Reflecting On 01-01-01

Happy New Year to you and welcome to my blog, The Last Leaf Gardener. Since tomorrow is the start of not just a new year, but a new decade, I find that I look back to how the decade began. The year 2000 began with all the Y2K frenzy. The following year 2001, came in much more peacefully, as evidenced in the photo above of a snow sculpture of the Madonna with Child, which I saw in Central Park on 01-01-00, after a winter snow storm. Unfortunately, that peacefulness would ultimately be shattered within nine months and eleven days, on September 11th, 2001 when airplanes flew into the World Trade Center, murdering thousands of people.

Today as I return to this peaceful image snow sculpture image, I'm reminded of the freedom to create. Snow sculptures that often pepper Central Park after a snow storm are one result of that freedom. I imagine the snow sculptures bring joy to those who create them, and joy to those who, like myself, see them when they walk in the "winter wonderland" of Central Park. However, since snow melts, these are fleeting moments.

Fortunately, I've preserved this solemn sculpture's moment in time in the format of a photographic image which I have rendered into a note-card, and it can be seen posted at the top of this entry. I have created and produced a limited edition of these cards which can be viewed on my web-site where they can be purchased.

Meanwhile, as the year and this blog move forward, many of my post  topics will be about my work as a photo-artist and my gardening endeavors as well as other gardeners. Additionally, from time to time I may post about a current event, but at the moment you and I are just getting acquainted, so I will leave you with this thought: Now that I've gotten the setting up of my blog underway (and making my New Year's resolution to stick with a posting scedule), it seems I may be passée. I understand many people have moved on to Twittering and Tweeting. It is my life story summed up in ten words: at the airport when the ship comes into the dock. Being a reflective soul, I'll probably stick to blogging over twittering and tweeting. Besides, as it is, while some of my posts will be snippets and captions, others may border on mini essays. My temperament reminds me of Herb Gardener, whom I happened to meet while working at a theater (but that is as "they" say, another story), and he told me that before becoming a playwright, he was a cartoonist and when the "bubbles of dialogue got bigger than the cartoon-characters, it was time to be a playwright." Similarly, as opposed to tweeting and twittering, blogs let you generate more in-depth content. I see them having greater resilience in terms of perception. But they require what many people seem to consider long-term commitment today:setting aside 20-90 minutes daily, weekly or semi-weekly. Still some bloggers are providing insightful or informative blogs which I hope to do also. I am in it for the long haul, and perhaps the Charles Schultz cartoon posted below sums it up:

As for this blog, I will post my first entry on January 4th 2010 and then every other day of the first week of 2010. I do not intend to write very much about me per se  throughout this blog, other than this first week to be spent discussing a few personal topics. My hope is that by introducing you to myself in this way, I will provide a foundation that  gives insight into my orientation as a photo-artist and my endeavors as an urban gardener.

Following this first week of this every other day of posting, I will be posting regularly on Saturday mornings, beginning Saturday the ninth of January 2010 (with the exception of Saturday, March 27th and Saturday, April 3rd and two Saturdays in October; the 9th and the 16th). 

From November 2nd of 2010 - November 23rd 2010, I will post on Tuesdays and Thursdays in addition to my Saturday morning postings. This means that I will post three times a week: Saturday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings. Occasionally, when a special event occurs on a given day between scheduled posts, I may post on that day in addition to the scheduled postings. However, beginning the day after Thanksgiving, November 26th, 2010, I will post every day until December 1, 2010.

After December 1 2010, I will post every other day through Christmas and then post every day from Christmas through the end of the year but these posts will be around mid-morning as opposed to mu usual early morning postings due to my schedule. It sounds complicated but I want my readers to know when they can expect new postings.

My 2011 posting schedule will be announced at the beginning of next year. Now on with The Last Leaf Gardener!