When things get hectic, or I need to calm down, or just be quiet, a good place to start is Just…A Moment, a site (and a person) I noted in a short paragraph summary in December but one I keep returning to over and over.
Just…A Moment is the blog site of Susan Etole. She lives in Minnesota – and you can tell by the photos she takes – lots of snow. And she takes absolutely beautiful photos.
But it’s what she does with the photos that are so special. Using few words, she wraps sounds and sights together, simply, elegantly and, yes, spiritually. Her posts are always like this.
Take, for example, the one she posted yesterday, entitled “Transitions.” The words are few and simple: “Sometimes the end of a thing is the beginning of something very beautiful.” The five photos posted with them are spectacularly clear. But you have to step back from the words and the photos to see them as a whole, and therein is the great thing she does – she creates poetry with those few words and those beautiful pictures. I’m in awe.
Another example: “Something to Ponder,” again, a short sentence and photos of the moon. Or a birthday song to her son – heartfelt words and a series of pictures of baby shoes. Just stunning. Or her post entitled “Kindness Leads” -- wonderful words, photos of a bird at a bird feeder. (You see lots of photos of birds on Susan’s blog, and she must sit for a long time to get exactly those photos.)
Just…A Moment is what I call a ministry, because it ministers to all who come there. You arrive at the site, and you immediately find yourself, as she says in About Me, “in the midst of quietness.” Sometime, I’d like to sit with Susan and talk, basking in the quiet conversation, and basking in the quiet.
Visit Just…A Moment and find out for yourself.
(In December, a number of us participating in the “Twelve Days of Community” - see the button at the top right - sponsored by The High Calling Blogs. The purpose was to highlight the blog or web site of someone other than ourselves during the season of Advent and Christmas. I liked the idea so much that I’m continuing to do that each week -- highlight a blog or web site of a person whose thoughts and writing have had an impact on me and others.)
Showing posts with label Susan Etole. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Susan Etole. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Monday, December 14, 2009
The Seventh Day of Christmas: New Friends
For the seventh day of Christmas, I want to highlight some new friends I’ve found via blogs, comments on blogs, Twitter, and various web sites.
Doug Spurling. Doug lives in Minnesota. He has a blog called Spurling Silver (I like that name), where he writes about family, grandchildren, life, faith and God. He had two posts last week, one entitled “Frozen” and the other “The First Christmas Tree,” which will give you a good indication how he can surprise a reader, and take you where you didn’t expect to go. You can follow him on Twitter, too.
Susan Etole. Susan lives in Minnesota, and posts about the “three Ps” on her blog, Just…A Moment – poems, prose and photos. She’ll take the simplest of ideas and combine a few words with a photo to blow you away, like she did with “No Storm Here” and “The Riven Heart.” Susan and I have at least three things in common – faith, a love for poetry and a love for good mysteries.
Randall David Tipton. Tipton is an artist in Oregon, and he posts his oils and watercolors on his blog, Painter’s Process. He does some beautiful work, painting in a luminous way. His subjects are often nature – woods, trees and other natural settings – but he also did this recent work of “Steam and a Mill” on the Willamette River. And thanks to my friend Maureen Doallas for introducing me to Tipton’s work.
Phoenix-Karenee. Phoenix-Karenee is an artist, a poet and an author. I don’t know her or his real name or (obviously) gender; the blog site is something of a mystery and that’s part of the enjoyment. I suspect it’s a she, but I could be wrong. But I really enjoy the poems and the art that’s posted occasionally.
Claire Burge. Claire, who lives in Ireland, writes a blog called My Memoir of You, and she posts her poetry and photography. She also has a tutoring business, a blog devoted to her photography, and a blog about family, where she posts occasionally. I tweet her poems whenever she posts one – they’re good.
Doug Spurling. Doug lives in Minnesota. He has a blog called Spurling Silver (I like that name), where he writes about family, grandchildren, life, faith and God. He had two posts last week, one entitled “Frozen” and the other “The First Christmas Tree,” which will give you a good indication how he can surprise a reader, and take you where you didn’t expect to go. You can follow him on Twitter, too.
Susan Etole. Susan lives in Minnesota, and posts about the “three Ps” on her blog, Just…A Moment – poems, prose and photos. She’ll take the simplest of ideas and combine a few words with a photo to blow you away, like she did with “No Storm Here” and “The Riven Heart.” Susan and I have at least three things in common – faith, a love for poetry and a love for good mysteries.
Randall David Tipton. Tipton is an artist in Oregon, and he posts his oils and watercolors on his blog, Painter’s Process. He does some beautiful work, painting in a luminous way. His subjects are often nature – woods, trees and other natural settings – but he also did this recent work of “Steam and a Mill” on the Willamette River. And thanks to my friend Maureen Doallas for introducing me to Tipton’s work.
Phoenix-Karenee. Phoenix-Karenee is an artist, a poet and an author. I don’t know her or his real name or (obviously) gender; the blog site is something of a mystery and that’s part of the enjoyment. I suspect it’s a she, but I could be wrong. But I really enjoy the poems and the art that’s posted occasionally.
Claire Burge. Claire, who lives in Ireland, writes a blog called My Memoir of You, and she posts her poetry and photography. She also has a tutoring business, a blog devoted to her photography, and a blog about family, where she posts occasionally. I tweet her poems whenever she posts one – they’re good.
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