Sunday, 15 March 2015
Skipped the BeltLine, and discovered that Piedmont Park was jammed (almost certainly the BeltLine was too). Glad to see the park so heavily used…. So, we headed for a little-used corner, and saw fewer people. I spotted this hellebore in a garden on our return route….
Friday, 13 March 2015
Somehow the stars aligned and this morning we joined a private tour of the restored house of Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar (the son). The man is revered for many things, including drafting the secession papers for the state of Mississippi (leading up to the Civil War), then becoming “rehabilitated” (essentially) after the war, becoming not only a member of the US House of Representatives, but also a member of the US Supreme Court. He is still the only Mississippian to have served on that court.
This is the ancient osage orange that survives next to the house Lamar built on 30 ac on the outskirts of Oxford MS, named for Oxford GA and Oxford in England. The town has now crept up to the front yard, and the four-square house is now on what seems like a city lot. Even on a rainy day, it’s a special place, and worth the time to visit.
This monumental tree in the side yard was a total surprise. It’s an ancient and outsized osage orange tree.
Tuesday, 10 March 2015
I did see my shadow twice today—very briefly!, although a meteorologist on Monday said no sun until Saturday. Still, it’s been mostly (super-mostly) cloudy. Despite what the light looks like here, the sun was NOT out when I took the photo, just almost out*….
* Somewhat analogous to William Goldman‘s “almost dead” in The Princess Bride. …I just finished reading Cary Elwes‘s memoir about the making of the movie version of the story, As You Wish… (2014).
Monday, 9 March 2015
I found the hyacinths in a neighbor’s yard and am giving it to you for a pretty.
However, the more interesting image is the large dolly face-down by the fancy playhouse and the birdbath. I couldn’t decide if a child got called inside quickly, abandoning the dolly, or an adult created a still-life for passers-by headed to a nearby entrance to Piedmont Park. You decide.
Sunday, 8 March 2015
Last year’s beech leaves, holding on until budding makes them drop.
I love woods in late winter, before even the color begins to change from the earliest phases of bud growth. Sunlight penetrates to the accumulated old leaves and the color scheme is shades of brown trending toward black and toward yellow, yet reaching neither.
Friday, 6 March 2015
Made it outdoors as the light was getting low in the afternoon, and found a street where I could rev up my vitamin D…and I loved the light on the ripples in the bark of the crepe myrtle*.
* Native of Asia and other places on the other side of the globe….
Monday, 2 March 2015
Sun came out for a bit several times. Our rosemary also indicates we’re on the doorstep of spring. I don’t remember noticing blooms on the rosemary very often, perhaps because I’d expect them much later in the growing season.
Saturday, 28 February 2015
Nandina: berries are toxic (to cats, not birds); plants are invasive herebouts.
I’ve been trying to get a shot of these nandina berries with close to the true color. This is the best yet. I promise not to burden you with more shots if I attempt to further approach perfection (kidding; about the latter not the former).
Friday, 27 February 2015
Here’s a winter botanical experiment…although data suggest that I am in the process of creating another bowl of rotting bulbs rather than a bunch of sweet-smelling blooms. Yeah, I know they’re greening, but rooting isn’t really happening (very much at all). Sooooo, my worry is that they will fizzle….
The exuberance of that thin, long shoot…empowers me…; however, I think its lack of substance is the important factor…it’s just a bit of…exuberance.
Monday, 16 February 2015
I really liked that the post for the right side of this gate was a turned newel post, painted the same red, and also flaking grey. I also liked the construction method for this wall, with different techniques used for various sections. The part had large stones and little mortar. To the left, the wall was sloppy with drooping layers of fairly fine-grained concrete and smaller, flatter stones. All portions had about the same amount of floral encrustations.
We found this flower, an anemone, elsewhere…after dark.