Wednesday, May 30, 2012

How I Garden

I garden with this strong wicker basket. It's the handiest thing I've found to carry my camera in.  If my camera's in a camera bag, it stays in the camera bag, usually, or gets frantically tugged out for a grab shot of the back end of some kind of wildlife disappearing into the forest. 
          There's a soft, folded towel on the bottomm of the baskets and I plan to make a couple of padded partitions to keep my camera separate from the dog brush, the retractable leash, my dirty garden gloves, buffalo head net, random packets of seeds, pack of gum, bottle of Buggins, and anything else I might take out to the garden. It's all topped off with my "veil" (a threadbare kitchen towel) to cut down on dust, and if the bugs are really bad, I wear the veil. I can't stand when bugs get in my hair.


And that's the way I garden around here...

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Break on Through!




It is good 
to be alone 
in a garden 
at dawn 
or dark 
so that all its 
shy presences 
may haunt 
you and 
possess you 
in a reverie of suspended thought.
  
~James Douglas, Down Shoe Lane

Friday, May 25, 2012

First Fruits of Our Labor


Here are the first carrots from our garden, 
as well as our first broccoli.


Thursday, May 17, 2012

Traveling Wisdom

Bodie Ghost Town photo courtesy http://pdphoto.org/   Thanks Jon!

He who travels in search of 
something which he has not got, 
travels away from himself 
and grows old
 even in youth among old things.  
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Little Visitor


Bees sip honey from flowers 
and hum their thanks when they leave.
The gaudy butterfly is sure 
that the flowers owe thanks to him.
~Rabindranath Tagore~

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Pretty in Pink







Pink is not a favorite color of mine. I know, I know, artists should love all colors (or should they?) --- but I'm sure they all have favorite colors and least favorites. Pink has been my least favorite color since I was a knock-kneed, mud-grubby little tomboy. "I hate pink!" I'd moan when my mom would buy me a pink dress for school.



But isn't this pink peony exquisite!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Stars & Stripes Forever Day

Galena, Illinois

I got today mixed up with Flag Day (June 14). 
This happens to be Stars & Stripes Forever Day. 
It honors our nation's National March, 
composed by John Philip Sousa.  

I think I know what song it is, but let's check out You-Tube just to be sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mRn9chmRAY

Yes, it was the same song. I don't think I've heard it much since I was a little kid.  I can remember it being popular music for those old-timey cartoons we watched on Saturday mornings. I'm going to be perfectly honest: the song seems a bit frivolous to me. But it sounds really good played by a marching band in a parade.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Stella's Cousin


And here's the common day lily. The worst part about this flower is that it spreads like crazy and takes over other plantings. It used to grow up around my house foundation. I never should have moved it to my flower bed. Oh, well, we all make gardening mistakes. Planting a pink peony bush in the midst of my yellow & orange flower bed was definitely another horticultural no-no.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Day Lilies are Back
















The day lilies are starting to bloom. I have two kinds. I have a big bed of the old-fashioned orange kind you can find growing in ditches or where old houses used to be. And I have a small planting of Stella d'Oro. These are the Stellas.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Alone


Loneliness can be conquered 
only by those who can bear solitude.  
~Paul Tillich

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A Party Waiting to Happen

There's a big pile of brush stacked for a bonfire, just outside the picture, on the left. I'm afraid my husband is just going to torch it one day, if I don't throw together a party soon. Last weekend we invited our son and his GF, and some other friends, but they were having a party at their house, so we went there instead to watch the rising of the Big Moon.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

The Master's View

Beary Alert!
It's hard to take pictures of this dog. 
He's so glued to my side, 
I can never get a good shot. 
Then, if he's off by himself 
doing something ultra-cool, 
I don't have my camera handy...

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Stowaway

Detail of a wall at the Dickeyville Shrine, Dickeyville, Wisconsin
Never a ship sails out of the bay
But carries my heart as a stowaway.

~Roselle Mercier Montgomery

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The Hieroglyphics of Angels


Flowers have spoken to me 
more than I can tell in written words.  
They are the hieroglyphics of angels, 
loved by all men for 
the beauty of their character, 
though few can decipher 
even fragments of their meaning.  
~Lydia M. Child~