Tag Archives: photography

A Low Sun Over Bitter Lake: Two Views

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I grew up in eastern South Dakota. Two of the things I have always loved about that place are the  vast skies and the way the tall grass on the open prairie ripples like waves on a lake, tossed by the nearly incessant wind. Squint a little and you can see the past, into a time before the towns, the highways, the wire and post fences and the yellow squares of lamplight signalling home existed. When there are no houses or buildings around to distract you from your smallness, you get a sense of proportion that is a gentle reminder of  our true size in this incomprehensibly enormous universe. One can get a unique kind of clarity experiencing the wide open.

 

 

When I was young, I couldn’t wait to get away from the  home where it seemed like there was nothing but earth and sky and judgment. I rushed off to experience noise and activity and possibility. Now, saturated with noise and activity, and grieving the crushing death of many of those possibilities, I fantasize about building myself a little cabin off the grid on a small rise in the middle of as much empty as I can find. I long for a  place in the openness between earth and sky, where I might quietly wait to see what possibilities clarity can bring.

 

I’m a Fan…of Pioneer Woman

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I have a couple of new blog series (serieses?) I am considering doing. One is “I’m a Fan…” wherein I will tell you all about what I am finding worthy of shouting about these days, for instance, today’s topic: “Pioneer Woman Cooks.”  The other series would be “My Favorite Places” where I will share where I love to be and why. If you like the posts even a little bit, I need you to indicate that in one of two ways. The fast way is to click the “like” button at the bottom of the post. The slower but more creatively stimulating way is to leave a comment and share your thoughts on things or places you like, or whatever you feel inspired to say. If you really, really like it tell some (or all) of your friends to come visit, too.  If I don’t get much feedback, I’ll gather that I am blogging up the wrong tree and let it go. These will be series in the sense that there will be more than one post on the topic, but not in the sense that they will be back to back. I gotta go where the muse sends me (she can be very pushy–and fickle, but don’t tell her I said that.)

I am a fan of the blog “Pioneer Woman Cooks.”  at http://www.pioneerwoman.com. My friend Suzy turned me on to this and I am so thankful she did. Ree Drummond has this fantastic story about being a corporate city girl who ended up marrying a cowboy and living on a ranch in Oklahoma, where she has written cookbooks and is developing a cooking show. She also blogs about photography, home and garden stuff and home schooling, but I don’t follow it all because I don’t have time to read it. I can’t fathom how she has time to do it all AND photograph it AND blog about it. I still haven’t picked a color for my dining room. She’d have her whole ranch painted by now. Anyway, what I love about Ree is how self-effacing and funny she is while also being clever and seductive in the way of food lust. Even the recipes I would never want to make for myself (let alone the small, ungrateful troop of Philistines I call my family) I end up reading with longing. You may experience envy seeing her photos and reading what she is up to, but you will never begrudge her her life because you will come to believe (as I have,) that if you and she knew each other, you would be the best of friends. So to recap: Pioneer Woman, really good ideas, super fun reading, cooking, photography, home/garden, giggles.

You can click on a link to her blog to the right under Blogroll. Don’t forget to click “Like” if you liked this post, or leave a comment and tell me what you think of her, or what blog you love right now or whatever you want. Thanks for stopping in! ♥