All photographs were taken with a Kodak Easy Share cx7525 camera and are unretouched. Except for cropping, the pictures have not been manipulated in any way.
Gourd
Bumpy BeautyGourd; Bumpy Beauty
Small things
Hanging up high
I almost missed
Your happy presence
In Rhode Island there’s a colonial era house that’s been converted into a museum. It’s a fine old place, and the garden is beautifully and painstakingly kept as close to its old glory as possible. If it is called anything but Green Animals, I do not know. Green animals, because of the topiaries that abound in the garden. Twining up a trellis were some vines – close inspection revealed, inches from each other, a little green and yellow gourd no bigger than my palm, and a bumpy cream colored squash that I very much wanted to touch – but didn’t. You never know what’s under that broad, green leaf…
~~~~~
Small things
Hanging up high
I almost missed
Your happy presence
In Rhode Island there’s a colonial era house that’s been converted into a museum. It’s a fine old place, and the garden is beautifully and painstakingly kept as close to its old glory as possible. If it is called anything but Green Animals, I do not know. Green animals, because of the topiaries that abound in the garden. Twining up a trellis were some vines – close inspection revealed, inches from each other, a little green and yellow gourd no bigger than my palm, and a bumpy cream colored squash that I very much wanted to touch – but didn’t. You never know what’s under that broad, green leaf…
~~~~~
Lake at the HeartLake At the Heart
This flower
This one flower
Was not shy
This flower
This one flower
Demanded to be noticed
I obliged
Green Animals, RI – I have many photographs of this one flower. I couldn’t help myself. The colors you see? They are true to nature – I never retouch or alter color (if only because I just don’t know how, yet). The drops of water on the petals seemed an invitation to sip, were I a bee with a thirst. I was almost overwhelmed by a mad desire to lick the droplets from the petals, perhaps take in the brilliance of the bloom at the same time. I left it alone, though – some winged thing would better benefit from those tiny drops, and I knew the gift shop had bottled water for sale, be it not so vivid on the tongue.
This flower
This one flower
Was not shy
This flower
This one flower
Demanded to be noticed
I obliged
Green Animals, RI – I have many photographs of this one flower. I couldn’t help myself. The colors you see? They are true to nature – I never retouch or alter color (if only because I just don’t know how, yet). The drops of water on the petals seemed an invitation to sip, were I a bee with a thirst. I was almost overwhelmed by a mad desire to lick the droplets from the petals, perhaps take in the brilliance of the bloom at the same time. I left it alone, though – some winged thing would better benefit from those tiny drops, and I knew the gift shop had bottled water for sale, be it not so vivid on the tongue.
~~~~~
TranslucenceTranslucence
That Summer day we turned a corner
Walking in the garden
And found the flower waiting
Tall as a man
Bloom larger than a plate
Backlit by the fearsome sun
Softening the light
To something more bearable
Again at Green Animals – this flower was so stunning; I’d never seen anything like it, with the sunlight seeming to stream through the bloom, colored softly pink. To print a photo true to size is not possible, at least not for me – it was a good eighteen inches across!
That Summer day we turned a corner
Walking in the garden
And found the flower waiting
Tall as a man
Bloom larger than a plate
Backlit by the fearsome sun
Softening the light
To something more bearable
Again at Green Animals – this flower was so stunning; I’d never seen anything like it, with the sunlight seeming to stream through the bloom, colored softly pink. To print a photo true to size is not possible, at least not for me – it was a good eighteen inches across!
~~~~~
Golden RatioGolden Ratio
A mathematician could tell you
Where the next petal will curl
And the next
I am no mathematician
But I could tell you other secrets
About the flower
That no numbers can quantify
This was another of the blooms at Green Animals that caught my eye. Many of the plants that I photographed at the garden were quite far away, set back from the path, and I had to stretch my poor zoom to its limits to get my shots, as I didn’t want to step off the pathway and risk harming an unseen plant. It’s a happy flower, isn’t it? As large as my doubled fists, it bobbed in the occasional breeze, nodding a greeting. It stilled only for its close-up, which I happily took while my family sighed at yet another delay in our promenade.
A mathematician could tell you
Where the next petal will curl
And the next
I am no mathematician
But I could tell you other secrets
About the flower
That no numbers can quantify
This was another of the blooms at Green Animals that caught my eye. Many of the plants that I photographed at the garden were quite far away, set back from the path, and I had to stretch my poor zoom to its limits to get my shots, as I didn’t want to step off the pathway and risk harming an unseen plant. It’s a happy flower, isn’t it? As large as my doubled fists, it bobbed in the occasional breeze, nodding a greeting. It stilled only for its close-up, which I happily took while my family sighed at yet another delay in our promenade.
~~~~~
Pink Porcelain PetalsPink Porcelain Petals
The artist carefully dipped her brush
And with slow, unwavering strokes
Colored each petal
Nature certainly does like us to notice her, shouting as she does with her bold, bright colors. I thought the petals of this flower looked like painted porcelain, like something an artist would be especially proud of and put on display in the brightest corner of the studio.
The artist carefully dipped her brush
And with slow, unwavering strokes
Colored each petal
Nature certainly does like us to notice her, shouting as she does with her bold, bright colors. I thought the petals of this flower looked like painted porcelain, like something an artist would be especially proud of and put on display in the brightest corner of the studio.
~~~~~
Spiraling Into the CenterSpiraling Into the Center
Tiny, frilly, and merry
These little blooming friends
Shouted
Wanting us to admire them
In their fine skirts
Their cork-screwed tongues
Giving us a raspberry
As we passed by without comment
They were maybe a half-inch across, but their attitude was as big as all outdoors. They were loud, their party in the greenery raucous with color, and their little curly centers just stopped me in my tracks and evoked a laugh. I’m laughing still.
Tiny, frilly, and merry
These little blooming friends
Shouted
Wanting us to admire them
In their fine skirts
Their cork-screwed tongues
Giving us a raspberry
As we passed by without comment
They were maybe a half-inch across, but their attitude was as big as all outdoors. They were loud, their party in the greenery raucous with color, and their little curly centers just stopped me in my tracks and evoked a laugh. I’m laughing still.
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4 comments:
I love this!
Thanks. I could have spent days there...
Shade and Sweetwater,
K
I found you through your comment on Noble Pig - your story about the owl just drew me in and I'm glad it did.
Your gorgeous photos and poetry made me happy - and I needed it today.
If you do hide under the covers with brownies, make sure you take a good book, preferably some great escapism.
Remember February is the shortest month...wishing you the best...
Laurie, welcome...I'm glad you came by.
Your comment was timed perfectly to help make a rough night better. :-) Funny how it all comes around, isn't it?
I am trying to bury myself in my writing, using the need to escape as a tool to finish a huge piece of work I've been hammering away at for three years. Whew.
Thanks again for popping in - I hope you come back and find more of what you need.
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