Kisses for Olive

Mighty Olive the Miniature Pinscher has a habit of taking naps on the kitchen table. Here, Jeffrey reinforces her naughty behavior.

Very Hungry Caterpillar

First the naturally-curly blossom caught my eye. Then I noticed the bright orange caterpillars munching the leaves of this passiflora plant at Georgia Southern Botanical Garden. All I could think of was the title of one of my favorite children's books, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," by Eric Carle.

After a bit of research I learned that the bright orange Julia Butterfly or Dryas iulia lays eggs almost exclusively on passiflora plants/vines, which explains all those very hungry caterpillars.

Discarded Cicada Armor

What the heck? At first glance I couldn't figure out what was stuck to the old cement street sign as I rounded the corner walking one of the dogs. I took a closer look and realized it was a discarded cicada casing. I hung onto the dog's leash with one hand and snapped an iPhone photo with the other. This deserved a more detailed view so I came back later with my Canon 7D.

We live on a wooded lot, home to many LARGE insects including cicadas. These guys make a loud screechy racket during the summer months, night and day. Check out Wikipedia's definition of cicada for an eye-catching time lapse series of one molting. It's about halfway down the page on the right side. Kind of creepy but pretty cool, right?

A Slice of Sunshine

We feed the birds hulled sunflower seeds, sprinkling them on the rock wall that runs along the back porch. One adventuresome seed fell into a pot of basil and decided to become a flower. I love it when that happens.

Staying Power

The magnolia trees are still blossoming in late July, despite days of nearly triple digit temperatures. I spotted my first blossoms in mid-April and have since fallen in love with them. The extreme heat may cause a few brown spots but it doesn't dampen their intense aroma. So sweet!

I took this with my iPhone during a late-morning run across campus.

Circus Comes to Town

The curly leaves and hanging pods of this plant caught my eye the other day at the Botanical Garden. A week later I checked back to discover the pods turn into whimsical flowers that remind me of little hot air balloons painted like Ringling Brother's Circus.

Turns out they are Gloriosa Lilies, the national flower of Zimbabwe. Not only do they grow in Africa, but they also quite happily in the front yard!

Unexpected visitor

When I hear Olive scratching, she has most likely found a bug to play with. Not this time. A handsome box turtle came visiting. I don't know if it's the same one Olive found in the back yard last fall, but she discovered this one tucked up against the window outside the front entry room.

The turtle must have climbed the two short steps from the side garden, the only route to reach the window. It hissed at me when I picked it up and then retreated into it's shell when I moved it to a shadier spot beneath a bush. Maybe it wasn't finished visiting with Olive.

Light Angles

Late yesterday afternoon I noticed sharp lines of light through the skylight in the master bathroom and through the seamless glass corner of the master bedroom. What a treat to watch the world through the floor-to-ceiling windows in this house. How would I ever get used to traditional windows again?

Perfect Light

After an evening of rain on Tuesday, the light Wednesday morning was soft and overcast, perfect for photographing almost anything. I've been volunteering on Wednesday mornings at Georgia Southern Botanical Garden since February and yesterday was my lucky day. I saw photos everywhere.

These two took my breath away.

Beginning the Day in Gratitude and Awe

Have you ever looked closely at a day lily blossom? Don't wait too long. The blooms only last a day or so. I had seen nothing in the bed that runs along the front of the house since autumn but leggy, linear leaves. I really couldn't understand what all the fuss was about until a few weeks ago, the first flower opened.

When I edited my images tonight of this burgundy blossom I was reminded of the song "Awe" by Lisa Ferraro and Erika Luckett from their album of the same name. Visit their website and take a listen:

"As the sun will rise and the rain will fall, may I begin each day with gratitude and awe...If we're not in awe we're not paying attention."

Gentlemanly Gesture

We have a pair of Cardinals who have become frequent visitors since we've been tossing hulled sunflower seeds onto the back porch. Mr. Cardinal hops around picking up seeds and in what I perceive as a very sweet gesture (anthropomorphic behavior, I know), he gives the first morsels to Mrs. Cardinal before scooping up seeds for himself.

Meanwhile, my search for a perfect bird feeder continues. I found some nice possibilities online at Wild Birds Forever, located in Minden, NV.

One Room School

I spent a peaceful hour by myself in the Oak Grove School at Georgia Southern's Botanical Garden late in the afternoon a couple Sundays ago. The school was built in Tattnall County, which is two counties southeast of Bulloch County, home to Statesboro. The Garden's brochure says that one teacher taught 32 students in seven grades. Old-time multitasking.

Sweet Magnolias

Last week I found my first, lusciously sweet magnolia blossom on one of the huge trees on Georgia Southern's Sweet Heart Circle. The flowers fade too soon but their heavenly scent is unforgettable.

Showy Spring Blossoms

The first of Marley's daylilies blossomed at the end of March, hanging heavy and dressing up the front of the house. A few more deep scarlet varieties showed up a week or two later in the back yard. Beautiful!

A huge clematis flower unfolded from an unlikely-looking vine in the upper back yard just behind the rock chimney. So far, only one blossom.

Handsome Boy

Miles, our Newfoundland/Border Collie mix, spent an entire day at Kayce's Pet Parlor this week and came home looking mighty handsome. Arlo, in the background, never needs grooming because he cleans himself like a cat so he couldn't understand what all the fuss what about.

Big Busy Bees

I thought all large black and yellow bees were bumble bees. Silly me. I have learned over the past few weeks that the majority of big bees around the house are carpenter bees. Named for their talent, they drill perfectly round, half-inch holes into wood structures for nests. North Carolina State University's entomology folks say the bees don't eat the wood, they just "excavate tunnels for nesting."

We have a lot of excavating going on! I watched a couple busy guys at work on the new fascia boards on the front of the house this week. The bees are speedy workers and when one gets tired, another flies in to take over the jaw chomping task.

I'm not afraid of bees and the males don't sting, but I do have my limits. One bee blew it by drilling two holes into the overhang just above the back door. So, I stuck cotton balls drenched with peppermint oil into the holes and after two days of hovering, the weary bee went elsewhere, most likely to start again.

We're still trying to figure out what to do - or not to do - with these uninvited house guests.

Carpenter bees have a black tail section, like this one on a fading azalea blossom.

Mr. Busy Bee at his recently-excavated front door in the new fascia board on the front of the house.

At the corner of the carport, one tired bee flies off while another takes over the drilling.

Small Graces

I walked into the kitchen last Thursday to find little Olive asleep in a shaft of sunlight using my running shoes as her pillow. I just re-read the book, "Small Graces: The Quiet Gifts of Everyday Life," by Kent Nerburn. One of my favorite quotes from the book is the last paragraph of his introduction:

"For though we may not live a holy life, we live in a world alive with holy moments. We need only take the time to bring these moments into the light."

Painting with Photoshop

A rosemary plant has been blooming among the ferns in the side garden. On a recent morning I made this image with my light-weight, super-sharp Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 IS USM lens, which stands for Image Stabilizer and Ultra Sonic Motor, built into the lens for faster auto focus.

I added a Brush Strokes filter using Photoshop CS5. I like the subtle painterly quality. From photo to illustration? What do you think?

Native Azalea Lean to the Light

I first spotted the native azalea bush in the front yard by accident on an overcast day in the late afternoon. It's tucked under a palm tree that is tucked under a tall pine. I recognized the blossoms and the sweet scent after photographing Georgia Southern Botanical Garden's native azalea collection that I shared in 

this gallery on its Facebook site. I've been putting in my 50 volunteer hours at the Garden, a requirement

to earn my Master Gardener certification through the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension that I started in late January. One more class and a final exam to go!

Yellow and white stripped blossoms look muted in the shade on March 19.

Yellow-orange blossoms on the same tree glow in the late afternoon sunlight on March 20, the first day of spring. 

Happy Vernal Equinox!

Dogwood Days

A warmer than usual March brought blossoms out early on the dogwood trees and azalea bushes in the yard and all over town. I discovered a couple native azaleas blooming in the front yard. They smell heavenly, almost like honeysuckle, but they don't look much like the more popular hybrid azaleas. Picture those showy bushes that line the Augusta National Golf Course during the Masters Tournament.

From the Azalea Society of America website, a great resource:
"Azaleas have been hybridized for hundreds of years. Over 10,000 different azalea plants have been registered or named, although far fewer are in the trade...All North American species azaleas, also called native azaleas, are deciduous (drop their leaves in the fall), with flower colors ranging from white to purple, pink, red, orange and yellow. Evergreen azaleas, native primarily to Japan, have flower colors including white and various shades of purple, pink, red and reddish orange, but not yellow."

Dogwood trees in bloom line the property along Pitt Moore Road.

 Evergreen azaleas provide a beautiful backdrop for dogwood blossoms near the driveway.

Neighborhood Bumblebees

I wandered around the Georgia Southern University Botanical Garden this afternoon in honor of Daylight Saving Time returning. Love this day of the year! The redbud trees are in bloom and a couple of big ol' bumblebees were buzzing from branch to branch. This one was busy doing its job while defying gravity.

Side Garden Serenity

February came and went without a blog post. A month of camera hibernation for some reason. Time to resurface.

Meanwhile, more camellia bushes have bloomed in the front yard and the azaleas have joined in the color dance with splashes of magenta and red. Marley will be happy her little red bud tree blossomed this past week, too.

I made a version of this image a few days ago. Since then, I've been drawn to this scene in the early morning, on rainy afternoons and at last light, staring through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the front entry room. Tonight I walked outside just after sunset and opened the rod iron gate into the side yard, 

what we call the Meditation Garden, for this version.

An Ant and Ant Hills?

Okay, I know this little guy on the blossom is an ant but I'm not sure if these mounds, below, are ant hills or home to some larger insect. They took a beating after a heavy rain storm early this morning but I bet Ms. Marley will still be able to tell me what crawls in and out of those holes.

Vertical Views

I spend so much time photographing the world from a horizontal viewpoint that the past couple days I've looked around the yard and turned my camera vertically. The rosemary bush is not far from the front door and full of blossoms. The palm-looking leaves arranged themselves like this on the ground out back as did the camellias in various stages of decay. All I did was look down and get my feet out of the way.

One More Look at Boston

I'll return to my Georgia adventures but I found a few more iPhone photos from my visit to Boston as 2011 turned into 2012.

Above: A good sign on a Beacon Hill store.
Right: The John Hancock Building towers over Trinity Church.
Below: Jess at work in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel's Asana.

Wrinkled Laundry

The big triangular table in the kitchen is a great spot for folding laundry right out of the dryer. The trick is getting to the laundry before Olive jumps in for a nap. This rarely happens because she comes running whenever the dryer door opens.

Below, Jeffrey decides to try napping on Olive who is once again napping on warm laundry. See her?

Childhood House

Over the holidays I visited the house where I was born in Cambridge, MA. It looked very much the same as I remember a long time ago. The house was then the parsonage for the Harvard Epworth United Methodist Church, where my dad was minister. He wrote sermons while also writing his doctoral dissertation at Boston University and parenting three little kids. Impressive - and also a tribute to my mom, who was a force.

So my childhood home has become the Walter Lippman House and is now home to the Neiman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.