Today's Flowers

The Dahlia

All of these images were taken at the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, on the Deerfield River on September 5.
Once an abandoned trolley bridge, it has been turned into a garden path and maintained for 80 years.

Today's Flowers

 

 

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

We Dig Nova Scotia

click on all photos for best viewing

This year's trip netted us some cool new finds on the beautiful Fundy Shore. We had excellent weather, beyond the first day we spent in the Spencer's Island area, when it was somewhat overcast and on the cool side. We visited this location last year but this was our first time camping here.

click photos for best viewing

Spencer's Island, as seen from the campground. Once seasonally used but no longer inhabited.

Ron, the local gentleman pictured below (with dog Tinker) told us this crazy story about a local restaurateur who packed up his sheep flock and brought it to Spencer's Island for the summer, thinking how low-maintance they would be with plenty to eat and drink, only to discover when he went back for them, that they'd turned rouge and refused to cooperate when he tried to round them up. As legend has it, "he had to shoot 'em all so they wouldn't freeze over the winter". Hmmmm, you say? Well, Nova Scotia is a quirky place.

Spencer's Island Lighthouse
(dates back to 1904)

We hiked down a couple of very steep trails to two beautiful waterfalls to spend the hot afternoons. There are several more waiting to be discovered next year when we go back. See the post entitled Postcards from Nova Scotia for a waterfall picture.

And as if beautiful hot, sunny, relatively dry weather, good company and beautiful scenery weren't enough, we stumbled on the icing in the form of a blurr of brightly painted yellow concrete as we motored by The Charles McDonald Concrete House Museum and Sculpture Garden in the Annapolis Valley village of Centreville. We went to check it out, of course

and discovered the world of Nova Scotia folk artist Charles McDonald - a painter, builder, sculptor, sailor and socialist, who died in 1967. We were smitten with the quirkiness and character of the museum which was once Charles' and his wife Mabel's main home. We found out about several of the cottages that were also built by Charles McDonald in nearby Hall's Harbor and went to visit three of those as well.Charles McDonald's cottages are often called "faerie houses". This is was referred to as The Blue Cottage, by Mr. McDonald's grand-nephew who arranged a tour of the inside for us. It's the absolute most charming and original little house I've ever seen; both outside and in. The chimney is made from painted rocks, there is an outdoor toilet and shower and it's a stone's throw to the beach, which we went directly to after our tour of the cottages. And the fireplace works. And there is a tiny balcony off the bedroom with a view of the beach below.

So guess where we're staying during next summer's visit to Nova Scotia? Yes. We fanagled a two week stay. I hope the faeries can keep themselves amused until we arrive, because I don't know how I am ever going to wait. I am happier than Mona Lisa, who was intepreted by "science" as being "83% Happy". Wait. Or was it 86%? I dare say for the first time in my life, I feel charmed. And I think it does have to do with faery magic, though I'm not quite sure how. ;-)

You Know How That Mona Gets Around
Taken in Wolfsville, Nova Scotia

I'll be putting up a slideshow of our trip which will include more photos of the McDonald museum and cottages. 'Till then...

All the love,
Pagan Sphinx

I've Been Blogging for a Year?

photo by the Pagan Sphinx

A photo to share with you.

A few people over at my photo blog, The Pagan's Eye, thought this might be a peace lily. Taken recently at Magic Wings, a local butterfly conservatory and garden.

Because I'm on vacation this week, it occurred to me that I'd started The Pagan Sphinx approximately a year ago. So scroll down I did and saw that my first post was on February 16. Safely after Valentine's Day. ;-) So I'm a bit late, as always. And as you may have guessed I'm not one for making a huge fanfare out of things. There will be no huge celebrations, no ticker tape parades and no cake. But I hope all week to add a nugget of specialness or two throughout.

So, please do come back and partake of whatever I dig up. Oh. WP and I will be going to New York City for three days and three nights. I can't ever contain myself before a trip to the city.! This a great time for us. It's no longer a joy to live in the country by the middle of February, it's our valentine to each other and it's also a celebration of the anniversary of our first coffee date five years ago. Who says life-time love can't go around twice?