WANDER: California's Giants

I want to be humbled by these giant beings.

WANDER: Japanese Sakura

The transience of the sakura blossoms, the extreme beauty and quick death, has often been associated with mortality; for this reason, cherry blossoms are richly symbolic.

Ceramacist Ayumi Horie is sharing photos from her trip to Japan on Design Sponge this week and I'm falling in love with the images from her adventures, but mostly the nighttime cherry blossom photos.

The blossoming begins in Okinawa in January and typically reaches Kyoto and Tokyo at the end of March or the beginning of April, and one day I hope to see it for myself.

WANDER: Appalachian Trail

   

I could go for a hike in the Appalachian Mountains. 

WANDER: China

Luotuofeng Peak, Sichuan, China

WANDER: Road Trip

I'm ready for a road trip.

WANDER: Tree House in the Sky

Let's go.

/ Korowai Tree House in Papua New Guinea

WANDER: The Wave, Arizona

This week's Wanderlust destination is The Wave rock formation in Arizona, because my toes are freezing and doesn't it look warm there?

WANDER: Cozy Cabins

It's probably because I just got home from a small vacation, but I really don't feel any urges to wander this week. My apartment is wonderfully cozy throughout the winter and the snow is still new enough for me to appreciate it. It seems that I'm getting a lot better at that over the years anyway. It's all about the cycles, you know??

So this week, instead of some balmy, tropical destination, I'm sharing both charming and majestic cabin photos that exude coziness with the hope that you're able to embrace this season, at least for another week or so....

WANDER: Tennessee

Hello from Nashville!

We're just running around this city for a few days and we won't be spending time on the east side of the state during this trip, but I love this Tennessee travel video with Dolly Parton and the family of James Kicinski McCoy, one of my favorite bloggers.
Enjoy!

WANDER: Ancient Trees, by Beth Moon

This year I'll be indulging my insatiable wanderlust here on the blog, starting with these gorgeous, ancient trees. 

 Beth Moon travels the world photographing the oldest living trees and then prints her art with a beautiful process called platinum printing. On her website and in her book Ancient Trees, Portraits of Time, she shares the rich background and history of each tree and where it was photographed. 

Here's to the New Year, and the merciful passing of time.

Read more about Beth Moon here and here.

CATURDAY XXIV

I don't know where you are, but this is what life has been like here in West Michigan and other places around the Great Lakes, except not really so cute.

Happy Caturday, wherever you are.

WANDERLUST: Manistee National Forest

Last weekend I went hiking through Manistee National Forest with my dad and some close friends. We hiked for hours to secret spots and told stories of old times spent there. I absorb everything when I'm out there with them. They don't need the trails, and they're teaching me their ways.

One thing none of us are experts of is Mycology. I plan on spending this winter studying and hopefully by spring can head up north again for some foraging. There were mushrooms everywhere and it was so hard passing them by knowing plenty would have been great to take home for supper. Some were just lovely enough to look at; pretty as flowers.

It's not quite peak season there for the Autumn colors yet, but there were some gorgeous colors sprinkled through, especially the Sugar Maples. We'll probably be taking another trip up in a couple weeks to see the real color show.

Autumn is a really beautiful time in Michigan. Click here for a guide for peak color seasons throughout the different regions.

Handmade Homes

This is the story of a single mother who built her own home. It's small, but it makes more sense for them than anything you'll find in the suburbs. Her story inspires me more each time I watch it. It always reminds me that things really don't need to be so complicated.

Living in my current apartment has been a great lesson in living with less. I've always had a lot of stuff, partly because I'm sentimental and have inherited a lot of things from family, but also because I am an artist with no studio. I have all sorts of art supplies in so many disciplines, and it really adds up. My last apartment was three times the size of this tiny place, so it was easy to lose track of what I had and not notice the excess, because there was enough room for it all.

When I moved in to this apartment with less than 500 square feet, I left about half of my possessions behind. Now I'm continually revising everything, in every part of the house, getting closer to living more efficiently. It's not about paring it down to bare necessities and fitting it all into a car to leave at any moment. I'm not that person. I just realized there were so many things I could do without. It's very comforting to know now exactly what I have. The number of unseen and forgotten items has diminished greatly during the process. I decided there were a few things I would have a lot of and would devote time and energy to taking care of - particularly books, clothes, records, plants, and art supplies - and that freed me up to feel comfortable letting go of things in other categories. After the majority of that process was completed, I began revising my "keep" categories so even those are more easily stored and enjoyed.

I'm also a big, big fan of handmade homes, especially small ones made of recycled and salvaged materials. Kirsten Dirksen created this video and her YouTube channel has a lot of other videos and full length documentaries about people living in more intentional and sustainable ways.

The Moon to Moon blog is one of my very favorite places for visual inspiration of handmade homes. There's a whole section on them which is updated regularly.

Don't be afraid to do things differently.

<3 Nico

hai!

I FEEL SUMMER CREEPIN IN...

hello, i'm here again... just for a quick moment to freshen up the place with a photo from a recent beach trip. oh, how i love lake michigan. it's hard not to be a beach snob when we have this perfection.

i hope to return soon with photos or stories.. it really shouldn't be too hard, i'm usually overflowing with observations from everyday life and what i've read or what i've seen or dreamed. i'll try a little harder to get it posted here. 

if you like, you can follow my instagram feed. just click this little button:

big love, nico

wanderlust

my twenty-fifth birthday is just over a week away and i'm making it special this year: i'm taking a road trip sometime next month. it's coming up quickly and plans are starting to fall into place and it's looking even better than i thought it would. 

i'm super worried about getting excited now because nothing is finalized, it just looks really, really good.

i'm going to see things i've only read about in books;

i'm heading west.

Painted Rocks, MI - Photo by Dan Johnson, NPS

Badlands - Photo by Rikk Flohr

the Ozarks

Ha Ha Tonka State Park, MO

and there's a slight, slight chance we could make it all the way here:

i've done enough jigsaw puzzles of the grand canyon.... i need to see it.

sigh.

i know what i'll be dreaming about tonight...

yours truly, nico