The face of abundance looks something like this: 8 pounds of organic cherries, perfectly ripe, juicy, and sweet. Whatever the truth of our prosperity, when the box of fruit arrives from the CSA, we feel rich.
193/365: cherries
COLOR
07.07.13 great balls of bocce
No cabin vacation would be complete without at least one spirited round of bocce ball. This longstanding tradition – much enjoyed by all – is evidenced by the wear & tear on the balls.
188/365: bocce balls
06.20.13 sweet peony
The peonies are woven into my earliest memories. Before words, embedded in the cells of my childhood there is abundant beauty and intoxicating perfume and, of course, it’s all crawling with ants. The peonies in my mind’s eye sprawl luxuriously under trees in the backyard and around the houses of my grandmothers and great-grandmothers. They wrap me up in bittersweetness and leave too soon, their scent lingering on the summer breeze.
171/365: peony
06.15.13 between the lines
A web of twine punctuated by compact, yellow circles. It’s ‘nothing but flowers’ these days…
166/365: garden geometry with yellow flowers
06.12.13 be still my (bleeding) heart
Possibly my favorite plant in the whole garden for the way the leaves light up the shadows with an unreal chartreuse glow. The flowers, too, are pure poetry: handing delicately off their arcing stems, they lift their fine pink petticoats in sort of curtsy. It’s enough to break your heart.
163/365: bleeding heart
06.11.13 forest for the trees
We’re slowly turning our urban backyard into our own forest haven. One tree at a time. This spring we added a baby river birch; I love the lightness of the leaves and the way they shimmer in the sun.
162/365: young river birch
05.27.13 birds of a feather, part one
Yesterday, the kids and I were invited to a bird show. It’s a constant fluttering rainbow of scarlet, orange, yellow, and brilliant blue and it happening in my parents’ backyard. I don’t have a long enough lens for wildlife but I figure this one is all about the color and, that, I could capture.
147/365: indigo bunting
05.18.13 refreshed
Sometimes we all get thirsty. We may think that we want sunshine every day, but there is nothing so refreshing as a cool spring rain.
138/365: yellow flowers after spring rain
05.14.13 by any other name
One of the things I like to do is look up common names of flowers. The early spring prairie blooms I’ve always called pasque flowers have many more poetic and evocative names: wind flower, prairie crocus, meadow anemone. What’s in a name? Maybe. But I think I’ll call these beauties wind flowers from now on.
134/365: pasque flowers
05.07.13 city sunset
From my house, I never get a clear view of the sky. But, at least the main obstructions are branches. And when the sky glows pink, I can see the color which is the essential part of the sunset anyway.
127/365: pink sunset
avant garden 365 