Only a Tree

Only a tree
yet the source of all life
Sometimes a tree
sees love and sees strife
Only a tree
is needful of me
Forever my life
is grateful for thee
A source of all life
our beautiful trees
so strong and so supple
their branches and leaves
sway in the breeze
and fall to the ground
with nary a sound
yet splendor profound
Only a tree
forever a sight
in each and every season
to bring me delight
in summer so green
in autumn a colorful sight
in winter sturdy and divine
reaching to heaven
a ladder which to climb
O heavenly tree
bring me a spring
filled with sweet scents
and buds of light green
renew your dear life
my dreams I've foreseen
Only a tree
the boon of wildlife
by javadoug
(Thanks for the inspiration Gudi :)
(I saw the photo of a tree posted in her photostream, and wrote the poem)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB76jxBq_gQ

youth and the thinker

One man the thinker, observing everything he perceives
quiet, gentle, perplexed yet never impatient.

What is the thinker contemplating --
perhaps meaningful philosophical questions of life,
or cognitive interpretations of sensory perception,
with transcendental mediations of pure thought.
Is it coy expressions of ardent love
or else simply observations of all that is around
stored for future contemplation..

The youth seem curious, new experiences all around;
white as pure as the driven snow surrounds their
senses like seeing for the first time.
If the thinker could interpret, observe in
the wild eyed innocent manner, without preconceived notions
or hard wired interpretations which leap to fill in missing gaps...

That is the equation, can he do it?

Look up: Sycamore trees in winter

Look up: Sycamore trees in winter
Sycamore tree on Hunter Drive, Murrysville.
How many people get depressed or sad in winter because of the weather and conditions outside? What are you missing. You are missing the beauty that still exists out there, but is harder to grasp. It may be cold, colourless and drab, but there is beauty there, nevertheless, and alwaysthemore. Just look at the Sycamore trees, if you have them near you. All of the rest of the trees I would still characterize as beautiful, even in winter, but the Sycamore trees out shine them all. You just can't deny it. They have lost their giant leaves, which aren't necessarily the nicest of leaves, so in summer if you were a sycamore tree you might feel inferior. But in winter it is now your time to shine. The other trees are sort of a dull drab gray or brown, but the sycamores have a beautiful white bark, especially as you ascend the trunk to the upper places. Just look up. Perhaps if you walk all day just looking at your feet, which if you are walking in the woods might be good advice, so that you don't trip over a root or fallen branch, but you must resist that urge and look up at some of that beauty just above you. Whoever endowed you with two sharp eyes to perceive perhaps left out maybe one more to look skyward. But seriously the times I find myself looking up, especially at nature, are the most joyous. The white bark of the sycamore is a great sight to see in winter, so go see it. I've tried to photograph it, and that looks nice, but without the effect of walking around or even driving by one of these great trees, you don't get the full effect. In Pittsburgh old sycamores line many of the roads, but the younger ones in the parks and woods outshine these and deserve a look. One of these days I'll find a way to ascend one of these great beauties to try to get a close up photo of the white bark, just to see how that would turn out.

I wrote this a few years ago, and now that I have my new camera with the 12x zoom, I no longer feel the need to climb the tree to get a good shot :)

alive and bright

alive and bright, tunneling toward the sun
concentric downy autumn seeds
capture the sun's rays

Writhing

Writhing, squirming slender colour out
acute distortion wrenching arm about
bending flavour eliptic radial shout
contortled sinews showing little doubt

infectious tendrils twisted out of sight
convoluted intermingled strings of night
flexing indirect sperpents into light
meander forth to spew your crooked height

curving damaged figures till the show
abundant texture over frequent flow
unwrapping beauty discourse under tow
unveiling fervent outline soon to grow

patterns fashion figure from their bode
sparking clever structure form and mode
sharply jutting skeleton connecting node
gently blowing grasses now bestowed

Magic Fountains of Thistle

Oh magic fountains of thistle
unleash your source of charm
conjure forth magnetic allure
your powers do oft disarm

With abracadabra and alacazam
magically invoke your benevolent craft
pour bewitching extraordinary zeal
and uncanny imagery soon to be quaffed

Spectral light and ambient tones
revolve around mysterious prophecy
with gushing charismatic fascination
our eyes perceive thee grandly



Taken at the field where we play Ultimate Frisbee.

I was really thrilled to receive this particularly nice comment. That this image is "especially thrilling -- Something so common and unwanted looking so magical!"

"Sind sie aus Deutschland?"

Ich bin vom USA, aber drei oder vier Generationen vor meinen Vorfahren sind von Deutschland und anderen europäischen Nationen ausgewandert.

Mehr wichtig, versuche ich, gesprächige deutsche Sprache zu lernen. Es ist meine Suche, ist es meine Reise, die Sprache von meinen Vorfahren zu lernen. Und die schöne Sprache, die solche Genies angespornt hat, als Beethoven, Mozart, Einstein, und die Liste weitergeht.

More importantly, I am trying to learn conversational German language.
It is my quest, it is my journey, to learn the language of my forefathers.
And the beautiful language that spurred such geniuses as Beethoven, Mozart, Einstein, and the list goes on.


Abba - take a chance on me

I'm rich

I feel rich, or enriched, with this bounty of chestnuts!

Every year we collect chestnuts from trees at Northmoreland park. My daughter just loves to do this with me. We each get a bag, and try to fill them up. It's a fun contest to see who can gain the most. And of course there is sometimes a little cheating, one of us will steal a few nuts from the other's bag. Money can't buy this kind of fun :)
I truly am blessed and enriched :-))

These are chestnuts from Chinese Chestnut trees, which are smaller than American Chestnut trees in height and breadth. The American Chestnut tree has suffered a huge decline because of a blight brought in 100 years ago with the introduction of the later. Hardly any really big American species are left, although there still are quite a few small saplings that can try to resist the blight.

The American Chestnut Foundation, Working To Restore The King of The Forest
http://www.acf.org

O awful Loveliness

"Hymn to Intellectual Beauty" (excerpt)
I vowed that I would dedicate my powers
To thee and thine - have I not kept the vow?
With beating heart and streaming eyes, even now
I call the phantoms of a thousand hours
Each from his voiceless grave: they have in visioned bowers
Of studious zeal or love's delight
Outwatched with me the envious night -
They know that never joy illumed my brow
Unlinked with hope that thou wouldst free
This world from its dark slavery,
That thou - O awful Loveliness,
Wouldst give whate'er these words cannot express.
-- Percy Bysshe Shelley

O, that I could write like that!

Musical Mystery Ride

Going round and round
the kids are nearly found
the lens can point one way
yet motion can betray
the focus on one spot
to capture one sure shot
I spin the camera 'round
rotationally unbound
to match the field of view
their motion would askew
as they hang deftly on
unbridled fun and song
Yes round and round they roam
and I bring image home

Spring Beauty

Spectacular Spring Beauty
Crept up behind me
and surprised me
a beauty unsurpassed and unexpected
vibrant white, soft and subtle texture
remarkable
The beauty of nature
captured in an image
only a small tiny static representation
of a fluid, dynamic multi-dimensional beauty.

My eyes are amazing, what they see.
A camera is technical and cold,
cannot even begin to compare to reality

seeing in all its glory, the drama and movement
the gentleness and purity,
the grandeur and flavor
unsurpassed in sight
simulated with a model
a simple picture in 2D
not as nice as three
not as nice as thee

But its the next best thing to being there.

It reminds me of a real life spring beauty.
Infatuation, a beginning
Also a first sight, a seeing
meandering on a bicycle
finding my way
seeing another
instantly seeing
vibrant beautiful
spring beauty was she
right there before me
so nice and friendly
something to see
one more time for me.

Thank you, so nice

Spring Beauty

Kennywood!

We saw aliens, roller coasters, merry-go-rounds and more!

Spinning freely
Merry go round
Blazing clearly
Joy unbound.

There is so much to learn about photography. My shots are not technically precise, nor artistically composed with respect to the image to be generated. I like to concentrate on the subject. So the photo is just a window into a static view of what I have seen. Just a bit of what I have seen for you all to see as well.