Five Sentence Fiction: Breakfast
Breakfast for the Bumblebee
The morning’s brilliant sunshine belied the cool air, but the bumblebee, sluggish at breakfast on the spent seed head, foretold the change to come. The season had been awaiting the moment and the moment was here, and even as the day warmed and the bees efficiently bumbled on their way, grand and beautiful clouds appeared on the horizon, slowly, quietly parading across the sky, their size and numbers more dense each hour until by afternoon the blue overhead was hung with dreamy cotton and the voice of the wind whispered high in the treetops of what was to come. The day grew darker and more quiet until by early evening all was so still and dim that when the first few whispering patters of rain began their sound was clear, though unintelligible, as if speaking a language, like that of the trees, not of this place.
The rain fell quietly all night, lovingly soaking the hardened earth of late summer until, sated, it slept. As the next morning dawned the rain slowed and stopped, the clouds parted and cleared in a reverse of their arrival the day before, leaving the sun to shine brilliantly in the blue dome of morning, but the heat was gone from the earth, once again, for another season.
Before the Change
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Five Sentence Fiction: Breakfast
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
Enchanted Leaf
Enchanted Leaf
Rainbows in raindrops, leftover from the night before.
In its own little world, there is magic.
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
Rainy Night on Main Street
“Rainy Night on Main Street”, acrylic, 24″ x 12″, 2007 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“Rainy Night on Main Street”, Acrylic • 12” W x 24” H • 2007
I pulled up to a stop sign and saw this view of Main Street at night in the rain. I took a photo with my ever-present digital camera (and actually have it in my gallery “At Night in the Rain” ) but at the time a friend had also given me boxes of leftover art materials from her aunt including canvas panels and acrylic paints and brushes. I could visualize this in acrylic paint, the fuzzy glow around the streetlights, the lights in the windows, the long, ragged reflections on the street, and so I did. I entered it in annual the “Carnegie Painted” art exhibit in 2007 and it’s also part of the gallery “My Home Town”, a collection of 12 of my favorite paintings of all the ones I’d entered in that exhibit over nearly a decade. The original painting is sold, but I have made prints of it in various sizes.
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This is shared on Friendship Friday on Create With Joy
Friendship Friday.
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
A Little Bit of Rain
Pear blossoms.
The sun shone this morning but the rain clouds moved in, a nice intermittent rain that let the sun shine between the raindrops, so pretty on the pear blossoms, forsythia, forget-me-nots and green grass.
Big round water droplets on the flowers.
Pear blossoms.
Crystals.
Pear blossoms.
Forsythia.
Pear blossoms.
Forget me nots.
Pear blossoms.
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
Holiday Lights in the Rain
Holiday Lights in the Rain
This particular little house was once a garage to a huge Victorian home. It not only faces the alley but the narrow porch steps right onto the sunken and undulating bricks of the alley. One would think it wasn’t the choicest place to live, yet I always see children and adults around, lots of toys and talk and play; it seems to be a happy little house. I wasn’t surprised to see this complete selection of holiday decorations.
The shining bricks and puddles in the alley reflect the holiday cheer. Note the homemade Steelers emblem in the left-hand window; no display in Pittsburgh would be complete without it.
I usually associate holiday lights with snow, or at least with a clear cold night, but I also love colorful night photography and especially rainy nights.
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
November Rain
November Rain
Even the misty bluish cast of dark, rainy November afternoon can’t dim the brilliance of scarlet oak leaves.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
Diamonds in the Rough
Diamond Dust
Rain fell overnight and into the morning, then as the clouds began to part the mid-morning sun reflected itself on every single tiny drop on the surface of each leaf. The window screen acts like a cross-screen filter to defract the sparkle, though it blurs the overall image just a bit that adds to the soft beauty of such a simple image.
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If you are interested in purchasing this painting or any other originals I have posted here on Today, please contact me. I will also have prints of this painting after the exhibit.
Happy Rain
Happy Rain
After a day and night of rain it seemed we were in the clear, as it were, this afternoon when the sky brightened and we even saw a bit of blue and sunshine. Then suddenly, as if it had been scheduled to arrive, huge raindrops began smacking into everything right at 4:00, just a few, then more, and within minutes the din was deafening and I could barely see across the street with lots of thunder rolling through the valley. The birds sang all through it, though, including the baby wrens in the pussy willow, and the chickadees who had taken cover and were made about having to abandon their feeders.
My gutters runneth over. This was a very happy rain.
(This photo is actually from August 9, 2011, but it was so much like today, and nearly the same date that I had to share it again.)
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
All images in this post are copyright © Bernadette E. Kazmarski and may not be used without prior written permission.
Raindance
Raindance
The rain fell in big showers as the leaves and I danced among the drops.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
All images in this post are copyright © Bernadette E. Kazmarski and may not be used without prior written permission.
A Little Mist
City Lights
After a very heavy rain, mist hung in the air and my little wandering jew looked like a wonderland of magic or terror as droplets of mist collect on all the hairs on the leaves, and on the tiny web between two leaves. Above is “City Lights”, looking like a maze of lights in a city at night; below is “Tribulation”, appearing like the entrance to a dangerous place.
Tribulation
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
All images in this post are copyright © Bernadette E. Kazmarski and may not be used without prior written permission.
And After the Storm
And After the Storm
Out of a seemingly clear sky suddenly rain began to fall. I know that always means a rainbow, and I knew just where it would be.
My neighbor came out to photograph it and said it had looked much brighter from the top of the hill. I told him its brightness depended on your perspective—literally, it depends on the angle from which you look at a rainbow.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
All images in this post are copyright © Bernadette E. Kazmarski and may not be used without prior written permission.
Passing Storm
Passing Storm
Billowing clouds parted as the storm hurried on to other destinations leaving this Queen Anne style home soaked and silhouetted; East Liberty, Pittsburgh.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
May There Be Pots of Gold at the Ends of Both of Your Rainbows
Double Rainbow
And at…both ends of both of your rainbows! I had to piece together the one below.
Double Rainbow
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms. For photos of lots of black cats and other cats—and even some birds as I first published this post there—visit The Creative Cat.
January Rain
January Rain
Heavy pendulous raindrops, each one its own little microcosm of the macrocosm, dangle from hangers on my clothesline in the January rain, so dark I could barely get clear photo but used that and the softening of the screen on the door to its best effect.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms. For photos of lots of black cats and other cats—and even some birds as I first published this post there—visit The Creative Cat.
Rainy Window
Giuseppe watches the rain.
These are two photos from a series I took of one of my black cats looking out a rainy window. Today is rainy and contemplative and I thought I’d share them here; you can read the post about them on The Creative Cat.
Giuseppe looks away from the window.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms. For photos of lots of black cats and other cats—and even some birds as I first published this post there—visit The Creative Cat.
Holiday Lights in the Rain
Holiday Lights in the Rain
This particular little house was once a garage to a huge Victorian home. It not only faces the alley but the narrow porch steps right onto the sunken and undulating bricks of the alley. One would think it wasn’t the choicest place to live, yet I always see children and adults around, lots of toys and talk and play; it seems to be a happy little house. I wasn’t surprised to see this complete selection of holiday decorations.
The shining bricks and puddles in the alley reflect the holiday cheer. Note the homemade Steelers emblem in the left-hand window; no display in Pittsburgh would be complete without it.
I usually associate holiday lights with snow, or at least with a clear cold night, but I also love colorful night photography and especially rainy nights.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms. For photos of lots of black cats and other cats—and even some birds as I first published this post there—visit The Creative Cat.
Foggy Bend
Foggy Bend
I’m not sure what caused this blanket of fog to lie just above the water of the creek. I think the creek is cold still, yet our weather the past few days has been in the 50s and 60s, very warm for December, and it rained heavily this morning, drizzling all day. In any case, it was a real treat to photograph on the way back from the post office.
The photo may look a little tilted. The trees on the hill to the left are leaning outward, away from a nearly vertical highwall above a railroad track.
I needed several tries to get this right—the lighting is just dim enough, and the fog softened the edges enough that the camera complained. I had to use the railing of the bridge I stood on as a tripod.
The photo below may give you a little more idea of what the fog was like.
What the creek looked like from a distance; the area I photographed is slightly right of center.
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms. For photos of lots of black cats and other cats—and even some birds as I first published this post there—visit The Creative Cat.
A Little Mist
City Lights
After a very heavy rain, mist hung in the air and my little wandering jew looked like a wonderland of magic or terror as droplets of mist collect on all the hairs on the leaves, and on the tiny web between two leaves. Above is “City Lights”, looking like a maze of lights in a city at night; below is “Tribulation”, appearing like the entrance to a dangerous place.
Tribulation
Rainy Morning
Raindrops on Hangers
Sometimes the most unusual things are beautiful.
open your heart to unexpected moments of beauty
See more photos of rain.
Poem for a Rainy Day: The World Upside Down
The World Upside Down
The World Upside Down
In the misty turn of a rainy afternoon
a single, ponderous drop of rainwater hangs tenuously from the curved tip of a leaf
holding within the world turned upside down
and a moment later falls into eternity.
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If you look closely you’ll see the maple trees at the edge of my neighbor’s yard upside down inside the droplet.
The World Upside Down ©2011 Bernadette E. Kazmarski
See more photos of rainy days.
Read more poetry here on Today or visit my poetry page to see more about my poetry and other writing, and to purchase Paths I Have Walked.
Paths I Have Walked, collected poems.
I’m proud to offer a folio of my poetry
Paths I Have Walked: the poetry and art of Bernadette E. Kazmarski
FROM FOUR ANNUAL POETRY READINGS AT ANDREW CARNEGIE FREE LIBRARY & MUSIC HALL IN CARNEGIE, PA
People who attended one or more of my poetry readings encouraged me to publish some of my poetry in a book from the beginning.
Once I completed my 2010 poetry reading, my fourth featuring the final piece of artwork in the “Art of the Watershed” series, I decided it was time to publish something and it should be those four poetry readings.
Poetry books are not best-sellers; it’s difficult to convince a publisher to risk effort on a beginning poet, and while self-publishing is the best option it’s not inexpensive and once you’ve got the book, someone’s got to market it. Plus, I’m a graphic designer and I designed books for years, and I want things my way.
All of this is a recipe for a little bit of trouble, but I decided the book was well worth the effort so I designed the book myself and had a set printed—no ISBN or anything formal, but it’s a start! I’m really excited to offer it.
Books are 4.25″ x 11″, 40 pages of information and poetry, with glossy covers featuring “Dusk in the Woods” and little thumbnails of all four pieces in “Art of the Watershed”.
$8.00 each plus $2.50 shipping (they are oversized for mailing first class).
You can order one on my poetry page, or in my Marketplace.
About the books and the poetry readings
My biggest inspiration for poetry, prose and artwork is the world right around me, and I enjoy the opportunity to share it from the perspective of one who walks and hikes and bikes and carries a camera, art materials and journal everywhere—even around the house—so the inspirations are fresh.
In December, 2006, two of my poems were chosen to be published on a section of the Prairie Home Companion website entitled “Stories From Home/First Person” for submissions of writing about the place we feel most familiar. I’m a long-time listener to PHC and reader of Garrison Keillor’s books as well as a daily listener to The Writer’s Almanac featuring news about writers and writing and of interest to writers as well as a poem, all compiled and read by Keillor himself. I was astonished to find my poems were among the first chosen from apparently thousands, and so happy to be able to share them with a potential audience of so many similarly inclined writers and readers.
My poetry readings and art exhibits were the vision of Maggie Forbes, executive director of the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, after learning of my publishing of those two poems. I owe her many thanks for encouraging me to present this combination of my visual and literary art, a first for me. I love that building, every inch of it, and the opportunity to bring people in to visit is an honor.
Gems and Crystals
Gems and Crystals
On this rainy day, the remaining maple leaves looked like glowing amber, and the pendant raindrops on the tip of each branch like crystals.
A Diamond Bush
A Diamond Bush
This is what greeted me through the kitchen window this morning—a common forsythia, bare of nearly all its leaves, transformed into a sparkling shrub of diamonds. Last night’s raindrops still held, pendant, along the arched branches and fully caught the sun at just that moment.
I used my cross-screen filter to enhance the brightest drops. Without it they appeared as simply flashed-out circles and not the diamonds I had envisioned. Certainly something beautiful to see first thing.
Holiday Lights in the Rain
Holiday Lights in the Rain
I had a lovely photo of yesterday’s frosty morning in my back yard, but as the day grew dark early today I passed this ebullient display of holiday cheer on a dark rainy day and decided I had to share it.
This particular little house was once a garage to a huge Victorian home. It not only faces the alley but the narrow porch steps right onto the sunken and undulating bricks of the alley. One would think it wasn’t the choicest place to live, yet I always see children and adults around, lots of toys and talk and play; it seems to be a happy little house. I wasn’t surprised to see this complete selection of holiday decorations.
The shining bricks and puddles in the alley reflect the holiday cheer. Note the homemade Steelers emblem in the left-hand window; no display in Pittsburgh would be complete without it.
I usually associate holiday lights with snow, or at least with a clear cold night, but I also love colorful night photography and especially rainy nights.
Autumn Yellow and Blue
Autumn Yellow and Blue
Another overcast rainy day with a blue cast to the light, reflected on the wet leaves and filtering through the mist. The shapes and colors blend so it almost looks like an abstract pattern.
Today 