Discovering Beauty in Everyday Life

What happens when the singing brook slows to an alto winter, When fall dips into the frozen places? How do I fill the space between those temporary satisfactions, Those amorous sauces, dripping from fragrant cedars? How do I keep old reeking thoughts from sneaking into the intervals? Do not think back to the bygone days of ho ho ho’s and turkeys, Do not go charging in between the status and the quid pro quos, Do not be trapped in that gnarled landscape, Bitten away from the valves of life, Take care! When life is sailing along in the straits, When the winds sing out through the rigging, When honey flows into the pantry loaves, When today’s new ghosts haunt up the holds, When the day is alive for the living, Abandon your cares to the wind and the fates, Abandon the helm to the life it creates, Take care! William Glackens, American, 1870-1938, wash and graphite on paper:Fleet of Transports just before the start, Tampa Bay, June 13 1898--Prints and Photographs

Yes!  Look at that nice empty space.....but, I mean, What happened to the Shed? Wasn't there a Shed down there? Here, shed, shed, shed Ahhhhhh. Smell that new cut wood! Mmmmmmm

Excited and happy workers planning reconstruction of small shed. Workers Looking Forward Busy workers happily begin reconstructing Happy Workers Reconstructing Ladder-sitting reconstructor finishing up Happy Worker Finishing Up Workers contemplating small shed reconstruction results Workers Contemplating

Bursting with hope of a new life to come paltry  under-nourished  single-blossom twiggy  green  stick of a plant staked out a plot in the center of things. Catching fire in that messy dirt Growing into the waiting days Sticking to it. Small flowers stick to it

Well, actually this particular Jamaican/Guyanese dancing girl is from  New Jersey...

Wow! Uncovring the bowns of a brownstone is quite a dig! Traces of 1901 architeture mix with the afternoon sun. Top Floor Monroe Street brownstone Renovation

Keeping your distance, safely Resisting that magnetic hold the  unmistakable unrelenting  tug Fleeing in circles

Ladies and gentlemen, Surely you have been watching our recent Public Video series on the New Black Holes. These Holes, as you will recall if you have been tuned in, have been put in place here on Earth by unknown Entities, and for unknown but apparently sinister purposes. The amazingly innocent appearing Windmill below is actually harboring a New Black Hole! Firstly, this New Black Hole is square! We all know (look inside yourself) that ordinary Black Holes are not square but globular. Secondly, it is disguised as an ordinary Information Booth, but of course there is no Information, there is only a New Black Hole! Thirdly, it is waving an American Flag as a decoy. How tacky is that? Finally, notice the waiting padlock....as if a New Black Hole needed a lock! Nobody, repeat, not a single Body, has ever been seen emerging from a New Black Hole. Moments after snapping this photograph shown below, we were called away on another Critical Mission; we cannot report on the outco

Of course I didn’t see you coming, Or I would have dodged that silken bullet hollowing through my cemented door. I’d be huddled down inside my barrow, Tossing the apple away with the core.

Arriving at LaGuardia under an August full moon There's just something about bridges at night! Bridges over Manhattan

Lights pushing, inching closer Magnetized in the falling rain From a Brooklyn to Manhattan Bridge, early summer

Sink down inside the hidden places, wait next to the heart of the matter, sense the sharded rainbow nesting there

I didn’t know about the mended life I did not expect the quiet I did not anticipate the candle life     Soft surrounding flame     Holding onto an orange-hot tip     Black wick I did not expect a rainbow life     Colors melting towards each other     Spring rain passing     New wet leaves Still I know that raging, jealous, microsecond fire     Brassy, logo-driven, neon     Staked to the charred past     Mind igniting Rescued again by the river of time Tossed back into the candle-dappled day I sink into the moment like a stone.

 Ounce is playing in his favorite water bowl of all time, the Secret Garden Burnett fountain. Granted, sometimes Ounce travels near to large bodies of water, but really the preference is for small, contained spaces with a few close friends. Despite an argument now and then (especially with larger birds: Ounce is a little Alpha), Ounce loves having friends over.

One day I chanced to see a blossom the way it was to a bee, and the way it was to a butterfly, who fluttered over by and by. A lady bug climbed a nearby sprout to see what all the fuss was about. Well, "beauty is as beauty does", and the reason it does is Just Because! Summer Solstice Cresone Flower--Photo byLarry C.

AH HH H hh hh hh h h... The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and wither it goeth: So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. John 3:8 --

Hot, muggy; it’s LA in the dusty days Freeways everywhere Down to La Jolla or is It Balboa? White wood, planked piers, neat. A beachy salt water breeze at last Salt water smells overshadow the fish- Looking down through an unseen world under its blue-green cover. A Glass bottom life. Where was today during all those years? Where was now back then? 50's Reprise; Coney Island 2014

Why am I stuck on the brink again? Can you explain this to me? I go to my yoga and practice my zen, I juice! I reduce! I swallow green tea! Where are the screams and the AHHHHs and the OHHs, The ups and the downs; what happened to those? Ok Ok. I'll just Take One More Ride !!

Young Photographer, who thinks she is photographing a friend, is actually completing a color-coordinated summer pagent. Sometimes it takes our Master Painter many hours and even days in preparation for such a display. Reflections in Red

Gone are the days when I would lament About this, about that, about where the days went, These days, I know what to do with my time, I relax, I sit back, and I think up a rhyme! Rhyming Leaves Outside 138 E. 94th Street

Elegant lady sips from a Coconut in Bedford Stuyvesant MISSION for the DAY 1.  Walk casually around, as you usually do. 2.  Stop in front of an environment that is unusual for you.      (This could be an alien shop or  peculiar tree ((to you)), or simply the contents of a coffee shop or an elevator.) 3.  You guessed! Fit In!   Become a part of the environment.  How do you think?  Walk? Sound? How is your posture?  4.  Take mental photo, or better yet an actual one to include in a text to somebody.

One sky looking down with clouds missing, Spirit winds blowing in the empty spaces, No hiding behind, no holding back, no letting be. Listening for old sounds in the waters, barely hearing the here and now, Cutting away at the stains of memory. Mama Nyaah * https://www.eventbrite.com/e/24th-annual-tribute-to-the-ancestors-of-the-middle-passage-tickets-6484813251

These photos are of the ground floor of a 1899 Brownstone. The room pictured is the former ground floor kitchen. The beams holding up the place have been replaced. The second photo is of the old beams. Notice one is completely rotted through, and others are close behind! (What fun...) First Floor Back--New beams First Floor Back--Old Beams Brooklyn Brownstone --Old Pipes Relocated.

This dog walker could not possibly be ignoring beauty in order to stare at a barely decipherable iPhone screen.  No, even his dog is fully aware.  Therefore, our Insightful Photographer has concluded that this individual dog walker is actually capturing a selfie with the beautiful tree in order to highlight not only the synchronicity of co-location, but also the inherent one-ness of all. Fortunately, the canine remains super-aware of a more tangible reality. phone-gazing dog walker Mission for the Day, 1. Find a beautiful element in your nearby environment. 2. Capture yourself near the element 3. Imagine what it would be like to share some of the elemental essence. 4. Report back to headquarters; send a photo.

All of a sudden, it is summer! Early Rose on Monroe Street, Brooklyn

This Blessing Rainbow has momentarily stopped to rest in the fountain mists of the Conservancy Italian Garden. Notice the collection of Innocent  Bystanders-- or bysitters, if you will --totally unaware of their blessings!  They are being showered with rainbow spirit-blessings that will  travel with them forever, as they make their way along their worldly paths. Mystical Blessing Rainbow Watching Over Resting Cyclist Blessing Rainbow Creating Happiness in Fountain Sitters Mission for the Day (note: this mission may take a little longer than a day, since sometimes it's not that easy to find the proper spot where a Blessing Rainbow is staying) Go outside when the sun is up and shining. Locate a source of running or spraying water. You may locate sprinklers, fountains, (include drinking fountains), droplets on the edge of a leaf.... Position yourself between the water and the sun. You may have to move near, back up, go slightly left or right. When you ca

It was nearby summer when we set up camp that day near the old mountain cabin with the rusted out sink and the butter churning It was just past dandelion season with the butterflies streaming in the sun Funny how the times slip under each other in a morning full of wishes. A Field of Wishes in the Secret Garden, Central Park - Late May

Lights driven into blurry splashes by the blotchy rain Car parked against the bushes on the beach road edge An old abandoned mailbox. Quiet now! Pushing through the bushes Hand snagged by a cat-like thorn. Surf reaching up, bubbles latching into the sand Swish-- ssssssssssss. swishsh--ssssssssssss Take the shortcut down. Alone - black water - barefeet Broken glass hidden in the clam shells. Grey dune house with wooden stairs Feel him watching - yellow smoke - ashy cigarette Examine an indentation in the sand Pretend it’s only a happenstance occasion Oh! Hello, I didn’t see you coming down the wooden stairs Or maybe, Ah! I thought that might be you Or, Oops! I lost a lot of somethings earlier along this stretch. Can you carry me back to a brand new safe-mode start?

Ladies and Gentlemen!!!  Announcing, Announcing! There appears to be a serious Shark Threat near Cubicle 2278! Our security cameras seem to be focusing onto the almost-always-invisible Office Shark! As we all know, only when Shark is severely hungry, lonely or anxious for a victim does it become at all visible. Nevertheless, Shark appears to be resting quietly in the hall. ...Uh oh...Quiet now, don't make even a simple electronic sound. Leave all bits alone! Wait! What's going on here? Shark is sniffing at the cubicles. Oh My Gosh! Thank goodness we empty the building at 10:00 o'clock.  What??? The Office Empty Checker is ill? Oh my Heavens! Shark has figured out how to open the cubicle door. That's impossible! Aren't they all locked for the night? I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME. SO THE CHECKER IS ILL! IS THAT AN EXCUSE OR WHAT? Stay Calm everybody.  It looks as though there is nobody in the cubicle,  Oh thank you, Spirit Winds, the office is

BEFORE AFTER

Amazing. We almost didn't recognize Robino. It was a difficult trip this winter, and a long, long winter to boot. Poor Robino! I know there was a lot of girth that wasn't totally accountable from feathers, but this slim, happy Robino. Well! What a nice surprise! Robino surveying his old territory near the Metropolitan Museum in Central Park

Very Fresh Coconut Water Mama Nyaah's herbal Formulas

Spring in New York is the most beautiful time! These beautiful blossoms are from the original Yoshino Cherry trees, a gift from Japan in 1912.+ http://www.efcg.com/centralpk.html

Brooklyn : Stage 1: acquire 1 three story house.... Larry C., Linda J.C., James A. Observing Vibes Stairway Welcome to Brooklyn!

Clickity klack, klickity clop, no wait. Clippity clop clippity clop. Oh, who cares? When was the last time you saw a horse clippity-ing anywhere anyway? I mean, I am spending hours in online furniture stores searching for a klik klak ratchet couch for my office. Why is this hard? Why am I doing it anyway? It’s time for a piece of chocolate while contemplating spring shadows across the Harlem Meer. Ahhhhh. That’s better. Spring Shadows Across the Harlem Meer Pathway

Elegant upper East Side Travelers  Enjoy Whipped Cream and Espresso at Café Sabarsky - Neue Galerie Neue Museum, Fifth Avenue and 86th Street, Manhattan

Tree limb bending in the morning, Winter grasses stiff and waiting, cold, ice-flow afternoon. Or maybe it’s a new day dawning as they do, sucking chi up into the core of the bones. I was a cut out,  filled with stuffing, a matched up crazy quilted scarecrow living a see-through life. So, I grab a 10 pound pack and a forty dollar bike and head off towards the Adriatic. Hills of scrunched-up fruit trees in pink and white, so happy you can taste the almond blossoms. Stradas Provinciales tunneled with poplars. There's a cotton-candy Ferris Wheel the first night out, a calliope singing Verdi in the popcorn wings. And it wasn’t that long ago either.

There’s nothing to it, actually. One simply hangs around a few different time zones, and all things even out. From the Airport Train Just South of Santa Fe

Amazing!!!  For many, many years, the Authorities have been searching in vain for this unidentified Urban Volunteer.  She is wanted in several cities across the Northeast for unauthorized vigilante feeding of native Flora and an occasional Fauna.  Notice the furtive posture and the heavy dark glasses-- both known markers of an Urban Vigilante Volunteer.    Although --call her Madam UVV-- has attempted at the last moment to hide behind a branchlet, it isn't a really successful choice. I hesitate to publish this photo, But it is clearly in our best interests to allow these Urban Vigilante Volunteers to retain their freedom.  After all, somebody has to see that the appropriate things are getting done.  Therefore, be on the lookout.  If you chance upon Madam UVV or another Vigilante Volunteer, please provide them a quiet, unobtrusive warning. Urban Vigilante Volunteer --incognito

Stalking the waters of life, I tromped across the sea grass. Stickers everywhere! Foot by foot, squishing indentations into the wet sea-weeded sand. My soul is hurting for a kindred spirit, I am seeking for a shimmer through my heart, I am seeking an annuity of memories, I am catching at life with a pole and a lure. How do I trust these flutter things? this glimpse without a substance, these unborn wishes riding in, pulsing, panting, pulling at the reins. And there it is! The surf at last, pounding, pushing into the grass-riddled dunes. From the Southern Pump Station Block House, Central Park Reservoir ps: MISSION FOR THE DAY: SEARCH UP AND DOWN FOR AN ICE-FLOW (Iced over puddles count!) DISCOVER WHETHER OR NOT IT IS SUPPORTING ANY WILDLIFE (flora or fauna) IF SO, PONDER THE MATTER FOR AWHILE IF NOT, WELL, ADD SOMETHING! (a leaf, a stem, a pebble, a small pet). Finally, REPORT BACK TO HEADQUARTERS.