Merry Month of May

A little madness in the Spring

Is wholesome even for the King.

~Emily Dickinson

Hope you all had a beautiful month! Mine had some craziness and its own set of challenges but fortunately there were also a lot of upsides to it and much to savor and enjoy, including ...

Getting festive!

Picking fresh strawberries ...

And eating them ... in all sorts of places!

Playing in the pool ...

... And getting super pruney!

BBQing with friends ...

And watching flowers bloom!

Dining al fresco ...

And enjoying an outdoor play!

(... here is my nephew posing after his school play!)

Going to the Santa Barbara Zoo and checking out the poison dart frogs!

... flamingos

and rattlesnakes!

Spending a day at Art in the Park in Ojai ...

It's spring fever.

That is what the name of it is.

And when you've got it, you want -

oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want,

but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!

~Mark Twain

And spending an evening eclipse hunting!!!

(check out the "eclipse shadows" on the wall)

Hope you found some time to enjoy the many beautiful joys of May!

Blessings and light to all of you!

The Huntington Museum in Pasadena ~ American Collection

Well, I just got my beloved iMac back from "Melrose Mac" with my ram now maxed out, so that I can get the new Lion operating system. Normally I avoid any changes to my computer and shy away from any sort of updates but apparently I have to get Mac's icloud or I can't keep my email address!! Apparently, I first need to load the previous operating system (which I never did.) Before that, I have to back up my hard drive, so I don't loose everything ... which I have also never done! I know ... Gasp! I do make copies of my photos to discs and upload to Kodak. I mean, I am not totally nuts, just kind of.

Of course, now I hear Kodak online was bought out by Shutterfly, and that they will "move" my photo galleries to their website. EEEEK!!!

Anyway, on to more important things. ART! In 2009, The Huntington reopened the American Art Collection (which is "continually evolving") and it's in its very own (air conditioned) building. A perfect place to get inspired for doing plein air painting and for getting out of the Pasadena heat.

Here's a little sampling from the collection. PLEASE click to enlarge paintings. Especially the landscapes. The details are unbelievable!

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of thing,

but their inward significance.

~Aristotle

William McGregor Paxton

The Canary

1913

This piece, below, is amazing and gigantic...

Chimborazo 1864

Frederic E Church

48"x84" (!)

Detail of Chimborazo

Chauncey Bradley Ives

Ruth

1853

Marble

Albert Bierdstatdt

Landscape with Waterfall

Oil on paper mounted on board

Daniel Chester French

Benediction

1922

Bronze

John Frederick Kensett

Woodland Interior

1850-55

George Innes

Sketch for Washing Day near Perugia

1873

Oil on Cardboard

(they had the finished piece, but I liked the sketch even better!)

Thomas Moran

Rock Towers of the Rio Virgin

1908

Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places

where other people see nothing.

~Camille Pissaro

Thomas Moran

Detail from A Mountain Stream

1869

Mary Cassatt

Breakfast in Bed

1894

Haviland and Company

designed by Theodore R. Davis

Oyster Plate

1880-87

Silver by Tiffany & Co.

1880

Edward Jean Steichen

Snow Bound - Dawn

1915

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were.

But without it, we go nowhere.

~Carl Sagan

Richard Diebenkorn

Berkeley #24

1954

Sam Francis

Free Floating Clouds

1980

Acrylic on canvas

Art is not what you see, but what yo make others see.

~Georgia O'Keeffe

Well, I'll be back after my hard drive is backed up. Wish me luck! I have no idea what I'm doing!

Blessings and light!

Chinese Gardens at the Huntington ~Pasadena

Sorry for the absence, it's was a crazy week, followed by 4 days in Ojai babysitting my nephew Benjamin. Anyway ... back to the Huntington Gardens! As the title says, this is Chinese Garden and it's just beautiful. 

It was only put in a few years back and the plants have really grown in. Another bonus is, they have a great little place to get snacks and great ice tea! 

Simplicity, patience, compassion.

These three are your greatest treasures.

Simple in actions and thoughts, 

you return to the source of your being.

Patient with both friends and enemies,

you accord with the way things are.

Compassionate toward yourself,

you reconcile all beings in the world.

~Lao Tzu

Tao Te Ching

At the center of your being

you have the answer;

you know who you are

and what you want.

~Lao Tzu

Being deeply loved by someone 

gives you strength,

while loving some deeply

gives you courage.

~Lao Tzu

Being content with what you have;

rejoice in the way things are.

When you realize there is nothing lacking,

the whole world belongs to you.

~Lao Tzu

 

When I let go of what I am,
I become what I might be.


~Lao Tzu

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.
Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow.
Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward
in whatever way they like.


~Lao Tzu

Stop thinking,

and end your problems.

~Lao Tzu

Nature does not hurry,

yet everything is accomplished.

~Lao Tzu

My sister and Ben, taking it all in.

My favorite view of the garden ...

 

Be care ful what you water your dreams with.

Water them with worry and fear 

and you will produce weeds 

that choke the life from your dream. 

Water them with optimism and solutions 

and you will cultivate success. 

Always be on the lookout 

for ways to turn a problem 

into an opportunity for success.

Always be on the lookout 

for ways to nurture your dream.

~Lao Tzu

I read this morning that around 3,000 people, in Italy, are out of their homes now, from the earthquake. Please keep those in Northern Italy in your thoughts and prayers.

Blessings and light!

All quotes found on goodreads.com

Happy Mother's Day!!!

"I have the prettiest mommy and she has the prettiest voice in the whole world," I bragged in kindergarden ... and first grade ... and second grade. I must have been very annoying to the other kids. It's a wonder I made any friends. The thing is ... It was true. :)

I knew how lucky I was, even then. But, even more so now, now that I can appreciate more than the just the beautiful lullabies (she won best soloist at the Hollywood Bowl Battle of the Bands when she was 20) and having a really pretty mom. 

I won't make a long list (I could, but that might get annoying ;) but I will say, that I could not have done better in this life, in the mom department. I am so grateful for her boundless love and support.

God could not be everywhere and therefore

He made mothers.

~Jewish proverb

Mom holding me in the car, getting ready to take me home from the hospital.

Bakersfield 1968

Mom with Penny (in pink) and me (bald) in a field in Alaska, 1969

You too, my mother, read my rhymes

For love of unforgotten times,

And you may chance to hear once more

The little feet along the floor.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

In Hawaii with my sister Penny and me

Mom, Penny and I in Tahiti 1992

Grandma "Kiki" with baby Benjamin (my nephew) 2005

Mom and I, Lake Como 2008

When I stopped seeing my mother with the eyes of a child,

I saw the woman who helped me give birth to myself.

~Nancy Friday


Happy Mother's Day!!!