February Slump

I'd do just about anything for love...except move to Alaska. And lately, Virginia has felt a little bit like Alaska with its unusually brutal temperatures and excessive snow flakes! I've just about had enough...the days are long and frigid. The landscape is so bleak, which matches my state of mind this past week. It's so cold that I rarely go outside because my body wants to hibernate. I experience this winter slump every year at this time - my creativity goes out the window (along with my motivation).

We had our biggest snow yet on Thursday into Friday, and I finally wandered outside the next day to take a few photos in my back yard. The landscape was very symbolic of my February state of mind: thoughts that cast long shadows, and creativity as stark as the snow...a white, empty space. However, at least the sun was shining! That was a welcome change from the gray, cloudy days we'd been having.

Spring will be here soon, and as always, my enthusiasm will return with the flowers! I can't wait...thanks for stopping by. I'm linking up with Kathy's Song-ography today - her song theme is "I'd Do Anything For Love..."

And winter sheds its grief in snow… ~Emily Brontë

Heart Tender

HEART TENDER

My muse is a heart hunter, her bow arched readily,
her arrow point dabbed with a gossamer glint
the color of spirit.
I am her target and, emboldened with time,
I confront her with soul-fire and fear-ashes,
stomach knots and eye-stars.

Sky and trees are tossed by the air,
green-shuffled and blue-shifted in a windblown vertigo,
the sunset on my neck-nape.
I spy, with delight,
ten thousand wren-wings of a migrating flock,
their nerves fraught with dusk-twitter.
Twilight nestles against slumbering petals,
their flower-souls folded in and dreaming.

I wave my white handkerchief.
Seizing her moment, my muse bends an arrow back
and releases, our eyes locked.
My ears hear the whistling sound the arrow makes
as it soars through the air to my lung-cage,
hitting its target dead center, heart-tender.

© Sherri Brannon 2014

I find that poetry comes to me easier in the wintertime...there's less distraction, less color, less external activities. I'm more contemplative, quieter...there's a stillness present that isn't there in the bustle of spring, summer, or fall. This is a poem I've been working on for the last couple of weeks. I never know when I'm going to get "hit" with the sudden need to write. It was fun to think of my muse as a hunter with her bow and arrow.

My photo was edited using Radlab - I like the dreamy effect I was able to get. And through the wonders of Photoshop, I was able to add a flock of birds by finding an image at Flickr Creative Commons and adding it in as a separate layer.

Thank you for stopping by!

It just happens to be the way that I’m made. I have to write things down to feel I fully comprehend them. ~Haruki Murakami

Lines and Curves

Remember, a line cannot exist alone; it always brings a companion along. Do remember that one line does nothing; it is only in relation to another that it creates a volume. ~Henri Matisse

Bonnie's theme for Photo Art Friday this month is "geometric/graphic/angular". I knew right away I wanted to use a photo of Spaceship Earth at Epcot. It's probably the most identifiable structure at this park...I love all its lines and angles, which is odd considering it's a round ball! I added a couple of layers, including Bonnie's "Painterly Texture", and put the image through Radlab several times to affect the tones.

Disney World: Magic Kingdom

Kathy's song this week on Song-ography is "I Would Walk 500 Miles". It was a perfect theme for finally posting some of my Disney World photos...I can guarantee you that when you visit Disney World, you will feel as if you've walked 500 miles! It's so enormous and there are four different parks to cover if you so desire. My feet have never been so tired.

I've decided to break my photos down by park, so today I'm sharing some favorites from our day at Magic Kingdom. It was very overcast that day, so I'm not real thrilled with the sky in some of these photos. It was hard for them not to look washed out...there's likely a clever way to fix this in Photoshop, but my expertise is lacking in that area.

Also, as luck would have it, the day we visited the Magic Kingdom they had a crane attached to Cinderella's castle while removing the last of the Christmas decorations. If you look closely in the second image above, you can see the yellow "cage" dangling towards the top of the castle..the workers were inside the cage removing lights from the turrets. The crane ruined the possibility of getting a gorgeous, full-view photo of the castle from a distance...bummer! However, I was very thrilled to see the new Beauty and the Beast castle (the purplish one) - it was so pretty!

Despite my photography complaints, we had so much fun at Disney World - it's truly a magical place!

Thank you for stopping by, and I hope to share some photos of Disney World/Hollywood Studios soon.

Winter Notes

WINTER NOTES

If winter were a book page,
what would you write
in the margins? I'd write
of bare limbs against
a frigid, pink horizon.
It would glow in a
straight line, nature's
cheerful offering,
a rosy hem offering up
color and jounce to the
ashen, bewildered trees.

I'd jot down gentle words
like freshly fallen snow,
describing the sound
of a wandering cardinal,
how the breath in its throat
smells of earth and branches.
I'd notice the brittle ivy
twining our oak tree,
how my own frozen breath
hovers over it like
a vapor ghost.

I'd write of January's
twilight, how it snaps
its necklace, scattering
its strung stars across
the sky like loose pearls
in a black, velvet box.
The stars would shiver and
dance to keep warm, and
I'd take notes while
yearning for the scents
of summer: moths and sweat,
bees and clover.

© Sherri Brannon 2014

When the long, freezing days of January through March start dragging by, I always find myself writing poems about winter...and my strong yearning for spring. Never fails! I enjoy cold weather during the month of December - somehow it's more festive and bearable during the holidays. But once New Year's passes, I'm ready for the cold days to be over.

This week I have cabin fever - we got snow on Tuesday, followed by several days of subzero windchills. It was even more of a shock to the system because we had just gotten back from Florida and I still had fresh memories of sunshine and palm trees. These brutally low temperatures we're having are not the norm for Virginia. April, where are you?

I had fun playing with my winter tree image in Photoshop - I created the "pink horizon" for the purpose of my poem. I used the gradient effect to achieve that appearance, and I also put my image into Radlab and tweaked it further with filters.

How the gravity of Nature and the silence startle you, when you stand face to face with her, undistracted, before a barren ridge or in the desolation of ancient hills. ~Guy Sargent

Disney World

Laughter is America's most important export. ~Walt Disney

I'm back from Florida - we had a fantastic time visiting family and Disney World. I've come to the conclusion, though, that four straight days of morning-to-night Disney is too much for my 52-year old body! By the last day everything was creaking and aching...lol. We went to all four parks: Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom. I took over 1,000 photos (as did my husband), and I will share some of my favorites in the coming weeks.

My 22-year old daughter is the biggest Disney fan on the planet so it's always a joy to go there with her and see her excitement. Her first Disney experience was at the age of six, and it truly was magical! I think that magic casts a "joy spell" and stays with you forever. Each time you visit thereafter, you become a kid again.

Unfortunately, the day we were at the Magic Kingdom the castle had a big crane on it because they were taking down the last of the Christmas decorations. But other than that, the parks were bright, colorful, and...magical!

I'm linking up today with Kim's Texture Tuesday - I used her "Touch of 1" texture at Soft Light/25%.

Florida Bound

With January always comes that sense of time dragging...the holidays are over, and there are three full months of winter to still deal with. Time passes slow as molasses. This year, though, I'm going to get a brief break from winter - a trip to Florida! I look forward to the palm trees and balmier weather next week. I'll be back in the blog world in 10 days or so, hopefully with some new photos to share! We'll be spending several days at Disney World, too, so maybe I'll see Mickey. :)

There’s something on my heart that can’t be lifted – I give in to wintering. You won’t see me till the buds start to blossom. ~Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh