Category Archives: Sunday Stills
Wonderful Lilac Sunday on (Not Necessarily) Wordless Wednesday
Two lilac sprigs – babsjeheron
When I Met My Muse
I glanced at her and took my glasses
off–they were still singing. They buzzed
like a locust on the coffee table and then
ceased. Her voice belled forth, and the
sunlight bent. I felt the ceiling arch, and
knew that nails up there took a new grip
on whatever they touched. “I am your own
way of looking at things,” she said. “When
you allow me to live with you, every
glance at the world around you will be
a sort of salvation.” And I took her hand.When I Met My Muse
by William Stafford
Ask Me: 100 Essential Poems of William Stafford
Does the title of today’s post leave you scratching your head? It does me, and I wrote it. Smiles.
After all, why post about Lilac Sunday on a Wednesday?
I blame the Muse. Muses pay no attention to the calendar. And so artists, composers, and writers can always get away with blaming the Muse. She loves it when we pay attention to her whims.
It isn’t Sunday here, but it is Spring. It was a gorgeous early morning yesterday, though, with a warm front from the southwest that brought spring-like weather and house windows open wide. Delightful how the taste of Spring lingers. And yet tonight’s forecast calls for temperatures near freezing. “Welcome to New England” as we locals say about our weather.
Earlier, I had delivered some Great Blue Heron and flower photos for showing at a local gallery. While preparing, I came across my favorite lilacs, above. That photo and today’s warm weather brought Lilac Sunday to mind.
Each May since 1908, Boston has celebrated “Lilac Sunday” at the Arnold Arboretum. As their website says
With 403 lilac plants representing 175 taxa (kinds), the Arboretum holds one of the premier lilac collections in North America. Lilac Sunday has been celebrated at the Arnold Arboretum since 1908.
Lilac Sunday is held for only one single day each year. That’s part of the mystique that makes it special.
The other part? The sight and scent of lilacs, hundreds and hundreds of lilacs.
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About today’s post: Today’s post is prompted by Cee Neuner’s Flower of the Day and Terri Webster Schrandt’s Sundays Stills Monthly Color Challenge: In A Purple Haze, plus the Lens Artists Art in the Park challenge.
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Because of my near-blindness, I’m not able to link in my posts to the various host sites for WP challenges/tags in the way I have always done in the past, but please know that I value the sense of community here, especially among the Lens Artists, Cee Neuner, Debbie Smyth, Leanne Cole, BeckyB, Denzil, I.J., Restless Jo, Tofino Photography, Dan Antion, Bush Boy, Jez, and so many more, who all encourage the entire international network of photographers and writers. Sorry that I cannot link directly at this time – this is the best I can do for now.
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Great Blue Herons at TCAN Lobby January & February 2022 – babsjeheron
TCAN One-Woman Show Lobby Wall Two
TCAN One-Woman Show January through February 2022 Lobby Wall With TCAN Sign Reflected; TCAN Stained glass art by Carol Krentzman, framed by Jay Ball
My Great Blue Heron photographs were once again on display on the walls of the lobby and theater in a free one-woman show at the Summer Street Gallery, of The Center for Arts in Natick. The Summer Street Gallery provides an opportunity for accomplished visual artists in the region to have their work prominently displayed for TCAN’s diverse and loyal audience. If you’re in the Boston area, please stop by TCAN to see the wonderful gallery displays of artworks by many talented visual artists, as well as excellent live music performances and stage plays. The gallery is open whenever the box office is open, so please check hours here.
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Art in the Park 2023 is coming in June! Watch this space.
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As always, many of my own photos were taken on the waterways of the Charles River watershed.
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Natick Center Cultural District logo
Folks, now that some areas have opened back up in a new normal, please consider supporting your local Arts communities – whether music, theater, crafts, visual arts venues, and others. All have been impacted over the past THREE years and they still need your love more than ever.
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The Natick Center Cultural District is situated in a friendly, classic New England town hosting a vibrant, contemporary fusion of art, culture and business. Click here and here to learn more!
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My brick & mortar presence in Massachusetts dates back to 2009 in several local venues/galleries.
TCAN – The Center for Arts Natick – One-woman photography show through February 2022
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Natick Town Hall – Current group exhibit thru January 3 2023
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Five Crows Gallery in Natick – Represented since 2013
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Audubon Sanctuary
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Be a fly on the wall! Please CLICK HERE to see the Great Blue Herons gracing the gallery walls.
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Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™
May the Muse be with you.™
The Tao of Feathers™
A Patience of Herons™
© 2003-2023 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)
Share the love, but please respect the copyright. No reposting of any photos without permission.
Great Blue Heron, Kayaking, TCAN, Five Crows, Natick Center Cultural District, Lilac Sunday
Who’s a Shy Boy?
Great Blue Heron feathers in a herringbone pattern.
Great Blue Heron – neck detail.
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This week’s photo challenge is things that zig and zag. Thanks to Ben Huberman and WordPress for this topic.
Thanks also to Ed for his Sunday Stills topic Face Time.
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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.
Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.
Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™
The Tao of Feathers™
© 2014 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)
Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron Nesting Island Photographed In Falling Snow
Great blue herons’ rookery island in falling snow just after sunrise.
Another winter view of the rookery island is here.
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Thanks to Paula for her Thursday’s Special Non-Challenge Challenge. (This sunrise was a very special one.)
Thanks to Ed for his Sunday Stills: Letter F challenge. (The snow falling at dawn shrouded part of the scene with a fine mist.)
Thanks to Sue for her A Word a Week Photo Challenge: Waiting prompt. (I am waiting for the spring nesting season at the island rookery to start.)
Thanks to Ailsa for her Where’s My Backpack: Silver challenge. (The silver pre-dawn light is giving way to morning, and only the mist-shrouded frozen water retains its silvery hue.)
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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.
Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.
Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™
The Tao of Feathers™
© 2014 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)
Great Blue Heron Rookery
Music to my Ears, Polar Vortex be Damned
I would rather learn from one bird how to sing than to teach 10,000 stars how not to dance.
Snow-covered window.
This week, I have been anxious about the effect that the brutal cold from the Polar Vortex has had on birds.
Each day, I’ve opened the window to check for birds at the feeders.
No birds at all Monday. The air was silent.
None Tuesday. Absolute silence.
Two small sparrows Wednesday, and a lone squirrel scampering up a tree, but still utter silence.
Thursday, again no birds, no bird sounds.
Friday, still no birds, still eerily – disconcertingly – silent.
This morning, a lone Mourning Dove on a branch, and as I lifted the window open, I heard it: birdsong.
The first in a week.
I couldn’t see the singing, chittering, chirping birds – just the one Mourning Dove – but I could hear the voices of other birds.
A small symphony.
It was music to my ears.
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Thanks to Cheri Rowlands Lucas and WordPress for the Weekly Photo Challenge: Window.
Thanks to Ese for her Weekly Shoot & Quote: Music challenge.
Thanks to Ed for the Sunday Stills: White challenge.
Thanks to Ailsa for her Where’s My Backpack: Winter challenge.
Thanks to Dawn for her Lingering Look at Windows challenge.
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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.
Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.
Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™
The Tao of Feathers™
© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)
Is it Possible the Troll Beneath that Bridge is Really a Beautiful Great Blue Heron?
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Thanks to Wordless Wednesday for the Wordless Wednesday challenge.
Thanks to Ed for his Sunday Stills: Bridges challenge.
Thanks to Ailsa for her Where’s My Backpack: Possibility challenge.
Thanks once again to Stewart Monckton for the Wild Bird Wednesday prompt.
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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.
Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.
Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™
The Tao of Feathers™
© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Walden Pond
…nature is one and continuous everywhere.
Walden Pond shoreline wall in winter.
Walking at Walden on New Year’s Eve back then felt so right. It is a grounded space, a grounding place that I like to revisit around the start of each new year. Our sudden blizzard this week has preempted this year’s traditional sojourn to Walden physically, but not in spirit. You’re welcome to join me there through some photos.
Cabin at Walden Pond.
Snowpilgrim at Walden Pond at sunset.
Henry David Thoreau contemplating snow in front of his cabin at Walden Pond.
Walden Pond reflection – New Year’s Eve.
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Thanks to Ese for her Weekly Shoot & Quote: Continuous challenge.
Thanks to Ed for the Sunday Stills: White challenge. (Winter white brings forth edge details in a landscape that are otherwise obscured, like the sinuous curve of the stone wall along the shore. It’s unremarkable in summer, but stands in stark relief after the snow.)
Thanks to Ailsa for her Where’s My Backpack: Winter challenge.
Thanks to Dawn for her Lingering Look at Windows challenge. (Surely the windows in the cabin where Thoreau lived for two years must count as worthy windows. After today’s blizzard, thoughts turn to Thoreau in his cabin in such a storm, perhaps a passerby might see his candle or lantern aglow looking in from the outside, and feel warmed.)
Thanks to the kind folks at SkyWatch Friday.
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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.
Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.
Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™
The Tao of Feathers™
© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)
Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau
When is a Great Blue Heron Most Like a Dog?
Happiness is a warm puppy.
Great blue heron does a whole body shake to shed water, just like a wet dog.
When dogs shake off water, the movement starts at their snout, and
if you grab their nose, supposedly they can’t complete the shake.
I wonder – do you suppose that grabbing the heron’s bill would do the same?
Happy Irish Wolfhound Falcor and happy friend.
If only Falcor would go into the pond and get wet, then we could grab his snout and test that wet dog theory about blocking the shake by grabbing his muzzle.
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Thanks to Ed for the Sunday Stills: Going to the Dogs prompt.
Thanks again to Cee for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Happy.
Thanks once more to Ese for her Ese’s Weekly Shoot & Quote: Happiness prompt.
Thanks once more to Ailsa for her Weekly Travel Theme: Brown prompt. Falcon is light brown, on a medium-brown throw on his special chair.
Thanks also to Michelle for her Michelle’s Weekly Pet Challenge prompt.
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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.
Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.
Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™
The Tao of Feathers™
(These photos were taken September 11, 2011.)
© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)
Great Blue Heron, Irish Wolfhound
Comet Hale-Bopp and The Pleiades for Weekly Photo Challenge and Thursday’s Special
Survived by approximately several trillion siblings, Comet ISON leaves behind an unprecedented legacy for astronomers, and the eternal gratitude of an enthralled global audience. In ISON’s memory, donations are encouraged to your local astronomy club, observatory or charity that supports STEM and science outreach programs for children.
Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON)
Born 4.5 Billion BC, Fragmented Nov 28, 2013 (age 4.5-billion yrs old)
Comet Hale-Bopp at top right, the Pleiades mid-frame above the trees.
Like many astrophotographers in the Northern Hemisphere, I was eagerly anticipating a naked-eye view of Comet ISON this December. When last I last I photographed a comet, it was in the pre-digital camera era for me, and so I was sorting out the gear and possible locations for 21st century comet shoots. But it was not to be.
As Dr. Tony Phillips writes in What Happened to Comet ISON?
Dec. 4, 2013: Astronomers have long known that some comets like it hot. Several of the greatest comets in history have flown close to the sun, puffing themselves up with solar heat, before they became naked-eye wonders in the night sky.
Some comets like it hot, but Comet ISON was not one of them.
Hopes for December comet-watching dashed, I’ve taken a walk down memory lane, revisiting archives of the last comet I photographed, Hale-Bopp, sixteen years ago.
This is Thursday, time for Paula’s wonderful Thursday’s Special challenge, and I’m submitting this post because the year of Comet Hale-Bopp holds a special place with fond memories.
Also, this week, Ben Huberman has challenged us to show light sources. The above photo has many: besides the comet at top right and The Pleiades clustered in the center, untold other celestial bodies are visible.
One of hundreds of photos taken during the months Hale-Bopp was visible here, this scene was across the road from home, an expanded view of more of the landscape from the first comet photo I shared here. (Please click here if you missed seeing my daughter posing with Hale-Bopp)
Karl Battams makes a valuable suggestion in the quote at the start of this post: support STEM and outreach programs for children.
During the year of Hale-Bopp, we watched and photographed almost daily for the duration, tracking the comet’s position on paper star charts. We experimented with all of the low light film we could find, comparing the quality of color reproduction and sharpness. Lacking any idea how long an exposure needed to be in order to clearly see the comet on film, and without a timer on-hand, my daughter hit on the hippopotamus technique: she would depress the plunger on the cable release and hold the shutter open while counting out loud “one hippopotamus, two hippopotamus, three hippopotamus.” It worked from the very first photo!
We had a great time together, just the two of us viewing the comet through my old 35mm Konica and small toy telescope, but what really made an impression were the star parties, where people from the community and scientists from MIT and Harvard gathered at the elementary school with their telescopes and gave everyone a more up-close-and-personal experience.
While Comet ISON is done, there will be others, and Comet Hale-Bopp will swing back by Earth in around 5,000 years, give or take.
But please don’t wait that long to get involved with science outreach in your community.
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Thanks to Paula and WordPress for the Thursday’s Special Non-Challenge Challenge.
Thanks to Ben Huberman and WordPress for the Weekly Photo Challenge: Let There Be Light.
Thanks to Ed Prescott for the Sunday Stills: Night Shots prompt.
Thanks to Ailsa for the Weekly Travel Theme: Sky. (The night sky is so wondrous.)
Thanks also to Sue for the Word a Week Challenge: High. (How high sky!)
Thanks to the kind folks at SkyWatch Friday.
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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.
Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.
Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™
The Tao of Feathers™
(This photo was taken In 1997.)
© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)
Comet Hale-Bopp, The Pleiades, Comet ISON 2013
Lunar Eclipse with Aurora Borealis – Weekly Photo Challenge
…All that is now,
All that is gone,
All that’s to come,
and everything under the sun is in tune,
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon.
Total lunar eclipse and aurora borealis. November 8, 2003
This week, Ben Huberman has challenged us to show sources of light. The photo above shows the total lunar eclipse of November 8, 2003.
As people know, the Moon is illuminated by light from the Sun. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth passes directly between the Sun and the Moon, and the Earth’s shadow is cast on the surface of the Moon, causing the moon to take on a red-orange color.
It was magical that night, standing out in the field watching the eclipse unfold. My eye was focused through the camera for most of the duration and it was only afterwards that I realized a slender finger of a green aurora was also captured on film. That was a pleasing bonus.
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Thanks to Ben Huberman and WordPress for the Weekly Photo Challenge: Let There Be Light.
Thanks to Ed Prescott for the Sunday Stills: Night Shots prompt.
Thanks to Ailsa for the Weekly Travel Theme: Sky. (The night sky is so wondrous.)
Thanks also to Sue for the Word a Week Challenge: High. (How high the moon is.)
Thanks to the kind folks at SkyWatch Friday.
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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.
Five Crows is on FaceBook. To give the gallery a visit, please click here.
Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™
The Tao of Feathers™
(This photo was taken November 8, 2003.)
© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)
Lunar Eclipse, Aurora Borealis
Beautiful Great Blue Heron in the Rain for Wordless Saturday
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Thanks to CosmicGirlie for hosting Silent Sunday.
Thanks to Ed Prescott for the Sunday Stills: Favorite prompt. (No secret that great blue herons are a favorite model of mine.)
Thanks to Ailsa for the Weekly Travel Theme: Fragrant. (The Great Blue Heron seemed to be smelling the fragrant flowers there in the cove in the rain that morning.)
A thank-you to Michelle for the Weekly Pet Challenge Roundup nudge.
Thanks once again to Stewart Moncton for the Wild Bird Wednesday prompt.
Thanks to the kind folks at NaBloPoMo for the National Blog Posting Month challenge this November.
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A selection of my heron and flower photos is now available at the Five Crows Gallery in Natick, MA. Drop in and see the work of the many wonderfully creative artists who show there when you’re in the area.
Remember: Walk softly and carry a long lens.™
The Tao of Feathers™
(This photo was taken August 14, 2011.)
© 2013 Babsje. (https://babsjeheron.wordpress.com)
Great Blue Heron
Babsje Heron 