World map on a brick wall

April 19, 2020February 1, 2020 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

This piece of art is a lovely addition to an external wall of Dover’s indoor swimming pool.

I suspect the New Hampshire Children’s Museum had a hand in its appearing.

We form the pieces of a puzzle, don’t we!

Christos Anesti!

April 19, 2020February 1, 2020 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

For the Eastern Orthodox, today ushers in 40 days of Pascha, or Easter. It’s not a one-day event, but the joyous response to Great Lent, culminating in the feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost.

The center of the ceiling in an Eastern Orthodox house of worship typically displays a large icon of Christ Pantocrator, or Ruler of the Universe. Here is the image from Annunciation Greek Orthodox church in Dover, with four angels and what I presume are the authors of the four gospels. Every time I look up at that face, the thought arises, “I could follow that man.”

Just a friendly reminder

April 17, 2020April 16, 2020 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

The creators of the homemade mask (at left) pose with the creator of the sculpture (right) at this landmark along Interstate 495 north of Boston.

This whimsical public sculpture in Haverhill, Massachusetts, has always brightened our trips down I-495. I don’t know why the dog-bone cutout works so well, but it does, perhaps suggesting that Rusty (or whatever its name) has happily ingested a big treat. The playful open shape even allows opportunities for seasonal additions like a row of pumpkins every October.

So I get this attachment from a favorite funnyman in my life, acknowledging that he’s not the only comedian in the family. His wife and daughter, above, have been sewing Covid masks like crazy and, as dog lovers, they got an impulse to do more.

Look at it as inspiration, either to make your own masks or to make sure you wear one in public.

Ciao and bow-wow!

Looking into the past

April 15, 2020February 1, 2020 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Apponegansett Friends meetinghouse in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts

Sometimes when I stop at old Quaker meetinghouses, I’ll try to take a photo of the interior through the windows. Reflections make it tricky, in this case casting an image of me and my camera back at us. What remains is the rustic interior of the 1790 Apponegansett Friends meetinghouse in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, viewed from the former women’s side of the house, with a set of cedar dividing shutters lifted out of sight in the middle. The gallery for ministers and elders is at the left, and seating for the general membership is at the right. Does it get any simpler than this?

Northern palm

April 5, 2020February 1, 2020 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

From behind a curtain of time

March 29, 2020February 1, 2020 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Maybe she was a bowsprit. Or maybe she’s a ghost.

Put me in the top circle

March 20, 2020February 1, 2020 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Of the witch-hat houses I’ve seen to date, this comes closest to the shape I envisioned for my novel What’s Left. I like the way the top room in the tower connects to the attic rather than the master bedroom. Now, if the place were only pink to match the one in the story.

Gardeners’ mecca

March 18, 2020February 1, 2020 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

It doesn’t look like much, this former chicken barn at 688 Bellsqueeze Road up in Clinton, Maine, but it and a larger shed behind it are the operations center for Fedco Seeds, a seed and garden supply co-op geared toward the Northern New England climate. (I had to get that name in, Bellsqueeze, it’s a real, longstanding country road.) Members vouch for its high quality, low prices, and range of selections.

Well, they do call this a warehouse, even if you are welcome to stop by to browse and buy. Mostly, it’s mail order.

Inspired by a Shaker spirit

March 14, 2020December 1, 2019 ~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

In my novel NEARLY CANAAN, Jaya searches in her spare time for an means of personal expression that isn’t quite poetry or prose but somehow truer to her spiritual stirrings. After I finished drafting the book, I came upon an exhibit of Shaker gift drawings and writings channeled by one member of the monastic community to be presented to another. Sometimes these would also originate as song, and an unique form of musical notation also arose.

Here are a few examples.