“Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love; it will not lead you astray.”
Rumi 1207-1273
“You’re only given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.”
Robin Williams
“Have I gone mad?” asked the Mad Hatter
“I’m afraid so,” replied Alice
“You’re entirely bonkers, but I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”
Lewis Carroll
Somehow these quotes speak to me of enjoying wonders of ordinary living. Living with abandon and paying attention to all that surrounds us.
I learned a group of pheasants are called a nide.
I do love nature…oh so much. Recently I have enjoyed seeing up to 15 pheasants in the field behind our house. There is so much beauty in nature, and its proven to help our mental acuity when we stop to appreciate it.
Then there are made-made public artworks. I’ve taken more notice in the past few weeks as I’ve tried to be more in tune with my surroundings.
I had an appointment at the Park Nicollet Clinic in Burnsville recently. It is a fairly large facility so there is some walking involved to get from the parking garage, through the covered walkway into the building. There is a wall of posters hanging in the entry hallway. Many people walk on right by this display…I have before. But once I noticed the posters, I enjoyed looking at different Minnesota lakes on this cold winter day, when the lakes are frozen over now.
I’m posting four of the eight posters depicting different lakes in Minnesota.
As I stood admiring them an employee walked by and said to me, “I claim this one” pointing to the Lake of the Woods poster. I replied, “OK, I’ll take the Lake Superior poster.”
I took notice of several other works of arts on display throughout the clinic that day.
Other public artworks that caught my attention these past few weeks were huge (approx. 4 feet X 8 feet) photos printed on metal and posted along an antique store parking lot in Mantorville, of all places…
Photo by Brian Hindal, a local Mantorville resident.
Each photo is taken by a local person with a description next to the photo. There were ten huge photos and a variety of subjects… I’ve included three favorites…
Photo by Cory Ingram, a local photographer, writer, fisherman, and physician.
Photo by Annemieke van der Werff
These public artworks are a wonderful way to display local artists and create a warm and welcoming space…even in parking lots!
Also, there is a wonderful exhibit on display at the MSP airport, entitled The Felt Menagerie;
A collection of unusual creatures by Dustin Black.
These pieces were so whimsical. They made me smile…and made me marvel at the work involved using all felt material.
Once you start looking…it’s amazing what you see all around on ordinary days.
More public artworks to be continued…
