One Word Wednesday - SUMMER

And Then The World Exploded!

***Oh my!! This post was slated for mid-May but was never posted.  Here it is now!***

This year the newly sprouted green leaves struck me as if I had never seen them before!

 May announced the rebirth of the earth in my part of the world in an explosive way.  One day there is almost nothing and then there comes an explosion of green - a rapid fire succession of growth.

My garden survived the harsh winter with few casualties and I am blessed with an abundance of plants and birds.

 Soon enough we will have to begin the arduous task of trimming the shrubs that threaten to overtake the yard but right now we are just sitting back enjoying this embarrassment of riches.

 June, July and August will bring an explosion of flowers of every color in the rainbow.  But right now there is mostly just a myriad of greens - surely a sight for winter weary eyes!

Painted Fern

More fern at attention!

Lady's Mantle - adorned with morning dew

Dead Nettle - my favorite ground cover

Astilbe

Hosta nestled under the cherry tree

Wild Geranium

Columbine

Bugleweed

Epimedium

Cinnamon Fern in all its glory

Solomon's Seal

Witch Hazel

Wild Columbine

Live-Forever

A new variety of day-lily 

Columbine leaves

New growth on an Andromeda

Penstemon

Coreopsis

A shy wild Iris

During the renovation of our home the past several months, I felt very lucky that one of the rooms we could use was the sunroom which faces my garden.  It has enabled me to keep my sanity and most of my serenity in the midst of chaos.  

With any luck at all, I will have my home back in another month or so!   In the meantime, I will find refuge in the green wonderland behind the house.

Back In The Garden

Today we were finally able to get our hands dirty in the garden.  It was glorious!  After such a harsh and relentless winter, it felt so good to touch the warming earth.

As I cleaned out the beds and clipped back the plants in need of a haircut, I couldn't help but notice how marvelously the earth rejuvenates itself every spring.

In spite of a wicked cold winter, the perennials and shrubs and trees were sending out the shoots of new life.  The Weeping Cherry, a bit late this year, is ready to pop when the temperature goes up a little more.

And who could possibly frown once they have been greeted by the sweetest yellow daffodils in the world - a sight for winter eyes, if ever there was one.

Last week there wasn't a single sign of the peonies but low and behold, they are a foot tall this week!  Isn't that amazing.

If a garden is the metaphor for our life cycle as humans, then there is surely much to be hopeful about and there is no better time to celebrate that than in the spring.  Just look at how this hosta is rising up from the dead leaf mold of last autumn's debris.  Easter, indeed!

After an afternoon of stretching and bending, I sat down to rest for a few minutes.  (One of the perks of being in our age group is lots of time to rest and smell the flowers, or in my case, photograph them)  

I spotted the moon - the day moon - just creeping over the  top of the cherry tree.  For some reason this gave me great pleasure.

Later I noticed this fellow helping himself to the tender new leaves just sprouting on this oak.  He is our resident acrobat, the one who keeps us entertained all winter.

The newly planted herb garden seems to have wintered over nicely.  All of the perennial herbs have returned and
are starting to grow although none of them were ready for a close-up today.

Already I am planning to move a few things, add a tree and  I'm figuring out where and when to plant annual herbs and flowers.

Take Away for Today 

 Spring gardening rejuvenates my body, mind and my soul.

Christmas Tanka

****

unwrapping the memories
along with the dreams
one by one
i thank Goodness
for the gifts of christmas

****

Fun with Photography 'Apps'

 Don't get me wrong, I love my camera and the photos it takes.

 But recently, I discovered that I can change the look of my  photos

using a myriad of 'apps' on phone , tablet or computer.

 I was, of course,  aware of photoshop and that it could do lots more but, at first,  I was too timid to experiment with it.

 What I didn't realize was that there are scores of 'art' apps and photo editing apps that will alter photos to look

like watercolors 

or oil paintings.

and literally hundreds of other styles too.

I have been creating haiga using my photos for several years but recently began to experiment with altered photo images, such as these.

It is very enjoyable for me to put the photo through several 'apps' to get different effects.

Once I find the most pleasing image,  I use another program to add the poem to the image.

 These photos were taken last fall during the leaf-peeping season and depending on the mood I want to create



















                  they can be very vibrant or muted.

I am not an artist but I do take some pretty good photos  and it has given me great pleasure to learn how to turn the pictures into 'works of art.'

Here is a completed haiga which was

published in the Winter 2014 edition of  Akitsu Quarterly


Take-Away - it is never too late to learn new tricks.