happy valentine’s day!

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Valentine’s Day!

A man had given all other bliss,
And all his worldly worth for this,
To waste his whole heart in one kiss
Upon her perfect lips.
~Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The Kiss ~ Francesco Hayez, 1859

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silent, and soft, and slow…descends the snow

Out of the bosom of the Air,
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent, and soft, and slow
Descends the snow.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Snow Scene at Utica ~ John Henry Twachtman, 1897-1899

Skofja Loka in the snow ~ Ivan Grohar, 1905

Snow and Mist ~ John Atkinson Grimshaw

Winter Landscape ~ Aleksey Savrasov, 1880-1890

Along the River, Winter ~ John Henry Twachtman, 1887-1888

View from the Window of Vincent’s Studio in Winter ~ Vincent van Gogh, 1883

Snow Effect at Veneux ~ Alfred Sisley

Snow Effect, Giverny ~ Claude Monet, 1892-1893

The Seine at Bennecourt, Winter ~ Claude Monet, 1893

Snow Effect: Winter in the Suburbs ~ Georges Seurat, 1882-1883

Winter in Yerevan ~ Martiros Saryan, 1933

The Village in Winter ~ Aleksey Savrasov, 1880-1890

Winter ~ Arkhip Kuindzhi, 1895

Snow at Louveciennes ~ Alfred Sisley, 1873

The Moret Bridge and Mills under Snow ~ Alfred Sisley, 1890

Study for the Banks of Marne in Winter ~ Camille Pissarro

Roofs under Snow ~ Gustave Caillebotte, 1878

Boulevard Haussmann in the Snow ~ Gustave Caillebotte, 1879-1881

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clouds

“O it is pleasant, with a heart at ease,
Just after sunset, or by moonlight skies,
To make the shifting clouds be what you please.”
~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

photography by danielle boudrot for a thoughtful eye

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life

“Everything here is alive thanks to the living of everything else.” ~ Lewis Thomas

Hiker, Oregon ~ Lisa Wu

Pink Orchid ~ Gunhild Andersen

Zebras, Botswana ~ Robert B. Haas

Dew on a Spider Web ~ Erika Skogg

Walruses, Svalbard ~ Paul Nicklen

Cottonweed ~ Laura Jean Peterman

Samburu Elephants, Kenya ~ Michael Nichols

Shrimp, Kingman Reef ~ Brian Skerry

African Buffalo, Uganda ~ Joel Sartore

Lizard, Cuba ~ Lee Daubney

Seal and Crab, Galapagos ~ Benjamin Jakabek

Oxpecker and Giraffe ~ Ben Bronselaer

Langurs, India ~ Stefano Unterthiner

Aspen Forest, Colorado ~ Ron Azevedo

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happy thanksgiving!

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Feast Day in Knokke ~ Camille Pissarro, 1891

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song

Song by Seamus Heaney

.

A rowan like a lipsticked girl.

Between the by-road and the main road

Alder trees at a wet and dripping distance

Stand off among the rushes.

.

There are the mud-flowers of a dialect

And the immortelles of perfect pitch

And that moment when the bird sings very close

To the music of what happens.

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the wild swans at coole

The Wild Swans at Coole by William Butler Yeats

The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty Swans.
The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.
I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.
Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.
But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?

photography by danielle boudrot for a thoughtful eye

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dog around the block

Wishing you a happy summer weekend!

DOG AROUND THE BLOCK by E.B. White, 1938

Dog around the block, sniff,

Hydrant sniffing, corner, grating,

Sniffing, always, starting forward,

Backward, dragging, sniffing backward,

Leash at taut, leash at dangle,

Leash in people’s feet entangle-

Sniffing dog, apprised of smellings,

Love of life, and fronts of dwellings,

Meeting enemies,

Loving old acquaintance, sniff,

Sniffing hydrant for reminders,

Leg against the wall, raise,

Leaving grating, corner greeting,

Chance for meeting, sniff, meeting,

Meeting, telling, news of smelling,

Nose to tail, tail to nose,

Rigid, careful, pose,

Liking, partly liking, hating,

Then another hydrant, grating,

Leash at taut, leash at dangle,

Tangle, sniff, untangle

Dog around the block, sniff.

photography by danielle boudrot

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summer wind

nothing compares the sight, scent, sound and feel of a summer wind…wishing you soft gentle breezes this weekend

July in VT ~ Wolf Kahn, 2012

Summer Wind by William Cullen Bryant

It is a sultry day; the sun has drunk
The dew that lay upon the morning grass;
There is no rustling in the lofty elm
That canopies my dwelling, and its shade
Scarce cools me. All is silent, save the faint
And interrupted murmur of the bee,
Settling on the sick flowers, and then again
Instantly on the wing. The plants around
Feel the too potent fervors: the tall maize
Rolls up its long green leaves; the clover droops
Its tender foliage, and declines its blooms.
But far in the fierce sunshine tower the hills,
With all their growth of woods, silent and stern,
As if the scorching heat and dazzling light
Were but an element they loved. Bright clouds,
Motionless pillars of the brazen heaven–
Their bases on the mountains–their white tops
Shining in the far ether–fire the air
With a reflected radiance, and make turn
The gazer’s eye away. For me, I lie
Languidly in the shade, where the thick turf,
Yet virgin from the kisses of the sun,
Retains some freshness, and I woo the wind
That still delays his coming. Why so slow,
Gentle and voluble spirit of the air?
Oh, come and breathe upon the fainting earth
Coolness and life! Is it that in his caves
He hears me? See, on yonder woody ridge,
The pine is bending his proud top, and now
Among the nearer groves, chestnut and oak
Are tossing their green boughs about. He comes;
Lo, where the grassy meadow runs in waves!
The deep distressful silence of the scene
Breaks up with mingling of unnumbered sounds
And universal motion. He is come,
Shaking a shower of blossoms from the shrubs,
And bearing on their fragrance; and he brings
Music of birds, and rustling of young boughs,
And sound of swaying branches, and the voice
Of distant waterfalls. All the green herbs
Are stirring in his breath; a thousand flowers,
By the road-side and the borders of the brook,
Nod gayly to each other; glossy leaves
Are twinkling in the sun, as if the dew
Were on them yet, and silver waters break
Into small waves and sparkle as he comes.

The Tall Poplar Trees II ~ Gustav Klimt, 1900

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summer sky

Wishing you a lovely summer weekend filled with expressive skies and soft breezes…

To see the Summer Sky

Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie -

True Poems flee.

~ Emily Dickinson

Summer ~ Aleksey Savrasov, (1830 – 1897)

Hot Summer Day ~ Fyodor Vasilyev, 1869

Summer Day ~ Johan Hendrik Weissenbruch, 1870 – 1903

A Summer Day ~ William Merritt Chase, 1895

Summer Day ~ Konstantin Makovsky, 1870

Cumulus ~ Fyodor Vasilyev, 1868-1871

View of Chalet de Chenes, Bellvue, Geneva ~ Camille Corot, 1857

Clouds above a calm sea ~ Ivan Aivazovsky, 1889

Shinnecock Hills ~ William Merritt Chase, 1895

Seascape with Large Sky ~ Eugene Boudin, 1860

Afternoon Sky, Harney Desert ~ Childe Hassam, 1908

The Summer, Poppy Field ~ Claude Monet, 1875

Wheatfield with Mountains in the Background ~ Vincent van Gogh, 1889

Summer landscape ~ Pablo Picasso, 1902

At the summer house in twilight ~ Issac Levitan, 1895

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