Noir et Blanc - Belgian Nursery

Noir et Blanc - Belgian Nursery
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

Towards the end of the work week is when we start to firm up our 'Saturday outings' plans.
This time however one of the Three Amigo's was in a bit of a creative slump. I was in the mood for an adventure.

Recently I had visited the Belgian Nurseries which is very close to where I live, I was looking for a particular plant that my wife was interested in.
What I found was a world of photographic and artistic wonders. I could not wait to visit with my cameras and sketch books.
I spoke with someone who I thought was the owner, seeking permission to wander around and they were most accommodating.

So therein lies the problem, me desperate to go and revisit, my amigo ...well not so much.. "a great pile of pots, eh"? Was his reply as I tried to fire his imagination...

Despite his trepidation he came along trusting me. Heck he even drove!

After our arrival it took only a few minutes he pulled out a camera and he was off. Three hours went by in no time at all we barely remember any of it in a flurry of creation, camera's clicking pens and pencils flying across clean white pages.

All too soon it was time to leave Doug said "OK now you can say I told you so" but I didn't because I wasn't sure he would see what I saw.
He admitted that he had been to the nurseries many times seeking out plants or bits and pieces for the garden but never realised what was there.
My explanation was 'but then you were not seeing as a photographer sees'.
Me? I'm just happy that once more my friend trusted me to come along and that his trust in my judgment was not misplaced.

"As you start to walk out on the way, the way appears". ~Rumi

Flight- Ignatius Centre

Flight- Ignatius Centre
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

Yesterday was one of those days ...

One of those days that tell you, in no uncertain terms that the seasons are turning once again.
Across the open fields, the chill wind spoke of Winter but in the groves of tree's the delicate warmth of an ever strengthening sun cut through the chill to warm the body, the mind and the soul.

And flocks of geese fill the skies ...

The signs are everywhere if you only take the time to stop, look and listen.

Yes there maybe another snow storm on the way and my friends in England are tolerating tremendous gales and flooding but the armies of spring are on their way and will not be denied.

"Hark! the hours are softly calling
Bidding Spring arise
To listen to the rain-drops falling
From the cloudy skies
To listen to Earth's weary voices
Louder every day
Bidding her no longer linger
On her charm'd way
But hasten to her task of beauty
Scarcely yet begun".
~Adelaide Anne Procter

Morning Shadows II

Morning Shadows II
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

When it's -20c outside and you have the choice between staying in a warm bed or getting up, getting dressed, throwing your gear and snowshoes into the car and heading out, how many would choose the latter?
Well I know three who would.
Two of the 'Amigo's" met in a local parking lot. The third "Amigo" Doug was digging himself out of the snowdrifts around his cottage but he was with us in spirit.

In February the winter lies deep, the woods are silent, the air crisp, clean and invigorating.
We walked for an hour, pausing occasionally to take in a scene or just to listen to the silence. Then we moved on again our only companion was the crunch of fresh fallen snow under our snowshoes.

As Doug would call it "glad to be alive weather".

February; deep winter but the sun is beginning its slow march north and gaining in strength as each day passes...

"It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it". ~John Burroughs, "Winter Sunshine"

Beech Study-Arboretum

Beech Study-Arboretum
Originally uploaded by Alan Norsworthy

To some, it can be a humbling experience, to others just a walk with friends...

I'm sure that Doug will agree that an outing with Patrick is always the former.

Yesterday the "Three Amigo's" met at the Arboretum in the U of G.
The softly falling snow was really a harbinger of things to come, that is why Doug was home instead of in Tobermory.

So the "Three Amigo's" rode again.

A wonderfully soft morning, the biting cold had abated at least for a few days, the snow deep the light perfect, the banter warming.

We wandered the woods waiting for images to present themselves.

Coming together, drifting apart, watching, looking, feeling, waiting...


"While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see". ~Dorothea Lange