Showing posts with label Seasons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seasons. Show all posts

Thursday, August 28, 2025

GRATEFUL FOR...


~Grateful for Each Season~


I cherish each season, its rhythm, its grace,

Though summer’s thick air I’d rather not face.

Still, butterflies dance and the flowers unfold,

Bees hum through gardens in sunlight and gold.


Fall comes like an old friend, steady and true,

With crisp morning air and skies painted blue.

The trees wear their colors like gowns spun from flame,

And warmth lingers softly, though chill stakes its claim.


Then winter drifts in with a hush and a sigh,

As nature curls up beneath blanket and sky.

Woodsmoke meanders through twilight’s cool breath,

A whisper of comfort, of stillness, of rest.


Spring stirs the silence with blossoms and song,

New buds awaken, where dreams have grown long.

Birds wing their way home from journeys afar,

Their voices like lanterns, their flight like a star.


Through heat and through frost, through bloom and through bare,

I’m thankful for all that the seasons declare—

Each one a chapter, a gift to behold,

A story of life in its colors retold.













(Photo and Poem via Copilot with prompts by me. I wrote all my favorites about each season and asked it to put my words in poetry form. The image I asked for all seasons in one watercolor.)



Tuesday, October 19, 2021

MERRY AUTUMN DAYS…

‘Tis pleasant on a fine spring morn

To see the buds expand; 

‘Tis pleasant in the summer time

To see the fruitful land;

‘Tis pleasant on a winter’s night

To sit around the blaze,

But what are joys like these, my boys,

To merry autumn days

We hail the merry autumn days,

When leaves are turning red;

Because they’re far more beautiful 

Than anyone has said,

We hail the merry harvest time,

The gayest of the year;

The time of rich and bounteous crops,

Rejoicing and good cheer.


~Charles Dickens~

Born Charles John Huffam Dickens 

February 7th,1812 - June 9th, 1870 



Dedicating this post to all our farmers, and to those who work very hard trying to keep the supply chain going.





Monday, October 3, 2016

The National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC


There is always plenty to see when we take a trip into Washington DC.  This day we were meeting up with Gregg's cousin and her husband who were in town attending a conference.  Their time was tight but we popped into the city so that we could see them before they had to go off to their next event. 



 Because we decided to go in early and didn't have as much traffic as we thought, we had time on our hands before we met up.  We were not far from the Air and Space Museum, which was great because it had been a couple of years since the last time we visited this particular museum.



Above is the Viking Lander.  I took a photo of the explanation which is below.  Sorry but I didn't get it all in frame, and if you enlarge the photo you should be able to see it a little more clearly.






Lunar Module LM-2
explanation below.  Again, please enlarge photo to read.






I moved to the States just before the museum opened in 1976, and I remember being in total awe of all the flying machines, including those launched into space.  



It also has a mock-up deck of an aircraft carrier where you can be piped on board, and see planes land on a huge screen, almost like being there.  We didn't check that out this time.




I am not sure what the spaceship is above but below is....



Telstar



As we walked outside there were beautiful skies overhead.











With many thanks to our hosts of the following memes, which I am joining in with today.

Jesh at Seasons
Tom at Tuesday's Treasures
N.C. Sue at Wordless (on Tuesday) at Image-in-ing



Monday, September 19, 2016

MORE FROM HISTORIC CLIFTON, IN VIRGINIA

A few of the historic houses found in Clifton, Virginia, ending up with an old baptist church that is now closed, and possibly under renovation.









































With many thanks to our hosts of the following memes, which I am joining in with today.


Monday, September 12, 2016

A FEW TREASURES FOUND AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART IN WASHINGTON DC - PART 2


I didn't share all the photos I took when we last visited the art gallery, so thought I would do another post today.


Venice: The Dogana and San Georgia Maggiore
Oil on canvas, 1834
Turner, Joseph Mallord William
British 1775 - 1851
Widener Collection


Maria Teresa de Borbon y Vallabriga, 
later Condesa de Chinchon
Oil on Canvas 1783
Francisco de Goya
Spanish, 1746-1828
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection


Ginevra de' Benci
Oil on Panel c. 1474-1478
Leonardo da Vinci
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund


I was in awe to see a painting on display by Leonardo da Vinci.  It is the only one in America painted by the artist.  Ginevra de' Benci was a Florentine noblewoman who at the age of sixteen was married to Luigi Niccolini in 1474.  It is suggested that this may have been an engagement or wedding portrait, or commissioned by Bernardo Bembo, the Venetian Ambassador to Florence and Ginevra's close friend and admirer.

I was surprised that I could walk behind the painting to see the reverse side.  It showed that on the back was a wreath of laurel and palm encircling a sprig of juniper.  A scroll bears the Latin inscription, "Virtutem Forma Decorat" -  "Beauty Adorns Virtue."

Astonishingly, and I didn't know until I read this information on line a few days after our visit, on the front of the painting you can actually see Leonardo's fingerprints on the paint surface. These show how the artist used his hand as well as a brush to blend colors and create soft, delicate edges.  I dearly want to go back to the gallery to see this painting again, and look for those fingerprints.  I took a photo of the explanation which you can see below.  It will be easier to read if you enlarge.  You can read more here.





The Black Hat
c. 1890
Mary Cassatt
American, 1844-1926
Pastel
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985




On the Stile 
1878
Winslow Homer
American 1836-1910
Watercolor, gouache and graphite on wove paper
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

Mount Corcoran
c. 1876-1877
Albert Bierstadt
American, 1830-1902
Oil on Canvas
Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase Gallery Fund)



That's all for today's post.  I have more photos to share another time.