Saturday, July 31, 2010

Lovely flowers I happened upon...






Friday, July 30, 2010

Textures of light flood Chillon as textures of God flood the heart











Thursday, July 29, 2010

A tribute to Lord Byron!

We visited the Château de Chillon in southern Switzerland, where the Genevois monk François de Bonivard was imprisoned in the 16th century. It was Lord Byron who made his story famous in his moving poetic tale The Prisoner of Chillon, which he wrote in 1816.

This is a castle to dream over ... it is one I will not soon forget. Every nook and alcove is so lovely and given to detail that you could spend days there in observation. Tomorrow I will show you how beautiful the light comes into the castle. It floods in through the most unique windows and openings... but you will have to wait!












Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Collection of door knobs from Solothurn















Tuesday, July 27, 2010

A day in Solothurn among girls... my daughter, my dearest visiting friend and I rode the train to this celtic-settlement-turned-Roman-stronghold to wander the streets and linger at cafés.






The Cathedral of St. Ursus.

I learned much about ritual from my friend, who is taken with all things mysterious...

Ice cream on the steps of the cathedral.




Walk along the Aare River...

Monday, July 26, 2010


On a backroad from Jura stands this wooden cross, so simple and sincere. There seems to have been a crucifix attached at one time, but for now it is an unpretentious offering against God's own sunflower gold.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Sweet peas in summer twilight...




Friday, July 23, 2010


Tell me... how many people have grasped this knob to enter such a lovely door? What were they thinking and feeling when they did?

Thursday, July 22, 2010

"Will you walk my paper route with me?" my daughter asked as evening settled over town two nights ago. I had no excuses to throw her way, so I went.

She is a seasoned paper route expert. She knows exactly which mailboxes do not want mail, and which do; she knows how many copies of the news a certain apartment building will need before she goes in, and she knows where all the dogs are (and are not!).



As we walked, I took pictures of everything that delighted me. "I'm glad you came along, mom...but I didn't invite your friend!" Which apparantely meant my camera! We walked, and chatted and teased in the falling twilight; between you and me... it was lovely and I was glad I had had no excuses to stay home, locked up in my own world. Hers was so delightful!

"Take this paper and go do that mailbox," came her order.

"The one with the dog warning?"

"Yes, and count to ten because it takes him ten seconds to reach you once he's heard the gate click open, and you will want to be out so he can't take a bite out of you." She said this so matter-of-factly.

"How come I have to do all the houses with dogs and spiders?" came my reply, as she walked away ignoring me, smiling.

Click...a dash for the mailbox (the news wouldn't go in the slot at first...so panic, panic, panic...three, four, five... and oh please hurry... eight, nine, ten...woof woof...and a dash back to the gate .... saved!)

My teenage guru was waiting for me as I exited the premises, shaking with fear. No comment...but a look that said it all!

"Come on..." she said, "You're not finished yet."

What a wonderful walk that was. Darkness had settled over us by the time we got home, and I had learned something about courage, about endurance, about friendship, about the two-way street that is relationship. Plus... I can now embellish the story of my near death experience at the dinner table... and watch in glee as she rolls her eyes as only teenagers can do!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Summer tea party with friends...


Tuesday, July 20, 2010


What do you see?

Monday, July 19, 2010

This window is from a place I don't much like to go ... where people live who I don't much like to visit.


As I propped it up against my favorite door at home, and adorned it with some of my favorite flowers, it took on a new look - it began to be beautiful. And I think... could I do that with the people, too? Could I adorn their image in my heart with love, and watch as they take on a new look - as they begin to be beautiful?

It is a long road to love sometimes. When you have been hurt and the glass in your heart has been broken... love can seem like a luxury... the piecing back of heart shards impossible.

But shall I let the Gardner try?

Sunday, July 18, 2010

And among them all, He sees me, or you, clearly through the masses. There is no fading in or out with God...the Gardner of a Life.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Moon reflection over the valley last night...



Moon, wisp of opal fire, then slowly
revealed as orb arising,
still half-hidden; the dark
bulk of the wooded ridge defined
by serrations of pine and fir against
this glow
that begins to change
from lambent red to a golden
pervasive mist of light as the whole
fullness of moon
floats clear of the hill.
2.
Risen, the gold moon
will shrink and blanch
but for now, still
low in the sky,

her pallor is veiled
as if by a net of
gilded gossamer

and the path she has laid down
over the ripples of
dark lake water

is gold unalloyed.

-- Denise Levertov

Friday, July 16, 2010

Garden vegetables are growing plump and ripe now, and the zucchini are in abundance!

I chopped up three the other night and put bags of it in the freezer to save for spiced zucchini bread on winter nights ... along with a glass of buttered rum perhaps! Oh yes, I'll give you the recipe for that in a few months when you're starting to shiver with the onset of winter storms.

But for now... a glass of iced elderblossom syrup accompanies this just perfectly on a hot summer day. (and that's kirsch icing you see there! - no scrimping!)







Thursday, July 15, 2010

A new collection of doors - this time from Le Landeron. Switzerland does indeed deliver in terms of door-creativity!