Shadow Shot Sunday and Today's Flowers

Poetic Shadows in Honor of National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month in the United States. An appreciator of poetry from a young age, I'm weaving the theme through several of my posts all month.

For the last couple of years, I've been making a pilgrimage to The Emily Dickinson Museum. The Homestead and The Evergreens is made up of two historic houses and their three-acre landscape on Main Street in Amherst, Massachusetts. Here, the small sphere of existence is preserved  of one of America's most significant poets. The Homestead was the birthplace, in 1830, and home of the Emily Dickinson. The Evergreens, next door, was home to her beloved brother and sister-in-law, Austin and Susan Dickinson, and their three children.

Here are a few photos I took of The Dickinson Homestead and The Evergreens. 

The yellow brick house front door faces south.

If I'm not mistaken the window farthest to the right and the one around the corner are those of the poet's bedroom.

"Where thou art, that is home."

 ~ Emily Dickinson
 

 The sideyard

"My friends are my estate."

~ Emily Dickinson

 The stone path that leads East to Emily's Garden

"How strange that nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude!"
Emily Dickinson

"The lovely flowers
embarrass me.
They make me regret
I am not a bee..."

"Forever is composed of now."

"Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough"

A path described by Emily Dickinson as “just wide enough for two who love” linked the two Dickinson houses, crossing the lawn from the back door of the Homestead to the east piazza of The Evergreens.
which lies west of the main house.

"The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience." 

side porch of The Evergreens

I'll be back in May or June to see how things are growing then, in Emily's garden.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Today's Flowers

The Friday Evening Nudes: All 5,200 of them

SYDNEY, AU (REUTERS).- Some 5,200 Australians posed naked in front of the Sydney Opera House on Monday for a photo shoot by New York-based artist Spencer Tunick for another signature installation of nudes against urban backdrops. On a chilly, overcast, first day of autumn, the mass nude photo shoot was titled "Mardi Gras: The Base" and meant to celebrate Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras last weekend.

Yard Art on Thursday

Mary at Work of the Poet has a fun new meme that features photos of yard art of all types. Well, let me tell you, my visits to Nova Scotia have rendered the weirdest yard art I've ever seen. This series was taken on our 2008 trip. A polite name for it would be "outside of outsider art". Otherwise, it is just plain staaaaaraaaaaaaaaaange!

"All Thumbs"

 

One has to wonder how their clothing stays so new in the elements. Could it really be that they're dressed up on a regular basis? Is something seriously wrong with someone's mind or is this therapy for dealing with ghosts?

An old hippy's idea of a Love Doll?

A very deranged-looking moose; even for Nova Scotia.

The Merman was the only one who looked like he was chillin'.

Ariel Nova Scotia style!

Music for Insomniacs - Leslie "Sam" Phillips

This week has been no-sleep hell. At least this morning, it was already 4:00 a.m. when I woke up. Earlier in the week it was 1:00 and I couldn't get back to sleep.

You'd think I'd be choosing lullabyes but it never seems to work that way when one's mind is going and going and going...

I need love

not some sentimental prison

I need god

not the political church...

- Sam Phillips 

National Poetry Month - Emily Dickinson

Pagan Sphinx Photo

WILL there really be a morning? Is there such a thing as day? Could I see it from the mountains If I were as tall as they?    Has it feet like water-lilies?         5 Has it feathers like a bird? Is it brought from famous countries Of which I have never heard?    Oh, some scholar! Oh, some sailor! Oh, some wise man from the skies!         10 Please to tell a little pilgrim Where the place called morning lies!

-Emily Dickinson

Music for Insomniacs - Ramones - Street Fighting Man

"Think the time is right for a palace revolution
'Cause where I live
the game to play
is compromise solution"
-The Rolling Stones

 I saw the quote above on my daughter-in-law's facebook page and was reminded of this cover by Ramones. One of my favorite Stones songs:  Street Fighting Man.