A Play of Light

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It is a play of light.  Painting or photography....light and shadows for the image .....without light and shadow, there is nothing to frame our point of reference.  Snow is one of the best performers when it comes to the dance of light and shadow.

Today was our first major snow of the season and it was one of those postcard snows.  Cold crisp air cleans out the cobwebs and compliments the Christmas season like a warm fire and your favorite glass of spiced wine.

Dan

The tree lined streets of middle America have been the subject of so many short stories, movies and TV shows over the years...


With so many lives...families...filling the homes...the culture is rich with engaging stories of births, deaths, marriages, weddings, politics and a multitude of other life stories played out on these shaded walkways. When I was very young...air conditioning was not as prevalent as today. I remember walking down these streets at night heading home after mom called us in...walking home...each house with their windows open in the Summer was like a novel. I heard Walter Cronkite's re assuring voice on the evening news....as I passed, the sound faded to the next house with an argument of some type only overridden by the next houses radio playing the Beach Boys. Each house like a universe all it's own...opening it's heart to any one who would listen. No longer...windows shut tight, doors barred, yards with "Protected by ADT" signs...

Those tree lined streets no longer lend themselves to the writer...that source has regretfully dried up.

Idiom Definitions for 'Walk in the park'

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An undertaking that is easy is a walk in the park. The opposite is also true - "no walk in the park".

If life were as easy as a walk in the park...So many times we look at someone else and the appearance they give to the public and we think...boy they really have it together. When in reality, even they must face the same challenges we face day to day.

A great example of this is when we were raising Zach...I never said this to his face but often I would see a perfectly behaved child and think...why can't Zach be like that? It is probably a mistake that many parents make...it is all to easy to compare our children to others. As I look back on that period now...I fully realize that the parents of the "perfect" child were just like me with faults of their own. Parenting is not a science...it is truly an art and art leaves open so much interpretation. We all try to be the best parents we can...that is all we can do...because it is "no walk in the park".

Now for the real walk in the park...when I took the picture I thought of that phrase and knew I had to connect it with the photo (I often write notes about how I feel or thoughts I had when taking the pictures). This was taken back in the early Spring...that first great day outside after months of the Winter chills. It was that Spring day we have each year when we look outside and want so much for it to be Summer...we burst out of the house into the woods or nature but we find it is yet still to cold ...not yet warm enough to really enjoy Spring. This was a needed walk in the park however, a struggle yet to feel the warmth but left me with the anticipation of great warm Summer days ahead.

In New Harmony, there is an open meadow that runs along one of the side streets with an interesting inscription at one end.

This area was once part of a commons with the original Utopian Rappite settlement here. This statement was coined long before the Supreme Court ruled on expressions of this sort on public property. The statement to me adds to the aura of New Harmony and the open freedom of expression promoted in this small out of the way community such as the creative writing workshops and discussion groups held here throughout the summer.

No doubt over the years, there have been discussions in the "Poets' House"centering around a statement such as this both pro and con. But thankfully a discussion like this can still be held. There are many countries where this type of subject would be taboo. Let's hope that freedom still exists for visitors to New Harmony in 2016 or 2030. "Long live" freedom of expression so all sides can be heard and out the discussion path's to the future are laid.

I recently posted this image on "Soaring Through the World in Pictures" and it generated a discussion about the doors so I thought I would re post post on my blog.


This is one of those posts where I learned something in the process. I mentioned that I wondered if there is any significance to the red doors. My guess was that it is because it was a Methodist Church...all of the Methodist Churches in this area have red doors. There were so many great comments about why they may be red...ranging from representing the Blood of Christ to His Passion to even the fact that the mortgage of the church had been paid in full! I am going to steal a link that Dawn Treader thoughtfully posted about this issue: http://ameganfindsartinphilly.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/why-many-church-doors-are-red/
Thanks Dawn Treader, I found it very interesting.

For some reason this was a difficult photo for me. I have taken several pictures of this church over the years and have never gotten one I was satisfied with until this one. I always had difficulty getting the exposure correct. The contrast of the white walls with the dark foliage seemed to throw off the camera....either the walls were washed out or the trees too dark.. I experimented with HDR and it gave me the correct exposure...so I can finally put this image to rest!

The Wabash River runs slow this time of year. It forms the lower third border of Southwestern Indiana...dividing Indiana and Illinois.


This type of slow running current is ideal for canoeing and it is very popular in this area. I have taken canoes on the Wabash before...the lightness and agility of a canoe makes for a perfect day of riding the slow moving current and observing unpopulated farm and bottom lands and still pristine hardwood forests. With the small footprint of a canoe in the water, you can drift almost silent and listen to the birds on land and the occasional splash of fish as you pass by.

There is nothing like the adrenaline rush of whitewater rafting but just as satisfying is the piece of mind and relaxation of the early evening quiet in a canoe. Where you are left with your thoughts and appreciation of nature. Ever so often, the sweet smell of fresh cut clover hay fills your senses as you pass by the newly cut fields. The river banks also provides new found friends that wave as you pass them by...there is something about a slow moving river that connects people or at least slows them down enough to connect. If I passed the same person in an intersection...would we wave?

I was told once by a physician to think of floating down quiet river on a late Summer evening and to visualize all the sights and sounds you experience on the way...this will gently lull you to sleep. Try it sometime if you if you can't sleep...if not sleep, you will fade into the night relaxed and refreshed for the hectic day ahead.

This is another home set aside for the RopeWalk Retreat. The link will take you to the New Harmony writers' site.

The last picture taken on this day...almost passed by. With the fading light of late evening, I had my doubts whether there was enough light for a decent picture. In reality, the dramatic lighting added to the pastoral atmosphere of New Harmony. With the house already in evenings' shadow, the dying sun casts its' remaining light on the flowers and trees surrounding the retreat almost like a fence maintained by nature...protecting the inhabitants from distractions while they consult with their muse. I couldn't get any closer without invading the garden so natures "fence" worked it's magic with me!

Yesterday, I mentioned that New Harmony was a haven for artist who put pen to paper. The house above is one of several that are set aside for just this purpose. To give the artist a haven that cuts through the noise of everyday living...that lets the creative spirits flow unhindered by daily deadlines and other responsibilities. The video is of the tree I posted a couple of days ago...If you look at the window just to the right of the door in the Poets' House...the view you would see is this park with the children playing on the swing.

As bloggers, I think we all like to put electronic pen to paper...sometimes expressing our innermost feelings, sometimes to make a point about something that we believe in and sometimes to let our creative juices flow. How great it would be to have a week set aside to spend in the Poets House, look out onto the pastoral park setting and write to our hearts content. Not many of us will ever have that opportunity, but it is nice to think of the what ifs now and then.

Whenever I have the choice...I always try to take a photo either with an interesting sky or when the sun is low on the horizon...sunrise or sunset.

The golden light and long shadows seem to add more depth and interest to the image. This particular barn , I think , was made of cedar. The aging of the wood was interesting. The discoloration of age was there but the cedar protected it from the normal deterioration. One of the reasons for making "cedar chests" out of cedar was that the cedar wood repelled insects. It has also worked it's magic with the barn.

Taken in New Harmony, Indiana...a small historic community with a unique history. Originally it was founded by the "Rappites" in the early 1800's. One of the Utopian, communal communities that sprung up here and there during this period. Many of their buildings and ways of life have been preserved in this small town. It is also a haven for writers and poets due to its' quiet and solitude. The atmosphere of New Harmony lends itself to this type of creativity. There have been several novels, screenplays and poems published and used by Hollywood that had their humble begginings here in New Harmony.

A rare sight ...children playing outside on a swing!

It was encouraging to see the children outside...away from the video games. This was taken just a couple of days ago and the laughter breaking the silence of the park was refreshing. It may have been the lure of a perfect tree and perfect swing that drew the children. It was also the last week of Summer vacation, knowing that this time next week...they would be back in school.

Whatever the reason, the interaction of the boy and girl reminded me of my childhood and those days when...not even knowing why but...I began to notice that there was indeed another species of the human race called a "girl"...and she wasn't that bad to hang with!

The huge sprawling tree, the affection shown...reminded me of a very touching scene...I think it may have been the first episode of one of my most favorite TV shows...The Wonder Years. The episode played out and we found that Winnie's brother had just died in Vietnam. The show ended with the two of them, very young and innocent sitting next to each other under a huge tree that seemed to take them under it's wing. In a clumsy effort to comfort Winnie, Kevin leaned and kissed Winnie on the cheek. The scene faded to black with the song "When a man loves a woman" by Percy Sledge...contrasting the young lovers with what the future held for them. For me, that image still resonates and is the epitome of young innocent love struggling to cope with the onset of the complicated, unsure complexities of adolescence. Those memories are often...so bittersweet.

I arrived too late but I swear I could still hear the remnants of the early afternoon. Music, the kind of music that gives strangers permission to connect for the first time.

There is something about the atmosphere of an intimate gathering around a poet or musician that opens up the avenues of discussion. I could hear echoes of politics some local and some national, the decline of education or perhaps a future of hope for our children's children.

Not unlike another Upper Room we know of...I think that covenants were probably made and everyone left this upper room having had the chance to be a part of something intensely personal.