summer's end

It's hard to believe, but today marks the end of summer vacation. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we have a teachers' workshop, Thursday a staff meeting and Friday is a time to work in classrooms.

iris from June

I'm photographing all my container gardens today. They look fabulous. Regular watering and fertilizing helps. My art work has consisted of tangling, making a new glasses pouch and machine stitching new pillow covers.

bird from orioles' arrival

brain

The "brain" was what I worked on when in PA in July when my sister, Elizabeth, had brain surgery. The tumor was the size of an orange. She's at skilled nursing facility until Friday when she's scheduled to go home. I can tell each time I talk to her that she's regained much of her  language skills. She's still not great stamina wise, but considering she's been hospitalized since the beginning of July, that will take a while to get back. 

heat and watering

I watered all my plant pots and the vegetable garden this morning. Rain is in the forecast, but I didn't water yesterday, so decided the plants were in need of a little attention. I cleaned the day lily beds; they look so awful once the stems are dried and the leaves falling down.

coleus

Yesterday I went on a garden tour at the ProvenWinner gardens in Louden, NH. They wholesale to the garden centers and are the Supertunia people.

I'll be documenting my container gardens soon. I plan to use the photos as reference the following year, but somehow just go with what I like and each year they're a little different.
Hard to believe that fall will soon be requiring a different kind of work in the gardens.
My sister's still in the hospital, the rehab section and will soon be changing residence to a nursing home/rehab center. She's still needing a walker and lots of help.  We're looking at moving her here to NH as soon as we can figure out what her needs will be.
Roger's out in the pool after clearing brush this morning. Deezel's sprawled out on his bed in the living room. Zeek is pestering me for a treat; Buck wheats' passed out on the sofa and Zoey's making her rounds in the field hoping for a successful hunting trip.

cool down

Finally, a cooler summer day. I opted to not water, but to enjoy the quiet of my studio. Deezel's resting on the floor. He got hot on the walk downtown even though the temp was much more NE like.

Here's a photo I'm using for a get well card to my sister, Elizabeth. She's recuperating from surgery to remove a brain tumor- benign and they got the whole thing.

These rhubrum lilies have a heady( sorry about this pun) scent. I have one plant with a stem about 2 inches wide and blossoms all over it. Each one is about 6 feet tall.
My art work has been small pieces in a  5 x 3 doodle book and ART JOURNAL MMXI volumes 1 & 2.
I've started new pillow covers to replicate the ones I've had for many years.

I'm getting ready for a lunch of lettuce, basil, parsley, tomatoes, beans and pea pods from my own garden.
I have been watering twice a day for the past four days. I'll be out there later this afternoon after the movie, "Rango" at the library with Ila followed by ice cream.
It is national ice cream month !

catch up... what was 2009, 2010 on May 16

I wondered what last May and the prior May were like... rainy? nice ? what was blossoming...
Neither entry mentions the weather, but I did see a lady's slipper on the walk... have to check my diary to see if I specified where...
Today's the third rainy day in a row, but Deezel and I walked 3 miles. I saw a grey fox crossing the street not too far from home.
Class in Manchester tonight at the Currier's Art Center.
I printed out the 2010 entries to use in ART JOURNAL MMXI. I need to photograph the ones I've finished to post soon.

more bloodroot, on a rainy day

I got up to work on a page in ART JOURNAL MMXX. It's a doodle ( "Zentangles") with a three leafed plant. I did one on a 3 x 5 sketchbook first, liked it so did another on 6" X 8" page.

It's a cold, April rain on this day before Easter.
We're having family tomorrow, so I cleaned my studio. The table has this bad habit of collecting scraps in an untidy pile. Every now and again, I sort, throw, and save from among the pieces. My collection of small  to very small pieces is stretching the box.

A quick trip outside was worth getting wet.

Yes, I took a picture of the bloodroot, again.

On Wednesday, I sewed with the second grade as we usually do.

They do the tracing and painting before we stitch the edges. For many, this was the first time they ever sewed.
For a few photos of little hands and needles check out my school blog http://www.ekesartistsworkshop.blogspot.com/

bloodroot Haibun

Ever since I saw  first saw Ruth MacDowell's quilt "Bloodroot", I have been entranced by this early spring flower. Its leaves grow through whatever is on the earth's surface in a finger-like protuberance. They blend with the ground cover. Then the pure white blossoms pop out of the tiny leaves still wrapped around them. The petals glow against the browns of the newly exposed garden's surface. They are particularly dramatic on a grey overcast day.
                                   Surprise me- again
                                   from brown seemingly nothing
                                   spring color returns.

Each year, and I have a series of photos to prove it, I am drawn to the section of the shade garden(#2 in my collection of gardens) where the  deeply articulated, graceful, rich green leaves of the bloodroot were last seen in the fall. Where are they, those little babies?, I wonder.
I will barely detect their fingers poking up.
I should clean the garden, but worry I will step on any new growths. 
Then, suddenly, I spot them and celebrate each tiny bump.

                                      Sing to me, phoebe.
                                     Sing and bounce on the tiny branch.
                                     My special spring firsts.

Today I picked a bouquet from the front garden (#7, oldest and largest of the collection). Brilliant yellow
daffodils now glow on the table top. Tulips will be next, then irises. But those marvelous bloodroot blossoms, so short lived and little, never make it to the table top. My memory and photos capture them.

                                         I  pathetically
                                         adore your your delicacy.
                                         stay longer this year.           

Am I such a dolt to question the wonder of the return of the bloodroot? the phoebe?
I'd like to think not. I am, however, inadequate in the face of the reliability of  Nature to cycle through her marvels. I am but a struggling keeper of the soil, a paltry observer of all these treasures as they come, and go, before me.
                     
                                         I pathetically
                                         write lines and photo again
                                         clear notes, white petals.



April 19, 2009




April 5, 2010



medallions with students at EKES

this student's best work ever

these are some negative shapes left when others cut circles

marker and cut paper

who knew the paper punch would be so popular

the paper punch added a little something to the rhombuses by taking away



this actually wraps around



cardstock and marker



even a simple drawing with marker is pleasing





the rhombus is the shape from our work with Emile Birch

 


two cardstock rombuses and a cardborad, handcut sun




Amazing what 3 shapes and a little color can do




this has a stanied glass look



3 rhombus, a square and a circle, red, white, yellow blue

Everyone's been making a medallion to wear as part of the "Solar Fest" on June 10th. After spring break, I'm providing supplies in the Teachers' room so each of them can make one.