06.29.07 SAGE ADVICE

Posted anonymously on a wall downtown, this advice reminds me of Disney's Pooh tearing off in a new direction mumbling, "Think, think, think..."

06.28.07 MUSTANG TERRY

My son Jasper, an avid horse lover, stopped in at Maupin's country store where he met an amazing couple. Theresa Fassett and Herman Spencer are traveling across the country with their rescued mustang Keresan. Theresa rides Keresan where ever possible, introducing him to children, families, church groups, and anyone interested. Their goal is to raise consciousness of the plight of America's magnficent herds of wild mustangs whose management many claim is causing unnecessary suffering and the gradual decline of their numbers. You can read more about Theresa and Keresan at www.wildhorsepreservation.com/keresan.html

06.27.07 FIELD AT ANATHOTH

"I think of Anathoth as a garden created during war and thus a defiant garden. The violence isn’t only in Iraq. [It's in our communities.] It’s inside us. Turning the compost pile with Adele and Taisuke, transplanting a bed of sweet potatoes with Joe and Anthony from Volunteers for Youth -- these are small acts of protest...against the violence within our souls.”

“On its own, gardening will by no means change the world...it’s exactly the uselessness of the gesture, the smallness of it, the discomfort of doing work that is physically demanding, in which the garden finds its strength. Gardening is a “complete action” according to Wendell Berry, because it is an act that is more than symbolic. Gardening is protest but it goes beyond protest and proposes an answer.”

Fred Bahnson, manager of the community garden, “The Field at Anathoth,” in Cedar Grove, North Carolina. Writing in the July-August issue of Orion magazine.

06.25.07 SIZE MATTERS

This photograph came across my desk twice this week. Once in a magazine and then again sent in a completely unrelated email. It is a view of a TINY black bit of the night sky taken by the Hubble space telescope. It is titled "the Hubble Ultra Deep Field." Each blob of light is a galaxy, some whose interesting shapes and orientations can be easily distinguished. OUR GALAXY, the Milky Way, is home to more than 100 billion stars. And the sky is just filled with millions MORE galaxies stretching beyond our ability to see or count them. Looking away from our claybound shoes is definitely a humbling experience!

06.17.07 FOUND IT!

Never thought I could find such an easy "sign of hope." This homemade sign was bolted to a traffic sign in Richmond, Virginia.

06.15.07 FRIENDSHIP URBAN GARDEN

Farmer and community activist Will Allen, founder of Growing Power and the Rainbow Farmers Cooperative in Milwaukee, Wisconson recently visited our town. Two communities of low-income families supported by grants from local non-profit organizations are starting an urban agriculture project just two blocks from downtown. A local business which "grows" compost was delivering the rich garden fertilizer and soil amendment to the site this morning. It will be wonderful to watch the neighborhood turn this former empty lot into a source of good food and additional cash.

06.10.2007 CONVENIENT MEMORIAL

The matriarch of the family owning our local convenience store, Queen Della Maupin, just passed on from this life. We will all miss her pleasant smile and warm greeting. Neighbors turned the entrance to the store into a memorial overnight.

06.09.2007 SPONTANEOUS EXHIBITION

The photo festival this weekend prompted one photographer to stage his own exhibition on the side of the building across from the window of my studio. Hopeful words from Jimmy Carter and beautiful photos from Africa.

06.08.07 ROUND TWO

The bluebird house in our garden just became the host of a second clutch of eggs! The last families’ fledglings moved out weeks ago.

06.05.07 EVIDENT HUMANISM

On a visit to Washington, DC, I am reassured to find artwork both inside the Library of the United States Congress as well as on statuary throughout the city, which glorifies the magnificent human body. John Ashcroft and his zealous cronies hoping to protect the “moral integrity” of our country have not prevailed!

06.03.07 LOOK UP!

The photographers of my town have organized a huge festival of photography for this weekend. The downtown is filled with photo exhibits both inside AND outside.