Blogging 'Round the Globe (Linking to SkyWatch)

An amazing, almost miraculous thing happened around here today. The sun came out for the first time in six days of rain.

Linking to SkyWatch

Picture for One Moment

Saturday was brisk and windy but beautifully sunny. The-future-Mr.-Pagan-Sphinx (that's a nod to the style of hyphening one's name with one's spouse, era ;-) and I decided we had to go to the bulb show at Smith College Botanical Garden, as it was the last weekend before they closed up the bulb display for the season. We figured the last day would be less crowded but we were wrong. The place was busier than I've ever seen it on any weekend I attended this event in the past. The botanical garden is a small jewel among the laid-back, but busy pace of Northampton. And the view from of the lake from the knoll the greenhouse sits upon, is western Mass at its relaxed best. If you live in western Mass and you don't love Northampton, you have no heart!  :-D

Because it was so crowded, it was hard to take decent photos, let alone get any stand-outs. This is my humble photo offering from the bulb show, which I hope you will enjoy. For some photos of this bulb show that will really knock your socks off, go visit my dear friend The Cunning Runt at Little Bang Theory.  (for those of you who don't know him, CR is The Girls' Dad and my western Massachusetts neighbor to the west, not to mention my blog buddy.  (hi, guy).    :-)  

 

The Girls (and then there are three more girls, besides  ;)

As I look out the window my desk faces at home, a mixture of snow and freezing rain is turning to just rain. It's been coming down since around 9:30 this morning. I'm glad I had a chance to get some color and warmth on Saturday at Smith.  On this first day of the vernal equinox, I wish you....well...better weather than what we're getting around here today! But also love, peace and groovy things.

Pagan Sphinx

Linking to That's My World Tuesday

(fantastic folks from around the world gather in these places virtually to celebrate the beauty and interest that surround us through photos and other creative media)

Song for a Snow Day

Between reading Francis Hunt and Singing Bear's blogs, I thought of one of mine and WP's favorite films, McCabe and Mrs. Miller. And what a fitting setting for what is going on weather-wise around these parts. No amount of  "summer feeling" can erase the reality of this storm. Yikes.

Picture for One Moment - Sky Watch - Blogging 'Round the Globe

Hello, Welcome!  In the new decade, I'm committed  to being...how shall we say...hospitable?    hehe. Not an easy task for a sphinx.  ;-)

Picture for one Moment and Blogging 'Round the Globe are my own little titles to head-up things I post, and not to be confused with the massive appeal of SkyWatch, which is truly global. Go take a look and hang on to your berets because you are in for a whirlwind tour of international skies!

The photo below is a result of a solo photo excursion I took last Sunday - a drive, with several stops. My timing was good for a bit of a sunset. Nothing dramatic in terms of a sunset, but when you add Mount Sugarloaf, it's a pretty impressive view. 

I touched the photo up a bit but only to see if I could capture it a bit more as I recall seeing it. Or maybe it was just my rose-colored glasses.  ;-)

Pagan Sphinx Photo 2011 © All Rights Reserved

 This is South Sugarloaf (The original Native American name for the mountain is Wequamps (or Wequomps)

Here is a bit of information about Mt. Sugarload Reservation:

Mt. Sugarloaf offers a commanding view of the Connecticut River, the Pioneer Valley, and the Pelham and Berkshire Hills. Consisting of two peaks, North and South Sugarloaf, the Reservation offers picnicking, scenic viewing and hiking. An auto road winds to the summit, making South Sugarloaf Mountain accessible by private automobiles. Available on the summit is a pavilion for scenic viewing and picnicking.

Mt. Sugarloaf, composed of a prominent sandstone rock called Sugarloaf Arkose, is a fine example of the Connecticut Valley's geological history. From its summit can be seen some of the best scenic views of the broad agricultural landscape of the Connecticut River Valley. More here.

And a song for you, too.  A much listened-to piece of angst from my youth. If you've lived a little, you know how that goes, right?   ;-)

SkyWatch Friday

Blogging 'Round the Globe: Today's Flowers

The luxurious Peony

Today's Flowers

click on the link above to enjoy glorious blooms around the world

Monochrome Weekend and Window Views

I'd like to share with you a photograph which I've featured before on possibly both Monochrome Weekend (formerly Monochrome Monday) and Window Views. This time, however, there is a little twist. The photograph below was chosen for the April cover of a trade journal published by RCI, 
an international association of professional consultants, architects, and engineers.
Here is the original photo, taken by me, looking out from a window at MoMA out toward the many windows of New York City.

Good week everyone!

Pagan Sphinx Photo

Monochrome Weekend

Window Views and Doorways

Sky Watch Friday

My SkyWatch entry this week was taken close to home; right across the road, in fact. I don't take for granted how lucky we are to enjoy this every day. Even, when as this moody sky implies, it's looking like rain. And as I await the arrival of my significant-other who is stuck in Zurich until Tuesday (yes, it's the volcano), I am also grateful to have him to share my life and this view with.

Peace and Love,

Pagan Sphinx

Check it out by clicking  here and enjoy a tour of international skies.

Blogging 'Round the Globe

I'm touting a few blogs here, including a couple of my own "underground" blogs. ;-)  But no pushy-pushy expectations here or anything! ;-)

First stop: Give us This Day (our daily painting) is a blog, my blog, where I post a wide range of oil paintings and occasional watercolors by well and lesser-known painters, from ancient art to ultra-contemporary. A particular emphasis is placed on women painters. The posts are organized simply with the painter's name, dates and if known, the title of the work; as well as the genre or school or movement. I'm sure I'm not as correct as a real art historian in regard to the latter, but my three readers are welcome to correct me. I hope that if you like an image you see on This Day, you will do a little research on the artist and enjoy an art history moment on your own.

Give Us This Day is brought to you from Western Massachusetts, which makes it likely you will see photographs I've taken myself at favorite local museums. When photography is allowed, that is. I want to thank Linda of Vulture Peak Muse and Jerry of Grown Up Backwards for leaving their comments there on a regular basis. And a thanks to Jeff of Open Museum and toliwaga for following the blog and setting me straight on a recent error.

The other new blog I've been keeping sort of hidden is Chiseled. It is much newer than This Day, though similar in format. The differences are that, as its name implies, it is about sculpture. I also often post two or three images of a particular work or different works by a given artist, as I don't post there daily. I think I'm devoting about one post a week to it.

Second stop is at Forever Under Construction, authored by my Iranian blog and email pal,Homeyra. There is a lot to sink your teeth into there about peace, freedom, art and humanity.

I recently received this link from Homeyra, for a post on the work of Mona Shomali, an Iranian artist working in the U.S. I love her style - reminds me of Kirshner and Matisse all at once, but with an obvious female touch.

Mona Shomali

To Ben Heine in Belgium, I send a heartfelt congratulations on his engagement. Visit the Ben Heine site for lots of wonderful graphic art, painting, cartoons and photographs.

There is gentleman who comments here by the name of imac who blogs fantastic original photographs from his home in Lincolnshire, UK and from his travels with his lovely wife. And as he puts it "occasional insanity thrown in". Mac is a fun, happy person and a talented photographer.

Please trot on over and say hello! The world is smaller than you think!

Blogging 'Round the Globe: Monochrome Week End

Below is my very modest contribution to this photo theme. This is a challenging photo game brought to you from Scotland  (I think!. My apologies to Aileni. I tried to refresh my memory but the site has undergone  revisions and I couldn't confirm the host's home nation. Please correct me if I am wrong! )

Do check out the photos of the other contributors. There are some exceptional black and white photographs exhibited there!

Rocket 
Belgian Sculptor Paramarenko 

Brooklyn Museum

New York

  2008

Monochrome Weekend
hosted by Aileni

Pagan Sphinx Entertainment Highlight - A Museum Visit, My World Tuesday & Ruby Tuesday

We went up-country to Brattleboro, Vermont today for our monthly foray into the world of organic foods, Tibetan prayer flags and decadent desserts that I guess you can have if all you eat is seaweed. And that is why I stocked up on miso and seaweed - so I can eat more deserts! The Brattleboro Coop is one of those places that I can't leave without spending more money than I had budgeted for.

                        Pandas for the little ones at school.

The shopping was followed by a walk across the street to the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center.

 

Once inside the museum, I took quite a few photos of the artworks, though not very many came out well. A lot of the glassed works are difficult to photograph due to glare.

My apologies to the artists. I failed to take note of a few

Bill Long

Through the View

The the mini gift shop was having a sale so I attempted a little museum store therapy and bought some trinkets for my loved ones.

Llama Love finger puppets

Mona...

and Monet

Venus Beaded Bookmark

Botticelli

Birth of Venus

Detail

 Bridge Railing

Brattleboro, Vermont

If you celebrate it, Happy Valentine's Day!

Ruby Tuesday

My World

Shadow Shot Sunday: Shadows in the House

Recent early morning sun reflecting on our dining room wall.

(click on image to enlarge it)

click once to enlarge and again for a larger image

Today I'm blog-trotting to Brisbane for 
Shadow Shot Sunday
Join us for photo shadows around the world!

Blogging 'Round the Globe

 Dennis the Menace blog from Kent, England gave me the heads-up on this event at Trafalgar Square today. I'm not sure which is worse - terrorism itself of the fear of it.  What else are free-minded people expected to do but take it to the streets?

 Mass Gathering in defence of street photography

I’m a Photographer, Not a Terrorist! invite all Photographers to a mass photo gathering in defence of street photography.
Following a series of high profile detentions under s44 of the terrorism act including 7 armed police detaining an award winning architectural photographer in the City of London, the arrest of a press photographer covering campaigning santas at City Airport and the stop and search of a BBC photographer at St Pauls Cathedral and many others. PHNAT feels now is the time for a mass turnout of Photographers, professional and amateur to defend our rights and stop the abuse of the terror laws.

Read the whole thing at:

I'm a Photographer Not a Terrorist.org