In our garden: Reflections on Earth Day 2013

Earth Day, a celebration of what the earth gives us, was celebrated across the world on Monday.

It is often said that love begins in the home. And, so does our love for our planet earth. Yesterday, amid clear skies and a wealth of lovely sunshine that greeted the San Francisco Bay Area, I seized an opportunity to get outside for a little while and spent some time in our garden.

As I looked around, I thought to myself: "If I love the earth, all will bloom naturally."

We are blessed to have nine different rose bushes as well as irises, calla lilies, fuchsias, rhododendrons and camellias surrounding our house. Indeed, we have an abundance of beautiful blooms throughout the entire year, especially during the month of April.

And, so, in celebration of Earth Day yesterday, I grabbed my camera and started taking photographs, recording these precious moments in our garden for others to cherish. Consider it  as my random act of kindness. 

May every day be like Earth Day to us.

Iris

Mr. Lincoln rose

Pristine rose

Calla lily

Rhododendron

All photographs by Michael Dickens, copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

A monument to change that's always changing

Hundreds of colorful Post-It notes?

Not quite.

Instead, what caught my attention as my wife and I happened upon the American artist Peter Wegner's never-ending "Monument to Change as It Changes" on a recent, northern California spring evening was this: it's an unusual yet thought-provoking monument of colorful patterns and images that's perpetually in flux.

One moment, the 2,048 tiles comprising "Monument to Change as It Changes" are mostly blue with shades of green. Another moment, it's turned red accented with yellow, and so on. There's a fluttering sound heard as each of the tiles flips and changes color.

The massive, three-ton wall monument, which made its debut in 2011, is a 32-foot-wide large grid of colorful flip tiles built into the facade of Zambrano Hall at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business campus.

The flip-digit technology that enables each tile to change colors ~ including blues, reds, yellow, greens, purples ~ is reminiscent to the way letters change on old-fashioned European train station departure and arrival boards. And, not surprisingly, this mesmerizing artwork was designed so that no color patterns repeat during an eight-hour cycle.

During my 10-minute visit, I stood transfixed by the ever-evolving color patterns and the cadence of sound as I tried to shoot photographs of this artistic moving monument.

Sometimes, it takes provocative beauty to make us pause and think about big thoughts.

Monument to Change as it Changes /
Always colorful and perpetually in flux

Photograph of "Monument to Change as it Changes" by Michael Dickens, copyright 2013. 
Video courtesy of Stanford Graduate School of Business, copyright 2011.

Sharing a checklist that's always in season

In our garden / A spring white rose blooms after an April shower.

Sharing a spring checklist

 that's been making the rounds, 

but one I admire for its sincerity and purpose.

 And, it's one which is always in season,

rain or shine:

"Be kind.

Work hard.

Stay humble.

Smile often.

Stay loyal.

Keep honest.

Travel when possible.

Never stop learning.

Be thankful always.

And love."

Photograph of white rose by Michael Dickens, copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

A sacred space is graced with light

Sacred space /Graced With Light

Imagine a series of light pathways that connect heaven and earth, manifest as ribbons.

Graced With Light is a stunning, music-inspired installation created by American visual artist Anne Patterson that incorporates a French Gothic-style cathedral's vaulted ceiling arches.

In engaging audiences through this remarkable creation that synthesizes art and music, light and sound, space and self, Graced With Light, which had its debut last month in San Francisco's Grace Cathedral, brings the beauty of art into a famed sacred space.

Grace Cathedral, whose ancestral parish, Grace Church, was founded in 1849 during the California Gold Rush, has always been a place to belong; a place to explore; a place to go deeper in one's faith. And, Graced With Light, part of a celebration of 100 Years of Music at Grace Cathedral, is designed to grow and change.

As I entered Grace Cathedral on an overcast Easter Sunday morning, I saw the Episcopal cathedral, located on Nob Hill, in a brand new light. What I witnessed was miles upon miles of colorful ribbon ~ 20 miles-worth of shimmering ribbon ~ hand-assembled by Patterson, this year's cathedral artist in residence, with help from the Grace Cathedral community.

Each viewing of Graced With Light will be different thanks to the way in which light reflects inside the cathedral from both the natural ceiling lights as well as from the many colorful stained glass windows.

The message Patterson has conveyed is a personal one ~ and one which left a lasting impression with me. Imagine ribbons carrying our prayers, our dreams and our wishes skyward. And, in return, see grace streaming down the ribbons to each of us.

Graced With Light will be on view at Grace Cathedral through this summer.

To learn more about Graced With Light: http://www.gracecathedral.org/air.