Photography – Live & Learn

Saturday Morning

June 10, 2023 by Live & Learn 19 Comments

Got up on a cool morning. Leaned out a window.
No cloud, no wind.
Air that flowers held
for awhile…
So these moments count for a lot—peace, you know.
Let the bucket of memory down into the well,
bring it up.
Cool, cool minutes.
No one stirring, no plans. Just being there.
This is what the whole thing is about.

—William Stafford, from “Just Thinking” in Allegiances

Notes:

Poem Source, thank you Beth via Alive on All Channels
DK Photo @ 5:15am today @ Cove Island Park. More pictures from this morning’s walk here.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: cove island park, moments, morning, pause, Peace, Photography, quiet, rest, stamford, still

Walking in ‘ett ögonblick’

June 8, 2023 by Live & Learn 25 Comments

So it had to come. It was only a matter of time.

It’s been 1,129 consecutive (sort of, almost, consecutive) days on this morning walk at Cove Island Park. Like in a row.

Yet, most recent mornings at the Park were absorbed by this little family. I scrapped the walk, ignored my step counts, and stood to watch them start their day. Are they up yet? Having breakfast? It’s been one month of cygnet posts, coincidently, one month to the day when I shared “Guess who has arrived?!?!?!”

I stopped by the nest. High tide had swamped it, and washed away all the straw that Mom and Dad had so carefully constructed for the nest.

Embers flickering, I’m inhaling smoke from the Canadian wildfires. I couldn’t find them. A mallard, yes. A scruffy gosling, yes. But no cygnet. And no swans. And all that I seemed to have left were these lines from Szilvia Molnar:

At any given moment, it was a necessity. Funny how quickly I had lost the idea of “any given moment.” Momentum implying something similar to “movement, motion, moving power” but also “alteration, change” over a “short time,” having a longer duration than “an instant,” ett ögonblick, a blink of an eye. As a puff of smoke giving in to air, I watched the moment disappear from me.

My cygnet and his parents were gone.

Filed Under: Inspire Tagged With: cygnet, mature, Photography, Szilvia Molnar

And, Take 14…not sure about ugly, but light, oh yes.

May 27, 2023 by Live & Learn 19 Comments

“I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may – light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful.”

— John Constable (1776 – 1837) in “Life and Letters of John Constable” by Charles Robert Leslie (Chapman and Hall, 1896). Quote is found in a letter that Constable wrote to his friend and fellow artist John Fisher in 1821. In the letter, Constable is discussing his views on landscape painting, and he argues that the artist should not be afraid to paint ugly things, because the right use of light, shade, and perspective can make even the most ordinary object beautiful. (Constable Quote via Alive on All Channels)

See more pictures from this morning’s walk of the Cygnet with Mom on FB here.

Filed Under: Inspire Tagged With: Bird, Baby, Photography, cute, morning, swan, stamford, cove island park, cygnet

T.G.I.F.

May 26, 2023 by Live & Learn 7 Comments

Morning photos from Daybreak Walk @ Cove Island Park. Egrets & Cygnet here.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Birds, cove island park, cygnet, egret, Photography, swans

And, Take 12…TGIF

May 25, 2023 by Live & Learn 16 Comments

See more pictures from this morning’s walk of the Cygnet with Mom on FB here.

Filed Under: Inspire Tagged With: Baby, Bird, cove island park, cute, cygnet, morning, Photography, stamford, swan

And, Take 10…Sunday Morning

May 21, 2023 by Live & Learn 10 Comments

See more pictures of the Cygnet with Mom and Dad on FB here. Goslings in formation with Mom and Dad here. And daybreak shots here on this morning’s walk at Cove Island Park.

Filed Under: Inspire Tagged With: Baby, Bird, cove island park, cute, cygnet, morning, Photography, stamford, swan

And, Take 9…

May 20, 2023 by Live & Learn 19 Comments

See more pictures of the Cygnet with Mom and Dad on FB here. And daybreak shots here on this morning’s walk at Cove Island Park.

Filed Under: Inspire Tagged With: Baby, Bird, cove island park, cute, cygnet, morning, Photography, stamford, swan

And, Take 8…

May 19, 2023 by Live & Learn 9 Comments

See more pictures the Cygnet with Mom and Dad on FB here. And daybreak shots here on this morning’s walk at Cove Island Park.

Filed Under: Inspire Tagged With: Baby, Bird, cove island park, cute, cygnet, morning, Photography, stamford, swan

And, Take 7…

May 16, 2023 by Live & Learn 6 Comments

See more pictures the Cygnet with Mom and Dad on FB here. And daybreak shots here on my walk at Cove Island Park.

Filed Under: Inspire Tagged With: Baby, Bird, cove island park, cute, cygnet, morning, Photography, stamford, swan

Take 6…

May 13, 2023 by Live & Learn 13 Comments

See more pictures from this morning’s walk @ Cove Island Park. More of the Cygnet and his Mom and Dad on FB here. And egrets here. And daybreak shots here.

Filed Under: Inspire Tagged With: Baby, Bird, cove island park, cute, cygnet, morning, Photography, stamford, swan

Take 5…

May 12, 2023 by Live & Learn 17 Comments

See more pictures of the Cygnet and his Mom and Dad on FB here.

Filed Under: Inspire Tagged With: Baby, Bird, cove island park, cute, cygnet, morning, Photography, stamford, swan

Fuzzy-Wuzzy

May 12, 2023 by Live & Learn 18 Comments

Goslings. 5:45 am, May 12, 2023. Stamford, CT. More gosling photos from this morning here.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Baby, canada geese, Canada Goose, cute, gosling, original photography, Photography, stamford

Take 4…

May 11, 2023 by Live & Learn 14 Comments

See more pictures of the Cygnet and Mom and Dad on FB here. And moonlight shots from this morning’s walk here.

Filed Under: Inspire Tagged With: Baby, Bird, cove island park, cute, cygnet, morning, Photography, stamford, swan

Take 3

May 10, 2023 by Live & Learn 17 Comments

See more pictures of the cygnet and Mom and Dad here. And other shots from this morning’s walk here.

Filed Under: Inspire Tagged With: Baby, Bird, cove island park, cute, cygnet, morning, Photography, stamford, swan

Morning Mom. I’m hungry…

May 9, 2023 by Live & Learn 11 Comments

See more pictures of the cygnet and Mom and Dad here. And moon shots from this morning’s walk here.

Filed Under: Inspire Tagged With: Baby, Bird, cove island park, cute, cygnet, morning, Photography, stamford, swan

Guess who has arrived?!?!

May 8, 2023 by Live & Learn 23 Comments

See more pictures of the cygnet and Mom and Dad here. And moon shots from this morning’s walk here.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Baby, Bird, cove island park, cute, cygnet, morning, Photography, stamford, swan

Walking. And walking. And walking.

May 7, 2023 by Live & Learn 50 Comments

So, here we are. 1095 consecutive (almost) days on this morning walk at Cove Island Park. Like in a row.

And but for Paul pointing it out yesterday, I would have missed this Large milestone. On May 5th, it was 3 years on this daily walk, I mean 3 years, I don’t even need to count the damn days. It’s been 3 years.

And it’s just like DK, not to ponder how he’s changed, what’s changed, and not to reflect upon all the good that’s come out of this….but to focus on the edges of some nonsense. Paul had to remind me. Can you believe that? I’m forgetting a lot of important sh*t, and don’t even know it.

Every 100 feet or so, my hand reaches for the camera, and then gently sets it back to rest on my shoulder. I’m seeing Nothing worthy. All I see, is Same. Been here. Saw that. Done that. Tired of that. Posted that. 1095 days, on the same track, what do you expect?

I walk.

Stewing. Tired. Dragggggging. Wally’s snoozing. Susan will be asleep for another 2 hours. And here I am traipsing around a worn out track.

Mary Louise Kelly’s Act III: “Act III is the one where it dawns on us that there may not be an infinite number of acts, that we’d best get on with making the most of this one. Which prompts a delightful, nerve-racking question or two: What now? What next?”

I walk. [Read more…]