feet: part 1

I warn you now, this is going to get repetitive. I've been attacked by a series.

So far, I've learned I need to vacuum the cobwebs up more often. But the series is really supposed to be exploring depth of field, as inspired by something of Hilary's.

wood sculpture

I'm not going to burn this piece any time soon.

So much variety of color and texture in one piece of tree.

Changing the angle of light and new shapes are revealed.

It's funny that with all the art processes I've played with since childhood (drawing, painting, clay, several kinds of embroidery, patchwork, photography (!), beading, collage, jewelry...I might be forgetting something) I've never been interested in trying wood sculpture. Maybe trees do it better?

greed

It's supposed to be like this:

Not like this:

Occasionally, the wind has blown it up and over and down the pole, but not this time. The wind last night and this morning was much too tame. I think I know what furry vandal did it so he could reach the goodies.

In the middle of the morning my dog went crazy, barking and bouncing off the window, and I looked out to see a possum slowly departing from that direction, but I didn't see the state of the the feeder until afternoon.

He looked rather like this only going downhill instead of up.

The raccoons already think they own this place day and night. I don't need a nocturnal animal invading the daytime as well.

decay and renewal

The leaves have been looking shabbier and shabbier. Suddenly the new bloom, the first since midsummer, opened before I'd even seen the bud (several feet above eye level.) I'd like to think it an omen.

Sunday morning coffee with warmth

I only eat in the kitchen (instead of the living room) if I have a fire going in the kitchen stove. Saturday night was going to be very cold, so I kept both fires going. Sitting with my back to the heat--in the sun by the time I get up on days off!--is such luxury.

I was especially grateful I was able to wake up the kitchen fire quickly, because at dawn Sunday morning the temperature was -2F/-19C, more than ten degrees colder than predicted. In the kitchen and living room it was 62F/17C which is well above where the thermostat is set.

Warmth on the outside as well as the inside:

scattering of snow

I get so tired of cold weather, and snow makes driving 34 miles to work even more trouble than it usually is, but I keep taking pictures of it, because it's too beautiful to not enjoy.

I did get some dry wood indoors before this began to collect.

It was my favorite foxtails that drew me outdoors with the camera, though.

My yard is full of foxtails, an atrocious weed, because I love them too much to cut them all down.

And I take far too many pictures of them.

The foxtails got me to take the camera outdoors, though, instead of taking pictures through the window of these trees collecting snow.

horse sense?

(A photo-less Friday.)
On my way home from Lexington from my allergy appointment I came upon a horse and rider going down the road--the middle of the road--ahead of me and the car ahead of me. It was a two lane road, but just outside of a town, and far from untravelled. The rider tried to get the horse onto the grass beside the road, but when he pulled the horse's head towards the edge, the horse's body and legs leaned the other way. Eventually they did get off the road, but there was some crow-hopping involved. The car ahead of me and I both passed very slowly, not accelerating until we were well past, not wanting to give the horse any excuse to spook. Apparently this horse believes that grass is for eating, not for walking on.

can haz orkid?

On New Year's Day I had some of my distant cousins over for a visit, including their daughter and son-in-law and granddaughter who are visiting from Sweden. It was an enjoyable visit, but they gave me an orchid.

It's rather helpless looking, isn't it? My uncle the florist took up orchid growing after he retired, but I never paid any attention. I learned what plant-craft I have from my grandmothers and my mother.

I suspect it would lean over far enough to topple that narrow pot if it weren't staked. I never stake anything; my plants are welcome to flop if they feel like it.

It's enough of an art piece, though, that I'm going to try to look after it properly. I think its attitude is somewhat cat-like in that regard. It's the part about "draft-free" that has me puzzled. I run the ceiling fans all winter, and in the summer the windows stay open all the time. This makes "draft-free" not available here.

melting

I don't know what the reflections are in the window in these two, but they add a mysterious depth, as though the tree were on the inside of the glass and the reflection came from outside.

Here, the ice is so very shiny because it's melting.

End of ice.