Numbered (Thursday Doors)
I used to look for certain numbers. I considered them strangely fortunate although I never quite figured out the secret to tapping into their luck. For instance, eleven and all its multiples. I especially liked twenty-two and eighty-eight. But recently fifty-five is gaining steam. In fact there it was, captured by my camera, just last week.
Other numbers were undesirable. Unpleasant. They appeared to be defective. One hundred thirty-one for instance. Fourteen.
And then there was twenty-nine. Twenty-nine, like forty-two, was extra special. It contained what I was seeking, even if I had no idea what that was. It was imprinted in my mind, expectant, like a quivering magnifying glass waiting to reveal its secrets. It created a colorful aura around anything it attached itself to.
Unfortunately I’ve been missing its magic for some time now. Almost four years. But I expect I’ll run into it again any time now.
like the Fool I leap
from day to day, year to year,
always on the verge
I decided to go back and photograph the fourth house from last week’s grouping of Thom and Wilson-design brownstones, Number 55. It proved worth of close examination.
The ornamentation above the doorway includes an angelic figure in the center and two guardians at the top of the columns. I like the way the curves flow into the window above as well.
The garden level window has a dragon, and is framed by a curve at the top. And the fence metalwork is also lovely.
Even the balusters to the front steps have guardians–two creatures I can’t quite identify, one with wings.
More dragons, I think.
You can blame this haibun on Lisa’s dVerse prompt which asked us to leap, (with some help of course). I used the Random Word Generator. I haven’t visited Oracle 2 in awhile now, but she’s as abstruse as ever. Still, she provided the word camera. She knows me well.
Look for more doors, as always, at Thursday Doors, hosted by Dan Antion.
I know I’ll be on the lookout for more 55s.
Weekend Work 2/26/24
Another bird in cherry blossoms for the mural project. I really like this one. I may need to keep it although it’s been nice to hear how much people like the first one I gave the lab tech (hanging in old lab).
I admit I cribbed this from a Japanese print e.g.:
I spent a lot of time cleaning the skulls and bones from the owl pellets. There were a few good ones.
Using some on a rock. I may (probably) add some color to this.
This was a little comparison of the different sizes of skulls I found:
I wish everyone a good week!
Nina
Everybody’s Talkin’ (Thursday Doors)
What brings you here, now,
to photograph my visage?
Do you think me enchanting?
Perhaps enchanted?
How can you know what magic
I possess, what spells I cast?
The air is chilled, clouds
variable as clouds will
be. My face betrays nothing.
I passed by this rather severe looking window guardian the other day, and it did seem he was giving me the eye. Heather’s W3 prompt, to employ personification, was perfect for trying to ascertain his thoughts. I’ve written a mondo poem with two question stanzas.
A little investigation showed that the house he belonged to was one of four. designed by architects Thom and Wilson, and built in 1887. I’ve featured those architects twice before in Thursday doors.
They are all slightly different, but have plenty of interesting ornamentation. I only photographed three of them, not realizing the one on the far left was part of the same group of houses.
These windows have a squirrel guardian–I haven’t seen that before. That’s for you Dan.
All of the brownstones have been divided into rental apartments but the top one has a history and more photos on the Daytonian if you’re interested.
This one has some kind of animal guardian at the bottom of the columns. Lion? Dragon? I wouldn’t mess with them anyway.
As always, there are many more doors to be found at Thursday Doors, hosted by Dan Antion.
I know this is Nilsson’s song, but the first version I knew was the one by Fred Neil.
Weekend Work
The lab tech at work asked me to do a mural in her new room. She likes cherry blossoms and birds.
This was the first version.
I am not sure I’ll really be allowed to paint on a wall in a medical clinic but the manager said I could. Alternatively I could do a big panel or two. Either way anything that gets me painting is a good thing.
I got a new batch of owl pellets as I’ve been using the little bones and skulls in a lot of stuff. The skull on the right came out with both jawbones attached.
Very chilly here in Northern NJ. Have a good week! Nina
Close To Home (Thursday Doors)
I tend to
stay at home–
I do not
often roam.
My city
is quite full–
never the
same at all.
I sometimes
fail to see
what’s right in
front of me.
Streets where I’ve
been before
still surprise
with new doors.
Guardians–
ornaments–
photos tell
where I went.
Here’s another brownstone I photographed when I went to look for the Brigid door. Even though they removed the steps to the original entrance, above, they seem to have left it mostly intact. There’s a tiny guardian in the center above the transom.
The new front doorway, now on the garden floor, is more tastefully done than many. It makes sense to put the entrance on the lower level since the building is now divided into 10 apartments, two per floor. Looking at some of the rental photos online, they did at least save the fireplaces, although the rest of the rooms lack any original details.
There’s another tiny guardian in the center of the parlour floor windows, and lots of fruit.
The garden floor windows have lions for guardians.
My poem is a cethramtu rannaigechta moire for the W3 prompt from Sally. She provided also a theme of travel.
You can travel all over the world with the doors every week at Thursday Doors, hosted by Dan Antion.
Into Inner and Outer Space
The latest Kick-About is a cosmic journey.
Year of the Dragon; or Strength
Lost worlds are hidden everywhere.
Mistaking the dragon for shadows, I hesitate–
deep primal fear meets the enchantment of myth.
Something is listening, waiting, filling me with its song.
What treasures are found inside the earth’s heart?
Imagine a concentration of invisible forces
buried in a place where ley lines intersect–
the stones tell us stories if we enter what we see.
More, more there is always more—
lost worlds are hidden everywhere.
I meet myself without mirrors, unmasked.
I meet myself as my opposite, beyond words.
I meet myself inside the night that follows day
that follows night. I am as old as the universe.
Mistaking the dragon for shadows, I hesitate.
Begin with the labyrinth.
The movement of the spiral holds the light.
The center lies beyond the perimeter.
It is letting go; I am following.
Deep primal fear meets the enchantment of myth.
I am spinning on threads unwinding
into the energy of the unknown,
a hum in a current of a chord.
But I am not the source, only the connection.
Something is listening, waiting, filling me with its song.
To journey like a river, to be found
in the places that are always home.
To breathe in rhythm with time, eternity.
Where does spirit begin and matter end?
What treasures are found inside the earth’s heart?
In an interesting bit of serendipity I’ve been working on my Niki de Saint Phalle-inspired Strength tarot card, because most sources consider it to be the #8 card, and thus the card of 2024, although Niki numbered it 11, with Justice as #8. Instead of a lion, she used a dragon as her tamed beast–perfect for the Year of the Dragon. A key word for both the Strength card and the Year of the Wood Dragon is nurturing.
“Deep roots support growth and expansion.” True strength is not destructive, but creative, a balance of yin and yang energies.
My cascade is for Laura’s dVerse prompt. She suggested using lines for the first quatrain from a previous poem, but I ended up using a mash up of lines from poems I wrote for various Sue Vincent prompts for the entire cascade. I went down the rabbit hole looking for the one I had written that mentioned ley lines and dragons (actually not the same poem in the end…)
This dragon was done in brushwork on rice paper and then collaged with origami paper, much as I did the rabbits last year. Then I photographed it on top of a few cosmic mandalas.
The Strength card is a work in progress, as are most of the Tarot cards I’ve done for this project so far. I’m on my third version of the Empress, and I’ve got two versions of the Star in the works as well. I’m keeping the Moon as it is though.
Stayin’ Alive (Thursday Doors on Friday)
Sometimes nowhere is the only place
you have to go. Your feet, lacking wings,
keep you earthbound. But then music
appears from nowhere and occupies all the space
in your mind–music that moves your feet to sing,
tracing patterns that confirm you’re alive–
consumed completely by the melody, the rhythm of music
that needs nowhere and nothing but your feet to arrive.
I was looking for the Brigid door I featured last week in order to get a photo with the entire face on the left. So I was just walking around my neighborhood–the sun was out!–best to take advantage of it. I did find the door (see photo at end of post), but down the block there were more interesting buildings, and these birds caught my eye immediately.
The house itself seemed to be under construction, so the doorway was boarded over. But the beautiful details of the facade were readily observable.
Lots of guardians–I always like that.
A little research showed that there was an attempt about 10 years ago to both sell and rent the house, and that it last sold for 9,5 million in 2018. If you want to see what the lavish interiors looked like in 2015, when the asking rent was $30,000/month, you can see them here. At the moment it’s being “modernized” by a developer called Holliswood–as you can’t landmark interiors, I shudder to think what that means. But at least they evidently intend to market it as a single residence instead of breaking it up into tiny apartments.
Here’s the Brigid door with all its guardians.
And the poem? It’s a san san for my W3 prompt, which asked the participants to pick either a song about dancing, or a song they like to dance to for inspiration. Its only relation to the doors is the fact that often when I walk around looking for doors there’s a song stuck in my head, and I find my feet taking on the rhythm of the music. The song I picked was one I recently heard and it’s been earwormed in my head ever since.
If you have time, do watch the video for a time capsule of both clothing and dance moves. And of course, it’s still a great song. And perfect for dancing.
And there are always more doors to find at Thursday Doors, hosted by Dan Antion.
Bengal Florican (Draw a Bird Day)
safe places
are shrinking—man must
expand his
dominion–
anything in the way be
comes expendable
The Bengal Florican is native to the open grasslands of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh, and to Cambodia and Vietnam. Less than 1000 individuals remain, mostly in India and Nepal, with a small population in Cambodia. Both Cambodia and Nepal are working to provide sanctuaries for the remaining birds, who feed on insects, lizards, and small snakes.
The birds are known for their male mating displays, which consist of neck and chest puffing, and complicated aerial leaps and dances which can last for hours, as the males compete to attract female attention.
Ninety-five percent of the Bengal florican habitat has been converted to either crop fields or human residences. Other animals impacted by this ecosystem disappearance include other birds such as the Finn’s weaver and the black breasted parrotbill, and the one-horned rhinoceros, several species of deer and hares, and the pygmy hog.
Little is known about what happens to the Bengal Florican after breeding season; when not displaying, the birds are solitary and quiet, difficult to spot in the tall grass. The brown female feathers lend themselves especially well to camouflage.
My shadorma is a response to the What’s Going On prompt of safe.
method two madness 
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