The view from the dashboard

Funky greens

The first photo is of the pool at our old house. It's having a liner replacement, and this is what a pool looks like underneath its skin. I thought it made a cool abstract.



This is the stuff that's causing all the trouble, from my son's stuffy head to, the vet thinks, my dog's scratchiness. This particular variety is oak pollen, but I think every bush and tree in town is pollinating.



And this is a funky little plant I put in last year. It's blooming now in my front yard.

Fleur du jour

The fleur du jour is the bachelor button. I don't know what wildflower the yellow one is. The wind was blowing like crazy as a cold front came in; I found these on the side of the highway.

Mother of the Year

OK, I have never won it. Haven't even been nominated. And based on the effusive adolescent gratitude I get around here, I probably never will be nominated. But if getting up at 4 am and making these divine morsels doesn't get me a nod, I don't know what will. Raw milk, a pound and a half of Irish butter, cane sugar, freshly milled organic flour, all baked to mouth-watering perfection (though my picture here is of them rising). Breakfast of champions, indeed. This was actually in honor of my son's 19th birthday today...happy birthday, Grayson!

Wisteria

Today as I pulled into my yoga class, I pulled under thousands of wisteria blossoms. So I got out my camera and snapped them from below. Everything's blooming....redtips, dogwood, wisteria, azaleas, daffodils, pear, cherry...it is really an amazing spring. (I have to add...the color on this one is paler on blogger than it is in person or in my photo; what gives? This is one that looks better big.)

Blues

Not that I HAVE the blues...nope: I had a fabulous time at the beach, and it is great to be back home.

State Flag: South Kakkalacky

Friends at the beach...

Here's a sampling of the women here with me...

Anemone

Afternoon bike ride scenes

In keeping with my post this morning....more wildlife prints:

This is why they call it 'pigeon-toed'

Put a clamp on it

Thoughts on the Vernal Equinox

The first moment of the first day of spring: hope




Imperfect specimens washed up on the beach: aren't we all?



In brokenness lies beauty

Confetti

Girls' week

My first group of friends arrived today, joining me for a relaxing time at the beach.

After sunset

I rushed out tonight around 8:00 to get the color of the evening sky. You can compare it to the morning view here.
http://beth365.blogspot.com/2007/01/edisto-in-morning.html

I put the weird altered image in here just because I thought it was cool, and it illuminated the foreground.

Sweetgrass baskets

I stopped at the roadside stand of Lillie and Annette, two Gullah women who craft baskets out of pine needles and marsh grasses. Here's Annette holding the lidded basket I bought:



May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.
----Irish blessing

Natural inspiration

The first picture is that of a pen shell. Pens are 'grabbers', rather than diggers or burrowers in the mud. Their small, weak foot spins out bunches of strong "byssus" threads (now there's a Scrabble word for you!) into the muck. These latch on to buried shells and rocks. So tough are these strands that Roman emperors once had them spun into fine clothes. Pens bury pointy end downward. They are 6-8".

The second picture is of the new Arthur Ravenel bridge in Charleston, SC.

And as an issue of housekeeping, and wanting to keep my readers properly educated on the wonders of the coast...I've had to make a correction to the post from yesterday. So don't go trying to impress your friends at your next dinner party, until you've read the correction.

Portrait progress

I'm just cheating and adding this one taken Wednesday because I want to document my art here. This is what I've gotten done on a portrait from three hours with the model. The way my mentor teaches, it takes time! He teaches to first lay in color and start to approximate the form while achieving color shifts. Then study the line carefully and cut in dark into light with an accurate line only in the places that the line IS clearly defined; that won't happen until you've achieved the larger fields of value shift and the movement of colors. It's frustrating, but it's fascinating as well. The less I try to make it accurate, and the more time I put into squinting to get the values right, the more I start to see the form simply emerge, rather than forcing it. For instance, in this one, I never have taken any measurements or created any features...and yet this is recognizable in a rudimentary way as being the model.

Egg case

Ok, it might be my birthday, and a significant one, but in the interest of my reader's continuing education, I am not posting about my birthday. Even if I am now forty-five years on the planet. Nevermind that. You need to know about ...

(this is a correction from yesterday's info, based on my latest research...)

whelk shell egg cases! Rather than a clam worm, as I identified yesterday, it is an egg case for whelk shells. Whelks are the same shape as conch shells, but smaller at about 5-9". Although my book says you'll find these egg cases from May - October, obviously I'm finding it early, perhaps because of our mild winter. Females create these 2 foot long papery incubation chambers and cement them to rocks and dead shells. Each capsule holds 10-15 eggs; these hatch as miniature whelks. Two weeks after hatching, the baby whelks chew through their cases, leaving a hole in each chamber. If you enlarge the photo you can see the holes.

Trapped light

Anybody else having trouble?

I keep trying to upload my photo for the day and it erases the photo I've selected whenever I click "Upload Now". So I'll keep trying....I don't know what the problem is. It was doing it last night, and again today. Grrrr.

Framed

My errands today took me to the framer, the jeweler (my ring is so clean I took a pic of it too), the shoe store (my first Michael Kors), the park for lunch, the shoe repairman, the outfitter store (yoga wear), and Goodwill. But my favorite shot was the first one, in the framer's shop. Patterns aren't my strong suit like some folks (I'm thinking of Overread's blog, and some others). I think I do better with "telling a story" photos. What do you think is your strong suit? What kinds of photos do you gravitate towards? Anyway, while patterns aren't my strongest thing, I always do like them.



And for Julie, here's another weed shot cropped closer. I think you're right....I like it cropped better. It's amazing the intricacy of a simple weed!

Weeds

Along with all the daffodils and crocuses, the arrival of spring has brought the flowering of every weed imaginable. And most varieties live in my yard.

Céad Míle Fáilte

Today was the Irish festival downtown. Music, dancing, beer, food, and everyone in green, even the dogs. I'm offering a few more photos in honor of the event:



Zeus even found a kindred spirit:

Ahhhhh....Saturday morning

Turn off that alarm clock ... and remember that .... you don't have to get up right now....

Namaste to you, too

Daily grind

I was making pot roast tonight and took a shot of my peppercorns.

The guy before me in line....

.

Today I caught sight of this guy at the chiropractor's office. He seems to have bitten off a few of his fingers...must be struggling with anxiety.

Old Blue Eyes

This is the manner in which I usually see myself....just a quick check in the vanity mirror. Not much of a primpy kinda gal. Today I noticed that I do like my eyes. My teenaged son said I'm turning into "Emo mom" taking pics such as this, and he wasn't going to let me post it. Which is all the more reason to choose it.

They help.

4 children,
3 counselors,
2 psychiatrists,
1 behavioral pediatrician,
& countless refills.

We've tried all the other ways, but resigned ourself to what works. You do what you have to.

Brush with a psychopath?

OK, driving in Columbia again yesterday and I come up behind this. You just have to wonder about what kind of person drives a truck like this.