A Pile of Rocks

Next to love, balance is the most important thing.

John Wooden

I named my rock piles…

The Light Spirit

with a big-hearted base.

The Little Universe

Light and dark

sun and moon

sand, stone and feather.

The Bird Bath

a little white bird

found a place to land

and a bath

to cool in

The Running Man…

it’s precarious,

running.

one foot touching down,

one mid-air,

one arm forward,

one back.

Gravity and momentum

briefly

in balance

propelling you

forward

through space.

Everything changes, even stone.

Claude Monet

Balancing rocks, and finding rock balances, or cairns, of others is one of the pleasures of living near a rocky beach. Last month, while visiting Mackinac Island, I found a book called The Rock Balancer’s Guide by Travis Ruskus. It’s a meditative approach to rock balancing. I’m just learning. Some of the stones I find here, on Lake Michigan, called lightning stones (or Septarian), often appear to have images of familiar things etched into their surfaces. I love finding them and using them in a stack. It makes each rock pile like an ephemeral message from me to the universe. And great fun. You should try it!

There are a couple of updates to my schedule I wanted to share. Firstly, I'll be scaling back my blogging to once a month during the summer to dedicate time to updating my website galleries, creating prints for my physical gallery, and fulfilling commitments to others.

Secondly, for anyone near Saugatuck, Michigan, I'm organizing a one-day bookbinding workshop in late September 2024. More details to come.

I will see you again on July 19, and on the third Friday of every month through the end of October. Thank you so much for being here.

Deer’s Leap

A Fieldtrip to Fairchild

One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.

W. E. Johns

I took a day-long field trip to the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in South Miami last week. I didn’t know what to expect, but what I found was magic. I also found shade, a series of small lakes, a huge variety of palm trees, a spiny forest, a rain forest, lots and lots of lizards, lots of birds, and a few heart pounding moments…

A curious little lizard greeted me just outside the visitor center.

To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at.

Claude Monet

(This isn’t hard when you don’t actually know what it is. A beautiful flower by any name.)

Peeking out.

A gulf fritillary butterfly lands on a cactus blossom in the Spiny Forest garden.

An iguana finds a place in the sun.

Tropical water lilies reflect in a tranquil pond.

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Beneath the fig trees it’s another world.

The lower gardens look inviting from the overlook.

I step into the lower gardens with the Egyptian Goose.

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A very long iguana crawls beneath the mangroves.

A great egret creeps up to the water’s edge.

A white ibis looks over its shoulder suspiciously.

The unexpected happens - an apparently sleeping crocodile stands up and walks across the path in front of me.

I continue take pictures while internally freaking out.

Then the ibises, who were suspicious and wary of me, follow the crocodile across the path…

and I was worried that I was too close.

Nature, for me is raw and dangerous and difficult and beautiful and unnerving.

Andy Goldsworth

It is easy to forget, when you are surrounded by beauty, that nature is unpredictable and definitely NOT always safe, even here in this beautifully planned and well-maintained garden. That is part of the appeal of exploring outdoors to me - the demand that I take it seriously and weigh the dangers against my desire to see everything. I think I stayed far enough away from the crocodiles at this garden. I did not walk closer to the one I saw crossing the path. I turned around and went back the way I came after taking these photos. Of course, that’s how I saw the next crocodile…

This was a photo-heavy post. I hope it all comes through ok. I was just so excited to share the whole experience. Thanks so much for being here. I will see you next week!

P.S. The ibises were fine. They wandered around near the crocodile for a few minutes, and then just walked away and back down the path.

P.P.S. If you’re interested in Fairchild Gardens, click here.

A parting shot - this crocodile was across the pond from me - much further away than it might appear. I loved the symmetry with its reflection in the water. Its mouth is open, which looks menacing, but it was completely still. {They keep their mouths open when lying in the sun to help regulate their body temperature.)

Small Struggler

Life is a beautiful struggle.

Talib Kweli

With its neck and feathers tucked in, the small green heron looks tense.

When he stretches his neck out - he can look pretty fierce.

Stress

Crouching Green Heron,

swiftly shoots forward to strike -

struggling, like me.

I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart.

Vincent Van Gogh

The green heron is a fierce little fisherman. Drawing its feathers in, tucking its neck into its body - it drops little lures on the water to bring its prey to the surface, and waits. Then, suddenly, it strikes out with that sharp pointed beak, extending its neck to catch them when they appear. It looks like two different birds from one moment to the next.

Last week, when I wrote about the night heron, I admired it for its patience and trust in the flow of things. The green heron seems to strive a little more. They are both following their natures, but I often think it would be better to be like the night heron - calm and graceful. Sometimes when things are harder though, I know I’m more like the green heron. I can almost feel the stress in its hunched shoulders when it’s standing on the edge of the water, and its striving when it stretches out its neck in the treetops. It’s like me when I’m doing my taxes. I guess it’s all an ebb and flow. Sometimes I struggle, and other times I flow.

I really appreciate you being here, reading my musings. Thank you so much for all your feedback. I’m thinking about doing another photography challenge…let me know if you’re interested, and I’ll see you next week!

Settling back into his perch. (If you want to know more about green herons, click here.)