Burnished

In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish’d dove;In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love. ~ Alfred Lord Tennyson I should say hello, summer, but I’m taking one final look at my late spring iris gardens. This iris looks black in most light, however, the rising sun

Frail Aristocrat of Time

She Sped As Petals Of A Rose She sped as petals of a roseOffended by the wind.A frail aristocrat of timeIndemnity to find.Leaving on nature a defaultAs cricket or as bee.But Andes in the bosoms whereshe had begun to lie. ~ Emily Dickensen It got up to 80 degrees today.

What I Did With My Ramps

In short I ate some, I planted some. The ramp fresh out of the dirt, the three leaves, the sinful smell.  Then the first bite of the year, into the raw ramp bulb.  The richly nuanced sensations which cross the tongue, then fill the entire mouth, the full brain after that, the quick shot down the entire spinal cord and into the pulse of spring

Ramp Fever

I had heard about ramps from Foodie friends. Allium tricoccum are woodland plants native to the USA and are becoming scarce and increasingly difficult to find. One spring day, 5-6 years ago, I was out shooting woodland wild flowers when I realized I was standing in a huge patch of ramps, or what I thought

Wind in the Cherry Trees

It’s been a challenging weekend*. I thought about taking another blog break but I just got back, besides I’m juggling 2-3 more time sensitive (read Spring) posts, such as daffodil varieties, spring regattas and foraging for ramps in the woods and preserving the same. I’m going to push through. Do you know what helps when

Lens-Artist Challenge #147, Gardens

Flowers from my cutting garden. When you look at a lot of old (centuries old) Dutch Masters’ still life flower paintings Parrot Tulips are often included in their choice of subject flowers. Parrots are magnificently flamboyant, an eye catcher in any light. They get better as they age for before wilting they fully unfurl their

Lens-Artist Challenge #146 Focusing On The Details

We had a much needed rain this morning. I love the details of the falling rain and the droplets on one of our Japanese Cherry trees. Last night was the first Wednesday Night race of the season. The skipper of Bad Dog was short two hands and a new recruit made a minor mistake so

Hyacinths

“If thou of fortune be bereft, and in thy store there be but lefttwo loaves, sell one, and with thedole, buy hyacinths to feed thysoul.” ~ John Greenleaf Whittier If you don’t know the smell of a hyacinth it is unlike any other. I love it. One has to reach for the verbiage of a

Snow

Our sailboat was one of the first in the water this year so we are dreaming of summer.Two steps forward, one step back:

Lens-Artist Challenge #143: Colorful Spring

The larger bulbs, tulips and daffodils, get all the acclaim but I love the ‘minor bulbs’ of Spring, small flowers that come earlier even as the snow is still on the ground, flowers such as the early crocus I posted last week. Snowdrops (Galanthus) are the earliest in my gardens. Unlike my loudly cheerful crocus