A cell phone should be as easy as a toaster, or at least a phone. Instead I have a device that is referred to as "smart" and in fact makes me feel incompetent.  It impedes communication through poor sound quality, gaps, and loss of connection.  All this for more money.  Are we sure that Americans have experienced progress through the transition to cell phones?

Honeysuckle-- the color of the year 2011- Fashion news Mother-Daughter Press

You may ask yourself why is everything in the store pink?

Wren singing in style-- "its honeysuckle

The word is Honeysuckle. 

Honeysuckle, the color (it's one color?), was selected as by Pantone (corporate authority on color) as the 2011 Color of the Year as well as the defining hue for spring 2011. Pantone's Color of the Year declarations have influenced product development and purchasing decisions in multiple industries including fashion, home and industrial design for more than 10 years.  This means everyone from the upscale to the lowscale-- designers of everything from clothes to sheets-- have incorporated the Honeysuckle hue into their spring 2011 lines.  

They say "Honeysuckle emboldens us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor," and "The hue's uplifting effect is attributed to the fact that its mother color is red, the most 'physical, viscerally alive hue in the spectrum.'"
If you dont work in the fashion industry and your color vocabulary is limited, by all means check out some color hype & try this
Describing the color honeysuckle- hype and hyperbole

Here are the first fashion industry drawings to pull us toward spring where we will be wearing ....

.... what sounds like a lot of pink....hope you look good in shades of honeysuckle. If all else fails wear the plant all over you. It is gorgeous, blooms are longlasting and includes every shade of red, purple and orange. Very rich.

What does big government mean?

  Greetings I have had it! I have listened to people shout bumper stickers at each other and the other day one more person said "no more big government" and I had to start researching. I have started tables of data to show trends and yet I would really like to know.... what do you think "Big government" means and what should I count to see if it is big, bigger, less big or whatever?  Can you help. What do you think I should "count" as I try to define the size or "bigness" of government?


Thanks Please leave ideas on this blog, facebook or email. You do not have to register.

Sharon

Poems for Friendship

I found a box of Gay's recently. It was a special box, cardboard with hinges and a bow with  nice paper on the outside. I looked in it and read when was in it trying to figure out its theme?  How did these bits and peices all end up together? It happens like that around my house.... As careful as we tried to be nonetheless much arrived in Vermont



Let me share a few of the contents.  Readers may recognize them or some may not know that your card, picture, or note was in the box too. For some of you I will be mailing you something from the box because I think it speaks to the friendship of so many years and it obviously was something you all shared.          

I found two themes-- Maybe more if I pay attention ----- Do you want to guess?

Variations on the theme of friendship - A. J. Constance

I It was just like old times, as they say except it was better than the old times It was more like the new, new times to come More like what we are and are becoming and will be Than like what we have been and were.	II Whatever I can give you of myself, that you have not already acknowledged as your own What gift is left then to pass between us, but the living out of  that ultimate priceless gift of friendship already given and received and given back again.
III Was ever the wind so gentle on my face? Did sea ever stretch out its arms to such wise horizons? Has the sky ever been so full of peace and promise? Has it been that I have been alive here on this earth through many years, or have i just been born for the first time today, Into this world of inexpressible beauty and tenderness?	IV It occurs to me as I watch the wind move Through these ancient olive trees, that thirty years from now these ties between us will be stronger whatever paths our lives may take and that I shall cherish you then, in that quite different time (so far beyond our present seeing), even more than I do now.

Michael Jermyn - Gallery in Gay Bumgarner Images

Welcome Featured artist Michael Jermyn from Montpelier Vermont

Greetings!! We have our First  Featured artist Gallery and the honor goes to the photography of Michael Jermyn.  Follow the link to this gallery or just click on "return to Gays galleries".  Suzanne Rhodes and I carefully chose from the large selection of  Michaels work so that we could create a two page gallery that would to show off his range from stunning still-lifes, landscapes, and humans.  Please note to get to the second page look carefully at the bottom right for the word "next" or the right facing arrow at the bottom or top of the page to see the second page.   I met Michael when he happened to  be touring Northeastern Vermont and came a display of Gay's photography at the Peacham Historical Society.  We began to talk photography and I expressed an interest in seeing his work.  That was a good impulse.

Micheal's playfulness and willingness to explore the photography "painting" or other treatments creates stunning images.  He has an extraordinary eye for composition and combinations-- combining colors, objects, and characters thus, creating pictures that speak-- pictures upon which stories can be built or that speak past past stories directly to feeling--to the midbrain.

I hope you will take a little time to look at his pictures, and his first web-based show. Tell us what you like, what you would like to see more of from him.  I will say that the printed versions he makes are  more vivid and professional than what the computer screen can show.  In our galleries you can leave comments on pictures or galleries or you can give comments here on the blog (anonymousely or just sign in) or via facebook. I will also put the gallery up on facebook. All artists entering a new medium of exposure can use feedback. Please let him know what you think and which ones interest or surprise you. And let us know if we are on the right track with guest galleries.

Micheal will be the featured artist for at least a month or two and then his material will continue to be available via our site through the gallery index  for at least 3 -6  months.

We will let you know when the next featured artist is selected.  And, please let us know how you like the concept. 

Thanks
Sharon

 

The Field Sparrow

A bubble of music floats

The slope of the hillside over;

A little wandering sparrow's notes;

And the bloom of yarrow and clover,

And the smell of sweet-fern and the bayberry leaf,

On his ripple of song are stealing;

For he is a chartered thief

The wealth of the fields revealing.

— Lucy Larcom

See more Nests and nestlings  

in Gays pictures or try one of my new favorites
Birds bathing and fitness

Do you think I should submit this one for calendar?

What a face!!!

Many of us in our middle years have been discussing aging and we are concerned that we don't seem to have a good fix on how to do this "well". To be clear "well" doesn't mean faux or continual youth. Where is the book we are supposed to read? I thought that I would trade off young skin and excess energy for wisdom -- a deal I expected to strike graciously. I am still waiting for wisdom and a better sense of the trade offs. As usual, by and large, there are very few people of any age that seem to be having a really good time but it does seem the odds diminish with time, maybe? Well perhaps in lieu of clarity and insight I was thinking I should get some props, an avatar, and a maybe a new name as I explore my expanded self identity for my elder years. This particular face (in the picture) caught my eye. She is fierce looking, extraordinary, and colorful. There is a wonderful mix of dignified and silly in this face that might be what I am striving for. I took heart from the fact that in my later searches I found the picture of an Indonesian tribal woman wearing a makeshift Hornbill as evidence I might be on the right track. Prove me wrong.

In the biological texts the scientists speculate in wonder about the "horn bill" and "casque" (the hat part) & its purpose. What a silly question really. If you could grow a hornbill why on earth wouldn't you...it looks so cool.

Fun fact.... the bill is yellow because of the secretions from the "preen gland" which they spread onto the bill to give them the bright yellow color. The "preen gland" is near (at) the back end of the bird and common to most birds. Studies suggest that the preen oils are effective against lice. Not only that but the preeny oil harbours symbiotic bacteria whose excretions reduce the activity of feather-degrading bacteria and thus help to preserve the plumage of the bird.

Ok, enough diversion... Anyone else have some good advice for aging with dignity, humor, and imagination? Would it help to buy a red umbrella? Gay was very proud of her "Salon"-- her membership and affiliation with a group of highly intelligent literary women of good humor and various ages who came together to discuss topics of all sorts. These classy women might have a bit to say about the topic of aging if we can get them in the right mood. Cathy, Ann, Win, Libby, Helen, Jo, Ellen, Jane, Betty, et al? There are a group of us here in Vermont that would love to hear more about this topic.

Greetings readers, Barb Contini sent me this book for Christmas and, sadly, I have finished it. What a kick! It is clever, funny, and heartfelt. If you like words and characters, this is a good one.

Anyone else that has a suggestion of a great read please share it. Camille mentioned "Half-broke Horses" by Jeanne Walls. She used the NYT best 10 list. If you have a suggestion-- even if it is old--- send it along. We are headed to Spain (Valendia) and surrounds and one plan I have solidly formed is to sit and read. And, practice my Spanish of course.