Seeds of Wonder

It's that time of year again...

Time to free the morning glory seeds from their dried and wintered pods.

I think this one is a purple one, second favorite only to the Heavenly Blue variety.

I'm going to plant them e v e r y w h e r e!

Passing Over into Spring

I was walking around the yard, 'our' woods, and happened to look down, and over to under, an ancient juniper tree, at something turquoise and quite luminescent, and here it is just as I found it, a perfect robin's egg.

Quite magnificent it was. It seems now, still at the tail end of a long winter, to be a beautiful symbol for spring, renewal, for Passover, and Easter. And bunnies. I have seen one patiently waiting for the grass to come alive again. And for robins. There are so many robins around here this year. I love the color of their breasts. The way they warble-chirp. Their plumpness, their friendliness. Their peppyness. And I love the way the female creates the most luscious and gorgeous-colored eggs.

I still have this one after almost two years. It may have been stolen by a crow, I don't know. But it is tucked away inside a dried coconut shell. Occasionally I take a peek at it, a treasure, a miracle of nature.

Invaders of the Heart

I stopped in last night at the dress rehearsal for Invader's of the Heart, Pomegranate Studio's 2010 showcase featuring the work of some talented belly dancers. Under the direction of Myra Krien (top), who also performs, these dancers are just beautifully clad (mostly) and amazing! The show is at the James A. Little Theatre in Santa Fe. Friday and Saturday, March 19th and 20th at 7:30 pm.

If you would like to see more of my photographs you can click here to be transported to my flickr page. Enjoy!

80 Years Ago Today

You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.

~Pablo Neruda

On this day in 1930 the news of the discovery of the planet Pluto was telegraphed to the Harvard College Observatory. He has since been demoted—in 2006—but it does not alter his power one little bit.

International Women's Day and The Power of Film

I'm thrilled for Kathryn Bigelow, the first female director to win an Academy Award (for "The Hurt Locker"). She's only one of five female directors in the Academy's 82-year his-story to be nominated. I love what she said last night during her acceptance speech: "I would not be standing here if it wasn't for Mark Boal, who risked his life for the words on the page and wrote such a courageous screenplay that I was fortunate to have an extraordinary cast bring that screenplay to life." One classy lady, especially to give credence and kudos to the screenwriter, which is not often the case. Jane Campion and Sofia Coppola have also been nominated for Best Director. A far cry from the early days of film, where the only role behind the scenes females once played were secretaries to the studio executives. Incidentally, these women edited all the films back then! Who had the power, eh?

I do find it interesting, though, what Tom Hanks said about the last time ten films were nominated in 1942 when "Casablanca" won: America was at war.

Photo of Kathryn Bigelow came from here.

I also loved the genius of "Avatar", and I agree with much of what the writer of this article from TIME has to say regarding why it didn't garner the expected BIG awards.

Actors Sam Worthington, left, and Zoe Saldana as Jake and Neytiri in Avatar

20th Century Fox / WETA / Reuters

The voters of the Academy and what and who they represent are perhaps not able to acknowledge a film like "Avatar" at this time. Nonetheless this film permeated the ethers of the planet, and no doubt beyond. It has left its mark imprinted upon our imaginations, and it has blazed a trail for others with a similar theme of BEAUTY, VISION and COMPASSION. Let us hope so. Film is such a powerful medium for inspiration and understanding, especially in this time of gargantuan global transition.

Synchronicity and Chopin

Happy 200th Birthday, Frederic! 200 and still sounding wonderful.

Frederic Chopin is 200 years old today. It's amazing to learn that he composed my favorite piano concerto when he was only 20 years old. It debuted in Warsaw in March of 1830, shortly before he left for Paris. You can hear the middle part of it here, the Romance or Larghetto. I hope to use this in a film one day. Here he is, the only known photo of him at age 39, just before he died of TB.

This piece was not, however, used in Impromptu, a fine historical romp in a French château which told of his relationship with the famed French writer, George Sand. I did some research on her as well...

I love that a French Baroness in the 19th century would divorce her Baron, wear trousers, then change her name to a man's so she could follow her passion of writing (often sensational romance) novels. My kinda girl.

As for the synchronicity...

I was walking last week, listening to some music, which got me thinking about the wonderful experience I'd had photographing sea horses last year. About how I wanted to re-edit the work and make a finer cut movie of it. I had just learned from my friend that at least one of these creatures had given birth to a whole new batch of sea horses. I saw the image of the one looking at me as I photographed him: a single blue eye staring through the glass.

Then an interesting thing happened. I got home and checked my email and saw a new post from Bird's Eye View. Strange, I hadn't posted anything new... I opened it, and lo and behold it was the one from last July about the sea horses.

I have no control over this at all :) I publish a post, and at a certain time the same evening, the post is forwarded to all my subscribers. Sometimes, for no apparent reason, a post is sent again at a much later date. It is a mystery. And this time, synchronicity.

Even though I cannot quite put it into words at present, I know the sea horse and Chopin are connected. Perhaps it is through the constellation of Pisces. But that is another story...