Miss Pelican's Perch

Looking at my World from a Different Place

Category Archives: Photography


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Wandering

Today I found myself with a very rare Saturday where I did not have any particular chores or errands to run. I had a total unstructured day ahead of me. My plan was to have no plan. The only thing I decided was to go to a place, enjoy it, and then let that place or activity suggest where to go and what to do next. My plan was to be a wanderer today. I will not go into great detail, but I eventually ended up on a train headed towards downtown.  I ended up at the county’s natural  history museum.    It was weird to be out and about with other people. I felt like I was coming out of a hibernation and greeting a strange new world.



LJGloyd 2022


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The Light of Santa Fe

San Francisco de Asis Church in nearby Taos, NM.

Decades ago I took a road trip across the Southwest and ended up in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I was only there a day, but I fell under the magic of the light and color, the history, the intermix of cultures, the landscape.

I was only there one day, but I want to return to it. I want to see again the purple of the wisteria against rose-colored adobe walls, white clouds against cerulean skies, red rock and green pines,  the sparkle of silver and turquoise on the vendors’ displays, red and green chiles.   I want to enter again the sacred spaces of its ancient churches.   It all has to do with the light, both physical and spiritual.

It has been said by many artists and photographers, writers and creatives alike,  that there is a light unique to New Mexico. Whether it is the altitude or the particulate matter in the air diffusing the sunlight that causes this specialness, or the fiery glow of angels and saints flitting through the skies from beyond the veil, I just can’t say.

My photos from this trip are put away and mostly unscanned, but I don’t need them.   The light and colors are seared into my soul.


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Day 339: Guardian of the Garden

I know I haven’t posted much in a very long time. It is the same old same old: working at home trying to get through this quarantine. My turn for the vaccine is not here yet so I keep waiting.  That being said, I have not been idle. I’ve been slowly regenerating the soil in my garden.

There is a corner in my yard that gets almost no sun except for the very high days of summer. As a result, not much grows there.   A curious thing happened a few days ago. Somebody, no doubt a neighbor who was moving, dumped a bunch of trash on my lawn. In the process of throwing out the trash, I discovered in the heap this terra-cotta sun face. I could not bring myself to throw him out so I put him in this corner. He seemed a little lonely so I moved this small cairn which I had built elsewhere in the yard. I followed up by going to a local garden center and getting a helleborus plant, also known as Lenten Rose, which they tell me does well in the shade.

Maybe this new guardian of the garden will smile on this little corner and things will start to grow and thrive.  We’ll see.

ljg 2021


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Day 290: Checking In

I realized that I have not posted much in several weeks. I’ve been working—thank God—and doing a lot of reading, journaling, puttering in the kitchen and gardening. I find it very hard to drum and make art.  These take a lot more creative energy that I simply do not have right now.

However, I was struck with a little green energy yesterday and I started working on a small container garden of succulents. I already had a bunch of baby aloe vera plants which a friend gave me and I added echeveria and tiny donkey tails.   My mama aloe vera has a 3 foot blossom.

So I do what I can to stay grounded and focused during what remains of a hideous year. I am hoping that with 2021 things will start to get better. If I don’t post again this week, then everyone have a happy new year. Stay well.

Aloe Vera blossom





Ljgloyd 2020


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Day 248: On Being an Open-Minded Skeptic

Tai Chi Chuan at the Beach, ljgloyd 2017

I believe in science.  I have little patience for flat-earthers who ignore basic, observable evidence, or those who won’t wear masks during a pandemic because …. well, I really don’t understand their “because”.    They make no sense.

That being said, I am open-minded enough to believe in the possibility of things that don’t have a readily available scientific explanation.

For example, I have, for decades, practiced various types of energetic practices such as qigong, tai chi chuan, and yoga– practices intended to move vital life force energy (Qi) through the body to optimize good health   I receive acupuncture treatments and take Chinese herbs for the same reason–they break up stagnant Qi.    I engage in these practices because I can observe the outcome: I feel better afterwards.

So for the time-being, I will be content to embrace the mystery and assume that one day our methods of scientific research will shed more light on the existence and operation of something so basic as our vital life force.

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Here are two fascinating clips from the classic Bill Moyer’s documentary about Qi and traditional Chinese medicine.  In the second video, I appreciate the young man’s comments about advancing our methods of studying Qi.

ljgloyd (c) 2020

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2020/11/17/rdp-tuesday-qi/


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Day 220: Work/Life Balance

Way back in March when we started our work-at-home lockdown, I fussed a lot about having to stay at home all the time, enduring the “sameness” of every day. Of course, there is still a lot of that feeling, but I have come to appreciate the benefits.

The primary benefit for me is the work/life balance.  I don’t have to rush home to meet the handiman. I don’t have to spend my weekend or evenings doing laundry or vacuuming. No stress in dealing with commuter traffic. I can make a pot of tea and drink it like a civilized person instead of gulping it from a paper cup. I can go out and weed my garden on my lunch hour. And I don’t have to binge cook on Sunday afternoons. I have time to tend a simmering caldron of soup on a Thursday afternoon. And this morning, I roasted a kabocha squash while answering work emails and preparing for zoom meetings.

Yes, I can get used to this.  Wait, I think I have gotten used to this. 

kabocha squash roasted in olive oil, rosemary, salt, pepper and drizzled with maple syrup