Yesterday I found myself watching the sun throughout the day, and I heard Ray Charles' voice in my head:
"That lucky old sun, has got nuthin' to do... but roll around Heaven all day..."
(I wish I could find a different performance than this one, but this still sounds good):

the UFO looking shapes are our light fixture's reflections

Sunday drive

^^these patterns could be inspiration for a Gee's Bend style quilt^^

fire & ice

another amazing sunrise, but it was wayyyyyy too freezing this morning to go outside to take pictures!

excerpts from the latest (and final) post on Maira Kalman's New York Times blog "And the Pursuit of Happiness" (to be published as a book this fall):





I love her paintings!!!

Most of her blog entries discuss political figures from American history - this most recent one is about George Washington.
My dad & Marcia visited Mount Vernon this past fall.

(I'm so tickled that I'm actually keeping this alive)

it was one of those mornings that somehow felt darker as the sun rose

one of Tim's current projects in progress

I love it!

from Disney's "Fantasia" (1940):


...one of the films that made me fall in love with Disney

cold & quiet

Tim says I take too many pictures of this dog -- but how can you help it when he's this regal & cute all at once?
(this is Sparky keeping watch over the driveway)

Cookie keeping watch over the driveway.

plump little birds nestled in gnarly limbs (outside LaFayette Diner in Canandaigua):

oops, I scared them away!

except for this one little guy who lingered behind -

the sun rises much further south on the eastern horizon now


(out behind the barn)

fun advertising

The Mini Cooper car company made it look as if their small cars were delivered to local shops (in the Netherlands) in a cardboard box, like a fridge or tv. After the holidays, the boxes were put out on curbs to get picked up by garbage men (and hopefully recycled!)

New Year's Day breakfast!

mmm, dreaming of waffles...

voluntary simplicity

...is a manner of living that is outwardly more simple and inwardly more rich, a way of being in which our most authentic and alive self is brought into direct and conscious contact with living... the objective is not dogmatically to live with less, but is a more demanding intention of living with balance in order to find a life of greater purpose, fulfillment, and satisfaction.

-- Duane Elgin