Out of the Frying Pan

Fun Denver Botanic Gardens toy

Those thinking of a visit to Denver's botanical garden might get a kick out of playing with this: gardens navigator. Search for plants or features and it'll show you just where to find them. Slick.

Catching up

Yes, it's been a while.

First, happy 27th birthday, Uncle Elmer. I remember your charming presence and the fact that you could wiggle your ears. I can still see you backlit in the kitchen window. And I still remember the fact that your step-daughter credited you with being a loving father. You didn't do "step"; you just did "father". May God be very good to you.

It has been a hobbled couple of months. I fell and sprained my right foot. Then, about two weeks later, I decided to try to bear my considerable weight on my left leg -- which was completely asleep. I fell and sprained my left ankle. A cane seemed like a reasonable idea, but it wasn't clear to me which side to use it on. So there has been a bit of a hitch in my git-a-long.

Physical therapy, a new experience for me, has been the order of the day. First off I was referred to a place called SOMA in Boulder. After an evaluation visit, I left without instructions -- they don't do paper instructions -- and feeling like I had a big dollar sign on my forehead. The range of therapists and treatment modalities recommended was amazing. Logging on to the site they'd promised would deliver the exercise instructions, I discovered that it's a fee-only portal. After politely inquiring about this and receiving the brusque response that they can't get the instructions for me, eventually the therapist emailed instructions. By that time, though, it seemed reasonable to look for another service provider.

So that's how I ended up at Alta in south Boulder. The facility is, first off, clean and there is plenty of parking. Their forms are available online, another way they beat out SOMA. And the therapist practiced the exercises with me until I understood how to do them. And he also gave me a sheet of paper that shows exactly what to do. And he didn't see a need to call in a battalion of other therapists. If you are in Longmont or Boulder and need physical therapy, I recommend Alta.

This week I'm celebrating the one year anniversary of Picturing Plants. Starting from zero, the traffic has built to more than 10,000 page impressions per month. The site is generating almost no income: less than $15.00 in google ads income for the year. I'd like to figure out how to make the site more worthwhile from an income standpoint, but feel stymied.

Some sites I'm enjoying:

web designer depot

Technically Incorrect

Community Connections of Colorado - a dandy little non-profit in Longmont that aspires to help build networks with Colorado charities. I believe in this thing to the extent that, for the first time in 15 years or so, I'm putting my skin into the board of directors, something I'd sworn off for non-profits when we came to Colorado. (Yeah, mention the dangerous women's group sidetrack to me if you're feeling the need to upset me!) Anyway, one of their "arms" is Ceci's, a nifty upscale resale shop.

And finally, the Master of Space and Time still takes my breath away:

That time of year

It's getting to be the time of year that the Front Range is all about shades of brown.

The glorious unlikely

My first swing at the title was "The glorious impossible" but that's not really true. Other gardeners have plenty of success with roses in Colorado, our municipal gardens being just one case in point.

But I don't. Of more than thirty roses I've planted, a handful remain, mostly miniatures which are tougher than you might think, given their diminutive size.

Not that this stops me from window shopping. The latest window at which I've found to slaver is Rogue Valley Roses. What a selection!

It's just as well that I'm not in a buying mood. My tastes continue to run toward the pale colors that are lovely under the grey skies of northwest Oregon, but that wash out completely in high altitude sunshine. Maybe you can take the gardener out of Oregon, but you can't take the Oregon out of the gardener.

I don't think this means I want to be repatriated. It's just that I sometimes long for the cucumbers of Egypt, in the form of lovely whites and palest pinks. So you'll find me browsing Rogue Valley Roses, soberly aware that for me rose growing has become "the glorious unlikely".

Red light

Loveland street corner.

Downtown Longmont

Yes, just this afternoon. That's our town. Other municipalities in Colorado seem to have succeeded at getting the new "pharmacies" to tone down their architectural embellishments. Call it Longmont's local colors.

Up top

A ways back in the Moraine this morning. No elk in sight; turns out they were hanging out at the RMNP sign: very convenient for park visitors in search of wildlife.

Grace

Yesterday I learned, unexpectedly quickly, that the biopsy taken from my right breast showed only benign cells. This was, for me, pure grace: an unmerited blessing for which I am deeply grateful. There are other graces, too, in this experience. One was the gentility and kindness of the medical staff I was blessed to have. Another was you, my friend, who carried me along with prayer and kind thoughts.

Today I am keenly aware that many women received different news yesterday, news that has upended their lives and will cause them to evaluate the friends who will be with them, no matter what. For them, for myself, and for you I pray these words of Lady Julian's:

“But all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

May we experience and appreciate this "shewing" of divine love in our lives.

Up at the park yesterday

Yesterday it was almost as busy in the park as it is on the weekends. And, yes, the bulls were in full throat.

Monday makeup

This little guy tickles me because it looks like he managed to get into some waterproof mascara.

Camera: 596; Patricia: 1

But who's counting?

A bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work

...or so I have heard it said.

It's Fall

Color is coming to the high country and down on the plains creatures are on the move.

CR46

Plenty of trucks are rumbling along the road on the south side of the pond today. It's the last of the corn. You can tell it has been dry for a while because the dust kicks up in a beige fog. The creatures on the pond seem unperturbed, even when a tractor lets loose a long blast of its horn.

A pair

These are beginning to smell distinctly pear-like, which probably means that their days as "talent" are over ;-)

Sign

When these lovely creatures pass through, it's a sign that Autumn is near.

Outside and inside

This time of year, our days start out sunny, but in the afternoon it is not unusual for weather to blow down from the mountains. It can look dramatic. This wasn't bad; not more than a few raindrops, really. Just enough to be an inside day, instead of an outside one.

Roadside collection

Will winter come early this year? Already the roadside sunflowers are beginning to sign off for the summer, which makes me wonder.

Doubles

It was one of those days when I found nothing I was looking for, but everything one could possibly want.

Ide & Starbird No. 2

I've never before been close enough to see the color of the eyes.

Out on 95th

My friend Anne gave me a tip about a sunflower field. They used to be everywhere when we came to Colorado, but then came ethanol and cornfields. I hit the field a day or so past its prime, as you can see.

Downtown tonight

Tonight I met a couple of other photographers in town at the little garden there. They are both far more advanced than I and it was fun to watch their methods. Out of more than 250 shutter clicks, this is the one that catches my eye.

I wish I'd remembered to take a spray bottle with me and used my reflector, even though I embarrass myself when I try to fold that unwieldy thing up again. There are very few lighting situations when I shoot roses, imho, that it would not be better to trot out the reflector.

These are September's roses, kind of overblown and nibbled on, but still lovely. There's a metaphor there that I think I won't unpack :-)

On Golden Pond this morning

Seemed like it at the time

So apparently Colorado just passed its hottest August on record.

Work in progress

...but at least it's working, sort of.

Today I finally gave up the idea of selling these things matted. The shipping expenses, not to mention matting materials, are simply too much. And shipping the 16x20s is a real PITA. So, for now, no mats.

The wisdom jar

My favorite summertime snack

Something about Rainier cherries just shouts "SUMMER!" to me. Most of the cherry trees of my growing up years were Bings, which is a perfectly nice variety. But I always favored Rainiers and still do.

This is from the sage plant that envelopes grows near the miniature roses.

Making some changes

Late in February I decided to launch three "Picturing" blogs. Based on how these have been received (i.e., their traffic and income) I've decided to change from daily publication of Picturing Plants to three times a week. Picturing Angels and Picturing Birds will both move to month publication.

This seems like an admission of defeat and maybe it is. But much as I love historical illustration and much as I think it isn't seen enough on the Web, I need to clear more time for my own work. Job one there is getting prices revised and installing a shopping cart.

Making changes is something that's hard for me, so we'll see how this goes.

Making peace with gardening in Colorado

There ought to be a group, seriously, for those of us who move here from other places and try to come to terms with the pure, un-rehabilitable clay. I'm not really gardening, to be truthful, but lately I've taken aim and thrown (literally: it isn't more than that) some things at the garden. You know, old standards like echinops for height and texture.

Anyway. At this time of year in my Oregon gardens, it was my habit to get up early and do a blossom count: ticking one for each variety of something blooming. I was greedy in my habits of collection and young and strong for things like double digging. It wasn't unusual for us to have more than a hundred different plants in bloom.

In the backyard of our Colorado house, I've tossed out a few things here and there, hoping for little and generally being rewarded in kind. Recently I've paid a bit more attention and found seventeen different plants in bloom. I'm mildly bothered that I no longer know the names of most of them, by which I mean their species. But I set out on a little count today and found 18 different things in bloom.

One big mistake I made when moving here was to try to continue my love affair with single roses -- you know, the ones that have only a row of petals. Colorado sun just cooks them, while their centifolia (100-petaled) relatives shine merrily on.

I don't love gardening here and maybe I never will. This is a great loss to me, a real sorrow. But it is good to look at what remains and now and again to do a blossom count.

Cleaning up under my desk

I found 95¢, including a Wyoming quarter. It pays to tidy up. I should remember that ;)

Peace in our time

Heaven's Fest is moving up to Larimer County Fairgrounds. It's what I said they needed to do last year: move to a venue suited to the size crowd they want to attract.

On another topic, I must have planted more than the dozen iris I thought I put in the ground last Fall. They're lovely and it'll be a joy to have them while they're here, because they seem to account for almost everything that has sprouted. Oh, well.

The long view

Not on the fence

Homage to the gargoyle

Yes, we do

We have a problem on one of the cars that I'd never heard of before: cracks in the transmission housing. At the bottom of the notes from the car service department: "Does customer drive on dirt roads?"

Winter garden, etc

With no sign in the backyard of Spring, it was cheering at least to find a leaf that had not been frost-fried. I wonder what makes it able to resist the bitter cold we've had.

Someone got an interview with Barbara Kafka. Is the first part of the risotto recipe really right? Microwave two tablespoons each of butter and olive oil on full power for two minutes? Doesn't this totally burn up the butter and oil? When it comes to the microwave, I have no sense of adventure.

Ignition

We caught this pretty thing just as it was about to take care of some business in the neighborhood. We didn't ask; it didn't tell.

Speaking of ignition, my annual and perennial seeds have arrived. I quake at the responsibility, to tell you the truth. There are nine separate packets with more seeds than one could possibly use on an our-sized lot:

• argemone polyanthemos
• berlandiera lyrata
• dianthus x chinensis 'Corona Cherry Magic'
• gaillardia pinnatifida
• heuchera sanguinea 'Vivid'
• ipomoea noctiflora
• linum lewisii
• phacelia campanularia

Mostly, these are plants that do well in our "high and dry" climate. Some, such as the phacelia with its colloquial name of California bluebell, might do all right with more moisture at lower elevations. I really don't know, because every item except the linum is new to me as a gardener. (Yes, I have heucheras, but not this variety.)

This will be interesting.

Back garden, after 3 pm

I am not completely at ease with the fact that feeding peanuts to the jays also means feeding the squirrels, but there is something of a freeway to the peanut pole. These aren't jay tracks.

Although the barberry's days were numbered, I must reconsider. It seems to provide both food and safe cover.

Through a glass, brightly

Denver's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception reworked their Web site a while back to great effect. One page, especially, is worth a look if you plan to visit: a guide to the stained glass.

On a bright day, being inside the Cathedral is like being inside a jewel box, by which I mean a box made of jewels. The light plays beautifully against the marble (and this is especially nice since the dark wood, added c. 1970, was removed). It's a stop worth making.

For you Philistines who don't know *grin* (I know a lot of Philistines), the entry's title is a play on a phrase from St Paul.

right: he isn't a patron of the Cathedral, but he would be a good one. The link, in case you are otherwise disinclined to follow it, is to an article at the Orthodox wiki, a fine project.

Not-from-the-studio shot

I love my new studio, but an inescapable reality is that this is a view from none of the windows.

Whazzit? A northerly flicking type.

Getting ready to get ready

For Thanksgiving, I caught a big bird

The big change to our holiday feast (today we stole the march on Christmas) was that I cooked and froze the taco meat a couple of weeks ago. It suffered not at bit from the cook-freeze-defrost thing.

Years ago, after the deaths of my parents and with them the deaths of our big get-togethers, we decided to please ourselves with easily and quickly prepared food. Although we recognize that many find it unconventional bordering on eccentric, to us it is a satisfying feast.

There's plenty of time for DC to enjoy guilt-free football (no wondering if he should be helping out) and plenty of energy for me to enjoy the hunting I so like to do. Hunting in the fashion Aldo Leopold predicted, all those years ago: with a camera instead of a rifle. I wonder if he liked tacos? From all the time he spent in the southwest, I'm guessing: yes.

Perp walk paddle

Looking at the neighborhood's condition, it makes sense to think about bringing in possible perps for a little squawking to. But the perp walk, as you see, is in terrible shape.

Herewith, then, the 'hood's first perp paddle:

Gotta love those "who, moi?" expressions...

It has been mentioned here before

It's a rough neighborhood.

How October looked

Why, yes! They are organic!

A sample of the bounty that drops into our yard. Maybe I'd spray, but it isn't my tree.

West of town

Saturday night lights up.

Sunup at Res #2

This morning there was a skunk in the road who quickly took himself off to the ditch opposite the res and beyond. Almost any of us who grew up in small towns and suburbs have a story or "phew" about skunks. This sensory experience has no one that I've heard of rushing to re-create it for today's children of the city. Understandable, of course, but also sad that in a generation or two we will likely have bred the smell of skunk out of American children, altogether.

Up the road a piece

That's an expression my father used. I think the vagueness of it probably suited him as much as it frustrated me; I thought he was being obtuse. It's possible, I know ;)

A discussion about family dynamics during migration? It doesn't matter WHO was Mom's favorite; she's halfway to Miami with her new boyfriend!

Does anyone know if this is pronounced "pEYEd" or "pEEd"? I can make a case either way, but surely there's a right answer.

an' one of these days these boots are gunna...

The "boots" belong to this giddy fellow.

Incoming!

As you can see, I'm doing a little experimenting with the hi-di thing. Especially in Autumn's light, I find it quite enchanting.

Waking up

Around 7.15 this morning, I noticed my great blue acquaintance at the pond. The eyes are such that their expression is almost always one of alarm, so I did not take much note until...

Just out of the frame was a small predator who had swooped low, but who quickly zoomed high and out of sight. Peace returned, but some feathers had been ruffled.

The early bird gets the...

...wha...?

Write your own caption

Yes, it's a cop out, but my mind is drowning in possibilities. What strikes me most about this image is how much the lake at dusk resembles the coast.