Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Walden

My creation

Walden Pond pine conesWalden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts seems to inspire so many writers and artists. Even my daughter enjoys fishing on Walden Pond, which thrills me no end, since I am such a fan of this historical home. I found a lovely video about the book Walden.

Walden Pond

DSC03040I took this photograph early last Autumn in the evening, and watched as this woman enjoyed her evening swim. Looking out at the lake I could hear the words of Thoreau's book about this wonderful place...

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Henry David Thoreau wrote in his work Walden, Life in the Woods:

"For the first week, whenever I looked out on the pond, it impressed me like a tarn high up on the side of the a mountain, its bottom far above the surface of other lakes, and as the sun arose, I saw it throwing off its nightly clothing of mist, and here and there, by degrees, its soft ripples or its smooth reflecting surface was revealed, while the mists, like ghosts, were stealthily withdrawing to every direction into the woods as at the breaking up of some nocturnal conventicle. The very dew seemed to hang upon the trees later into the day than usual, as on the side of mountains."

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Walden Pond pine conesYou can imagine my thrill when I stumbled upon this wonderful little volume, of Walden and other Writings of Henry David Thoreau,



DSC03040in one of my favorite antique book shops.




DSC03040This clean modern library edition originally dated 1937 was republished in 1965 by Random House. Edited with an introduction by Brooks Atkinson, and foreward by Townsend Scudder.




DSC03040The book is a lovely size with burnt umber book cloth and gold lettering on the spine housing 732 pages of enchanting language which transport you back into another time and place.

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DSC04540For the love of old books, this treasure was placed on a shelf in my shop on etsy.

Walden Pond

Walden Pond pine conesI think that Thoreau would have approved,

Walden pond

Walden Pond pine conesas this hawk watched me photograph his beautiful haven of nature.

Hawk over Walden Pond

Walden Pond pine conesMy favorite time to be on Walden Pond, well I love all the seasons, but my favorite time of day has to be at dusk to embrace the sunset.

Walden Pond at sunset

6 comments:

Betty said...

Karen, What a wonderful new blog! I also love old books. I keep them on the top shelf of my very tall bookcase so I don't even remember all the titles, but I think I might have that Thoreau. I have always wanted to visit Walden pond. Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures!

Unknown said...

test blog

Teo said...

Dear Karen,
Thank you for stopping by my blog and for taking a look at my work. I’m glad to have discovered your art this way. You are such a talented artist, I just love your watercolors and mixed media creations. I’ll be following your blog too, and I hope we can stay in touch this way!
Teo

Snap said...

Karen,

Lovely, lovely! Happy New Year!

Draffin Bears said...

Dear Karen,

lWhat a beautiful new blog and I was excited to come over and visit.
I love old books too and have some from my Grandparents and Parents, that are really lovely.
I thought The Captain's Children, plates are gorgeous, especially the sweet little girl.

I ook forward to coming back for a visit ~ your new blog is beautiful.
Happy New Year and may it be a wonderful one for you.

Hugs
Carolyn

Brenda Pruitt said...

These photos are sublime! Enchanting photos to go with a wonderful story. I ADORE books!
Brenda