Wednesday, 30 April 2025
We ventured north today, crossed the state line, and kept going. We navigated mountains, had clouds dampen us, and kept going.
With the change in latitude, we traveled back in spring. Always love dogwoods…
And this rhodo sure surprised me. However, it was in a very protected spot semi surronded by reflective walls, so I figure that’s what (it seems to me) accelerated its blooming.
Tuesday, 29 April 2025
These shadows from the street light are proof that the leaves are well-out…but not all-out.
Monday, 28 April 2025
Watch out, new leaf! Your neighbors show how the elements can tear into you!
Sunday, 27 April 2025
So, I was in a mood, and the tomato seemed to need a moment in center stage.
Friday, 25 April 2025
I’m calling this moment a slight lull in the flush of spring. The redbuds have bloomed, yet somehow have not dropped last year’s seed pods. Now, the leaves are more than half-grown, so that the visual effect is of a mix of brown-beige verticals and green-green rounded shapes.
Wednesday, 23 April 2025
Today, we toured the Etowah mounds, all six of them. That’s the largest and second largest in the distance.
Archaeology is ever-so-cool (duh)…I also enjoyed the vetch among the planted meadow flora. Bitter vetch is one of the earliest domesticated plants in the Levant. This, however, is probably common vetch…one of my favorites for the color and the delicate foliage with probing and twining tendrils.
The sacred zone aorund the mounds buts up against the Etowah River. That riffle on this side of the river is half of a weir that certainly has been built and modified in historical times, but may date back into prehistory and the era of the mounds.
Tuesday, 22 April 2025
The image on the right gives you some idea of the cosmos as understood by the peoples living in this part of the continent when the Spanish arrived, and for many generations before. The yellow-green grassy layer with the central pine is the level people live on, with a dome above and water below, and distinctive edge-cliffs. Spirits are above and below and with the people. Note that the three red circle figures are slightly different for the people world and the realms above and below.
The image on the left is of a large shell with a supernatural creature carved on it that looks like a segmented snake. Snakes are more associated with the water world below. Archaeologists call them gorgets; the dictionary definition of that is a throat cover—armor or clothing—but I suspect these were worn or placed a bit lower, although this part of the past isn’t my specialty.
That’s all the context I will give you now, other than that my friend Adam used this artwork in his interesting and informative presentation this evening. I’m still processing it, and that’s a good thing.
Monday, 21 April 2025
Pope’s dead; RIP. Let’s do spring cleaning. [Actually, the cleaning was planned late last week.] BTW, knee pads make floor cleaning much less painful.
