Savannah

Savannah, I’d love to feel the heat the sunrise brushing rays across my windshield as if one dries the streams from off my face.

And a favorite summer tune:

Photos via Trendy Traveler

Dreamy scenes

A silent walk on a dusky evening with dirt and leaves underfoot.

I want to reach out from an idling gondola and touch this brick facade.

The smell of morning, dew at my fingertips, Matsuo Basho on my mind.

Images via Craft Idea Every Day, Flickr, A Cup of Joe.

School House Road

The Faceted Couroucou by Carrie Marill

I remember the creeks, body surfing, crawfishing, our own private island, my rock collection, the smell of the woods and the slippery moss on the rocks.

This artwork by Carrie Marill is so quirky and fun. It reminds me of our old house in the woods, the dirt road and days spent with my sister and brother out by the creek — our own personal playground.

Marill gives a quick little bio about her work: “I am a full time visual artist who has a keen interest in the natural world. With my gouache on paper paintings, I navigate the rich history of nature illustration and combine it with a contemporary pop aesthetic.”

Interesting! OK, now I’m missing grade school art classes.

See more artwork by Marill. I especially love this one and this one. (The last one reminds me of puzzles I used to put together in my loft when I was recuperating from a fifth grade bike accident and thought I was near death. I wasn’t.)

Water is magical when it falls

Elakala Waterfalls Swirling Pool, Blackwater State Park, WV

I need to stop being wowed by National Geographic photos. They are just consistently breathtaking. And envy-inducing. Seriously, I want nature like this where I live. If  you were just driving through, you would probably consider where I live to be a pretty rundown hick town. And for the most part it is. But there are times of the year when I’ll be driving through some place I’ve always been used to and I’ll be struck by how gorgeous the leaves on the trees are or how adorable a particular stone wall is. In fact, we have some very gorgeous waterfalls nearby. Of course, they don’t even compare to this West Virginia photo.

Scenery from the road

Have you ever been to a place that is more reminiscent of scenes from movies and books than actual life? On the way to pick up a jeep with my mom yesterday, we passed through Lowville, Alder Creek and Boonville, N.Y.

On a winding route through Lowville, we drove through Maple Ridge Wind Farm, which evidently holds 195 wind turbines, making it one of the largest wind farms in America and the largest in New York state. Pretty cool. I didn’t know this at the time, as I think we could only spot about 15 turbines from the road — some spinning idly in the wind, others completely motionless. I learned other cool things about the wind farm (did you know each turbine is taller than the Statue of Liberty?) from this interesting feature by Joseph D’Agnese. From certain spots on the road, and on the bright and sunny day that it was, it appeared as though we could reach out and touch the turbine blades.

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Not far from there we came across a quaint, old-fashioned stone bridge. The one-lane tunnel (on a two-way road) is a freakier concept than it was in person. It’s desolate enough out there that I was able to get out and snap some pictures. Of course, you can’t linger forever because cars do eventually come…