in Bath
“What attracts me … is that it’s not ‘about’ something …- it just IS something.” (Laura Hoptman, Art in America, 1/2019). I’m walking back from the dog park. Only a salt marsh sits between me and this massive object that reverberates with the clang-clang of iron moved from place to place. Bath Iron Works. Huge. […]
here and there
I’ve looked out my window for years now and seen lake and mountains. In a month, I’ll look out of the window of another house and see woods. Lovely open Maine woods. I’m not moving per se. This house will be home. And, well, that house will be home as well, I hope. I’ve bought […]
tides
my horses hiding the thunderstorm Years ago, I was having a tough time at one point. Really tough. So much so that I couldn’t make sense of what was going on. It’s times like that – midst confusion and darkness – that truth stands out like a shaft of light. So, I vividly recall my […]
what I see
I’m reading this wildly interesting book on Alexander Humboldt (by Andrea Wulf) who was one of the first environmentalists. I’m early in the book and, although he’s German, he’s finally gotten funding from the Spanish king to explore the New World – this is around the time of the Napoleonic wars. He is so excited […]
owning
At this time of year, I tell my daughter, you feel as if you own the lake. It feels like it’s just us, no one else around. And – well, here she is with a friend in the kayaks. At sunset. With Peaches watching. I love that feeling. “Owning” a space. Like its yours. Or […]
keystone
So in my latest best-loved book, The Invention of Nature, von Humboldt is struggling across an endless grass landscape in South America when he encounters an occasional palm tree. It was his appreciation for the palm tree in that setting that led to his idea of a keystone species. The fact that one plant could help […]
of course
thunderstorm coming Yes, I forgot. I forgot to name many who dropped by, jumped in, laid back, enjoyed the lake. All of whom I thoroughly enjoyed: Those wild adventurers, Oren (NYC/Texas), and David, the musician, who joined Samsun on days of 12 miles per day hikes of vertical NH mountains. There was Clarissa who crossed […]
worlds
starting in on “dark hearts” It’s September. It’s after Labor Day. The BIG SUMMER has ended. I thought to myself: “Now I can re-enter my internet world”. As if it was a world of its own. No. The internet is worlds. And this summer, what I interacted with were other worlds: There was the world […]
more stuff on seeing
I was intrigued by a passage in Gombrich’s book in which he was writing about seeing. He mentioned that a person who gains sight later in life has to learn to see. But even those of us who can see are sometimes surprised and confused: a piece of paper in motion can at first appear […]
problems to solve
This summer I’ve been slowly digesting Gombrich’s The Story of Art. I had my fair share of art history in the classroom. But even the most inspired teachers had not got me as excited to the extent this book has (to my surprise, I admit.) What I find so compelling about this telling of art […]
