The Wicked Sun

The Wicked Sun

I pushed this photo in a lot of ways to get that sun glare and spots that showed up when I aimed to the western sky. Even though this is good farmland, I felt that sunny glare – not quite like that of a person staggering through a desert in mad search of water – but I did feel its intensity! Again, at a friend’s family farm.

Harvesting

Harvesting

Another photo from the visit to a friend’s family farm. Here you can see the empty field from yesterday beyond the small cultivated area. Tom is gathering lettuce, basil, carrots, chard, cebollas and other delicious goodies while Judy and I wandered around shooting pictures, trying to get some good shots. At heart, I am a farm / country girl, and being out here was (pardon the pun) food for the soul.

Blue

As a kid with blue eyes and blonde hair, everything I wore seemed to be the color blue. So much blue! Too much blue! I really didn’t like it after awhile, but these days it is probably next to greens as a color I enjoy.

Looking through my photo archives this morning, I found a number of pictures I took in the local botanical garden one spring – a brilliantly blue sky with no clouds, but branches blooming and leafing out. This is when I love blue!

A Flower Against the Sky

Meanwhile, blue denim sashiko continues!

Potted

Every year I plant flowers in pots and in the little front garden bed outside the studio window. I let the roses alone along one side of the house, and the glads and fig tree, too. The front bed reseeds itself, and at times I add to it. The side patio, though, is where the fun often is to be found. There are some permanent plants, such as bulbs which return every spring. Then there are herbs and flowers and tomatoes (although not this year). Here are some of the lovelies I have in bloom today.

Red Calla / Easter Lilies
Ixia (?)
Ixia (?)
Sunny Sunflower!
Pansies from Auntie Am
Carnation Variant
Basil, nee Rathbone
A Passel of Orange Lilies
Individual Lily in Bloom
Dianthus, Near and Far and Out-of-Focus
Mandarin or Tangerine on the Tree in a Pot on the Patio

And there you have a few. Some last a long time, others fade away in days. The joy of a garden, the cycle of life, the fragrance of flowers, the hum of bees – add a bit of sun, a good book, a comfy chair and birdsong, and a slice of heaven to be had and held.