Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Leaves and shadows

I admit how I'm loving how someone (or several someones) has answered the poll with "daily." Very very sweet.







This was simple enough. The late afternoon winter sun was casting shadows of these leaves against a tan wall. The shadows are actually of another tree, however, though.

35 comments:

Elisheba said...

Ooh, I like these too! The last one reminds me of of a Chinese painting.

Mike Bailey said...

S-S: this makes me so happy. I was SO trying to capture that look, precisely. you made my day!

Elisheba said...

I'm so glad I made you happy! Can I have a poll now?

Mike Bailey said...

Well, you deserve one. Let me cogitate. Bad precedent to order up polls on demand, don't you think?

Andy D. said...

Very nice work on each of these. They look quiet and more eerie than normal Chinese paintings to me, and much more intense and therefore better. The greenish color looks like the sky before a good old fashioned Kansas tornado. It sort of takes me into various scenes from Kill Bill (which is a good endorsement for them, by the way...). Really good stuff!

A.

Mike Bailey said...

Andy:

You and the universe are one. Feel your breath. Become your breath. You are your breath. Peace. Nothingness. Peace. Breath. Kansas tornado. Peace.

Andy D. said...

Now that's a lot weirder than I had taken this. But I'm rollin with it...

Mike Bailey said...

Andy D: Yeah, you rolling as long as I say you rolling.

Susan Hasbrouck said...

So soft and lovely.

Elisheba said...

Don't think about it as ordering up a poll on demand, think of it as being responsive to the needs and desires of your readers. `

Andy D. said...

I'm rollin like Rommel through Afrika.

I'm rollin like a ball under a circus bear.

I'm rollin like a greased up pinball.

I'm rollin like water down a mirror.

I'm rollin like yo mama.

I'm rollin like a three-wheeled skateboard under a big ol walrus.

I'm... Ok hold on, I think I lost my focus there for a minute.

Steven Taylor said...

s-s: Be careful what you wish for...

Elisheba said...

ST-what's the worst that could happen?

Technoprairie said...

My first thought was "zen". How very zenlike these pictures are.

Plus it makes me want a Japanese Maple of my very own. Why don't I have one? I guess Japan and the northern tundra aren't the same climate.

Mike Bailey said...

TP: Japan reaches fairly far north, though. Same latitude as Detroit, roughly, on one of its islands. I think. But yeah, maybe it's more temperate. I'm surprised, though, if you couldn't grow them there, too.

Andy D. said...

However, you can see Japan from Alaska.

Elisheba said...

I am the only one voting for daily. Don't think of it as me cheating so that I can sweetly flatter you into giving me a poll, think of it as me believing so strongly in your daily zen that I am willing to take a little extra time to express my belief.

Susan Hasbrouck said...

A haiku, for AD

Aren't we so worldly?
I can see Russia(n vodka)
from my living room

Steven Taylor said...

Andy D.: but only if you squint.

MB: would it be devastating if I said the bottom one looks kind of like a place mat at a Chinese restaurant? (But, a very zenish one?)

Claudia said...

These are lovely! And yes, technoprairie, they will grow in your neck of the woods. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

Unknown said...

SS: Not the ONLY one.
I voted once, a day or two ago.
I've been looking and reading...just not commenting.

Technoprairie said...

Yes, I know that they will grow but only if protected a LOT from snow, ice, wind, and sun. So basically if I put it in the north corner of my house by the chimney, I could get it to grow. In a place that I hardly ever look. I really want it in the front but (see reasons above).

Elisheba said...

Julie-my apologies, I can't count. You should comment more, talk to us! We are humble and lovable and sometimes poetic.

Andy D. said...

A Poll Quiz:

Which of the following statements is absolutely true?

A. Andy D. is the only one who voted on the final poll option, that MB's zen cannot even be measured in nanograms, and Andy D. voted that poll option 7 times.

B. Likewise, MB is the only one who voted on the first poll option, that MB's zen could not be carried in the largest trucks, trains, and ships on the planet, and MB voted on that poll option 7 times.

C. Both A and B.

D. Both A and B, and blog readers who try to bail MB out of voting for himself 7 times on the zen issue (on his own poll, mind you) are sycophants of the worst order, and for that reason should never be given a poll of their own.

Andy D. said...

JC - awesome haiku! Here's one back at ya, albeit in my newly preferred limerickku form:


There once was a gov
from Nantucket, but you can't
see Russia from there
either.

AD

Elisheba said...

To AD:

Those with their own polls
Should not begrudge sycophants
Wishing for the same.

timekeeper said...

See how haiku can turn every crazy comment into something wise?

Whomever did the
first haiku on this blog rocks
Oh wait, that was me.

Andy D. said...

Street-ku:

Who do
first-ku
not me
then who?

you do?
Me too
oh no?
Then f u

an' all y'all.

Mike Bailey said...

Andy D: very well spoken indeed. awww....you threw the "an' all y'all" in there just for me. thanks, bro.

Anonymous said...

Why is Professor Mikey taking photographs for graphic wallpaper? Don't do it, man. Don't sell out. Whatever they're offering you to turn your genious into something for people to line the walls of their soothing, inviting, Asian-inspired half-baths with, don't take it.

Andy D. said...

MB, as you and I have parlanced for years now, you're exactly correct - "all y'all" means "just you and only you to whom I'm speaking"!

Andy D. said...

About this "daily zen" poll thing:

Why are you MB -- or any of us, for that matter -- assuming it is a good thing, some kind of compliment, to be called "zen" at all?

Consider these two plain jane definitions of "zen" that I found online:

(1) a school of Mahayana Buddhism that asserts that enlightenment can be attained through meditation, self-contemplation, and intuition rather than through faith and devotion and that is practiced mainly in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam

(2) a Japanese school, of 12th-century Chinese origin, teaching that contemplation of one's essential nature to the exclusion of all else is the only way of achieving pure enlightenment

I mean, what up with that? Why and how did "zen" turn into a compliment? And not only that, but a compliment to the exclusion of any other form of religion, self-reflection, or adulation?

Just wonderin.

A.

PS -- I one time found a third definition of "zen" which is a bit different from the rest, by googling "weedwacker eyeball." But other than that I ain't sayin a word.

But no, seriously, my question above (pre-joke) stands. Thoughts?

Andy D. said...

Let me put my question above into more context -- I thought of it, because I read MB's new addition to the top of this entry (above the photos), saying it is "very sweet" that people (himself) have voted that he is displaying "zen" daily.

And I thought, "That's not the same thing as someone saying, 'MB your blog is showing the ultimate self-enlightenment of yourself daily.'" Even that I'm not positive is a compliment, but for the sake of argument let's say it is...

Instead, the poll comment of "zen daily" is really just saying, "Each day your blog displays a 12th-century school of thought related to how to ultimately attain self-enlightenment."

But I think we as Americans simply hear the word "zen" and think "Oh my god what an awesome compliment." Or in some cases (MB), "Oh please oh please, someone show me how to be more zen!" (Ignoring the irony that one's self is the only ultimate answer to that question...) "Please call me 'zen'!!"

When, why, and how did that switcheroo of definitions take place?... And why do we as an American society seem to care so much about that word, and bringing ourselves in line with it through whatever cost?

That's what I wanna know.

Zen zen zen zen, It
ain't even a well-defined
word, yet we want it.

A.

Mike Bailey said...

Andy D:

perfect is the sound
when my readers call me zen
daily and daily

you the master of
wikipedia andy
but we ain't impressed

Retarded is he
who would question zen's goodness
Yet that what you do

you was just smacked down
by great zen master mb--
humiliation

Andy D. said...

What I find is, you
bout as zen as a dime in
a goat's butt -- shiny?

Yes, you be shiny.
But that where the similatitilarity end,
and the sniffin begin.