tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14402759930288823272012-02-16T17:52:45.631-05:00Thoughtful and Sometimes Heretical Commentary on Art, Culture, Psychology, Religion, Science, and Spirituality.Carol Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01247326353477078571noreply@blogger.comBlogger81100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440275993028882327.post-44328495676975657142012-01-22T11:55:00.000-05:002012-01-22T12:42:28.559-05:00

This past week in TED talks, Alain de Botton suggests that Atheists need the social structure that religion provides. I say they do not. What they need is to appreciate the power and necessity of story and belief. I know this because I’ve been there. I have to wonder if Alain is ‘falling away’ from Atheism, hankering as he does for the beauty of ritual, the clarity of belief, and the

Carol Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01247326353477078571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440275993028882327.post-45267869228892783352012-01-15T16:54:00.000-05:002012-01-15T16:54:18.728-05:00

When I look carefully at a plant, I often fall into a rabbit hole, into the fabulous musical symmetry that IS nature. I marvel at the fact that every leaf shape, branching habit, flower shape, seed architecture...every single living edge...is determined by a simple numerical pattern released as the strings of DNA are played, each in its own time. It is magical and yet not magic. In his book,

Carol Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01247326353477078571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440275993028882327.post-21655657443880381842010-10-15T19:17:00.002-04:002010-10-19T09:38:44.415-04:00

I have been recently reading...no--consuming, a couple books of Wolf Kahn paintings and his essays about painting. His passion is (appears to be) the abstraction of the landscape as portrayed by the horizon, color play, and nature's chaotic interruption thereof. Plus barns. No one can resist a good barn. My passion, on the other hand, is for nature's architecture mixed with a large dollop of

Carol Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01247326353477078571noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440275993028882327.post-81532007363032668792010-09-11T15:04:00.004-04:002010-09-11T15:10:14.708-04:00

This summer I splurged on those expensive tropical succulents available in fine garden centers this year. One was the Kalanchoe 'Flapjacks'. I have taken probably 50 photos of this baby since she came to live on the patio, none of them quite catching the beauty of her simplicity and coloring. Until this one. Thank goodness I had the camera within reach.

Carol Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01247326353477078571noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440275993028882327.post-7732973652402944352009-12-04T17:50:00.000-05:002009-12-04T17:50:11.773-05:00

Just as I finished breakfast one late October day, the morning light was a lovely silver and lemon mist. The patio stones were damp from yesterday’s rains, so I stepped outside to take a few fresh breaths before work. The iron fire bowl was still wet black and reflecting the sky. A few damp leaves clung to the sides and bottom. To my eyes it really was a study in pearly gray and bronze light on

Carol Brownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440275993028882327.post-11254328486290207252009-11-03T19:45:00.001-05:002012-01-19T08:51:28.915-05:00

The mountains of western North Carolina are blessed with rivers and waterfalls. Here are my favorite waterfall shots. First two from along the Cullosaja River between Franklin and Highland. Third is also on the Cullosaja, named Dry Falls. You can walk under the cascade and stay dry. This waterfall along the Nantahala was a big surprise. This little blacktop road called Wayah

Carol Brownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440275993028882327.post-39629925347741085392009-09-29T17:53:00.004-04:002009-09-29T18:18:48.500-04:00

After only a week of rain, Settendown Creek was flush and lovely.These were taken Saturday September 19. By Tuesday the down-pours of the intervening days resulted in record flooding in the Metro Atlanta area, pushing many creeks above their 100 year flood stage and some above 500-year flood levels. (How do they know that?) While this section of the county received about 11 inches of rain in that

Carol Brownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1440275993028882327.post-49748741876648938932009-09-25T17:51:00.006-04:002009-09-25T18:14:27.519-04:00

Since it had been raining for a few days, I thought to check out nearby Pool Mill Bridge. Perhaps the colors would be rich. They were. It was hard to get a good shot of the bridge, though, for the Historical marker and red and white warning signs cluttering the entrance.Today's surprise was the Sycamore bark. I have always seen Sycamore from afar, her hefty creamy branches reaching across distant

Carol Brownnoreply@blogger.com0