Google Earth Images: South West Florida Inspiration

These amazing google earth photos of the human impact on the South West Florida Landscape are found here.
To me, they look like modern day petroglyphs and I can't help but be dazzled by the graphic look.
There's a lot of outrage in the comments, about environmental damage and American wastefulness and American snobbishness, but you know, before I read it, I just went through each photo amazed at the visual drama.
What can I say? Sometimes I look for pretty first. Sometimes I see pretty in ugly. Sometimes the story told is more than just about evil or good, sometimes it's just about being human. As well as the evil and the good. This one reminds me of Jess Gonacha Swift's work.
This one I think looks like a cave painting or a piece of aboriginal art.

Anyway. They make me want to paint abstracted images. Patterns. Roughed up geometry and organic forms.

Discovered via the great automatism. Thanks Lori.

Moss You Can Wear and Moss That Might Like to Wear You If You Hold Still Long Enough.

Look how beautiful and lovely. A pendant reminiscent of moss and stone. Neither are real, so you don't have to worry about water or weight or even little lively insects taking up shop in your jewelry. You can find this and OTHERS! at AdornJewelry, which I found through secret notebooks wild pages.

They have both inspired me to add my own image of moss.

I took this picture back in January in my garden, because, well, that's what January is like in Florida. This is a planter that was covered in this cool moss with sprouts-- or whatever that is.
It was kind of hard to photograph because there was so much green. The planter was green, the moss was green, the background was green. I like this shot because you can see those moss things so clearly. I like the narrow focus.

Maybe I should start taking daily photos again. Hmmm. I really want a new camera, but it is not in the budget at the moment. Someday, though.

Stuff My Kids Gave Me and Other Spiritual Practices

Stuff My Kids Gave Me This Morning, 3/31/09

In a post on Spiritual Practices for Hope in Uncertain Time, Magpie Girl talks about walking in the dark, about riding out the wave in writing and about breathing true things. All beautiful practices. Go there to hear what she has to say. At the end of her post, she asked a question. "What spiritual practices do you have to nurture hope in times of uncertainty? "

That got me to thinking about what I do when money is tight and there isn't any on the horizon, and the only thing that keeps you going is hope. You've just got to believe. How do you keep the faith? Now, I'm not religious, although I know people turn to religion for that hope. Me, I have to turn to the little things. The beautiful things, the point of it all.

That's what this blog is supposed to be about. Little things. Inspiration. Cheap and/or free things, so I thought this is the place for me to share a little bit of what I've learned, not just the cool things I see on the web while going about.

So these are the things I have done in uncertain times.

I have kept a list of at least three things a day that made me happy. Sometimes it was tough to make my quota, Sometimes my happy file floweth over.

I have taken a picture a day. Often many more than one. There are beautiful things out there if you look for them. They turn up everywhere.

Lately I am starting to draw a sketch from life once a day… or maybe not even once, maybe just every once in a while. When you pay attention to the line of a grape stem, you start seeing the wonder all around you. I think it also helps to take up a project so you feel like you are growing as a person and being productive, even if other things aren't going so well. It could be the photography or it could be learning to play guitar or cooking vegan, or growing a window garden.

Also, my kids keep giving me stuff they find, rocks, berries, twigs… I think I’d like to collect these things somehow, a record of them. Perhaps a photo of them, laid out on a piece of paper. (Oh, hey, it's already done! Inspired by this post, and this post. See, this blog really is my inspiration file. Just stick around and see what else I create based on what I find here. :)

Also, have picnics. Take walks. Window shop. Stop and listen when someone is playing music in a public place. Sing. Dance. Spin with a child. People watch. Go barefoot. Have long heartfelt conversations. Have sex. Stand in the rain… take advantage of all the free sensual and spiritual pleasures in life.

Life is still good, even when it sucks.

Keep the conversation going. What are the things you do to keep hope in tough times?

Hi! This is Me.

After I cobbled together a dohickey made out of a cereal box so that I could take my through the viewfinder pictures on thisthe Duraflex II I got at a great estate sale a few months ago.

It's a lot less pretty now that it's got cardboard duct taped to it, but it works better for taking fun photo shots.

Hey, now that I look at it, some kid of mine has lost the knob on the crank. Grrr.

But I'm impressed with the picture I took. So, I guess I don't need the crank. I don't even think the camera works in its original state.

Modern Pirate Frock FANTABULOUS PHOTOSHOOT!

Oh, well, see, I loved these pictures and this dress so much I was going to post about them anyway before I found out they were a giveaway. I love the fantasy world, make believe, story book setting. The dress is fantabulous.

How fun would it be to set up a pirate background and have a kid photo shoot in costume? Well, she talks about a green screen, and that just ain't gonna happen for me. I'm the kinda gal who makes things out of paint and cardboard and newspapers. Computers mean I spend a week pulling my hair out trying to figure the some'in some'in out.

Still, I like the idea of a photo shoot. I have some giant cats... a leopard and a black panther... we could start with that. And goodness, our back yard looks like a jungle anyway. Now I need some explorer outfits. If I won this Modern Pirate Frock we could start there. One down, one to go.

Modern Pirate Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Work Outfit

Here's me in my new apron. Well, old apron. I found it in a high cupboard when I was looking for the juicer to make grapefruit juice (the dark leaf at the top of the picture is from the grapefruit tree).

This apron used to be my grandfather's. I like that. It's mine now. Here's a detail. Look at the rick rack and the embroidered flowers. It's made out of a heavy cotton and the ties are adjustable. And the colors are just my colors. I'm a total winter.

I've needed this apron, because I have been working HARD.

I've been cooking and tending kids and fending off sticky peanut butter fingers and painting and writing and BECOMING A BUSINESSWOMAN.

Yes, I've finally opened up my etsy shop. Stop by. I will be adding prints to it as time goes on and you never know what new flying person or dream will show up next.

Imke Klee

A photocard by stylist Imke Klee, found via Visual-Notes, a lovely blog.

I've been seeing these things all over the internet, and every time I do, I get the almost irresistible urge to gather up my collections and start photographing them on a white background.

And then a messmaker or two comes barelling through the room with peanut butter fingers akimbo yelling like a banshee and swinging a light saber, so I never get around to it.

I still love the idea of documenting loved and beautiful things. I love the ideas of collections. I love the idea of coordinating a color theme with them, to give some unification of the disparate items.

Looking at this one here, though, I start getting an idea to allow the things within them to not be random, but to tell a story. These little animals put me in mind of fairy tales and getting lost in the woods. I feel like there should be a red riding hood in here. But that wouldn't fit with the color tale, would it? She's got more color collections in her flickr photostream.

What kind of "random" items can come together to create a mystery? I am intrigued by the concept, although I might never get the opportunity to try it until the kids are in High School.


Look at that. There's a whole flickr pool for organized collections. I have got to figure out flickr. Any suggestions for an overwhelmed newbie?

Fun With Play Clay

Ho Ho Ho.

This looks like a photo from the 70's but I took it this morning, underexposed, and then played with contrast and brightness and turned it black and white. I kind of like the grainy look. Those are the play-clay snow men we made, and the Christmas tree, too. And behind them is a photo of my Grandmother. She died when I was born. I like the picture, though.

Okay, the kids didn't make the snowmen, I did. Because I didn't know if the solid balls of clay would ever dry, or dry without cracking, or even stick together if they did dry. So these snowmen are hollow. I made a hollow tube around my finger and just pinched and squooshed the tube into snowman shape. The tree is also hollow. I made the cone and then squooshed and stretched it into a kind of seussical shape. We'll see if they dry correctly. Maybe we'll paint them. Or maybe not.

Play Clay Recipe
1 cup Flour
1/2 cup salt
1 TB oil
1 TB cream of tartar
1 Cup water

Stir over medium heat until of good consistency. Add dough and food coloring to zip top sandwich bags. Mash and mix in the bags. Store in bags in refrigerator.


As an added plus, the kids thought it tasted awful, so none of that pesky eating the play clay nonsense. Yay for home made!

The Hunt for Stuff, the Hunt for Meaning

Estate Sale Camera and Vintage Hat, or Thrifting Adventure with My Mom

I have been taking pictures daily for the last year and a half. It has been quite the adventure.

Usually the pictures are of my children, although sometimes a landscape, cityscape or self portrait will sneak in there. They serves not only to document my early years taking care of my children, but also helped me develop my photography skills, even with my dinky point and shoot... which I love, by the way. I lost it once and upgraded to a later model, which was cheaper, by going refurbished. Sometimes, new is not more sensible, especially since I treat my camera pretty roughly.

Simple Beliefs, by sfgirlbybay


But I was looking through my googlereader subscriptions and came across this entry by sfgirlbybay. I just found her blog and really love it. Sometimes we find what we need when we need it. Like, for instance, a set of lovely diptych photos documenting things in her life/apartment that represented larger concepts in her life.

I think I'd like to do that more. I would enjoy playing with "stuff" more, especially since I spent the last two years purging, and doing with out. I'd like to build up my collections again, and that means it's time to start getting out in the world more and looking for soulful things on all my journeys.

I love the hunt for the wild repurposed item. Or the challenge of searching for just the right dress in a wilderness of dusty salvation army castoffs.

But aside from finding things to love, I also want to pay attention to the things that I have and the value I find in them... whether or not they actually cost a lot of money.

For instance, the hat and camera above? Well, they represent that hunt for vintage soul, sure they do, but the hat also reminds me of the style I used to have and how much I loved coming up with new looks. And the camera? Well, that reminds me to be adventurous with my art. To take photos that maybe aren't so straight forward, but play with a worn look or change the way I am looking at the ordinary. And it was two dollars!

I think this would be a fun exercise. And I think this is a good place for me to document the small and heartful world that I live in.