water :: earth :: wind :: fire

Book of Fours by Joyce Ellen Davis

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:01:00 +0000

My friend and writer/poet/blogger/nature-lover/people-lover-especially-grandchildren-lover, Joyce Ellen Davis, has recently published her (at least) 3rd book of poetry, A Book of Fours .

I love the cover, but I might be biased -- it's my artwork -- :-} and after I read her poems (which I know I will love because I always do appreciate Joyce's language and insight and flowingness) I will write an update to this post.

It's an honor, Joyce, to have my collage with your poetry. Thank you.

Off to buy Joyce's book!

Sam's last road trip

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:26:00 +0000

Sam's last road trip, originally uploaded by Maureen Shaughnessy

March 1989 - May 2009
his spirit has gone to the Light ...

Sam went with us to the high desert in Utah last week ... we knew he was very close to dying yet we could not bear to leave him, so we took him to see our teacher, Brant Secunda, one last time. Brant gave Sam a blessing on Wednesday at midnight.

Sam's spirit left his body at 10:00 Thursday morning. As he breathed his last breaths, I lay on the floor next to Sam, my face just inches away from his eyes: he looked at me til the very end. Tim had his hand on Sam's heart and we both told him over and over that it was okay to leave ... that he had been the best pup ever and that we loved him more than anything.

the last thing he knew was the sound of our voices and the touch of our hands stroking his head, gently scratching behind his good ear and touching his heart.

Sam died peacefully and naturally
surrounded by our love...

I miss him so much. My heart has a hole now. Yet I know he is in a good place.

I took this last photo of Sam sleeping on the back seat of our car on the way down to Zion, Utah. His face was so white!

Go to the Light, Sam, go to the Light like an arrow

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I will write more later when I can.

Walking in Gold: Finding Healing in Nature

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:33:00 +0000

Yesterday, Sam and I took a hike through the Montana gold -- that ecstatic autumn aliveness when aspens turn and skies stay clear blue even as temperatures drop below 50F and there is new snow on the peaks.

We walked along a meditative runnel through aspen and chokecherry groves, marsh grass and spent wild iris seedheads. The sage pumped it's heady volatile oils into the breeze. Rabbitbrush brightened the dry, grassy hills with pillows of yellow-white, backlit seeds.

We found "our" redtail tree -- an ancient aspen tucked into the creek bottom where a pair of hawks raise their brood each spring on an ever-expanding platform of twigs and limbs.

I half expected to find a redtail feather gift, under the abandoned nest. No such luck. But I did have the luck of a whole hour lying on the gold with my companion and best friend ... Sam taking in all the sights and smells of grove-wetland-autumn-turning. And me, absorbing healing rays of sunlight and marveling at the trembling frame of sky leaves above me.

Sam is going to be 20 in March '09. He is really slowing down lately. We think it might be canine Cognitive Dysfunction. He has most of the signs now. There are times when he walks into the kitchen or my office and just stands there looking a little lost, as if he is thinking, "Now, what did I come in here for?"

Routines are much more important to him than ever -- yet he often refuses to sleep on either of his two comfortable beds -- he prefers to squeeze himself into small complicated places like under our kitchen table between all of the chair legs. If breakfast is delayed, or I don't take him for his morning walk right away, he may stand in one place for an hour -- literally -- just staring, waiting for the expected promise to come true.

Sam sleeps alot, like most elderly dogs.
An hour for each year of life - 20 hours a day.
The remaining 4 hours are divided like so:

1 hour walking slowly, rationing his pee so he can leave as many business cards around the neighborhood as possible.
1 hour lying with chin on floor watching me without moving anything but his eyes
1/2 hour sitting on the front or back porch watching the world go by, smelling its' enticing fragrances and savoring the breezes in his coat. Sometimes this involves staring at one or more deer as they wipe out our vegetable harvest. It would be too much trouble to get up and bark or chase. heh.
1/2 hour pacing
1/2 hour either waiting for his meals while panting (I often can't tell if the panting is from enthusiasm or anxiety) or working on a cooking pan or mixing bowl project (meaning, licking it clean of all molecules of taste/smell)
1/2 hour lying next to me on the bed in the morning. This is coffee-newspaper-cuddling time for Sam and me after Tim gets up. :-)

Twice a month we have a slight change in the routine: those are the days we mix up his homemade raw food in a huge bread bowl. Sam knows when I get out the cuisinart and cover every inch of counter top in our tiny kitchen with vegetables and nuts, that eventually he will get to lick that bowl. Yummmm. He watches me the entire time I'm cutting, chopping, stirring and scooping. This is doggie heaven! (do you remember getting to lick the cookie dough out of the mixing bowl when you were little?) It's like that.

His coat is shiny and smooth. His zest for life seems strong. His breath stinks and that ear infection still gives him trouble. He has more cysts and lumps and warts as time goes by. But overall Sam is still chugging away happily. His vet said yesterday that when Sam makes it to next March, she will be having a champagne party for him at the clinic. He will be there for the toasts to a very very old gent.

My head knows Sam is not really immortal.
But my heart wonders ...

Contemplative Art in the Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 14:16:00 +0000

A peaceful place to connect with every part of creation . . .

Each one of us is here for a reason and the world would be incomplete without us.

I have been working with my son, Gabe and his best friend Jack, on spring garden cleanup for some of my design clients. I love hanging out in these gardens! For me, that is one way I know I have succeeded in a garden design. Another sign of a successful design is that my clients are happy in and with their own gardens, even years after the initial installation.

The almost life-size Buddha (above) rests among the "ten thousand things" in a Contemplative Garden we have installed over the last two summers. "Ten thousand things" is a Buddhist expression representing the interconnection and simultaneous unity and diversity of everything in the universe.

In the Huichol spiritual tradition my husband and I follow, there is a similar concept, that each of us has all of creation inside our hearts:

Huichols say we are all joyous beings of light. We were created out of love, from all the elements of the natural world -- fire, air, water, and earth. Because of this, each of us is a miniature universe, a mirror of the natural world outside of ourselves, and also a mirror of the spirit world. All the knowledge and secrets of those two worlds are also inside of us, and everything is perfectly arranged. Our job is to tap into that arrangement, to understand it and to live in harmony with it.
-- Brant Secunda, Huichol Shaman and Healer

If we strive to perceive -- and deeply understand -- our world as inseparable from ourselves, then we will have empathy for every part of creation. We are an integral part of everything and every one of the ten thousand things is, in the true sense, part of us. And everything is perfectly arranged!

This -- whether we paint, draw, sing, pray, dance or write poetry -- this makes every one of us an artist and a spiritual being.

So, today, go out into a "Garden," no matter where it is and see your connection to nature as a work of art and as an act of prayer: in a wildlife refuge, in your back yard, on your balcony, in a city park, in a plant nursery or just in a clay pot on your kitchen windowsill. Find your connection with nature: watch the unfolding of leaf buds and see not just a "plant" but also freedom, flight, wings, wind, the lightness of a heart. See your own life in the artistry of this natural sculpture:

Winged One, © by Maureen Shaughnessy

Dance of the Deer Foundation
Read more about Huichol Indian Spiritual Traditions
See more photos of the above Contemplative Garden in progress
previous post about the design of this Contemplative Garden
more about spring garden cleanup tasks

The WaterWise Garden: principles of xeriscaping

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:16:00 +0000

Last year I wrote a post about World Water Day. In that post, I have many links to Xeriscaping resources, water conservation articles and other relevant web resources. You might want to read it, in honor of this year's World Water Day tomorrow March 22, 2008 as well as Earth Day on April 22, 2008.

This year I am posting again about water conservation, with a number of photographs of gardens I have designed around Helena, Montana, using the 7 main priciples of Xeriscaping, or, as I like to say, WaterWise garden design.

See Divide Magazine article featuring photos of some of my garden designs.

A colorful drought-tolerant vine that also smells delicious and attracts hummingbirds and butterflies, this hardy Honeysuckle vine also create shade and privacy on the back patio.

Front yards do not have to be just a few shrubs and trees surrounded by expanses of thirsty lawn. If you have a small property, make use of the front yard to create usable outdoor rooms. This waterwise garden provides plenty of privacy and several different activity zones in a little over 900 square feet. What was originally an open, dry lawn now has a 6 ft privacy fence, arbor and gate, two patios, a shade pergola and a colorful xeriscaped garden. (see concept sketch below)

More often than not, suburban back yards are just a weekend mowing and watering chore. Why not replace a huge lawn with a series of decks that are not only more attractive and easier to maintain -- but add to the square footage of your liveable space? This deck in a WaterWise landscaped back yard provides at least four different "rooms," one specifically designed for watching sunsets.

A privacy fence creates a whole different feeling in the backyard, making it perfect for quiet visits, reading or shaded dining on hot summer evenings. Birds are attracted to the running water in the pond, and butterflies feed on flowering perennials and vines.

Xeriscapes can include water features. Here, an overflowing urn appears to flow into a dry stream bed. The bright blue color and sound of bubbling water create a focal point in this garden.

Pondside plantings include native irises, corkscrew rush and tufted hair grass which will mature to a graceful arching clump grass

Xeriscaped front yards do not have to be all gravel, juniper, yucca and potentilla. In fact, a well-designed xeriscape can look much more attractive and welcoming than a mostly-lawn entry garden. Here, sumac, hosta and native ferns share a plant bed next to the front porch, where a Japanese "rain chain" directs roof runoff into a drainage pipe disguised by a dry stream bed of black rocks. Spilling onto the stone paved front patio are drought-tolerant groundcovers such as creeping thyme, artemisia and snow-in-summer.

A xeriscaped entry garden with just the smallest circular lawn for a cool green sitting spot. The rest of this front yard is slate walkways and patio, a Mediterranean-style gravel garden, and planted terraces with aspens for shade and privacy.

Slate paving provides a comfortable spot for guests to approach the front garden of this home. Steps leading down into the entry garden are flanked by aspen trees, daylilies, ornamental grasses and colorful flowering perennials.

A grand entry experience greets guest to this home built on a steep slope above the road. There is no lawn at all in this xeriscaped garden. Instead the slope is tamed by a series of stone terraces and slate steps that create lots of liveable space on an otherwise unusable slope. The dramatic focal point of this planting is Karl Foerster Feathered Reed Grass.

Enter this driveway through a small grove of native aspens mulched with smooth river rock. The aspens frame visitor's view of this grand brick home in the Helena Valley.

A drainage problem prompted design of this dry stream bed to handle roof runoff during storms. Boulders and pebbles meander through drought-tolerant shrubs and perennials with a clump of aspens. Daylilies, Siberian Iris, Coreopsis, Potentilla, Russian Sage and Arctic Willow make a striking accent planting near the front door of this home.

Xeriscapes can include vines such as this Hops vine to cover unsightly fences and block walls, or to create shade and privacy as in this photo. Here, the hops grows on a trellis on the west side of a porch, creating a cool spot to sit outside on hot summer evenings.

In our hot, dry Helena summers, shade is an important landscape element and fits well with any xeriscape design. Here, a pergola attached to the south side of this home provides shade not only for the stone patio, but also for some of the plants in the beds around it. Honeysuckle and Clematis vines are planted at the base of each post to eventually grow up and over the pergola. Aspens planted in clumps augment the pergola's shade as they mature.

A cedar pergola planted with vines shades this stone patio and bench-height retaining wall. Xeriscape principles followed in this design include thoughtful planning, low-volume irrigation, drought tolerant plants located in groups according to their water requirements, low-maintenance, improved soil, shredded bark mulch to retain soil moisture, extremely small lawn area and a native grass meadow.

A xeriscaped back yard has two circular stamped-concrete patios shaded by a small aspen grove, stone terraces planted with native drought-tolerant plants and a very small lawn area.

This could be a front garden or back yard dining area. There is no lawn at all in this xeriscape. Instead the homeowners chose to install a paved patio surrounded by this stone retaining wall. Paved area tend to retain heat and can get uncomfortable in our hot summers. This patio has lots of cool shade provided by aspens and other trees, vines climing the walls and a cooling water feature that splashes down the stone wall, crisscrosses the patio and spills into a small reflecting pool. Plants are grouped according to the sun and water requirements, making watering and maintenance easier.

An alternative to lawn grass: these pavers are spaced a few inches apart with grass planted between them. This allows rainwater to permeate as well as gives visual interest and breaks up the expanse of hard material.

A native grass meadow was planted on this slope after construction of the home had disturbed the soils. The designer used all xeriscape techniques and mostly native plants to connect this contemporary home to it's natural surroundings in the hills south of Helena.

An alternative to the big front lawn: a native grass meadow with boulder terracing punctuated with drought-tolerant mostly-native shrubs, trees and perennials.

To reduce the amount of bluegrass lawn in this front yard, the owners of this Helena Valley home put in large, bermed plant beds with many native plants such as aspen, potentilla, juniper, dwarf pine and artemisia. The soil was improved before planting and under the river rock mulch is a low-volume drip irrigation system

To reduce the amount of bluegrass lawn in this front yard, the owners of this Reeders Village home installed several large, mulched plant beds with drought-tolerant plants such as amur maple, flowering crab, potentilla, blue fescue, blue oat grass, rocky mountain juniper, dwarf spruce, snow in summer and artemisia. The soil was improved before planting and under the mulch is a low-volume drip irrigation system.

This Lakeside home replaced half of it's thirsty bluegrass front lawn with a meandering gravel path, stone steps and a perennial garden under the mature trees. This is how visitors approach the front entry: much more welcoming than it was before these changes.

One principle of Xeriscaping is to group plants into zones according to their growing requirements, especially water requirements. Here, an isolated bed of shade-loving plants separates a lower patio from the upper one. Hosta, Maiden Pinks, Lady Fern and Coralbells thrive in the same bed.

To be continued ... check back for more photos, more details and more inspiration!

Earth Hour Tonight, March 29th: make a statement

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:51:00 +0000

Tonight, March 29, 2008 join millions of Earth residents in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund Climate change project.

Earth Hour was created by WWF in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and in one year has grown from an event in one city to a global movement. In 2008, millions of people, businesses, governments and civic organizations in nearly 200 cities around the globe will turn out for Earth Hour. More than 100 cities across North America will participate, including the US flagships–Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco and Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Today, at 8:00pm your local time, please switch off the lights in an effort to make a statement about climate change.

Better yet, turn off all non-essential electricity in your home of workplace for at least that one hour. Experience the quiet of no-electricity!

Along with many other corporations supporting Earth hour, Google is darkening their search page to promote Earth Hour. Darkening the search page (making it a black background) daves absolutely no energy, nor does it change anything at Google headquarters. They are doing this to raise awareness among the millions of people who search Google everyday -- hopefully, just having this unusual black google page will make people wonder what it's about, and hopefully they'll take the time to learn about Earth Hour.

Save significant energy by working out outdoors

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:00:00 +0000

It's more fun and interesting to get my workout by taking a walk or riding my bike -- plus I take my camera along and have a photo shoot along the way. Now that our dog, Sam is 19 years old, our walks are anything but aerobic workouts. So I have to fit in a walk or bike ride by myself every couple of days to get any significant exercise. Still, I enjoy walking with Sam -- it gets me out of the house no matter what, every day. Baggins (cat) goes on walks with us most of the time.

According to Ideal Bite, working out on a gym treadmill uses alot of energy.

10 treadmills in the average gym use 13,500 kilowatt hours of electricity per month. To put that in perspective: that energy would power your water heater for 19 days or let you run your hair dryer nonstop for more than a year.

So, if you want an easy way to save electricity -- stop working out in the gym or cut your gym time in half and get outside!

Do you know the last killing frost date for your town?

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Just a wee note to my fellow Montana and Helena gardeners (and would-be gardeners) ... check the climate summary charts at MSU Extension service Garden Guide for the last killing frost dates for your area (scroll down to Lewis & Clark County for Helena) As usual, don't take these for gospel ... every year is different. Still, it's good to note when to plant according to data from years past.

Exploration Garden at the Helena YMCA, seedlings planted by kids.
Photo © Maureen Shaughnessy

Tim and I usually plant our vegetable garden on Memorial Day weekend or the next weekend. Hardy shrubs and perennials can be planted earlier. I like to cover our garden beds with a layer of black plastic to warm up the soil earlier than it would if left uncovered. We've discovered we get huge veggies that way. Well, we also amend our garden soil every year with lots of leaves, compost and aged manure -- I guess that has something to do with our gardening success. (grin)

Links:
MSU Garden Guide articles for March
MSU Extension list of yard and garden publications

Easter Humor perfect for Helena, Montana

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:25:00 +0000

Thanks to cartoonist Roy Doty.

In Helena, where it seems everytime the city makes a decision on what to "do" about the deer problem someone puts the kabosh on acting on it .... well, one of the few coping mechanisms left to us ordinary citizens is humor.

Anyone posessing a good sense of humor -- and an opinion about the "urban deer problem" in their town, will get a chuckle out of Roy Doty's series of human/wildlife interactions. Check out his comics at the Safari Club Foundation.

Enjoy!

Sowing a Native Grass Lawn

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:45:00 +0000

Native Grasses seeded on slope at my clients' home near Helena

After a long hiatus from blogging about landscape design and sustainable landscaping, I want to try to get back into blogging about Waterwise Gardening and the like -- after all, this is how I make my living (not by blogging, but by creating landscape designs...)

I subscribe to a weekly email newsletter from SantaFe Greenhouses in New Mexico. Last year, they published an excellent article on sowing a native grass meadow and now that it's spring again, I am reminded that a native grass lawn or meadow is probably one of the best ways to deal with the "deer browse" problem many of my clients ask me about.

Gleaming meadow, originally uploaded by Linda6769.
Linda has so many gorgeous photos of wildflower meadows, grasses and ferns on her Flickr site. Check out her other meadowish pics. And thank you, Linda for letting me blog your photo here.

October Meadow, originally uploaded by jimfrazier.
Thank you Jim for allowing me to use your photo for this blog post.

Southwest Gardens and their partner company High Country Gardens, have several seed mixes formulated for them, one of which would be ideal to sow native grass meadows in the part of Montana where I live, in growing zone 4 with cold winters and dry summers.

Native Grass Species in Mix

Blue grama, Hachita (Bouteloua gracilis) 15%
Little bluestem, Blaze (Schizachyrium scoparium) 10%
Indian ricegrass, Rimrock (Achnatherum hymenoides) 10%
Sideoats grama, El Reno (Bouteloua curtipendula) 15%
Galleta, Viva (Pleuraphis jamesii) 5%
Alkali sacaton, VNS (Sporobolus airoides) 5%
Western wheatgrass, Arriba (Pascopyrum smithii) 5%
Sand dropseed, VNS (Sporobolus cryptandrus) 5%
Buffalo grass, Texoca (Buchloe dactyloides) 10%
Sheep fescue, Covar (Festuca ovina) 10%
Green needlegrass, Lodorm (Nassella viridula) 5%
Perennial ryegrass, Linn (Lolium perenne) Nurse crop 5%

Although some of the grasses in the list above are not native to my area, after calling and inquiring about the mix, I learned that even if they don't all germinate, a meadow sown from this mix will settle out to a "natural" balance of grasses, a subset of the above mix, with the hardy ones thriving and the non-hardies simply failing to return.

Goldenrod and Fencepost, originally uploaded by jimfrazier.

Here are some articles from High Country Gardens specifically about Native Grass Lawns (that one has a bit about interspersing a few perennials in with the grasses for a colorful lawn.) Other articles are available on planting a Blue Gamma grass lawn from seed (Blue gramma grass is a low-maintenance, low-water lawn alternative ) and waterwise lawns.

One of my clients' native grass lawn. NativeDesign.

I have to caution you before you dive into a native grass meadow or lawn project, that of the remarks my past customers have made is that native grass lawns tend to look "weedy" or unkempt after awhile. This may happen if you don't get out and mow more often than the 2 times per season I recommend. Also, when the grasses are very tall, their height obscures any lower growing plants in the meadow, or in surrounding plant beds (plants like Oakleaf Sumac, Potentilla, dwarf pines and perennial wildflowers.) A solution to that problem is to plant only short-grass native grasses, so that you can "let the meadow go" but it will not get out of hand, height-wise. Read about a low-maintenance, waterwise native grass lawn at High Country Gardens where they sell a Dwarf Fescue seed for native lawns. The dwarf fescue stays short (under 12 inches) naturally, therefore it's a lower maintenance natural-lawn alternative.

Even if you don't live in New Mexico, the Santa Fe Greenhouses e-newsletter is extremely informative and inspiring. To subscribe to their excellent newsletter by email, click here. They also have their past newsletters archived, so check it out.

Garden Joys and Garden Tasks can be one and the same

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:40:00 +0000

Marguerites and Delphinium are two perennials with a propensity to re-seed. The marguerites are especially prolific - I would almost consider them "invasive" though when they bloom their golden hearts out like this at the exact time the dark blue delphs are at their peak -- how can I not forgive them their spreadingness?

Other plants (like Marguerites) in the sunflower or Asteracea family, are prone to prolific re-seeding. Watch out if you choose to leave the spent flowers and seedheads on any of these plants! You will soon have a garden full of their offspring.

Daylilies open one bud each day -- and each bud lasts only one day. Each stalk of buds contains from 6 to 20 buds. Deadheading the spent lilies encourages the plants to set a few more buds.

Star-shaped pelargonium geranium in a pot near my tomatoes. Deadhead your potted geraniums to encourage more bloom.

Near our back gate, marguerites, delphiniums and a few volunteer sunflowers greet us as we come and go. The delphiniums keep blooming, though on shorter, weaker stalks, if you deadhead the main flower stalk as soon as the petals fall. Sunflowers will often set more buds if you cut off the main flower at the next node.

Think You're Old??? This is an old dog!

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:09:00 +0000

Today is the day we celebrate Sam's birthday, March 16th. Every day we count ourselves as incredibly blessed and lucky this wise soul is still with us and happy to be with us. Enjoying his life to the fullest! Each year we recognize that he has come another year and is still healthy, enthusiastic, curioius ... we can hardly believe it. Sam was supposed to be euthanized with a tumor growing around his esophagus and windpipe over 8 years ago, yet here he is, wolfing down his food and breathing/snoring/woofing as if he had never had a tumor at all.

This year we didn't make a sam-cake with candles as we did last year --Sam was afraid of the lit candles. Today he got the super-dooper-senior-dog treatment: lots of treats and a great walk in the sun. Tim made buckwheat-spelt waffles for all of us this morning. Sam had a plate of waffles with chicken, cherries, cherry-juice along, and a whole piece of sausage. Baggins also shared his food (a half can of tuna) with Sam but says, "only on his birthday."

I shot these photos this morning after a late breakfast. Satisfied dog and happy humans. Happy Birthday to you, dear old friend. I wish for you many more days of life and love and joyful-dog-dreams.

He's giving out Free Hugs today

Blue Between

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:34:00 +0000

Blue Beauty Between

I love getting packages in the mail and for me, it doesn't happen often enough. Maybe once every couple of months. Today the mail carrier brought me this little Valentine's Day treasure from PamBrisse ... to me this is like the colors of the sky and sea close to her home in the Pacific Northwest. Thank you so much, Pam. I love it! I am wearing it right now.

Digital Paintings and Collages by Maureen Shaughnessy

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 16:50:00 +0000

All images copyright © by Maureen Shaughnessy. If you would like to use these images in any way, you must have written permission. Email me to ask about purchasing or using my artwork. (you can find my email on the profile page.) Thank you for your courtesy,

Solstice: Celebrate Winter in Montana

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 16:02:00 +0000

I wish all of my blog readers happiness and clarity of heart in the coming year -- may you each have the blessing of Good Luck in your lives.

To celebrate winter, to honor Mother Earth, and to welcome the light coming back to us from the darkest, longest night of the year ... I would like to share with you a selection of winter images from my Montana albums.

Click on a thumbnail to view the image larger. To see the original (much larger) photo, click LINK below the photo on the right. Enjoy!

Wild Geese (after Mary Oliver)

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 03:23:00 +0000

I have posted the poem, Wild Geese before, on Raven's Nest and Land of Little Rain. It's worth posting again (and again.) Everytime I read this poem, I come at it from a different angle, as a different person.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

-- © by Mary Oliver.

Oliver's latest collection of poems, Our World, is a collaboration between Mary and her late partner, Molly Malone Cook, who made the photographs accompanying the poems. Molly died in 2005.

Another exquisite book of Oliver's poems, Thirst, touches her experiences with grief and spiritual growth after Molly's death. I read these poems often -- Mary Oliver's sense of faith and connection have helped me personally through times of great sorrow.

I made the digital painting above, using my own images and two from Liz Saunders, of Alberta.

Her photos:
Snow Geese flying up from a lake

Canada Geese, blue sky

Irrigating newly planted willows along creekbed

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 21:25:00 +0000

At a creekside cabin out in the mountains, we want more privacy from the road. A creek flows between the cabin and the road (see photo and description below) We have planted willow whips on the road-side of the creek by cutting wands (or whips) from the existing willows, dipping the ends in rooting hormone (which, ironically, comes from willow) and sticking these in the embankment. To encourage the willows to fill in as fast as possible, we will need to irrigate them during the dry season. Short of installing an automatic irrigation system, we are hoping to install a pipe flume or sluice to bring the water to the willows passively.

Looking upstream in early spring. The road is above the creek, just off the upper left of the photo. It's pretty easy to see the creek and cabin (off the photo on the right) from the road.

Flumes have been used historically to carry water from a natural watercourse to some distance away, without the use of a pump. Flumes were often used in combination with a race or pipe to convey water to mills, mines and agricultural fields.

A flume carries the water at an elevated level above ground. Historically flumes were built of wood, sometimes lined with metal, and mounted on a scaffold to carry the water crosswise along a slope, or mounted on a trestle to convey the water across a depression such as a stream bed or river bed. Pipes could also be used in the same manner, to carry water above ground to where it was needed.

A race is an open channel for conveying water. It can be a simple earth ditch, or it can be lined with timber, metal, concrete or stone. A race or flume system would always start on a watercourse at a location upstream from where the water was needed, either for a gristmill, sawmill, farm fields, waterwheel/water turbine, or a mining operation.

Both a race and a flume would run almost level with just a slight downhill pitch, to carry water to somewhere the stream didn't naturally go. The more gradual the pitch of the race or flume, the farther the water could be carried without using a pump. Historically, a race and/or flume system would range from a short ditch to a water supply channel many miles long, linked to supply water courses and storage dams. If there was a gulch, canyon or other declivity along the course of the race, a flume would be built on a trestle, to maintain a constant fall.

We will need to work out some kinks in the plans, but I like the idea of using old-fashioned methods to create a low-tech solution to challenges like this one. Depending on when we put this idea to use, I'll post updates here at Raven's Nest.

Festival of Trees #15: a Collector's Delight

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 03:22:00 +0000

Welcome to the Festival of the Trees #15.
Thank you everyone for sending those links and articles. I received scads of excellent contributions - enough to make a large collection that should have something for everyone. So, let's jump right in:

Anyone who has been around the Festival of Trees for awhile will recognize Daniel Mosquin, head poobah at the University of British Columbia's Botany Photo of the Day. That's one of Daniel's beautiful photos, above, a Mimosa monancistra. Daniel constantly delights me with his beautiful photos taken in the botanical gardens as well as on his travels. I can't imagine hosting a FOTT without giving Daniel a plug. So thanks, Daniel for all the time and effort you put into BPOTD. His site also features work by other photogs, especially by members of the BPOTD flickr group. Daniel also includes with every day's photo, either a link to a photographic website or to a botany web link. Always educational ... often hugely entertaining.

Woodworker Tim Carney, shares some fascinating stuff about Baobab trees at his blog, Shop Talk. The photo, above, is by Daniel Montesinos.

Jade Blackwater submitted several written pieces from the "Halo" short fiction writing contest. The short fiction pieces, posted at The Clarity of Night are:
The Clarity of Night: Entry #56 (a short story with trees and forests in its heart. Written by Helen Flatley, posted and hosted by Jason Evans of The Clarity of Night blog.) The Clarity of Night: Entry #49 (Another tree-story from the Halo contest) and The Clarity of Night: Entry #12 (Another contest entry - this one more poetry than prose, and also speaking to the trees.)

Nature is an Art Gallery (the photo, left, is just one of many) comes to us via Gerry Gomez Pearlberg at Global Swarming Honeybees (she has lots of info on bees, too) "Dawn: a glorious caterpillar descends from a tree, with twinkling trees in the background ..."

Stuart Forsyth, of The Thought Menagerie, was in a frustrated mood one day so he decided to head outside and shoot some tree photos.

Stuart writes, "there is nothing like doing something you love to change your mood and feelings." A second contribution from Stuart, along with more awesome pics like this cork tree, is A Walk in the Park.

Wren, of the illustrious and beautiful blog, Wrenaissance Reflections always seems to have something there to entertain and educate us. Check out her recent Wrendition on trees, Treelimma, in which this bird-lover and tree-lover explores her ambiguity about keeping (or not) the mature Bradford Pears in her garden.

I know Wren thinks alot about creating habitat for birds on her property. How many of you take birds and other wildlife into consideration when planning your garden or landscape? There are so many conservation and ecology programs that encourage us to plant more trees or preserve existing trees and to make our home landscapes more inviting to a diversity of plants and animals. It's hard to know where to start pointing out the good ones! Mary Jo Manzanares of The Seattle Traveler, presents Backyard Sanctuary Program Helps Keep Washington one of the Best Places to Live.

Bat Cave, Swamp Style comes to the Festival courtesy of Swamp Things blog. Check out the gorgeous bald cypress (above) posted with that article! I have always loved the "knees" of the bald cypress for their resemblance to elderly folks, gnomes and little people.

"Wollemia nobilis" © Ontario Wanderer
Dean Gugler is one of the contributors at Whorled Leaves, an online reading group on nature books. Dean shared his interest in their current book, "The Tree" by Colin tudge, by elaborating on the natural history of the rare Wollemia ""Pine: Wollemia nobilis. Dean relates,

"Although we have found the book fairly heavy for summer reading it has sparked interest in trees in general."

photo ©Fleur-Ange Lamothe
Dean's partner, Fleur-Ange Lamothe is a painter/photographer artist in her own right (that's her photo, just above.) I introduced my friend Fleur-Ange in this blog post with some of my favorite tree photos of hers.

Our very own Dave Bonta, coordinator of the Festival of Trees and blogger at Via Negativa, shares a wonderful post titled, New Life from and Old Chestnut (that's his beautiful photo, left.) Dave also writes, along with another submission on Giant Trees, that "Most Americans would probably be shocked to hear that their redwoods and sequoias aren't quite the largest trees in the world."

I love the way Jarrett writes at his blog, Creature of the Shade. This time Jarrett sent us Southern Flora, Northern Word where he muses on the names of Australian trees. "However acclimated I become, I'll probably never shake the first impression that Australian plants and animals seem designed to mislead the northerner. Anything remotely conifer-like is called a pine. (And the) eucalypts were called ash, boxwood, and even apple."

We have a new Tree-Festivalee, Larry, from Wandering Around Kansas. Welcome, Larry! His contribution is an excellent photo, The Shade Tree. It's still summer in the northern hemisphere (just barely) and, well -- if it's hot where you live, I expect you're still appreciating the shade under trees like the oak in Larry's photo.

American Forests, a conservation group that has been protecting forests and their denizens for over 20 years, has a page of e-cards you can send to friends. Check out their postcards of "champion trees" like the ancient white pine, above. Then head over to their Historic Tree Nursery and dream of planting a piece of history near your own home.

Silver Valley Girl presents Still Life of My Tree posted at Silver Valley Stories. Her post illustrates a great idea: to document one tree you really care about, through the seasons. Still Life of My Tree shows views of the same tri-color beech through seven months so far. The photo, left, shows her beech in July.

Karen Bastille sent in one of my favorite submissions this month, Nurturing The Bond Between Child And Tree. Karen wrote on her blog, At Home With Grandmother Wren, that "we can encourage our children’s relationship with trees and the natural world around them while at the same time renewing our own awareness of its blessings."

Karen includes links for more ideas for teaching children about nature, and ideas she used with her granddaughter who has grown to love the nectarine tree her Grampy planted when she was born.

Finally, I'd like to point you to two more collections on Raven's Nest. This Festival#15 post was getting way too long, but I couldn't bear to leave out a few of my favorite sites about trees in art and literature. If you have the time, I think these two Festival-specific blog posts will be entertaining and elucidating. I apologize for any overlap between these posts and the links above.

Trees in Art

Trees in Poetry and Prose

Well, folks, that concludes September's edition of Festival of the Trees. The next edition of the Festival will appear at trees, if you please. Send your tree-related submissions to festival (dot) trees (at) gmail (dot) com no later than September 28th. Or if you wish, you can submit your blog article to the next edition of Festival of the Trees using our handy-dandy carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Festival#15
your host, Maureen Shaughnessy

Introducing Painter Photographer, Fleur-Ange Lamothe

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 00:50:00 +0000

"Every time I meet a tree, if I am truly awake, I stand in awe before it. I listen to its voice, a silent sermon moving me to the depths, touching my heart, and stirring up within my soul a yearning to give my all." - Mary Webb, 1917

The above quote comes to me through Fleur-Ange Lamothe, a Canadian artist who blends photography and painting to create visionary art. Lamothe used Mary Webb's words as the sole description for one of her elegant photos of trees. Yet the quote could as well describe Fleur-Ange's entire approach to life and to communicating her vision of Nature into powerful, transformative art.

Fleur-Ange's art is part performance, part canvas or film and part installation; she is all about communication and connection; counterpoint and balance; birth, death and rebirth. She translates her fertile psyche's impulses and emotions into works of tangible beauty that challenge her viewers to look (and feel) under the surface of things.

All photos © Fleur-Ange Lamothe 2007

I have been a "follower" of Fleur-Ange Lamothe on Flickr for the last couple of years. Recently she pulled all of the photos of hers that I had "faved" into one collection called MR's Favorites. It is an understatement to say I was captivated by the slideshow of that set ... watching a fluid river of incredible beauty float and dissolve on my computer monitor. The slideshow is so worth watching -- with 66 photos playing 4 seconds each it takes only four and a half minutes to watch (unless, like me, you keep pausing the show to drink in the beauty every frame or so.)

Whenever I spend enough time to really look deeply at a piece by Fleur-Ange, I get the sense that I am on a journey with an old soul, with someone who has an inborn sense of connection to all of life, who sees even the stones as living beings. I get the sense that I am walking with a kindred soul, someone who has seen into the very heart of the Earth and who is striving with sincerity and courage to help others touch that place of healing as well.

Someday I really have to see her paintings in person. Actually, it would be wonderful to meet Fleur-Ange in person! In the meantime, since I can't just hop on a plane and fly to Ontario, I satisfy myself by cruising through her flickr sets -- on slideshow mode -- at least once a week. And I have many of her images on my computer as a screen saver. I'm fortunate she is so generous with her photography.

I am honored to be able to introduce my friend, Fleur-Ange Lamothe, who is also an accomplished artist, to the folks who read my blogs. I hope you enjoy her photography and paintings as much as I do.

All photos © Fleur-Ange Lamothe 2007

to see the individual photos enlarged, click the titles below:

Find more of Fleur-Ange's photos at Wildflower Watch, or on her (Eglantine) Flickr stream

Trees in Art

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:45:00 +0000

All artwork above © by Laura Medei
Laura Medei has developed a whimsical, dreamlike style with her paintings and sketches of trees (above) and her artwork never fails to delight and inspire me when I visit her Flickr album of sketches. If you enjoy her uplifting style as much as I do, why not check out the rest of her beautiful art?

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I recently found the book, The Night Life of Trees, on our public library shelf. Wow! Exquisite! Myth and poetry, vision and artistry combine to illustrate the deep connections many indigenous peoples have to all of Creation. These vivid tree portraits were created by Bhajju Shyam, Durga Bai and Ram Singh Urveti. Each volume is hand-screen printed and hand bound by Tara Publishing.

The book is filled with intricately drawn visions of trees ... from the Gond tribe in central India, (who believe) trees stand in the middle of life and the spirit of many things lie in them. Trees are busy all day giving shade, shelter and food. Under the night skies, spirits of the trees are revealed. The Night Life of Trees is a tribute to the majesty of trees, and to old ways of relating to the natural world.

Left:

the first tree made by the Creator
the Peepul tree is so perfect that seen against the sky, it has the same shape as its own leaf
the Earth is held in the coils of the snake goddess. The roots of trees coil around the earth too, holding it in place

Ruby-Scented Dawn, by Catherine Hyde, an artist from UK. Hyde makes exceedingly beautiful christmas cards as well. Some of her tree images remind me vaguely of dreams, of Matisse, of childhood paintings made by smearing blackberry and chokecherry juice on concrete sidewalks ...

Robert Ryan, a paper-cut artist and illustrator, often depicts trees in his incredibly intricate paper-cuts and screen prints. Click here to see his papercut galleries or click on the images, left, for enlarged views. Below is a collaged photo of Robert's studio, originally posted on his blog, titled (ummm...) Robert Ryan.

Another artist working in the paper-cut medium is Peter Callesen, who lives in Denmark. Though his medium is similar to that of Robert Ryan, Callesen's papercuts (left) are relatively simpler, though still incredibly elegant, and he often focuses on fairytales and constructs room-sized cut-paper installations as well. His website has so many beautiful pieces it was hard to choose just one to showcase here.

Trees in Poetry & Prose

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 01:01:00 +0000

photo by Maureen Shaughnessy ©

Native Trees

Neither my father nor my mother knew
the names of the trees
where I was born
what is that
I asked and my
father and mother did not
hear they did not look where I pointed
surfaces of furniture held
the attention of their fingers
and across the room they could watch
walls they had forgotten
where there were no questions
no voices and no shade

Were there trees
where they were children
where I had not been
I asked
were there trees in those places
where my father and mother were born
and in that time did
my father and mother see them
and when they said yes it meant
they did not remember
What were they I asked what were they
but both my father and my mother
said they never knew

-W.S. Merwin©

Breath

Tree, gather up my thoughts
like the clouds in your branches.
Draw up my soul
like the waters in your root.

In the arteries of your trunk
bring me together.
Through your leaves
breathe out the sky.
- J. Daniel Beaudry ©
published in Nature in Legend and Story

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness.
-Kahlil Gibran, from Sand and Foam

Under the Walnut Tree

When I face what has left my life,
I bow. I walk outside into the cold,
rain nesting in my hair.
All the houses near me
have their lights on. Somewhere,
there is a deep listening.
I stand in the dark for a long time
under the walnut tree, unable
to tell anyone, not even the night,
what I know. I feel the darkness
rush towards me, and I open my arms

Alone with myself
The trees bend
to carress me
The shade hugs
my heart.
- by Candy Polgar ©

Woods
I part the out thrusting branches
and come in beneath
the blessed and the blessing trees.
Though I am silent
there is singing around me.
Though I am dark
there is vision around me.
Though I am heavy
there is flight around me.

- Wendell Berry © from Collected Poems
(North Point Press)

Fern-Leafed Beech

This tree listened
when my husband died.
I leaned my head
against its trunk
and cried.
No words passed,
but I took its strength
and knew
that life at last
secretly transforms
until what is seen
becomes unseen,
and what has been
is still to be.

a few other links:
Solitary Trees
find other poets' work at Gratefulness.org
Trees in Myth and Legend
Spirit of Trees

Top 4 US Fires in Montana

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:32:00 +0000

The wildfire burning just 10 miles from Helena, Montana blew up from 20,000+ acres on Tuesday to 31,000 acres by Wednesday. The fires in Montana and other states around the west are getting national coverage, though in my opinion, not enough is being said about how wildfire is an important part of the natural cycle and the fact that some of these fires are being "allowed" to burn is a perfectly reasonable way to manage the fires. If the fires were put out now, the threatened areas would eventually burn anyway -- and often will burn even more drastically becasue of the natural buildup of fuels.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday:

Firefighting crews in Montana battled the four top priority wildfires in the West on Wednesday, blazes that have led to the evacuation of hundreds of people.

In a normal year, Wednesday would have been the beginning of the summer fire season in Montana, but drought has put most of the state two to three weeks ahead of schedule and more hot, dry weather is forecast.

It's going to be a long season,'' said Warren Bielenberg, fire information officer for the Lewis and Clark National Forest in northwest Montana.

The No. 1 priority for firefighters Wednesday in the West was a blaze in the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness north of Helena that had blackened 31,238 acres, or about 49 square miles. Residents of 60 homes southeast of Wolf Creek were evacuated Tuesday, adding to residents of at least 60 other homes that were evacuated earlier.

The fire was moving north toward Holter Lake, a popular recreation area, and through a wildlife management area. It was about 25 percent contained but was expanding Wednesday toward evacuated areas to the southeast, where hand crews, aircraft and bulldozers worked to build lines and keep it in the wilderness ..."

To all who have written in concern for our safety in Helena, I just want to reassure you that we are fine -- the fire is 10 miles from the city and so far no one's home has burned. The firefighters are doing an outstanding job of protecting people's homes and animals. Still, your prayers are appreciated, here and all over the west where drought is making the 2007 fire season so much worse. Thank you! -- Maureen

Plant a Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:19:00 +0000

Old Apple Tree, Copyright by Maureen Shaughnessy

Do you want to plant a tree (or 2 or 3) yet
a.) keep putting it off until you settle down in one house for a long time?

buy a house?
b.) figure out exactly what you're going to do with your garden so you know exactly where to plant the tree?
c.) have enough money saved to afford a large tree?
d.) decide what kind of tree you want to plant?
e.) other?

Well ....

The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now. -- International Society of Arborists

Weeping Tree over Bench, Copyright by Maureen Shaughnessy

HOW TO PLANT A TREE
So .... What are you Waiting For?
Click here for a fact sheet on planting a new tree.

a few facts about trees, listed on the International Society of Arborists website:

In one year, an acre of trees can absorb as much carbon as is produced by a car driven up to 8700 miles.
Trees provide shade and shelter, reducing yearly heating and cooling costs by 2.1 billion dollars.
Trees lower air temperature by evaporating water in their leaves.
The average tree in metropolitan area survives only about 8 years!
A tree does not reach its most productive stage of carbon storage for about 10 years.
Tree roots stabilize the soil and prevent erosion.
Trees improve water quality by slowing and filtering rain water as well as protecting aquifers and watersheds.
Trees provide food and shelter for wildlife.
The death of one 70-year old tree would return over three tons of carbon to the atmosphere

If you love trees, and want to tell other people about it, please head over to the Festival of Trees coordinating blog to find out how to participate in the next festival. Click here:

I will be hosting Festival #15 for the month of September, at Raven's Nest (aka Water Earth Wind and Fire) ... so check back here around the 1st of September to see more about trees from all over the world.

Meriwether Fire Makes Its' Own Weather

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 02:20:00 +0000

Meriwether Fire Makes Its' Own Weather, originally uploaded by MontanaRaven.

I know that in many places all over the globe wildfires are burning places that are dry as a bone because of years and years of drought. Montana is one of those places. In some parts of the world, heavy rains after long drought have encouraged vast amounts of plant growth -- only creating more fuel for the fires to devour when the land does dry up again as it has in Montana. So, I know we are not alone in living with wildfire almost every summer. Though it is hard to breath some days, and the smoke makes our eyes sting, I feel grateful that our home is not threatened. And grateful to be alive. Never take our lives for granted!

Today this truly gigantic cloud formed over the Meriwether Fire in the mountains north of Helena. Thereis NO way I can capture the enormity of this cloud formation in a photograph. It towered over the city of Helena and over our valley. You can see the mountain ridgeline at the bottom left of this photo. This cloud was mostly smoke from the fire.

What's really incredible to me is that just yesterday, we couldn't see more than a few blocks in town and today, the air was much clearer, though just half hour after I shot this photo, the billowy "softness" had dispersed and the cloud was just an ordinary thick haze of hazardous smoke again.

Worth viewing Large on Black background

Montana Wildfire: too close for comfort

noreply@blogger.com (Maureen) — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 22:10:00 +0000

Meriwether Fire: too close for comfort, Copyright by Maureen Shaughnessy

Here is what my town, Helena, Montana looked like yesterday at 1:35 pm. The smoke blew into town from the Meriwether Fire just north of town near the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. The Forest Service's air quality level was the worst so far, with visibility at less than one mile. It was actually way less than one mile at the moment I shot this photo -- I couldn't even see across town just a few blocks away.

The Helena Cathedral's twin spires are barely visible in the center foreground. The mountain range on the north side of the valley are completed invisible. The fire is at the moment burning basically uncontrolled, though the Forest Service and other firefighting teams are trying to protect structures and homes in the path of the fire. Folks living in the area have been asked to evacuate. Some people do and others just want to stay home to protect their own homes and animals. I'd hate to have to make that decision!

Here is the same view of the Helena Valley last Winter, crystal clear air:

I shot a slightly different angle this April:

Please pray for all of the land that is crispy dry and threatened with wildfire, or that is already burning.

The above photo is on the Helena Independent Record Flashpoint page, a regularly updated page of information about the fires burning in and around Montana. Click the photo to go to the article about the fire, written by Martin Kidston.