It feels like a while since I’ve checked in and here is why…
Yes, Kenny put a pond in the back yard so we have been enjoying just sitting and listening to the water and watching the light reflect on the rocks. It’s very peaceful and calming, a great place to think about nothing on a lazy summer day. Right after it went in we had some days of heavy rain. The pond got all cloudy and muddy and I thought ‘what have we done, we just put a mud hole in our yard!’ But we cleaned the pump a few times and once we put all the water plants in place the water just got clear again.
The birds love it. We observed a young Robin walking all around the rocks, trying to figure out if he could get in and out of there. And I’m hoping a toad finds his way to the pond, I put a makeshift toad house nearby just in case. Of course we’ve been luxuriating in the profusion of flowers all over the place as well…
Like the front door flower bed
And the side door garden
And the deck garden
So I guess what I’m saying is that if you need to find me this time of year, just look outside.
The new artmoney has arrived in Denmark and been uploaded to the Artmoney website. Take a walk in the Garden of Miracles…
Today is the unofficial start of Summer, and the weather is obliging. What’s in bloom? Poppy, peony, roses, mock orange, spider wort, rhododendron…
A day off
It is fitting that we should have one day to remember our war heros so we can have the rest of the 364 days to remember our peace heros.
Each fallen petal
the name of a soldier
we’ll never know.
I had the great good fortune to see the Leonard Cohen World Tour when it came to my area (thanks Bon!). This link takes you to a version of his song “If It Be Your Will” sung by two of his back-up singers. It is a most moving and uplifting song, I think a whole new religion could be based on it. At least it could change your life.
It’s been raining for over a week now and I don’t have to tell you how that’s made everything grow. I am starting to miss the sun but this weather does have a beauty all it’s own.
Lily of The Valley
Daylily
Azalea
The bird bath sounds like rain
The fact that Spring is all around me at the moment, it seems like a good time to unveil a new series of Artmoney. The Garden of Miracles is inspired by my belief that there is no ill in this world that the garden cannot cure. I have again drawn on the wisdom of the ages (and a quote of my own) as one feature of the composition. And again there is a kinetic element which begs the observer to interact. These pieces can be seen as anything from toys to meditation tools.
The Garden of Miracles suite
Serial # GOM002O- O is for Ovid
Although last week felt like Summer, with temps in the 90’s, it’s really Spring. And this is what Spring looks like around here.
Ferns unwind out of the damp earth.
The backyard is more violets than grass.
Technicolor Azaleas and Dogwoods grace everyone's front lawn.
We first saw the cat, later known as Fred, when he was just a kitten. He was in the little jungle of a backyard of the house next to ours. He was with two other kittens, who we assumed were his siblings. There was Black-And-White, Gray-And-White, and Red, later known as Fred. We don’t know what happen to Gray-And-White, we lost track of him. And Black-And-White turned into a big Tom who took care of himself. But Red, we saw a little more of him. He ate the food we left for him on the cinder block wall in our backyard, and then he would disappear. He would reappear a few days later, maybe with a friend in tow, like this little kitten.
The red headed stranger and friend
It is clear from this photo (the first known photo of Fred) and we realized it even then, that The Red was no ordinary alley cat. I’ve never heard of such benevolent behavior in a stray, dare I say feral, creature, who must have had to struggle daily for it’s own survival. There was no question but that Fred, or Red as we knew him then, was operating on a whole other level from his fellow homeless felines. We took such a good liking to him, he just seemed liked a very special creature. So, he would come and go, maybe alone or maybe with a friend, and eat the food we set out, and in the beginning that was the extent of our relationship. Any attempt at physical contact was scorned. There was a longing on our part to get to know him better, but it was going to have to be on his terms.
That was not the case with one friend that Red brought by. A little kitten who ended up living in our backyard, behind an old piece of discarded furniture. We called him Mechu, short for meet you out back. He was kind of a goofy guy, and it’s a good thing that Red showed him where he could get a meal and some shelter.
Mechu- big and fat
We eventually adopted Mechu and he grew quite big and healthy. The same could not be said for Red Fred. He continued his life on the street, coming and going from the backyard and one day getting to the point were he was ready for some physical contact. We’ll never forget the first time little Red headed Freddy let us pet him. Although I remember that I was the first to do so and my husband remembers that he was the first to do so. Either way a bond had been formed. He had accepted our affection and given his in return. I thought at this point that we should get Red and make a house cat out of him. Which really means turning him into a eunuch, but the idea did not sit well with me. Besides we had just got Mechu and we already had several other cats and two dogs. As long as he was still turning up in the backyard for love and cat food everything was fine, right.
Well soon the winter came and Red stopped coming. I told myself that he was OK. That someone else was feeding him, or maybe had even taken him in. I told myself I would see him again soon and that we would take him in then. And I told myself that for many weeks that turned into months. And still we saw nothing of Red.
I clearly remember driving to work one bitter winter day, with snow on the ground, feeling that Red was gone and we wouldn’t see him again and scolding myself for not taking him in and giving him a safe life. Those winter days passed slowly. No visitors came to the backyard, we didn’t even go back there ourselves, it was just a tiny patch of cement covered in dirty snow. And there was no Freddy ever reddy to bring any joy to it.
to be continued…
It’s been a damp and chilly start to the Spring, with not much sunshine to warm things up. I’m not complaining, we always need rain and the weather conditions are causing a slow unfurling of the season’s wonders, so the experience won’t be lost in a mad rush of bombarding blooms and blossoms. Right now it’s all about yellow.
daffadilious dontbesillious
The daffs are out, of course. Nothing stops them, as I read in one gardening book a daffodil bulb is basically a flower waiting to bloom. The forsythia are beginning their dramatic cascade of bright florets. And the shops have put out their market packs dominated by yellow faced pansies, to entice winter weary gardeners to start digging. So even without the sun, everywhere you look there is a cheerful yellow to warm up the new Spring.
forsythia howimistya
Not to take anything away from the cherry trees, whose flowers describe every shade of pink from a soft whisper to a loud magenta. Or from the magnolias with their pale white flowers as big as cereal bowls. But yellow seems to be the color of the moment. While I’m pretty sure Chris Martin wrote the song “Yellow” for Gwyneth Paltrow, I’m making it my theme song for early Spring. So everybody, sing along “… and it was alllll yelloooooow.”
Il pettirosso
And the snowdrops blooming...
