A Creche Scene for the Times

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I am not one for Christmas Pageantry, but this morning, the creche in front of Amicable Congregational Church in Tiverton, RI, stopped me in my tracks.  There, gathered around a 55 gallon drum, were wooden figures whose chiseled tears and black eyes told volumes about hard times.  The shopping cart in this tableau was not one filled with Christmas gifts and gaudy packages. It’s emptiness tells a story about homelessness, loss and the deprivation of human dignity - a powerful message in this season of consumerism excess.

Fall Color - At Long Last

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Hurricane Irene didn’t destroy our roads as it did in Vermont, but it took with it all the fall color.  But a return trip to Storm King gave me a chance to revel in the autumn art show that makes the vagaries of this climate bearable.  The entire landscape at Storm King is part of the display.  Carefully planted fields of grass turn shades of grey, muted purple and oranges adding texture and color to the scene.


Andy Goldsworthy's wall of arching curves.

 

 

Alphabet in the Wild....

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The Letter T is brought to you by the toadstools at Destruction Brook.

 

The Letter W is brought to you by the corn husks of Cornell Farm.

 

The Letter J is brought to you by the Simsarian's Vermont Garden Gate.

 

The letter X is brought to you by Vermont farmers.  Read the sign carefully....

The letter M is brought to my the sideways tree along the alpaca field at the Cornell Farm.

Opening Scene

I felt like a movie director this morning.  There was no story, no actors, but a magnificent opening credit scene.  Green lawns, classic New England stone walls, and a morning sky filled with fast moving clouds from the Northeast dappling the light.  From the sky, the camera pans in closer to the treeline as a cello note, deep and plaintive, follows the brown leaves falling in a graceful steady arc to the ground.  Not the golden and red beauties we associate with New England autumns, but salt scarred and wrinkled brown leaves, a legacy from Tropical Storm Irene.  A portent of the drama to unfold…..