Sunday, October 26, 2008

regularily scheduled programming


will now resume...



flying east -- somewhere over the central u.s.



my sister and brother-in-law's house in the woods. i stayed not far from here in a little travel trailer that i made my own for three weeks. these are the blue ridge mountains... i grew up about two hours north of here and got a degree in forestry at Virginia Tech, about 45 minutes to the southwest. these mountains are in my bones.



i saw these signs a lot as we came and went. i wanted to photograph them every time...

our days were mostly filled with going places and doing things, most of which i did not document. on the whole i'm not a very good documenter -- things like road signs and magnolia seed pods grab my attention; family events somehow fly under my visual radar...



a magnolia seed pod... wow. they were about 3" - 4" long.



this is what they look like before they pop open. things like this amaze and intrigue me.



i did take pics of our canoe/kayak trip on the james river. this is my sister in her beloved kayak.



my brother steering and paddling our canoe. i sat up front, paddled half-heartedly, took pics whole-heartedly. as kids we grew up going on canoe trips in this canoe. where on earth did we all sit?



the beautiful james river.



treasures from the river -- sitting on top of cormac mccarthy's 'the road', which i read on the trip out.



my sister, carole, on the left, my brother, jeff, in the middle, and me. that's a restaurant in the background -- what?! you're going to ask the hostess to take our picture?!!



it was strange journaling at first -- where were the acrylics, beeswax, and drawers of ephemera?!! this is the first page in my new journal -- basically glued down stuff and words i'd just read. i think i felt like that little boy at the prospect of proceeding with only watercolors at hand!



after a few days i painted, but no words. i've thought about going back and filling in the pages, but nah. for me the idea behind journaling is that the pages reflect where i am at a given point in time in a way that only the nonlinear part of my brain can decipher.





more gluing down. i love the radically different page sizes, an idea i got from roxanne.



carole journals too... she painted this page one night in 'my' trailer. it's of my river treasures, a painting from a friend that i took along with me, and a necklace. i would never have taken on such an ambitious subject!



'my' table -- it looked like this unless i had to make room for carole to paint...



a rock (actually we're not sure what it is -- maybe the byproduct of a mining process?) that carole found in the james river and gave to me. somehow it seems the perfect way describe my trip and a fitting photo for the end of this post...

glad to have gone away, glad to be back. glad to be back where there's fast internet! i'd forgotten there are still places in the world without access to fast internet... the things that traveling teaches us!

29 comments:

  1. what a treat! - to find a new post from you! - I knew you were back because I saw your little bunny over at grrl's - it was hard going cold turkey without Lynn in the blogestphere that first week you were gone! - welcome home - you were missed and as to be expected, your first post out of the gate is fabulous - so much to take in - I love that you will leave your journal as is and just move forward - hope your trip home was everything you wanted it to be!

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  2. hey jeane! so good to 'see' you!! truly, makes me have a big smile!

    yeah, just move forward... gotta be the way...

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  3. I am so glad you are home. Your trip looked beautiful, so much nature, family and memories... Your photographs are wonderful, especially the table with your art supplies! And I love your paintings and the lake... I hope you will be at our gathering on Saturday... if you want to carpool or even spend the night that would be great... welcome home! Roxanne

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  4. Hello Lynne!

    This IIIS nice to wake up to. A whole story and what a nice one, too.

    That great house in the woods!
    The woods!

    Photographing things rather than events. I do that.

    The river. We must take care of nature, musn't we. Save energy!

    Your journals (I think I will give it a go).
    The non-linear workings of the brain are so much more fun that the other side. Oh so important and the true "life" to me.
    Have you ever heard about Byron Katie?

    It is nice that you are back!

    Jo

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  5. Welcome home Lynne, great your back!!! I hope you had a great trip away and look at these images...your sisters home in the woods is gorgeous!!!
    Love the family pic...it's nice to see you!!! and all the journaling you created whilst away!!!

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  6. wow - what a trip - thanks for sharing and good to have you back :o)

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  7. Hi Lynne! Welcome home, I really missed your smiling pictures and stories.
    You look like you had such a great time, and so nice to see you! Three weeks in the woods with your family, how lovely.
    Great pictures, I love your story too, what happy memories.
    Now, I know this will sound odd, but those road signs, there's one to Roanoke. I have a tea set made in Royal Worcester Porcelain, called Roanoke.It has a dainty floral pattern, wonder what the connection is?x

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  8. Welcome Back!
    I thought last night, i owe Lynne a note, and here you are! In an old country store (I am so surprised there is any internet there)...

    A degree in Forestry; i love that, and now i can see how comfortable you are in the woods; so knowledgable... you made a good choice.

    I know those signs, having driven 81 from the Carolina's up towards New England so many times, its a lovely hilly ride ... rather meditative for me... love that you don't document everything, just what your heart loves; that's really important, I always feel my camera is a part of me, and don't want some things inside it--

    etc, etc, so many memories in a canoe, love to glide, to paddle, to glide... Looks like a great spot.
    I might have to try a journal.... mine are full of words, words.. :)
    Thanks for sharing; glad you are back.

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  9. ps: remember those Indian drawings: who wrote those ? I was reading about Hope Indians, but I don't think these are the same... are they?

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  10. Hey Lynne!

    I'm glad you're back. YOu find the coolest loot! I'm going to revisit the mystery rock. I sort of scanned the blog entry and that's as good as I can do right now... but the color (if you haven't adjusted it) is typical of what you see when copper oxidation.

    I know zippo about the Blue Ridge mountains and may be making an absolute ass of myself by mentioning the possibility of copper. Please burst my bubble gently!

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  11. that would be either when copper oxidizes or with copper oxidation. Sheesh... I need more sleep.

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  12. I thought you were lost in the woods! So glad you're back and how wonderful to see your face. Gorgeous journal pages...as usual. Your art table is so inspiring! I love the house in the woods.

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  13. So good to see you back! Glad to see you had a great time but we all missed you.....

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  14. wow! thank you everyone! you've given me the nicest welcome back!! i've been sick almost since i got home and this morning felt almost worse than ever, so am just now turning on the computer (mid-afternoon). what a sweet, sweet surprise...

    hi roxanne! thank you for your nice words! i will e-mail you about saturday. i'm trusting that i will be feeling better SOON so i can begin to work on my art cards. i want to hang out with you guys and do some art!!!!

    hello jo, oh my goodness, yes to everything you said... about taking care of nature, photographing things rather than events, and the non-linear parts of our brain being the true life... yes, yes, and yes.

    i grew up with the picture taking of events and never liked it. i was surprised when i got a camera a couple of years ago and liked taking pictures so much because i really felt like i'd had enough of picture taking to last a lifetime while growing up! but yes, this is it, the photographing of things, fleeting occurrences that strike us just so... so much like the journal thing...

    yes, i am a big fan of byron katie... her work has been very influential in my life.

    hi jo, so great to see you too! i hope you had a great trip to thailand! i will be over at your place soon to wander around...

    hey kate -- thank you!! so good to be back and see you too... are you still busy? i will go to you place and see what's up.

    hello annette, i told my sister all about the wonderful things i'd learned about england since reading your blog! one day when we were at a restaurant where there was a wireless (and fast!) internet connection i even showed her your blog, the pictish carving on the stone, and some of the other carvings in churches and other places. yes, that all has impressed me so much!

    as for roanoke, well, my u.s. history is awful, but one of the first settlements of the english here was called roanoke colony. i think all of the people in it disappeared, but it makes me think that the word 'roanoke' must have its origin in england. so many of the place names in virginia are named after people and places in england -- the james river is named after king james, for instance. this is just fascinating to me now-a-days, but when i was growing up i couldn't have cared less about history!

    mansuetude, if i were as good with words as you are, i would fill journals with them too!!

    oh yes, isn't the ride up 81 a lovely hilly ride? maybe fewer trucks would be nice, but still so beautiful...

    yes, yes on the camera thing -- really, i am so glad to see support for my approach to picture taking. i would continue on in this vein without it, but it's nice to know that there are others who feel as i do. yes, only what our hearts love...

    paddle, glide, paddle, glide... that's exactly what we did. i love that about rivers... they will take you where you want to go even if you just sit there (okay so you have to steer... sheesh, could there be a more perfect metaphor for life?!)

    hey jan -- yes, i agree, copper oxidation -- i thought that, but is there copper in the blue ridge mountains? i found some small pieces of coal -- i don't suppose it could have anything to do with the coal mining process? yeah, the color is that blue - gorgeous. carole says that there's lots of it in the river. if you find out anything more, let me know -- i rely on you for geological/mineralogical information. : )

    hi robyn, yeah, carole's house is nice -- made of big, rectangular logs...

    boy, i'm feeling remiss for not writing shelley and telling her why i haven't been participating on the collage forum. i want to do that as soon as i feel better and have energy again. i got a bigger blank book to work in -- tore the collages out of my old book and stuck them in the new one. now i'm ready to proceed with new stuff...

    hey tony and lisa! thank you! so good to 'see' you! i must come over to your place and visit...

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  15. The first photograph of the clouds is beautiful, and I love the effect you added to it at the edges. Those are some pretty sick seed pods, and I can share with you the longing to photograph something that would seem so ordinary but catches your eye. Hope you had a good time!

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  16. well, the value of your words, you made me laugh so hard about the Sheesh, you have to steer the canoe, like life,,,, i am so happy... my chest won't sit still.

    I decided that I could try, maybe if you hold my hand, i could try to actually walk across the clouds in your top photo... :) so nice.

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  17. hey arnold! so great to see you here... thank you (as always) for your nice words. well, it seems there are lots of us who like to take pics of just what catches our eye and not your usual stuff -- hallelujah!!

    mansuetude, yeah, it affected me that way too... ACTually, i was thinking that you could just float along on the canoe, but there's no denying that you have to steer (quiet voice in my head reminding me of this). and then the... Sheesh!

    okay, let's just hold hands and walk across those clouds!

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  18. Glad to have you back blogging. I see you manage to find wonderful pieces of nature no matter where you are. And to be able to create wonderful journal pages no matter the technique!

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  19. Lynne
    Your long answer to everyone was such a pleasure to read!

    Get very well soon! It is as it is!

    Oh what a thrill to hear that Byron Katie is an influence. I should have known. She was to me in every way.

    And hello to everyone else here, your blogs and comments are adorable!

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  20. Welcome home... it is so nice to have you back.

    Sooo enjoyed this post and seeing your journalling, those fabulous treasures from the river, kayaking with your family and that wonderful house in the woods.

    I like how some pages have words and others the sketches/painting just say it all. Your colours and images are beautiful. (enjoyed the picture of your work table...I mean who needs to eat at the table?) I found my last trip I didnt journal much either. I am a bit of a collector I think!

    The heart shaped rock your sister gave you from the amazing James River is very special. What a lovely gift and memory of this trip.

    Loved the pic. of yourself with your brother and sister.

    Jacky xox

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  21. hey seth! so great to be back connecting with everyone again. what a gift it is to have so many kindred spirits in the blog world...

    jo, yes, it is as it is!! you always make me smile inside and out...

    i will be at your place soon to see what treasures you have captured in your lens. i forgot to tell you that i brought back one of my father's old pencils -- it's not as beautiful and used as your grandfather's, but nice none-the-less. thank you for opening my eyes to old pencils...

    hi jacky, lol, yes, i'm a collector too... (shocking, huh?). that somehow feels so natural when i'm in a different place. not so much buying stuff, but just keeping bits and pieces of what i find around me. now that i'm back i'm trying to figure out where to put everything. much rearranging will be required. because my mother was divesting herself of most of her old photos and momentos, i came back with a whole extra box of treasure.

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  22. Get better soon, Lynne. Cuddle up in bed with a good book and a mug of something delicious to sip.

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  23. what a fabulous post! - love your treasures and the journal pages are yummy - I'm inspired!

    thanks...

    xox - eb.

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  24. Greatest pleasure! I am smiling all along here, too!!

    What did your father use the pencil for? Work? Or was it an at home one? What does it look and - maybe more importantly - feel like? I must post a picture of the boxes of pencils I have of my Grandad's. If he knew!

    Hope you're feeling Lynnish again slowly!

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  25. hey there lynne... your journal pages are rich. authentic. good stuff in what is sometimes a world of sameness. AND........absolutely LOVE that pic of you. a teeny travel trailer for a few weeks. sounds sweet.

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  26. thank you, robyn. i've been doing just that. moving through my third book now. : )

    oh e.b., you're welcome! always so glad to see you...

    jo, this is crazy, but i can't even find dad's pencil now! it's here somewhere i know...

    well, he did a lot of woodworking at home, so it was probably a home pencil. at work he always had a nice 'cross' pen and pencil set in his shirt pocket, which had one of those plastic pocket liner/pencil cases in it. my brother was interested in the nice pen and pencil sets -- i liked the wooden pencil...

    heh, lynnish-ness is I'M SURE just around the corner. : )

    thank you, mary ann... always feel the same about your pages...

    lol, thank you about the pic! i think i get overtaken by some kind of stage fright type thing at the mention of picture taking. i look mighty tentative there!

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  27. The best thing about travelling journals is the paring down and making with what you have,,, I smiled. Family does not get much observed either... and I love the treatment of the pics.. holga like!

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  28. Just discovered you thru Seth- love your work - the woods always hold treasures just waiting to be discovered!

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  29. yes, grrl, you're right about the paring down... it was hard this time though...

    hi ooglebloops -- thank you for stopping by! yes, the woods *always* supply abundant treasures!

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