Sunday, December 31, 2017



How do you know that the pilgrim track 
Along the belting zodiac 
Swept by the sun in his seeming rounds 
Is traced by now to the Fishes’ bounds 
And into the Ram, when weeks of cloud 
Have wrapt the sky in a clammy shroud, 
And never as yet a tinct of spring 
Has shown in the Earth’s apparelling; 
 O vespering bird, how do you know, 
 How do you know?


from The Year's Awakening
by Thomas Hardy

Thursday, December 21, 2017



“Come in, -- come in! and know me better, man! 
I am the Ghost of Christmas Present. Look upon me! 
You have never seen the like of me before!” 

from A Christmas Carol 
by Charles Dickens

Wednesday, December 13, 2017


Much is missed if we have eyes only for the bright colors. 
Nature should be viewed without distinction… She makes no choice 
herself; everything that happens has equal significance. 
Nothing can be dispensed with. This is a common mistake 
that many people make: They think that half of nature 
can be destroyed — the uncomfortable half 
— while still retaining the acceptable and the pleasing side.”
 – Eliot Porter

Tuesday, December 12, 2017




“Sometimes you can tell a large story with a tiny subject.” 
– Eliot Porter

Saturday, December 9, 2017



“Big Ben was beginning to strike, first the warning, musical; 
then the hour, irrevocable.” 

from Mrs Dalloway
by Virginia Woolf

Saturday, December 2, 2017



“Our memories are like a city: we tear some structures down, 
and we use the rubble of the old to raise up the new ones.” 

from The City's Son
by Tom Pollock