Tag: Photography

Coming Out of Dormancy, a Garden Mimics Life

ARTifacts, Photography, The Creative Process, Uncategorized

Dang, we had a long winter here in Oregon.  Rain, cold, and dreary skies persisted for months my motivation plummeting with the temperature.  Looking out at the first portion of my native plant garden I planted last year I fretted that many plants had perished over the winter leaving dreadful bare patches with their demise. Then bam- a few sunny days in the 70s and 80s last week changed all that.  All around I spotted my little green friends emerging shyly from the depths of the earth.

I look to my garden for the understanding of life.  We certainly don’t flourish in all conditions.  I certainly have been in a period of dormancy due to inhospitable conditions in my life. But as my garden tells me, inspiration will return with better times.

Some plants are coming back stronger than ever.  A few I thought I’d lost during the heat of last summer are returning in force.  My expensive Trillium kurabayashii that failed to bloom last year is blooming and returned with it a friend.  Then a few of my white trillium lost the battle with slugs.  A little wood rush perished for good.  Replant or try something new?  Such it is with our creative children…

The muse has flipped her sign to “open.”  It is over 60 degrees today.  I think I shall go out and work in the garden.

shooting star
wild strawberry
violet

photos and artwork by the author

Please stop by my other blog about sustainablility at onesweetearth.blog

Fall Crocus- The Encore Bloom of Summer

Uncategorized

It happens every year, I think the bloom show is over, and up pops the fall crocus. It seems like crocus herald the beginning and the end of the blooming season. Fall crocus have their vegetative phase in the spring. It’s a large corn lilly-looking plant that dies off when other bulbs are done blooming. For years I didn’t know that these plants were in my yard. I would pull them out until I saw the same mysterious plant displayed at a nursery labeled as fall crocus. I finally connected the dots that the crocus that appeared in the fall and these mysterious plants were the same. Now I let them be.

It turns out that these crocus and saffron crocus are very closely related. It’s a great plant. I ignore them and they return faithfully every year in greater numbers popping up in the yard in unexpected places. For more information on fall crocus go here.

Check out my other blog on sustainable living at onesweetearth.blog

Morning Glories

Photography, Poetry, Uncategorized

Those few little seeds I planted several years ago bring me more and more morning glories every September. This year has been the best season ever. Even the UPS guy stopped in his tracks to ogle at their beauty. Mingled with scarlet roses it’s quite a show.

Morning Glories

Morning glories light my path 
as the day unfolds
Trumpets of majestic purple 
and simmering pink
announce the end of summer
a surprising coda as the garden fades
a blessing to walk beneath 
this arch of glowing flowers

Photos and poem by the author

Please also visit my blog on sustainable living at onesweetearth.blog

Finding Beauty in the Cracks

Photography, Poetry, Uncategorized

I was on an amble on Franklin Street in Astoria, Oregon last weekend when I came upon this remarkable rock wall below a Victorian home. Little pink flowers were growing from the cracks of the stones of the wall. Had I been in a rush, I would have failed to notice this striking little art gallery. Here are a few examples of natures hand on a city side street.

Tarry 
to see 
flowers rooted
in cracks of cold stone

Wildflower Power

Photography, Poetry, Uncategorized

Who doesn’t love flowers?  There seems to be even more of a special place in people’s hearts for the wildflowers found in nature.  Here in Oregon it is prime wildflower season. Some are even blooming currently in my new native plant garden.  Especially prevalent right now are camas (Camas quamash), beautiful blue-violet spikes of star-like flowers that pop up in the meadows.  They were a significant food source for the Native Americans that once inhabited the area

About 40 minutes away from my home in the town of West LInn a new Nature Conservancy site opened up last year, the Camassia Nature Preserve.  The 22 acre parcel is a mix of lush forest, meadows, and oak savannah with a boardwalk that meanders the main route. There is about 2 miles of hiking trails in the area. Also prevalent are glacial erratics- boulders from Montana and Canada that were dropped in this area after the great floods that occurred after the melting of the ice sheets that covered the north during the Ice Age.

Yesterday the weather was lovely, partly sunny and in the 60s, a welcome change from the rain and cool temperatures.  I decided to take a drive and check it out.  I was not disappointed!

Here are some of the things I saw in this special place.

  • Camus
  • Indian Plum
  • Buttercup and camus
  • not identified!
  • meadow with sea blush
  • glacial erratics and Oregon Grape
  • Camus meadow
  • Sword fern fronds unfurling
  • Sea blush
  • Wild rose
  • Madrone
  • Camus
  • Honeysucke
  • Wood violet & syringia
  • meadow mix
  • Meadow mix
  • meadow mix
  • fringe cup
  • Solomon’s seal

A bit of wildflower trivia…

The reason you may often see the dazzling combination of bright yellow and purple wildflowers together is that it attracts pollinators- and humans seeking beauty.

And…my photos really don’t do this place justice!

A wild iris blooms in my garden
Wild Iris   
Looked what bloomed today!
a wild Iris
a queen amidst my garden
her lilac petals arch gracefully
like arms in a curtsy
about her throat a white collar
etched with fine black lines
with a blush of gold

Gaudy hybrids shout for my attention
down the driveway
but it's her sublime elegance
that captures my wild heart

The Artful Beach

Photography, Uncategorized

IMG_1233I just returned from a wonderful week visiting Vancouver Island B.C., Canada.  Four nights of that stay were at the Point No Point Resort where myself and three of my friends enjoyed, among other things, beachcombing on the stunning beaches in the area. They provided a gallery of natural art.

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I’m hoping my photographs can give you some idea of the beauty we encountered.

Weekly Photo Challenge “The Faces of Joy 2017”

Photography, Uncategorized

I had to give pause when I read this challenge “The most meaningful photo I’ve taken this year.”  Looking back through all my photos, the ones that have the most meaning are the ones of the people & pups in my life.  It was a rough year in many ways.  These photos remind me of the joy in this world.

The elfin twins Anna & Elliot come for a visit.

IMG_0706 (1)
Son, Gareth & Daughter-in-law, Felicia on her 30th birthday , May 5th

IMG_0687
My “spousal equivilent” doing what he loves!

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOLSTICE Celebration with friends.  What an amazing experience!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

My dogs Bandit & Dougan, bringing tail waggin’ joy every day!

2017 Favorites

 

Weekly Photo Challenge- The Curves of Forgotten Relics

Photography, Uncategorized

Deep in the Opal Creek Wilderness lies Jawbone Flat, a tiny mining community that operated in the 1930s and 1940s.  It is currently the site of the Opal Creek Education Center, dedicated to the study of Old Growth Forests.  Left behind is a treasure trove of old equipment from the heyday of the Shiny Rock Mining Company.  I find beauty in their forms, nestled in the forest.


Rounded

 

 

 

WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge- A Scale of Distances

Photography, Uncategorized

I enjoy putting my own take on the photo theme & not taking the prompt in the immediate literal sense.  This photo is about scale but in the realm of comparisons of near and far.  As I walked the Camino de Santiago with a friend in 2013, we came upon these signs sometime after Pamplona.  We were most concerned with Santiago, 220 km away but still way closer than Jerusalem at 5000 km!

Camino signs
Scale