Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Southern Rorschach Test

Sometimes you see animals, sometimes landscapes, sometimes ruined castles (particularly creepy on moonlit nights, when you can hear the leaves whispering in the wind). Kudzu grows a foot a day in summer—but it never moves while you're watching, so keep a sharp lookout! It'll swallow up trees and houses and occupied lawn chairs if unchecked. Flamethrowers are recommended.

Personally, I'm hoping they can make biofuel out of the stuff. To heck with corn or switchgrass; making ethanol out of kudzu is the only way we'll be safe.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Hatless Elf Alert

I was just testing the capabilities of the el cheapo designed-for-idiots camera, set to macro. The shiny background was a black filing cabinet. Sometimes the throwaway “let's see what happens if I do this” photos look better than the ones I plan.

Except for the forgetting-to-turn-off-the-datestamp part.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

The Cruelest Month

Yep, it’s April, but I don’t know if T.S. Eliot ever came to the Southeast in the springtime. I look out the window and see glorious sunshine, deep blue sky, and vivid colors everywhere. I love flowers, even weeds—here are a few things from my yard that I love:





The light—oh, the light! Even the air seems to be luminous, a magical pale gold…well, kind of a greenish shade of gold.

Um…it’s pollen.



In the spring we have clouds of pollen that can be seen—blowing and drifting pollen with yellow-out conditions. Newcomers see yellow dust on their cars and think it is fallout from a chemical plant. And on beautiful spring days with low humidity and perfect temperatures, windows are shut fast against the piles of pollen. Dust your furniture in the morning and in the afternoon you can balance your checkbook with your bare hands.

Officially, a pollen count of over 120 is considered extremely high. This is ludicrous--in springtime it's rarely under four digits, unless it’s actually raining.

This April seems to be fairly average.


(Today the count on the radio was 28-oh-something, but I couldn't be sure because their website -- www.atlantaallergy.com--was down. Probably buried in the pollen.)

Last year was extraordinary because we didn’t have just a 100-year drought, we had a “Good Lord, I hope it doesn’t do THIS again, I’m having a picnic so it’ll rain on me” drought. I think we went all of March without any rain. One of the effects was this—




I was going to sell when it hit 6,000.

At this point allergy drops and antihistamines can do nothing—all you can do is drink lots of water, and every now and then take your eyeballs out and rinse them in the spin cycle.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Weeping Cherry


It never bloomed in ten years. Not one petal, not even a bud. Nothing but leaves, year after year.

By an amazing coincidence, it bloomed the very year after my mother said we would cut it down if there weren’t any blooms next year.

And people say plants aren’t intelligent.

PS--the tree that I thought was a crabapple in this post
is actually a cherry tree. Which is why I never went for a degree in horticulture.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Easter Eggs


If you think a paintball gun set on “Rapid Fire Random” is a great way to decorate easter eggs, You Might Be A Redneck. (Apologies to Jeff Foxworthy.)

I colored these with a little spinning gadget that uses specially formulated liquid egg dye. It was the most fun I’d ever had decorating eggs: much more fun than dipping them, and I have no patience with the little crayon thingie. Naturally, when I checked the stores the next Easter, I found no sign that they had ever made such a thing.

Using standard food coloring didn't work nearly as well as you think it might.


Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Crabapple



This tree is in my neighbor’s yard. Every spring it has a huge mass of pale blooms, but it is so much more beautiful up close. I wonder what my neighbor thinks, if he looks out the window and sees me standing on tiptoe, shooting pictures from inside his tree?
I love looking at flowers close up. And here *is* a close up!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Yoicks

No, I did not give up blogging for Lent; just had a little touch of Murphy.

Because it is cold and rainy today, here's a teaser for summer's coming attractions:




If it's a butterfly bush, why is the crop so small? Should we fertilize?


One of the compensations for a long, hot, humid summer is watching butterflies dance overhead on a summer evening.



(Oh, good grief, it's raining harder. Yes, we need it....)