every precious second.....

Photo byLinear Edges

This photograph struck me when I first saw it a few days ago.It was taken out of the 9th floor window of a building....the leaf was carried on warm updrafts, by itself, and floated right in front of the photographer. A single leaf flying in a cloudless sky....dancing in front of the photographer's window. Had he been staring at his computer, or watching TV, or shuffling papers, he would have missed this small miracle. Instead, he was staring out of his window, maybe daydreaming, maybe thinking of someone he hasn't seen in a long time....someone he should talk to....tell them how much they mean to him...

We all need to just stare out of our windows from time to time......




In this short Life
That only lasts an hour
How much-how little-is
Within our power

Emily Dickinson (1873)

painting across time...

Thimble Jellies

A flock of mini pepper-pots
they float in cornflower blue
blowing kisses at the sky.

The red-brown cloud at their centres
is alive, hungry for the light
that has pierced the skin of the sea.


Over the weekend Harald Schmid submitted his Corn Flower photograph. Harald lives in Austria and took this photograph in 1977. I knew I wanted to post this image as soon as I saw it but I felt it needed a poem to go with it.

This morning Fiona Robyn, who lives in Hampshire, England sent me her Thimble Jellies poem and it immediately felt right for Harald's photograph. Fiona writes beautiful minimalist poetry on a small stone

30 years later and from many miles away....Fiona has given Harald's flowers the colour they were searching for....

Visual Poetry...

The Dream to Lower Stairs... by J.Gual

Jordi Gual from Barcelona, Spain is one of the most visually poetic photographers I know. He tells me that there are images that do not need words
.... true indeed when the photograph speaks directly to the soul.

(This also speaks directly to my Undesigning the Bath heart...)

Renewal...

Photo by Nina Sabatino

Fall has always been my favorite time of year. I recently had a conversation with a friend who mentioned the concept of Fall being the beginning of the year instead of the end of the year as most of us are conditioned to accept it to be. We designate days and months and seasons as a way to count the passage of time, but is there really a beginning or end of the year? All things are incomplete.....we can designate our own beginnings and endings as they suit our individual experiences. My favorite outdoor experiences have always occurred in the Fall and so it represents for me a renewal of spirit and re-connecting with the earth and the power and awe of nature.
This renewal carries me through the long cold winter months until the warmth of Spring.

yes.... Fall is a new beginning

Book of the Week...

Undesigning the Bath by Leonard Koren
(1996 Stone Bridge Press; Berkeley, Ca.)

This book was a recent gift from a friend who found it in a used bookstore, and said it reminded her of me. Let me just say that I have never read a book that so closely paralleled my own feelings towards bathroom design (or Undesign).

Why are most designers (architectural, interior, or industrial) incapable of creating deeply satisfying bathing environments? Because the key metaphors of design- efficiency, slick modernity, overwhelming visual appeal- are antagonistic to a profound bathing experience. Extraordinary baths instead are complex and distinctly elemental: earthy, sensual, and animistic. They are created by natural geological processes or by composers of sensory stimulation working in an intuitive, poetic, open-minded-undesign-manner.

What an interesting way to re-define my job description as a bath designer... a composer of sensory stimulation, working intuitively and poetically.Now if I could only find more open-minded clients...

(note- Leonard Koren also wrote Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers 1994 Stone Bridge Press....what I would consider the core textbook of western wabi-sabi study)

words of wisdom...

Broken Flower by dbarkan

David Barkan is a photography student from Sao Paulo, Brasil...

Under this very nice 35 mm photograph David posted the following quote from Daisaku Ikeda ...

You must not for one instant give up the effort to build new lives for yourselves. Creativity means to push open the heavy, groaning doorway to life. This is not an easy struggle. Indeed, it may be the most difficult task in the world, for opening the door to your own life is, in the end, more difficult than opening the doors to the mysteries of the universe

This is such an appropriate quote to post today and it brings thoughts of all of those who are losing houses in the California Wildfires, and those who still struggle to rebuild lives in New Orleans and Indonesia. Don't we all have doors we must push open?

More Daisaku Ikeda Wisdom

In balance....

Rocks by bebalance

It took me a long time to accept the fact that Bill Dan could really do the things in his photographs. I was convinced they were photoshopped. I have no clue how someone could be so finely tuned into the laws of gravity that they could produce art such as this, but it reminds me of one of my favorite chapters from the Tao te Ching...

The Master does his job
and then stops
He understands that the universe
is forever out of control,
and that trying to dominate events
goes against the current of the Tao.
Because he believes in himself,
he doesn't try to convince others.
Because he is content with himself,
he doesn't need other's approval.
Because he accepts himself,
the whole world accepts him.

Pine memories...

santa ynez pines... by Sol-exposure

This lovely Polaroid Transfer immediately brings to mind the resin covered little pine cones scattered throughout the Minnesota North Woods that burn with bursts of life giving warmth in the evening campfire, and the incredible smell of New Mexican Pinon pine, one of my favorite aromas in the world.

Welcome to Wabi Blogi.....

The search for truth in the observation of nature...

-all things are impermanent
-all things are imperfect
-all things are incomplete