king kong

king kong

marsh grass—absent from my

wildflower manual index

but now here is         shepherd’s needle

shepherd’s cress

and there’s more

here we luckily find it looking like rain

the wild king the wild yeah

Castlerock

Our first trip to this town, which is about 45 minutes by train from Derry. There were a few light drizzles on and off as we walked, but mostly it was dry and sunny and we just enjoyed taking pictures. More of these will be going up on Instagram, where I'm William Bain 5.

Starting out toward the Downhill Desmesne and Downhill House

Some 15 minutes later ....

Approaching Downhill Desmesne and Downhill House

A partial view of the house

Derry photos, 2019 (2)

A view of a patch of foxglove; and a moss-covered stump, cut off almost at ground level. I took two or three of the stump, for later use in drawing or painting. Concentrating on abstraction.

Derry photos, 2019

These are the first of a series. From top to bottom, the Foyle River from the Peace Bridge; Derry from the Bridge; a floral display in St Columb's Park

Friends and mentors

Friends and mentors

                                             JH, CH

We watched our correspondence, begun as occasional fat paper envelopes stuffed with your old lecture notes and my fledgling essays, turn into irony laden emails two or three times a month.

In the years following your deaths my thoughts have gone often to your farming and your project of setting out hardwood trees in redwood country. A kind of natural lecture. An advising.

As I grew strong enough to set an occasional challenge you must have seen some of your own conversation in mine. A-gambol like one of your goats.

In my visit in 2000 we worked through different understandings of proxy wars and mints—and an election four months away. Now, in the context of newer elections, I feel some version of ‘Bella Ciao’ still uniting us, each of our voices in a different key.

August 2019 vacation

Actually, we're just starting out on our August trip. We're off to Ireland on Monday and it seemed fitting to post something here from a previous trip--in this case two photos taken in the Botanical Gardens in Belfast. I was fascinated by the vegetation shown here and look forward to experiencing it again in the gardens. Meanwhile..... Well, sharing the inspiration potentials of the vegetation via pictures.