windy unwinding of august

The wind picked up last night and was still going at it this morning when I ventured into the yard just as the faintest fine drops of mizzle were blowing my way.

It still gave me time to peek out from the side deck into the middle garden with its new gladiola beginning to bloom and the Ninebark having thrown out new growth taller than I. The Japanese Maple continues to thrive and you can see the height that the yellow-flowered Ligularia Dentata has gained in the garage garden.

Walking down the deck, I have already been plucking cherry tomatoes for snacks.

I walked out to straighten that free-standing twig trellis that has blown askew. Clearly we're not committed to installing them as anything but decorative. 

The bit of view we have now that the old aluminum tool shed is gone.

On Sunday, as I hung laundry,  I heard a squawking as the mated pair of pheasants

flew by in succession.

The wind tossed little maple is gaining height, at the foot of which is the honeysuckle that has stayed quite well trimmed since I pruned it in April.

I wasn't sure I'd find any peas, but must have picked a dozen.

The blossoms promise more to come.

On Sunday, as went out with the laundry, I was quite confused by the gray lump I saw in the far corner of the yard. My distance vision is poor and it took several seconds for me to realize that it was our little peach tree bowed right to the ground. I called Wally to straighten it out, amazed that its little trunk hadn't snapped.  It will soon be time for picking. 

With nowhere to put my peas, I rolled up the bottom of my shirt to make a basket and added this fine bunch of green beans.

Heading back towards the house I stop for a visit with the friendly bumblebees in the lemon thyme

It's time to do something with all this basil.

Last night I sketched out this little scene in coloured pencil. I wonder how far I'll get with it today.

The previous picture was partly inspired by the fantasy background I did for this fox,

all done in coloured pencils.

Let us be grateful and release.

Wisdom is letting go of something every day.

morning of the solar eclipse

Perhaps because I was self-employed most of my life, Monday mornings don't hold the usual dread that they do for many people who differentiate them from weekends. I tended to look at my down time in terms of seasons and winter became a haven for me from the rigours of business. But today, this Monday of all Mondays, is supersaturated with relevance, for today,

Western Europe, Northeast Asia, Northwest Africa, North America, much of South America, the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Arctic 

will have a solar eclipse!

If that don't beat the Monday blues! We live such little lives on our beloved little planet and cosmic phenomena really serve to remind us the relative importance of everything. There won't be another solar eclipse in my part of the world, eastern North America, til 2025.

After another rainy Saturday and a hot and humid Sunday,

it promises to be bright though hot again today.

Muji would rather be outside with me

Babu would rather share the window with Muji

The hayfield looking ESE already promises heat as the dew lifts this morning.

So far so good with the grapes ripening

The beans grow in rows like a curtain

A brown butterfly suns itself on a fallen maple leaf

What a clever landing pad.

Raspberry for breakfast

Our new mint patch

a new stalk of gladiola

a nest of hens and chicks

a tall weed with its pretty little blossoms

We're inveterate, or should I say, "veteran" sales hunters,

but this ten cent cabbage takes the cake,  my best deal in years.

Muji hops down from the window and is at the door to greet me before I've got it shut.

Babu isn't far behind.

The middle section of my sketchbook has two signatures of cheap kraft paper which I'm enjoying for its mid tone, allowing me to use a light cream colour to effect. Outlined in a brush-tipped India ink Pitt pen and coloured with coloured pencils, I'm still working with multiple images for more interest. The heavier, gold-dotted kraft cardstock that I collaged on was harder to tear and therefore left some really nice edges.

 

Smitten with that gold-dotted kraft card, I found a place to lay it down in this coloured pencil extravaganza. It's been so much fun not to work to anyone's expectations but my own and see where my intuition will take me. I haven't been able to work like this since the '80's.

Giving myself permission has been a long time coming.

"Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement."

                                                                                    Nelson Mandela

peace on earth

something always happens

This must be the fastest flying month ever and yet it seemed to start out so slow. Those of you who check in here may already realize how I struggle with time, "the elastic band" as I call it.

I was sure I had nothing to show you today besides my growing portfolio of drawings, but somehow I managed to pull together a few pictures.

I peered down into the composter, filling with clematis,

creeping Charlie, an Echinacea Coneflower and even a weedy little tree.

I wandered out back of Forget-Me-Not Cabin and had another gander at the old wood shed we've been slowly dismantling, with no need for firewood anymore.

Our home and outbuildings are filled with handmade bits like this wooden spinner

this metal one

another rusting metal bit with washer

Looking from the other end you can see the makeshift bracing for shelving from a post and plywood and sticks

A homemade plywood bracket with its partner...

nailed to the wooden shake wall

Then there are the grapes, still intact

and a few apples hanging on

a nice little cucumber under the bean trellis

and tomatoes filling in amongst the dill

The wide angle lens dwarfs the far end of the vegetable garden with chard at the top, two rows of lettuces, and some tiny kale at the bottom

I pop the last perfect raspberry in my mouth

There are Cherry leaves in the lawn

another

and another

The garage garden has completely filled in with the hostas and the "prehistoric" plant.

As you will know from past posts, I am fascinated by the way the flowers seem to grow in a pod, a most unusual flowering. I finally had enough wherewithal to look up the name of this wonder.

It is called Ligularia Dentata, also known as Leopard Plant or Summer Ragwort.

Dentata refers to the jagged leaf edges. Collected and introduced to Europe by Carl Peter von Thunberg (1743-1828), student of Linnaeus at Uppsala University in Sweden. He made three trips to the Cape of Good Hope 1772-1775 where he collected about 1000 new species, Java and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1777 and 15 months in Japan (1775-1777) where he befriended local doctors who gave him hundreds of plants new to Western horticulture.  He succeeded Linnaeus as professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala.  Knighted by Swedish King Gustav.(thanks to heritageflowerfarm.com)

bursting forth, blooming in succession

They seem so gently coddled in their basket of leaves that I call a pod

though of course it isn't.

The bumblebees like them, face buried and rather camouflaged

I was startled to learn that bumblebees only live for 28 days.

I've grown very fond of them and their gentle ways.

Still playing catch-up with some week old pictures, I was inspired to do this piece after watching Jean Arthur play Calamity Jane in the old western, The Plainsman.

This section of my sketchbook is made of cheap quality kraft paper, the kind used for wrapping packages. The black is actually my Derwent watercolour pencil in Iron Blue, the flowers are outlined with an extra fine Pitt pen in India ink and coloured in with white is gel pen with pink pencil crayon over top.

The rest is done in Jane Davenport "Magic Wand Pencils" .

On another day I felt the call to draw a swan after seeing this mosaic online that comes from the Basilica in Soli, Cyprus. The patina of something old, its faded colours and random damage is a distinct part of its charm, its "wabi sabi".

My swan is fussed over with white paint pen and gel pen, the rest of the colours a mix of coloured pencils, the flowers outline in extra fine Pitt pen, an India ink.

I'm not sure how this will affect the world at large but there will be a partial to a total solar eclipse depending where you are in North America on Monday. Ours will be partial with a forecast of full sun, or maybe I should say no clouds.

Whatever you do DON'T LOOK AT THE SUN without proper protection!

And to see you off today here is one of my favourite performers Gracie Fields singing

Looking on the Bright Side (1932)