a toad for kansas

Ah yes, there's the view I'm most familiar with, of the elephant that sprawls like a mountain across a landscape and lets snow shapes dance in the spaces created by the trees.


Desperation requires documentation of all living things of colour still clinging to the branch, bitter like the cold.


Horizon line defines in the mind a place for the eyes to go and discover something under the cover of empty and abstract.


With a minimal amount of information a gesture implied by the tilt of a head personifies a bird.


It is pretty much impossible not to look at the table first. Funny how that works.


This spot, just up behind my house, appears quite accessible, it beckons me to explore it and provides the foothills as it were to Toad Mountain. That's where people discovered a whole lot of silver which pretty much put Nelson on the map about a hundred years ago. JD this one's for you down there in kansas country, just another toad shot to add to the collection.

sunny day

I have had an abscessed tooth since last Saturday morning. I have not really been able to eat much so I saved the turkey. Today the swelling was way down so I put the bird in the oven at 9:30 this morning. Ryder was already here and the other two were due back from their mom's around dinner time so I anticipated at least having someone here to eat it. On instinct I pulled the bird out at 4:00. Seemed done to me and without a meat thermometer I didn't have anyway to verify. Ryder was the only one here when I decided to eat. He didn't want any of the "chicken". He thinks the chicken has a turkey in it or some such thing. He was very alarmed to discover it was an actual bird being eaten. He ate lots of carrots and the beans but not the pod and tried a little meat but I was really the only one eating. I was pretty impressed with myself for the fine meal it was. It could have used some broccoli and cheese sauce and some gravy, I forgot about both, but the bird was cooked to perfection.


The tooth thing has kept me indoors for most of the last week, thus the lack of photos. I have taken a few right from my window but it's a pretty limiting vantage point. This however was simply irresistible. The bright blue sky today was a welcome change and those trees covered in snow literally jumped out of the scene.


I have been watching the icicles outside my window with considerable interest. They hang right in front of the window next door and if I lived there I could get some cool close-ups. This is the best I can get from my place.


Wow, what a different view of Elephant Mountain I have over here on this side of town. It looks awesome in the sunlight!


There will be more attempts all winter, to capture the sled in action. I missed an airborne shot by mere tenths of a second and this wipe out was the best I could do today as far as timing goes. It's still the one thing I dislike about digital, the one second delay between pushing the shutter and having it activate.

Everyone hold hands

Everyone hold hands and say, all at once, SUNSHINE!


This tree so easily accessible just through a window frame will remain in spite of the season and will return in six months to show off its change.


There was just something about all that blue sky that said, here, let me backdrop those lines.


Is there anything better than using the sled you got for christmas right away, I think not! It's one memory I certainly cling to.

santa pause

Wanting to believe in some kind of magic associated with the season the accumulation of fallen snow shapes itself to reflect the face of the magician.

angels and aliens

Garry and Jenn's house. It's like a great big candy or a beautifully wrapped present.


Desperate that even frozen petals of metal will suffice as a return to the natural design flowers make.


Kitsch. Odd colours made even weirder in the fading snow-blue daylight.
I want to take a picture of that, but it's too boring.
Do you want me to stand there?
Okay.


Peace comes in disguise hidden by the lines the angels make as they levitate above the background surface brought to fore like two fingers like two doves mean peace.


Separated by the necessary dividing line in order to perceive duality as other than one thing the caged alien twisted by design harbors the deepest abnormalities of mind.

happy solstice

Simplicity in design and a smile to highlight the colour.
Season's Greetings All
keep smiling.


I see I'm falling behind here.


The kids had their christmas concert the other day. An awesome rendition of The Nutcracker. Tyla was in the choir and Ryder did a song and dance with the other K's.


As if it had an eye to its own design the snow clings to the painted wall along the line of mountains and litters the pseudo sky with clouds.


Familiar shapes as if nature infringed upon copy written material to steal the design from the mind of the spiral that winds into itself to exact its purpose.


In the top right corner of the ice is the eye and it seems to smile and caught me as I walked by but eluded me when I tried to define it's presence until I retraced my steps and found that perfect place where everything connects and the universe comes through in the blink of an eye.


How many times can three holes make two eyes and a mouth and where do the faces stop in order to define gone too far.


Confused by a proliferation of angles the key to understanding is to follow the line inside where the self stands.

solid and cold

A little frazzled by the pressures of expectations even he who performs magic must pause for a rest.


This is a cool car. The whole thing is covered in flowers and landscapes, a frog on the gas tank door. It was a welcome sight and nice to be able to get close for once.


I mean, I'm reaching here, like the snowman who waves an expression from behind a plastic facade.


I am literally craving colour. All this grey cloud socked in winter cold is exasperating. In a desperate attempt to placate these hue demons, green lines meant to remind of spring inevitable.


Contrasts in shape and colour provide a visual war dance between aspects of seeing if one can find the om way.


He cracked himself up throwing snow at the camera. He wanted to see if he could hit the lens. After three tries I managed to get some of the snow in mid-flight.


And though when left to exposure that allows examination of the individuals that make up the whole the uniqueness is the only thing they all share collectively like a pile of snow looks solid and cold.

it is useless

You better watch out, someone is always watching.


Desperate for the flourish of colour alive in the petals of earth's gift to the sun.


I was waiting for him to get farther into the frame to make a balance when suddenly his feet lifted. I missed getting him in air by about two tenths of a second, alas. Ooh that one hurt!


Behind the obvious in a matter of seconds of concentration the landscape envelopes the mind in imagination and the soldiers of compartmentalization stand forth.


Ordinary people think the 'Great Tao' is actually useless. That everyone thinks it is useless, is proof of how great it is. If it was the kind of thing ordinary people thought was useful, it would have disappeared long ago.
-- Funny how it's changed from a shot I took awhile ago.


Speaks from the trees when faces appear as the degrees of light breaking behind mountain barrier warm frozen landscape and bring to life everything not dead or dormant for the frozen season.



haiku

face appears in trees
twisted kiss winks an eye where
a branch once grew out


Binocular like vision is easier when each eye has a place to go independent yet connected by the underlying pattern to the flow of everything when allowed to permeate thought through vision.


Frozen like fingers left exposed to the cold point to the pot of gold found in the circle balanced like a ring.



Again we find the ring of truth in the pattern made by the mother as she hums to the tune of om while spinning circles of symbols like mind makes perfection seem easy..

delve into the sublime

Repeating patterns of chaos symbolized by the way the lines spiral out in the same direction.


Pinned to the place the curve of reflection makes when it compounds confusion with a profusion of lights.


Standing atop the mountain of shapes at the imagination's disposal the break of sunlight makes a mark on the landscape.


Faced with the prospects of another adventure into the battle between black and white the eyes popped with fright.


It takes a long time to find just what it is the mind likes to play with in order to delve into the sublime shapes nature makes when allowed to perform unmolested.


Surrounding darkness with a systematic progress of growth into and out of the empty space