Photography of 2013

Happy 2014! I've tried not to be too self-promoting in this blog, but it's there. I try to mix up the posts between subjects, but it's still my own thoughts and ideas and pictures and travels. 2013 has been a year of transition, ideas, experiences, thoughts, books, writing and plenty of travel. Below are a collection of my favorite 2013 memories, places and views.

Deerfield, New Hampshire.

Megan's horse, Lacey, Deerfield, New Hampshire.

Deerfield, New Hampshire.

Deerfield, New Hampshire.

Skiing with my parents, Grantham, New Hampshire.

Concord, New Hampshire.

Concord, New Hampshire.

Concord, New Hampshire

Atlantic sunrise. Returning to the U.K.

One of my favorite views. St. Andrews, Scotland.

I wish I could say that 10,000 + memories have not returned after seeing this picture. St. Andrews.

February afternoon walk. St. Andrews.

St. Andrews.

Friday afternoon crafts, St. Andrews.

Chinese New Year, St. Andrews.

Snow comes to Scotland.

I was interviewed by St. Andrews Radio about Pope Benedict XVI's departure. I didn't blog about it then in the hope that nobody would listen. ;)

St. Andrews.

St. Andrews.

"I need feminism..." photo shoot, St. Andrews.

Katie visits and we attend a ball, St. Andrews.

St. Andrews.

I attempt to read Old(e) English, St. Andrews.

Botanical Gardens, St. Andrews.

St. Andrews.

St. Andrews.

St. Andrews.

St. Andrews.

Sea glass, fake pearls and metal.

Argyll National Forest, western Scotland.

Loch Lomond, western Scotland.

Dresden, Germany.

Dresden, Germany.

Dresden, Germany.

Vienna, Austria.

Vienna, Austria.

Vienna, Austria.

After joining an impromptu Austrian dance party, Vienna, Austria.

York, England.

St. Andrews.

Scottish Highlands.

Isle of Skye, Scotland.

St. Andrews.

Edward the bunnay, St. Andrews.

Where the sea and sky become one, St. Andrews.

St. Andrews.

With Becky and Jia, final day in St. Andrews!

University Hall, St. Andrews.

Last night in St. Andrews!

A few minutes after arriving home, Grantham, New Hampshire.

May lilacs, Grantham, New Hampshire.

Grantham, New Hampshire.

Sharon, Vermont.

Cornish, New Hampshire.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens home, Cornish New Hampshire.

Green Mountain National Forest, Vermont.

Richmond, Vermont.

Dragonheart (dragonboating) festival, Burlington, Vermont.

New York City.

New York City.

Sierra Nevada from above.

Organic berry farm, outside Santa Cruz, California.

Eastern Orthodox church, San Francisco.

Boston sky.

Shelburne, Vermont.

Saint Michael's College, Colchester, Vermont.

Grantham, New Hampshire.

Boston, Massachusetts.

Grantham, New Hampshire.

Nature and Favorite Books of 2013

Below are several photos taken outdoors this morning and a few book reviews.

Image found here.

Image found here. 

These two go together. They're long. They're challenging. But wow. I knew that both had won Britain's Man Booker Prize in 2009 and 2012 which put both on my "to-read" list until I realized their relation to my spring 2013 "The Early Tudors: Literature and Reformation" course. Then, they were read and enjoyed immediately. Author Hilary Mantel traces the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry VIII's closest advisors. The writing is incredible. Both books required focus and close attention and it helped to be learning about the time period and the Tudors at the same time, as Mantel's wide research is evident and successful as she provides accuracy and close description in both. Wolf Hall begins the trilogy while Bring up the Bodies, which traces the fall of Anne Boleyn, is my favorite. I'm looking froward to the final installment in 2015, The Mirror and the Light. 

Image found here. 

I was assigned a few stories from this monstrous book in the fall of 2012 in my Creative Writing course. The first few I read were powerfully written and helped shape the remainder of the semester and my own writing. I soon set out to read the whole book. It took many months, but I finished it this past fall, finding that nearly every story in here is wonderfully written and like any good story, lingers for a few days.

Image found here.

So, so good. A collection of Whitman's Civil War poetry, prose and letters, it's short and isn't the quickest read, but the language is powerfully realistic. I usually don't jump onto the bandwagon of classic literature, I have little to comment on Shakespeare, Austen or Dickens, but Whitman! He's another story. 

Image found here.  

I had read Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner a few years before, and was looking forward to this one. The first 80-100 pages were disappointing as I felt that all description and realistic writing was missing. It seemed too, that the male writer wasn't successful in writing through the eyes of a young woman. And then, suddenly, the story Hosseini told magnified and overshadowed. As the story widened, I realized Hosseini's talent lies in his ability to tell a story. He may not have had elaborate prose or weighty description, but the story of Afghanistan before and after the Taliban rule through the eyes of two young women and two families was triumphant, tragic and somehow, relatable. 

Image found here.

I had enjoyed Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring a few years ago, and this was similar in depth, characters and exploration of a different culture. A mixture of American/British Quakers, westward migration and the fugitive slave law, The Last Runaway was powerful, engaging and exciting. :)

December

It seems that natural winter colors are a mixture of white and brown and green. The season is not solely white (snow), but encompasses a mixture of snow, ice, white and blue sky, dirt, mud, mulch, drowned grass and moss. I think winter might be the least attractive season -- despite the beauty snow and ice brings, but it seems to be the most distinct too. We fail to see the extraordinary in the ground we walk on and the sky we live under. The photos below were taken on Christmas day (yesterday) and today.

frozen lake.

wooden windowsill view.