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Macro Monday: Korean Edition

January 9, 2011 By 1 Comment

These pictures are among my favorite items, bought in Korea. I’ve been looking at them in my glass case for a long time. I admire their craftsmanship and always protect them. A few years back, a two-year-old nephew actually tossed one of these precious Korean sculptures and her shoe cracked off. Oh my, I was inwardly roiling with fury! How could he have done that? I know: he was two … but I’d been so careful, transporting them all the way home from Korea and in a single offhand, impulsive toss my beloved figure cracked; maimed! Yes. I was a grown woman, and I was upset. So fine, I was able to repair the shoe with glue, and life went on, and no one would have ever known about it if I hadn’t just written these words but it’s all part of the story, as many beloved things do have a story, a little more history. So now, you know, whoever inherits the girl in hanbok. Be careful of her foot!

One day, oh, in about forty or fifty years – all of which will be healthy and happy and prosperous, creating a wonderful legacy for generations to come (!) – the kids will inherit these pieces. I hope these pieces (and there are more than the snippets you see here) will grace a special place in their home as they do in mine. They’ve grown up looking at them, but probably never really seeing them. I think that’s just the way it is. Some of the favorite items that I inherited from my mom after she left for Heaven were the small things, the objects that were just always there, in the house, and now, they are in mine. Every time I look at one of them it evokes home. I never expected that these little things would be imbued with such meaning for me, but they are. Who’s to say what will mean something to my kids, down the road? But two of them are Korean-born and today, the images are Korean.

I love Korea and will go back there as soon as I can. The shopping is fab, Seoul is a vibrant and fashionable city, alive 24/7, and in the countryside it’s so historical, so beautiful. Koreans cherish their distinct culture. They ache because of their separation from the North. It was one country until the powers that be slashed it into two in 1945. Families are still separated, and so there is still very much the longing for reunification of the peninsula and the people who live there.

The copper colored item with the gold crescent moon and etched wildflowers is a sort of planter. It’s heavy and handmade and I’d no more think of putting anything damp like soil or a plant into it (and do love soil and plants!) than… well, I just wouldn’t do it! It’s such a lovely piece of handmade art and I love metal and texture and the clean lines in its design. Picked it up in Insadong. The minute I spotted it, I knew.

I hope to see Korea again, and this time, visit the lovely Cheju Island, off the tip of the southernmost part of Korean. It’s known as the Korean Hawaii. Cheju Beachlife: what do you think?

(Photo borrowed from a Korean tourism website. Kamsahamnida!)

Filed Under: Blog, Macro Monday

Into the Muck…

January 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There were only a few minutes of daylight left in yesterday so I made a quick dash to what’s becoming my second favorite go-to place for photos, Dutton Island. A lovely place, but… another sunset?

At least I changed from my Juicys and kicked on the ugly Dansko clogs before I went out there. Otherwise, well, better shoes and pants would have been ruined.

I was desperate for some macro shots but there was too much of a breeze and nature was blowing all over the place; even with the tripod it was no use. So I stupidly decided to walk to the edge of the water, where the wind was pushing at the water, making a frothy, pretty edging at the marsh. A few shots there – nice, but nothing special.

I looked around for something stationary to photograph, and saw clumps of ugly shells stuck to rocks near the dock. Okay. I walked through the wet sand muck and set the tripod. I shot several uninspiring photos of these shells, simply because they weren’t affected by the breeze… but then I started to sink in the muck. And I mean really sink! The tripod’s legs were stuck, as were my feet. I tried to extract myself but lost my shoe to the muck which I started to think of as quicksand! I was more worried about how to get the tripod (with my best lens on the camera) out of there if I was unable to move. Every movement just drove my feet further into the wet and slimy sand (a marsh is no beach). I gave up worrying about not getting muddy right away; it was futile anyway. My shoes were impacted inside and out, my pants, socks and feet were encased. I finally yanked out the deepest foot and freed the tripod with the camera and lens unscathed. (I got my shoes out too.)

All this for not a single good macro shot.

But I like this one, of the water at sunset. Still. It’s just water.

And I didn’t even take a picture of my mucky shoes as proof! I guess I just wanted to get hosed off – shoes, tripod, me, as quickly as possible!

There’s always tomorrow, though. Well, today. And it’s looking pretty lovely outside right now. What am I doing in here?

Filed Under: Blog

A New Old Friend – P.S.

January 5, 2011 By 4 Comments

Meet my new jacket. I picked it up, marked down, at a local surf shop and I have to say, I’m in love with it. I call it my photographer’s coat. Just a few days home and it already has a special place in my heart. Funny about things, isn’t it? Every now and then you find something that is so instantly it, it’s as though you’ve had it for years, and it fills a void you didn’t know you had.

Hello, jacket. Meet my friends.

Out gallivanting returning some shoes today, I spied this adorable brown hat hanging in hats, scarves, and gloves. Yes, we do have winter here. Of a sort. I used to laugh at people who’d don gloves and coats when temps dipped into the 50s and today I am chief among them. But this isn’t a hat for keeping warm, it’s a hat for style and it called my name as I walked past it. So naturally I stopped to try it on. Since I recently had the straightening treatment on my hair it’s opened a whole new way of dressing, and hat wearing is but one of them. I put it on, and that was the end of it. Another old friend. Strange, how I keep meeting old friends in the oddest of places these days. I’m calling 2011 as being off to a very good start.

The last time I owned and wore a similar sort of hat, I loved it too. A girlfriend reminded me recently of how another girl had made fun of the hat (with me in it) in a ladies’ room on a Saturday night at a concert. I had been oblivious to the teasing, and maybe I’ll be deaf to it again but I’m just a little bit older now and I know this: I really like my hat.

Filed Under: Blog

For My Friends in San Marco

January 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

San Marco is a lovely neighborhood in Jacksonville, not coastal. Its claim is the magnificent St. John’s River and old neighborhoods with traditional homes, large lawns and splendid trees. If you’re from Michigan, like me, think of it as Birmingham meets the Grosse Pointes. What gives San Marco its community vibe is the Square…the in town pedestrian shopping area filled with entrepreneurial spirit and unique offerings from boutiques to the all-important bookstore to several renown restaurants and a cadre of merchants and residents who care about keeping this neighborhood thriving and lovely. And that it is.

I enjoy driving from the beach to San Marco. I plug in to the iPod (well, the iPhone, but you know…) and listen to my curated content and when I arrive, and debark, camera and tripod in hand, I enjoy wandering their streets, feeling as though I’m in a different world than the beach. Which it is. The vibes are totally different but their similarity is an important one: they are invested in the local community just as the beach is invested in its. When we support the local it enhances our lifestyle, frees us from the “mall-if-i-cation” of America, and lets the free spirit reign where it’s planted. You might not find a San Marco style shop at the beach (but why not?) and you’d more likely not find certain beach style shops in San Marco … but it’s totally cool to hopscotch about the neighborhoods of the greater Jacksonville area because these communities are diverse and have a flavor all their own.

Today, here’s a slideshow of the Holidays in San Marco:

Holidays in San Marco from Jeannie Greenwald on Vimeo.

(The audio accompanying the video is Carol of the Bells, purchased by me via iTunes. If you like it, it’s a great addition to your holiday music library and I’d encourage you to get it too. It’s from the Barenaked Ladies’ Barenaked for the Holidays CD which our whole family loves, year after year.)

I have a favorite park in San Marco already, too, but that will be an ‘Off the Island’ post for another day.

Filed Under: Blog, Off the Island

Macro Monday 2011

January 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The only way to do this is to challenge one’s self. One of these weeks I’ll have something to post that really moves me from deep within. You just know it when you see it because you feel it, first. Until the visceral, I’ll post the visual.

I adore the mini orchids I pick up occasionally from a fav little home/garden shop in Jax Beach.

The raindrops came too quickly to consider staying out on the 11th Street beach access in Atlantic Beach and seek some better shots. I skipped back to the dry car with the precious lens and camera still attached to the tripod, to avoid wet, that can ruin equipment.

And so, it was. Er, it is. Macro Monday. Underwhelming, but posted.

Filed Under: Blog, Macro Monday

Salt Marsh to City Street

January 1, 2011 By 1 Comment

At the edge of the island are the salt marshes of the intracoastal waterway. The lovely Dutton Island park is just minutes from home – and the beach – and it has such a different vibe, all trees and sunset views and tidal marshes for canoeing, fishing, kayaking. There’s a dock for just all that, and for watchers, too, who just want to stand stand at its edge and gape at the swampy beauty; and plenty of trails to scout for good photo ops, I can’t help myself.

But I arrived too late in the day to walk alone into the woods. I just stood at the edge of the marsh and watched the sun set on this first day of a new year, and change the hue of the sky and water by the minute. Two kayakers glided onto shore. Neither of us disturbed the other. They were enjoying their thing; I, mine, on this bonus day, this 1-1-11: lucky…auspicious? Perhaps. But I live in a different sort of mind where numbers and fortune and auspiciousness are not things that move me one way or the other.

It’s hard to leave a sight so splendid but after a while, you’re just taking pictures of the same scene,

none of them too spectacular, either, and when the courteous officer from the Atlantic Beach Police Department arrived to let me know the park was closing, I packed it in and drove the few minutes into town. I appreciated him not locking me in the park for the evening; a much more civilized choice than that of the Suwannee Springs park management, thank you very much.

Lots of people out and about in Atlantic and Neptune Beaches, out-of-towners and beachlifers alike, for the Gator Bowl was held today in Jacksonville. The beach is a draw for football fans sojourning from other states to see their teams have at it one last time in the stadium formerly known as the Gator Bowl. The cars were plenty and the restaurants looked to be doing brisk business as I set the tripod on the street corner and opened the shutter and let the holiday lights sparkle and the headlights and tail lights smear the sensor as it finally snapped its image.

The Christmas tree, in the center of town, where the mystical girl riding the sea turtle statue should have been placed is always lovely, but its spot is otherwise unoccupied the rest of the year. It will come down in the next day or so; these images show cars slowly driving around, admiring the magnificent tree, then driving away. It’s always nice to take a slow turn in the roundabout when the Christmas tree is up; I will not forget my chagrin when someone behind me honked their horn when I slowed to snap two photos from the window of my car last year!

Restraint. That should be my word for 2011. Let’s not gum up the hard drive with 214 pictures of the same event, times dozens of events per month, and remember too, that less is more here on the blog, too.

Thus, my afternoon-into-evening, on this day-of-ones: well done for a solitary girl who lives at the beach.

Filed Under: Blog

2011 Comes to Atlantic Beach

January 1, 2011 By 1 Comment

In our own version of Times Square, or any number of crowd-thronging, drunken revelry sort of venue (we did not imbibe) we chose the low-key way to mark the passing of this year – 2010 – not exactly my favorite year of all time – and give a nod to 2011, which I have a feeling is going to be a better one all the way around.

At about 11:40pm we rousted our lethargic selves from the various parts of the house in which we were comfortably ensconced, and could have just as easily stayed put, lazily letting 2010 go. But no, we went out into the mild night at the coast and met up with our lovely neighbors and joined them on the short walk to the sand: the eastern seaboard of Florida, where the dads of the group set up some casual fireworks and we all enjoyed a half hour or so of happy new year-ing, the kids tackling each other in the sand; the youngest, a little out-of-sorts, her earlier insistence on midnight fireworks had waned. But it was nice to get out, and be with some other good people and welcome in 2011, another year ripe with possibilities for all. That’s how I’m looking at it.

I prefer to do what we did, than gather with a crowd in Times Square or some other amped-up crowd where people are not themselves for a night. But I’m not certainly not travel-averse. NYC, Charleston, anywhere would be nice – and travel’s on the 2011 agenda – but right here at atlantic beachlife, we’ve got ourselves a pretty nice lifestyle and lovely neighbors, and that is something to celebrate.

Happy New Year!

Filed Under: Blog
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