Creatures Great and Small

"All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small..."
-Cecil F. Alexander, Hymns for Little Children

Muscle and mane, speed and power: thoroughbred horses.

Whir of wings, darting grace: hummingbirds.

Gleaming coat and jeweled throat,

Swift and shining, motion's glory...

Horses and hummingbirds.



Photo sets:
A Day at the Races
Hummingbirds

Visit to Yaddo: A Different Perspective

Today, I'm concluding my mini-series on the Gardens of Yaddo, that I began here, and continued here. My daughter, who accompanies me on many of my local Journeys, has agreed to let me include some of the commentary and photos from her private Flickr set.

Where I tend to focus on "pretty" pictures, she looks for the odd angle or the imperfect but interesting detail. Her narrative contains many imaginative elements:

"One purple flower made me think of Queen Elizabeth I; the blossom grew out from its leaf in a way that reminded me of Gloriana's crowned head framed by a ruff."

"There's lots in literature about magic doors and gardens- in Alice, in the Secret Garden- so we took our time admiring the Gate and ironwork before passing through to the Garden."

While I spent a considerable amount of time trying to capture the beauty of the roses, my daughter turned her artist's sensibilities towards the sculptures:

"I was more excited to visit the statuary than the roses. Brookgreen Gardens...and the Nina Winkel Gallery, hidden away in the Arts building at Plattsburgh, are two of my favorite places in the world. At Brookgreen, especially, my eyes refocused permanently, and now, when I see a figurative sculpture, especially one that has been placed outside, I like to look at it till it's alive. For me, Outside is the only gallery that can truly complement sculpture, or at least in the way I appreciate it."

And when I was patiently waiting for the "perfect shot" of the marble figures, she happily incorporated nature into her compositions:

"Autumn had a bug on her foot and a spider nestled into her sheaves of wheat. Winter, who carried pinecones, had a complex look on her face- hidden thoughts, sleeping dreams. Spring was my favorite, with cheeks that looked rosy despite being marble, and flowers spilling all around. Summer had a mischievous grin and carried grapes."

We did agree in our preference for the informal,
less constrained aspects of the gardens:

"I'm not one much for roses, or formal gardens in general. The arranged flowers were pretty, but I found myself more interested in the beetles and bugs and koi fish then the roses. Those poor koi fish- they live in a fountain in the center of the garden, and got so excited when they saw my shadow that I apologized for not having any food. At one point the biggest milky fish and the biggest red fish hopped up at the same time and kissed on the lips. My first ever pets were two goldfish; they were named Diana and Charles, because they looked like they were kissing sometimes, and the big fairytale royal wedding of their namesakes had just taken place, in 1981."

Her description of "nature's barflies" make me laugh, though I don't
share her enthusiasm for photographing tiny "beasties":

"I spent a lot of time looking at the rugarosa roses- they were crawling with beetles and bees, inchworms and other beasties. The roses almost seemed treacherous, as though the insects couldn't unstick themselves- or maybe they didn't want to. Nature's barflies, closing time at dusk instead of dawn. One big bumblebee in a rose was buzzing loud and frantic; I couldn't figure if it was anger or pollen euphoria."

In the end, we both agreed that the Rock Garden was our favorite:

"Of course I liked this sort of garden more, less obvious artifice to the art. Me and Diane looked at the fountain shooting from a dome of rocks in a pool. She saw a stump that could serve as a fairy house, which made me think of the terrain in little-folk terms: valleys and desserts and forests, the fountain an impossible mountain in a lake. I liked the fuzzy purple flowers that grew with the ferns around the pool."

I've enjoyed reading her commentary, seeing the gardens with other
eyes.

Her vision in not my vision, but that's why our shared expeditions are
so special.


Visit to Yaddo: A Different Perspective

view presentation (tags: saratoga yaddo)

A Visit to Yaddo - Part 2

In addition to the formal Rose Garden, Yaddo has an informal Rock Garden. Mossy rocks, tumbling streams, and a fanciful geyser-like fountain create a mini-Eden.

Here a visitor can wander and dream and forget, for a time, the frantic world that exists beyond the garden gates.


You can also view these photos as a Flickr slideshow here

A Visit to Yaddo - Part 1

Today my daughter and I visited the Gardens at Yaddo, a grand home that has been preserved as a working artists' community.

Yaddo was owned by Spencer Trask, a New York City financier and Katrina Nichols Trask, his wife, a published poet. Legend has it that the name "Yaddo" was suggested by four-year-old Christina Trask's charming mis-pronunciation of the work "shadow."

When all four of the Trask children died within a one-year span, possibly during a diphtheria epidemic, the heartbroken parents decided to form what became the Corporation of Yaddo, endowed in perpetuity to serve as a creative retreat for artists.

The buildings and cottages on the estate are only rarely opened to the public, in order to maintain "uninterrupted time to work, good working conditions, and a supportive community" for the residents.

Visitors are welcome to stroll the gardens, however, and enjoy the serene beauty of its flowers and fountains.

The Rose Garden is based on Italian classical gardens that the Trasks had seen in their travels abroad. There are four statues representing the Four Seasons, and a statue of a youth, "Christalan" which serves as a "memorial to the children of this house." Christalan represents youth, chivalry, and victory over mortality.


On the marble balcony, there is a sundial inscribed with a poem composed by Henry VanDyke, a friend of the Trasks:

"Hours fly, flowers die, New days, New ways pass by, Love stays."


To see some of the roses in the garden, please click below and visit my Flickr set The Rose Garden at Yaddo

A Day at the Races

"The essential joy of being with horses is that it brings us in contact with the rare elements of grace, beauty, spirit, and fire.
-Sharon Ralls Lemon"

Saratoga Racetrack, August 27, 2007: Clubhouse and Paddock. One last fling before school resumes!

Saratoga Morning

"If a horse has four legs, and I'm riding it, I think I can win"
-Angel Cordero

This morning I watched racehorses work out at Saratoga. There were no colorful silks and caps, no wagers placed; just jockeys and horses going about their business under the watchful eyes of owners and trainers.

Monday I'll return to join the crowds in the grandstand and cheer for the entries, who carry mighty dreams on four impossibly slender legs.

But today it was jeans and dust and purposeful exercise on an oval track.

See more photos here.