whatever--hope you like the image!

Wellesley Park flowers

5 Wellesley Park

Wellesley Park

Hibiscus

Irises

Purple irises from Carla's garden!

67 Wellesley Park

Here's Friday's version of the house at 67 Wellesley Park, Dorchester—still down the street from Nick's and still in better condition than his house! I fantasized this variation from a series of B&W photographs I took during summer 2000.

cityfence 2007

House in Dorchester 4 B&W

Here's the picture I'm working on in Photoshop: so far, I've done brightness, contrast and tonal range adjustments. Keep checking back for exciting innovations! BTW, this is a house on Wellesley Park close to Nick's.