Last summer, when I visited a museum and saw Vincent Van Gogh’s painting Women Crossing the Fields for the first time in person, I felt a tug of recognition. It wasn’t just that I had previously seen reproductions of this work, but I felt I had seen it in life itself. It took me a […]
A century ago, John Muir asserted that “going to the mountain is going home” and that “wildness is necessity” for “tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people.” And doesn’t that last phrase describe us all even more now than then? When I was growing up in the Texas hill country, the words most often repeated at graveside funeral […]
“Primitive” art can stir up something primal within us today, a feeling of kinship with the artist although we may be separated by centuries. Sharman Apt Russell, professor at Western New Mexico University and nature/science writer, writes of finding and holding a Mogollon pottery shard (which she replaces after examining) in the Gila National Forest: […]
As we sat outside with friends last evening with spring surrounding us, the conversation turned to birds. Mary Ann recently saw and photographed a special “triple” here in the Texas hill country: a painted bunting, an indigo bunting, and a lazuli bunting. I would love to see all three of these gorgeous birds together. We […]
A few weeks ago, I paused when I read the following news headline: “Astronomers have discovered the largest known structure in the universe, a clump of active galactic cores that stretches 4 billion light-years from end to end.” This discovery evidently made astronomers rethink the size of the cosmos. It made me think, though, of […]
We get better at what we practice. I’m not a golfer, but I’m pretty sure you have to practice in order to improve your swing. You have to do so repeatedly in order to develop muscle memory. In the same way, I have to practice looking, seeing. I have to practice writing. I have to […]
The photo above certainly does not depict me–I won’t even try this rocky section which my friend Rosemary attacks with ease. Having grown up as I did with very little bicycling experience, I pretty much started from scratch a bit over a decade ago. As a kid I spent much more time riding a horse than […]
Beauty, pleasure, and the good things of life are intensified, and perhaps only exist, by reason of contrast. –Walter J. Phillips The Baja California Sur landscape is one of interesting contrasts. Here’s an example: Can you find the island in the above photo? Although you can’t see the water beyond the cactus forest, the mountains […]
You know that moment when a musician takes over the stage? His hands elegantly fold around an instrument, and he plays a melody the audience hears with their hearts. Or a woman begins in a rich alto voice, and she causes every listener to fall in awe of her. You know–that instant when a performer creates […]
For days now the word “burgeoning” has been on my mind, like the refrain of a song I keep playing over and over in my head. I looked it up to see if it was the correct word for what I have been sensing around me here in Baja California Sur. The meaning of burgeon, […]
Studies in Color and Composition
Radical Retirement
A Glimpse into My Life & Passions
Joann Pensabene
Where observation and imagination meet nature in poetry.
pursuing a life of purpose
Writing our way to awareness
Living life outside the lines
A Story Circle Network blog for and by women
A Diary of Love, Literature, and Growing Up in Wartime America
Practicing Wonder 