Little square pops in my yard

The Spring morning sunlight has my yard popping with color

Please be sure to mouse over the photos to get the full effect — I love my theme but until the photos become active they are somewhat muted.

On clear mornings I enjoy watching the sun shine through the small bright leaves on this althea in my backyard.

I would have never planted this ornamental plum myself (it was here when I moved in), but I have grown to love the variety of colors that it can appear based on lighting, season and time of day.

Here’s a closeup of one of the althea leaves. Even the background has popping spheres of color!

What Texas Spring photo series would be complete without these. They may be used in photos a lot but the color really is beautiful.

These dianthus (pinks) overwinter well and bloom profusely season after season. They are an incredibly dependable source of color.

We planted this coral honeysuckle several years ago and every year it gets more full of blooms – with minimal care on our part.

Even Omar wanted to get in on the act and popped up on the yard cart for a little morning sun and meditation.

 

Having fun with shadows & light

Chasing shadows and light can be great exercise

The shutters and multi-paned windows in our house often create some interesting shadows and beams of light on our floors and walls. The best times are early in the morning and late in the day. I have learned to run for my camera as soon as I notice something interesting because things change fast and and if I don’t act fast the effect that inspired me can quickly disappear.

Spent some time yesterday morning staring at the floor…

Many of our windows have some pretty old glass which can create some mysterious and interesting lighting effects.

and yesterday evening staring at the wall.

 

 

Here’s what warm light looked like

Yesterday…

The first rays of warm morning sunshine make these young leaves sparkle.

and today

Viewing the results of this morning’s hailstorm from a warmly lit room.

Lines of light painted by the sun

These long shadows caused by early morning sunlight disappeared pretty fast.

It’s Alive!

This artichoke plant is taking over the whole bed in which it was planted.

I planted a tiny artichoke plant last fall and now I’m starting to wish I had planted it somewhere else. It’s only mid March and the plant is already huge. Shooting this plant from above led to some fun working with the shadows.

Cabbage, cabbage where’s my cabbage?

Can you find the tiny cabbage in the shadow of the out of bounds artichoke? This plant might be shading the whole house by the time summer rolls around.

Who dares to venture into the ancient dark forest of artichoke?

Up close it makes me think of some kind of prehistoric plant.

Connected through time and space

I hammered this together with a couple of nails to hold it while I attached the bolts.

…and a couple of well placed nails.

Sometimes I just want to use a nail. It’s been decades now that I and many others have been using screws and drills to attach and build everything. It’s so easy — just zip, zip, buzz, buzz, click, click and it all goes together nice and tight and sturdy. It’s faster than nails. It’s more secure than nails. It’s easier to remove than nails (as long as you don’t strip the heads, of course).

But sometimes I miss nails. Building things with nails is one of the connections I have with the past and with my father who died in 1995. He was a civil engineer and when I was growing up in rural Louisiana we built many things together — with nails, but also with lag screws and carriage bolts and cables and chains. I loved drilling the holes with the brace and bit in addition to driving the nails.

I know screws and nail guns are nice but I enjoy the directness and the not-having-to-be-plugged-in-ness of attaching something with a couple of nails. Not having to depend on electricity is a big part of what I like. Dad and I could build things anywhere — out in a field somewhere, by the pond, in the woods. Availability of electrical power was one thing that was never even on our minds.

So today when I added a little extra support to my workshop in my ninety-three year old garage, I thought about the way I used to do it as a kid and just for fun I used some of the old tools. It was just a few nails, a couple of holes and some cuts with the hand saw. The best part, though, was that I felt my dad there with me the whole time.

We had a great time.

This old brace and bit can still get the simple jobs done pretty darn quick.

Alone and dreaming

Woody longs for the outdoors.

Bliss done right

Charlie gives me another lesson in a blissful way to spend the afternoon.

Cats have this wonderful way of actively sleeping, working so hard at resting and yet still achieving it in a natural way. It never seems forced. My favorite thing about resting cats is the sense of calm that they impart on me. Their bliss becomes my bliss.

Charlie’s relaxed repose becomes my bliss.

Results are in, Spring still my favorite season

I was thinking of putting “Your Ad Here” on the stone next to my rain gauge.

Much of what I think about water these days has to do with rain. When I grew up in south Louisiana, I took water for granted. It rained a lot, we lived right next to a bayou and there was water nearby in every direction.

Now I appreciate every drop. Gardening viability, tree health, drinking water supplies — these things are on my mind frequently. The first real post on this blog was about rain.

This is a rain gauge that Julie gave me for our anniversary. Who knew that 21 years is frog yard art! So far I’ve been very glad to see this little garden helper get plenty of action. The frog seems okay with it too.

This always ready frog and I love the same things – being in the garden and rain.

Critter Avenue

Critter Avenue
Down past the feral cat village and the compost pile lies the bamboo grove. The mysterious path, best navigated if you are less than a foot tall, winds on down Critter Avenue past the tree where the pair of Great Horned Owls share their song on even the darkest of nights. In the daytime hawks and crows cast unfriendly glances toward each other and each evening the possums and raccoons hurry along in route to the scroungers buffet. Who knows what else traverses this urban nature passage…

This path is an urban wildlife thoroughfare.