BirchLane.net
July 2007
Tuesday 31
Rothko
"One morning in the spring of
1970, I went into the Tate Gallery
and took a wrong, right turn and
there they were, lying in wait. No
it wasn't love at first site. Rothko
had insisted that the lighting be
kept almost pretentiously low. It
was like going into the cinema,
expectation in the dimness.
Something in there was throbbing
steadily, pulsing like the inside of
a body part, all crimson and purple.
I felt I was being pulled through
those black lines to some mysterious
place in the universe.
Rothko said his paintings begin an
unknown adventure into an unknown
space. I wasn't sure where that was
and whether I wanted to go. I only
know I had no choice and that the
destination might not exactly be a
picnic, but I got it all wrong that
morning in 1970. I thought a visit
to the Seagram Paintings would be
like a trip to the cemetery of
abstraction - all dutiful reverence,
a dead end.
Everything Rothko did to these
paintings - the column-like forms
suggested rather than drawn and the
loose stainings - were all meant to
make the surface ambiguous, porous,
perhaps softly penetrable. A space
that might be where we came from or
where we will end up.
They're not meant to keep us out,
but to embrace us; from an artist
whose highest compliment was to call
you a human being."
|
|
Monday 30
Sunday 29
The Only Sound I hear is The Voice of
Daryl Calling His Name.
Saturday 28
Friday 27
To Your Left. I did not hear him
coming. And then; "On you left," he said. "Thank you," I said.
"Don't worry," the old man on the bike said. "I'm going so slow
I couldn't hurt anyone."
Thursday 26
Prayer.
Wednesday 25
Voice, Words, and Images. Was it a
vow of silence? No words.
Tuesday 24
Heavenly Light. I sold a print of
the image pictured below. I saw the print today.
Sky Lake Studios
printed it. The image required a great deal of work and I was
quite moved when I saw the 16 x 20 print. I called it "Heavenly
Light."
“I think that the world desires
to be beautiful. I have found
that beauty in mathematics. I
have found it in the hunting
behavior of wolves, and the way
men and women touch each other.
I think the world’s keenest
desire is for beauty, and that
our knowledge of how to achieve
that is the various forms of
behavior and expression that we
apply a single word to, which is
love.” ~Barry
Lopez
|
A poem below I read today--and re-read (found
at Sexuality in Art):
“My Aunt Raises Violets from
Africa”
- by Janice Moore Fuller ,
from her book of poems
Sex Education.
All those loose threads
from her sewing, trailing
off bobbins toward Chattanooga,
Nashville, Myrtle Beach, Niagara
Falls. She snapped them at the
hem
with her teeth, those worn
hitching posts.
She never learned to drive.
Didn’t leave Grandma’s
yard for thirty years.
Her Singer just hummed.
She never stopped wearing
that engagement ring he gave her
at twenty,
measuring time by how deep
it sank into her finger
even after he died, still her
fiancé,
an old man living with his
mother.
We only whispered his name.
At night, after the Bible
verses,
she’d coat herself with vapor
rub,
thick and Vicks blue,
then dial up the DJ
who knew her voice,
yearning for the smooth of
Englebert
soothing her into bed
back to back with Grandma.
When I spent the night,
we’d tend the violets
lined like bassinets
along the north:
double lavenders, crystal
stars, angel blues, pink
persuasion. So careful.
We never touched their velvet
not even the undersides.
We just turned them each day,
their faces straining
toward the sun.
© All rights reserved by
Janice Moore Fuller.
http://faculty.catawba.edu/janicefuller/
|
Monday 23
Sunday 22
Lazy Day.
Saturday 21
Lazy Day.
Friday 20
Meet Your Neighbors. There was a
party tonight on the floor in the building where I live.
See some
photographs from the party here:
July 20
In tribulation, immediately draw near to God with
confidence, and you will receive strength,
enlightenment, and instruction.
– Saint John of the Cross
I confess that I have always been sensitive to pain. When I was a
little boy, I hurt my leg playing soccer. It became
infected, so my granny took me to our doctor. He
washed the wound as gently as he could while I
winced. Then he told me apologetically, “I’m going
to have to apply tincture of iodine.”
Now, I had heard many stories about how much it
hurt to have iodine applied to a wound. So I closed
my eyes. I felt the doctor’s touch on my leg, and
then a wave of pain across the wound. I think my
yell must have lifted the roof.
Then I noticed the pain had subsided, so I opened
my eyes. “Is it over?” I asked. The doctor looked at
me with compassion and said, “I haven’t even applied
the iodine yet.”
Often it is fear of pain, and the resistance to
pain, that makes pain hard to bear. When fear goes,
suffering becomes manageable; and the mantram is the
best thing I know for banishing fear. Whether it is
a headache, a stomachache, or serious injury, the
mantram always helps.
~Eknath
Easwaran |
Thursday 19
Summer Weather and Summer Food.
Late afternoon looking out my window.
Summer Express: 101 Simple
Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or
Less
Published: July 18, 2007
The New York Times
The pleasures of cooking are
sometimes obscured by summer
haze and heat, which can
cause many of us to turn
instead to bad restaurants
and worse takeout. But the
cook with a little bit of
experience has a wealth of
quick and easy alternatives
at hand. The trouble is that
when it’s too hot, even the
most resourceful cook has a
hard time remembering all
the options. So here are 101
substantial main courses,
all of which get you in and
out of the kitchen in 10
minutes or less. (I’m not
counting the time it takes
to bring water to a boil,
but you can stay out of the
kitchen for that.) These
suggestions are not formal
recipes; rather, they
provide a general outline.
With a little imagination
and some swift moves — and
maybe a salad and a loaf of
bread — you can turn any
dish on this list into a
meal that not only will be
better than takeout, but
won’t heat you out of the
house.
1
Make
six-minute
eggs:
simmer
gently,
run
under
cold
water
until
cool,
then
peel.
Serve
over
steamed
asparagus.
2
Toss
a
cup
of
chopped
mixed
herbs
with
a
few
tablespoons
of
olive
oil
in a
hot
pan.
Serve
over
angel-hair
pasta,
diluting
the
sauce
if
necessary
with
pasta
cooking
water.
3
Cut
eight
sea
scallops
into
four
horizontal
slices
each.
Arrange
on
plates.
Sprinkle
with
lime
juice,
salt
and
crushed
chilies;
serve
after
five
minutes.
4
Open
a
can
of
white
beans
and
combine
with
olive
oil,
salt,
small
or
chopped
shrimp,
minced
garlic
and
thyme
leaves
in a
pan.
Cook,
stirring,
until
the
shrimp
are
done;
garnish
with
more
olive
oil.
5
Put
three
pounds
of
washed
mussels
in a
pot
with
half
a
cup
of
white
wine,
garlic
cloves,
basil
leaves
and
chopped
tomatoes.
Steam
until
mussels
open.
Serve
with
bread.
6
Heat
a
quarter-inch
of
olive
oil
in a
skillet.
Dredge
flounder
or
sole
fillets
in
flour
and
fry
until
crisp,
about
two
minutes
a
side.
Serve
on
sliced
bread
with
tartar
sauce.
7
Make
pesto:
put
a
couple
of
cups
of
basil
leaves,
a
garlic
clove,
salt,
pepper
and
olive
oil
as
necessary
in a
blender
(walnuts
and
Parmesan
are
optional).
Serve
over
pasta
(dilute
with
oil
or
water
as
necessary)
or
grilled
fish
or
meat.
All 101 Simple
Meals here: |
Wednesday 18
Raining and Tim's Going
Away Party.
- Photo from last July re-edited.
- Tim's party invitation read
5:30--7:00 (No Cameras--for your protection).
- I thought it might be too late to go
but figured "It IS a party."
- It was at
Mama
Iguanas in Northampton.
- I went but it took me 20 minutes to
find a parking space.
- "Where's Susan?" "I don't know. What are ya gonna do?"
- I arrived a few minutes too late to
see Tim eating a scorpion.
- I arrived too late for the food.
- The free margaritas were very strong.
- People were "happy."
- I saw many friends; Chris and
Rosemary, Will and Paula, Rob and Sue, Andy and Amy.
- Rhea was our waitress.
- I left my car lights on and I had to
call AAA.
Tuesday 17
Salisbury Steak. I made Salisbury
Steak for dinner. It was quite good.
Monday 16
I Heard The Songbirds Singing.
Susan sat on the futon. She read The New York Times. I was in
the kitchen. I heard the songbirds singing. I was making chicken
cutlets in a white wine, lime and mushroom sauce when I heard
the songbirds singing. Susan did not hear the songbirds singing.
That prayer has great power which a person makes
with all his might. It makes a sour heart sweet, a
sad heart merry, a poor heart rich, a foolish heart
wise, a timid heart brave, a sick heart well, a
blind heart full of sight, a cold heart ardent. It
draws down the great God into the little heart; it
drives the hungry soul up into the fullness of God;
it brings together two lovers, God and the soul, in
a wondrous place where they speak much of love.
– Mechthild of Magdeburg
There is nothing on earth like meditation. Each day it is new to me and
fresh. I find it difficult to understand why
everyone does not take to it. Millions dedicate
their lives to art, music, literature, or science,
which reveal just one facet of the priceless jewel
hidden in the world. A life based on meditation
penetrates far beyond the multiplicity of existence
into the indivisible realm of reality, where dwell
infinite truth, joy, and beauty.
In meditation I see a clear, changeless goal far
above the fever and fret of the day. This inner
vision fills me with unshakable security, inspires
me with wisdom beyond the reach of the intellect,
and releases within me the capacity to act calmly
and compassionately.
~Eknath
Easwaran |
Sunday 15
Saturday 14
Errands.
Friday 13
The Bertha Day Birthday. Because it
is Friday July 13:
| Old entry: Daryl turned 12 today. The sun was
orange behind a steel gray sky for days and days in
July twelve years ago. It was hot and humid and all
our neighbors complained about the summer heat. My
friend (my only friend now from Ramsey High School),
Bob Lewis, and his ex-wife, Shari, and their
daughter, Halley, were here from California waiting
in our driveway when we came home with Daryl from
the hospital. I remember watching Bergman's "The
Magic Flute" with them that first night and later
out our picture windows a thunder and lightening
storm. But one of the birthdays I remember most was
Daryl's "Bertha Day." I guess that was three or
four, maybe five, years ago. All of us who live at 8
Birch Lane said throughout the day, "it's Daryl's
Bertha Day." What with Hurricane Bertha barreling up
the east coast and heaving heaves of rain upon us,
so much so a crack opened in the basement
foundation and through it water started to seep,
then gurgle, the gush out and on to the basement
floor (thank God this was pre-pool table days); this
one hour before 8 boys and 2 girls descended upon
the house for Daryl's Bertha Day Party. It was a
"backwards" theme and consequently one of our
neighbors, Geri, read the invitation wrong thinking
it was from 4-6 when actually it was from 2 to 4;
Michael, Daryl's best friend, fortunately arrived
only 20 minutes late. Daryl was up early that
morning, of course, counting down the hours, and
later in the day, the minutes (Danielle occasionally
counting with him) to his Backwards Bertha Day
Party. I had wished I could stop time then; so
happy, so innocent, so filled with life, love--a
love of life. After the discovery of the new stream
in our basement I grabbed a hammer, some nails, a
tarp, and ran outside into the wind and pouring rain
and tried to construct a tarp lean-to, one side
nailed to the house below the living room picture
windows (completely destroying our flower garden)
and the other side angled down and over the garden.
The other memory; cake, lots of cake stepped on and
squished into and between the pine flooring in the
dining room and kitchen and all about the front
screened-in porch. |
Years later:
Yesterday Daryl and Kyle played golf at
Baywood Greens.
And this I want to meditate upon:
Love is inseparable from knowledge.
– Saint Macarius of Egypt
When selfish desire is removed from a relationship, there is no
hankering to get anything from the other person. We
are free to give, which means we are free to love.
Then we can give and support and strengthen without
reservation.
Interestingly enough, it is only then that we
really see each other clearly. The infatuated mind
cannot help caricaturing: it sees only what it
wants; then, when the desire passes, it sees only
what it does not want. Two people who are really in
love do not close their eyes to each other’s
weaknesses. They support each other in overcoming
those weaknesses, so that each helps the other to
grow.
~Eknath
Easwaran |
Walking I saw this:
Thursday 12
Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened,
but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own
private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.
~Robert Louis Stevenson |
Wednesday 11
Tuesday 10
Pictures From My Exhibition.
Read the press release:
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AROUND THE VALLEY AND
DOWN AT THE LOWER MILL POND
Photographs by Bruce Barone and Victor Hoyt
The Apollo Grill (Eastworks, 116 Pleasant Street,
Easthampton, MA)
This series of images is the creative work of two
photographers--BRUCE BARONE and VICTOR HOYT; each
with a unique approach to their craft.
Bruce Barone's art is contemplative. He seeks the
common thread that runs through the season. It is
how a place changes, yet remains the same, that
gives his work power. In this series of images of
The Lower Mill Pond, you will find this subtle
thread in the old posts, the distant mountains, and
curve of the shoreline. You will also see the hand
of time as it paints new faces of the scene. This is
the anchor of the show; the theme that binds it
together.
Victor Hoyt has a less thematic style. He is
interested in fleeting moments. The way the sun
casts a shadow across a railing, or a damsel fly
pauses on a flower bud. Once seen, these moments
become memory, fading briefly to be replaced by
another and another. The photographs provide a
counterpoint to The Lower Mill Pond. They give the
viewer a window into some of the beautiful places
that surround our little community.
These are the two things that nature photography does
particularly well: as realistically as possible
photography allows us to relive or remember things
we have seen through another's eyes. We may not have
been to the exact spot, but we've seen something
like it. We both recognize that fleeting moment and
we remember what it was like to live through the
long seasons. The photographer captures the scene in
ways that catch the viewer's eye, yet there remains
something to be discovered, unearthed.
July 12--August 31. Tuesday--Saturday, 11:30--9:30.
Contact: Studio 19 at 413-527-8048 |
Monday 09
Rembrandt. I am reading a book
about Rembrandt.
Sunday 08
Silence. (cage, quotes, silence,
meditation, words)
|
“Some artists speak in images &
sounds when they can’t find the words.
Others employ images & sounds to do more
than words.” O'Keefe |
Saturday 07
Graves Farm.
Friday 06
Chloe and John.
Thursday 05
The Apollo Show.
Wednesday 04
July 4th.
Tuesday 03
Monday 02
Advertisment.
The Apollo
Grill.
Country Road. The Oxbow. Northampton, Massachusetts.
Take to the highway won’t
you lend me your name
Your way and my way seem to be one and the same
Mamma don’t understand it
She wants to know where I’ve been
I’d have to be some kind of natural born fool
To want to pass that way again
But I could feel it
On a country road
Sail on home to Jesus won’t you good girls and boys
I’m all in pieces, you can have your own choice
But I can hear a heavenly band full of angels
And they’re coming to set me free
I don’t know nothing ’bout the why or when
But I can tell that it’s bound to be
Because I could feel it, child, yeah
On a country road
I guess my feet know where they want me to go
Walking on a country road
Take to the highway won’t you lend me your name
Your way and my way seem to be one and the same, child
Mamma don’t understand it
She wants to know where I’ve been
I’d have to be some kind of natural born fool
To want to pass that way again
But I could feel it
On a country road
Walk on down, walk on down, walk on down
Walk on down, walk on down a country road
Country road
Walking on a country road
~James Taylor
Sunday 01
