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By the Sea

In still moments by the sea life seems large-drawn and simple. ~ Rolf Edberg

Welcome to my personal blog. I love family history, living by the sea, walking in the woods, nature photography, and collecting words and pictures.
~ Barbara Rodgers

my old gull friend by Barbara Rodgers

My gull friend, since 2011.

Family History

  • Ancestor Table
  • Cemetery Index
  • Genetic Origins
  • Pedigree Collapse

My 2nd-great-grandmother, Annie Eliza Baker, and her daughter, standing behind her, my great-grandmother, Amanda Eliza Hamblin.

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red squirrel by Barbara Rodgers

May the nourishment of the earth be yours, may the clarity of light be yours, may the fluency of the ocean be yours, may the protection of the ancestors be yours. And so may a slow wind work these words of love around you, an invisible cloak to mind your life.
~ John O’Donohue

white-tailed deer by Barbara Rodgers

Recent Posts

  • the comfort of a poem
  • even the smallest thing
  • on the existence of atoms
  • Elijah Rodgers & Zipporah Ann Horton
  • cabin fever countermeasure
  • snow bunting
  • high tide with storm surge
  • restore us to memory
  • sobering numbers

Older Posts

Walking

  • Audubon Connecticut
  • Avalonia Land Conservancy
  • Barn Island Wildlife Management Area
  • Bluff Point State Park
  • Connecticut College Arboretum
  • Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
  • Groton Open Space Association
  • Haley Farm State Park
  • Harkness Memorial State Park
  • Hewitt Farm
  • Ledyard Conservation Commission
  • Mamacoke Island & Adjacent Coves
  • Poquetanuck Cove Preserve
  • Watch Hill Conservancy

Still, what I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled – to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world.
~ Mary Oliver

ring-billed gull by Barbara Rodgers

Words & Pictures

  • ancestors
  • autumn
  • birds
  • books
  • by the sea
  • cemetery
  • change
  • childhood
  • connection
  • coronavirus pandemic
  • earth
  • gardens
  • gulls/terns
  • here/now
  • history
  • hjemme
  • horizon
  • journey
  • life
  • light
  • magic
  • memory
  • music
  • mystery
  • nature
  • people
  • perception
  • pictures
  • place
  • self
  • sky
  • snow
  • spirit
  • spring
  • storms
  • summer
  • sun
  • time
  • trees
  • universe
  • walks
  • winter
  • wonder
  • woods
  • words

Reading

What is the singing of birds, or any natural sounds, compared with the voice of one we love?
~ Henry David Thoreau

Copyright

© 2010-2021 Barbara Rodgers

Category: Einar Skjæraasen

winter solstice

CarlLarsson.yard.washhouse
“The Yard and Wash-House” by Carl Larsson

Lift up your countenance! The sun’s growing higher.
The light’s pitching camp on free mountain tops.
That hope you conceived
on the winter solstice
stands like a new day’s dawning
in your eyes
shining forth.
~ Einar Skjæraasen
(Seasons)

Posted on December 21, 2015September 28, 2020Categories Carl Larsson, Einar Skjæraasen, Midwinter, YuleTags hjemme, light, perception, solstice, winter15 Comments on winter solstice

softest soft

theodorkittelsen.august
“August” by Theodor Kittelsen

August is the softest soft I know,
This vibrating chord between summer and fall,
This dew of farewell pearling in my hands.
~ Einar Skjæraasen
(Seasons)

Posted on August 15, 2014November 19, 2018Categories August, Einar Skjæraasen, Theodor KittelsenTags autumn, dew, loss, months, summer, trees10 Comments on softest soft

the light is winning

“Enclosed Field with Rising Sun” by Vincent van Gogh
“Enclosed Field with Rising Sun” by Vincent van Gogh

Over lowland, over snow and tundra
span arches, raised by the rising sun.
See: the light is winning!
And the stream is streaming
towards open minds
and towards seeds dreaming
of growth.
~ Einar Skjæraasen
(The Nordic Light)

Posted on March 3, 2012September 15, 2015Categories Einar Skjæraasen, Vincent van GoghTags change, dream, earth, fields, light, snow, streams, sun, tundra20 Comments on the light is winning
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