gardens and plants

 

Blue Angel hosta (and Frances Miller, in the middle)

 more crocheting projects while watching films or reading books - did a few more bags, and four rugs (for our own house) and am working on a sort of lap blanket in grey stripes with yellows and oranges

front bed full of greens, weeded some and planted in the empty places 

there is : hamburg parsley, green onions, kale, lettuce and radishes growing right now - every few days or so I harvest what won't hurt the plants too much, and freeze what I don't use  There is more in the main garden as well, but not any more than this

 

chickens, sapphire gem, cinnamon queen, olive eggers and maybe an americauna

 

wild pink dog rose we took cutting off out of the woods (during that electrical power lines project where they tore a bunch up in the ditch) - there is a white one too, usually, not sure if I've missed it or it hasn't started yet -- these are in our garden with the hosta now to replace the domestic pink rose that died off

there is a pink 'trailing confederate rose' as well that I took a cutting off out of a ditch around Trezevant, TN when I did mail out there - it is just starting to get buds ready to open, but not yet  Those roses are very tightly packed little heads

 commelina communis (dayflower) that blooms all over this time of year by our water hydrants

Sweetie dog

Mark's coleus, grown from seed

and dragonwing begonias (Rex line)

  

for the record, that's not my car in the ditch there, but where I have parked my truck it isn't going to be all that easy getting it back out, and we have rainstorms now the rest of this week (and higher temps, which is better)

So 'this was all supposed to melt by today' huh?  No, sir.

This is what it looked like about 2:30 pm, 3 o'clock today, and that was the warmest it was getting today.  It should melt tomorrow, but not until about 11 am probably.

ice bits

 

 

 

'Jungle Cats in Grass' - acrylic painting, 2022, Marie Lynn Lamb  

16x20"

 

 

recent artworks on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

 

 

 

Happy New Year and safe travels

 

The Almost Black Flowers 

 

Where the Lovelights Shine, drawing 

 

"Near Atwoood" (Tennessee), ink drawing

 

 Pets Help with Art

 

Rabbit-like creature

 

The Journey

 Il Tournee

At the Lake Edge
The water is down
it rained the other day, so much
and then it was done
still the lake edges are dry
tiny bits of long dead leaves forming a layer
in the mud and drying sandbars
showing throughout the swamp where
beavers work at their industry felling trees and
dragging them down to the shore
to build a house that needs water but now sits
just as dry, near the spires in the lake
trees from some long ago flooding
that have not yet given up their standing
my hound sniffs and bays
what is truly a warbling trill
high-pitched, echoing off the hills
her ghostly face with black mask vibrant
she tells me things that dogs know
she knows they were here
and here, and here, can you see it, too?
Tail swishing, into the water is where her nose runs
and she follows
trying to catch the scent up to the point
It washes away

Frost at the Top of the Hill

the blades of grass and twining plants and wildflowers

have become lacework in the frost of the night

lying down across the earth in lines and flourishes

twisting this way and that around each other

and flattened to the land in white

at their edges and along their lines

waiting to embellish Spring

bit o office

Shower Dash Kitchen and Bath Design

I have some more work to do on this design today and tomorrow.  Have a consultation meeting with a contractor this afternoon, two actually - but one is a phone consult.  And then I have a dishwasher air gap project that needs to be done, got all the materials for that last night, and the bigger toolbox.

I still need to price out sealers and grout maximizer, as well as shop for a light to match the fixtures and grab another tile sample in between the two I have.  

I am hoping the customer likes the one on the left, because their trim is already gray, and it will coordinate better, yet keep the warm feeling and go with the top really well.  I really like the one on the right though, it is so warm and looks a lot like what they already have down (vinyl), so it might look okay with the trim too, once it is there against it.

I found a bulletin board we weren't using and a filebox and put those in my office, too - and spent about an hour rearranging and organizing papers so everything works better for me. 

bus stop in august

I got her to grin at the bus stop for me.. she is usually so serious.  She looks like twins with her 'I don't want to laugh' next to the full grin.

The thistles were starting to emerge from their fuzzy spiky beginnings today, and the mallow and other wildflowers are just as pretty and detailed.  I captured some of them in pictures today.

 I don't have a name for this one, but Esme and I both like them.

 even the lespedeza was flowering in profusion this morning.

 this yellow mallow type flower is loved by the bees.  I love the way the dew falls on the little hairs on the outside of the petals.

a thistle just barely starting to fuzz out

 above my head - but this is the first purple thistle

and Esme noticed this ladybug on one of the thistles, too

forest walk (with botanical interest pics)

We walked down by the lake with Grandma and up into the swampy areas where the beavers are working on felling trees and the herons make their nests.  We were looking for emerging plants and trying to document some of them, too.

 

 This was a freshly felled tree.  The woodchips were new and bright and the tree branches in the water had fresh new Spring leaves on them.

 Down by the beaver dens

 This kind of milky glass green color turned to turquoise blue at the edges of the lake, like a giant piece of agate.    The herons nest around here, too.

 a beech nut tree with lovely branches

 This is an interesting cane grass that was growing next to the lake in one area.  I can't remember seeing it before, but there were several plants of it.  The top was feathery and the bottom was a collection of hollow reed-like pieces growing out of one clump.

 Daphne was so happy, look at her smile!

 Esme was happy to get her feet in the water, too!

 standing down at the edge of the lake near the beaver dens

This is rabbit tobacco or mullein