Sunday, February 28, 2010

February.

Last weekend, while traveling on SC 25, I was mentally gathering items for this month's still life (see January's here). I had been jotting ideas in my journal all month---things individual and particular to this time (February 2010) and place (the South).
The sun was rising behind me as I drove and the sky melted from deep indigo to a pale wash of cerulean blue. This blue faded into a warm raw sienna backlighting and highlighting the line of trees. Trees that were a mixture of hardwoods with charcoal fingers stretching and reaching, and swaying vermilion pines. Laid out in front of the trees and rushing up to meet the road were stubbly straw colored fields encased in frost. As the sun tipped over the horizon it turned the trees copper and crimson and liberated the fields with light and life.
HERE
 on this day and at this time
 were the things of February...
 echoed in the colors of the landscape:
  • The leafy greens so prevalent now in the garden evidenced by the pines.
  • Bare branches and many, many, many nests made obvious by the absence of leaves seen in the branches of the hardwood trees.
  • Everywhere the twittering, whirring, hopping, and pulling of the beautiful breast of the American Robin seconded by the blaze of color on the trees.
  • Swelling buds encased in the sheen of velvety layers mimicked by the fields swathed in icy frost.

Vermilion, charcoal, velvet, and copper

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Eating Seasonally

Another bountiful box...

Carrots, Arugula, Sweet Potatoes, Baby Butternut Squash,
Frozen Blueberries, Kale, Cilantro, Flat Parsley, 
 Broccoli, Celery, Tomatoes.
For those in Augusta who want to know....
Garden City Organics on Broad Street. 

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Dawn on SC 25

February 20, 2010.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Thinking

In spite of the frigid temperatures here, the buds on the trees and shrubs have continued to steadily swell. It is especially evident after a rain---everyday there is just a little more there. On my morning walk, my thoughts are drawn to the bare branches and growing buds---among those buds, is there a rebellious soul...like me? Maybe a flighty dogwood that, thinking she is being individualistic and creative, decides “I will put this task (of growing her buds) aside for a while so that I can grow my roots deep into the warm soil. I think it is probably better, especially since it seems easier and more comfortable than reaching my bare little tips out into the cold air.” Then she leans over conspiratorially to her friend, the steadfast redbud, on the pretense of “getting her opinion,” but in reality the dogwood just wants a confirmation of her own decision. What the poor little dogwood doesn't realize is that by putting aside the tasks placed closest to her, she destroys all hopes of a glorious bloom that season. The short window of time for setting and growing the buds that year is lost...forever.

"We look for visions from heaven
 and earth shaking events
to see God's power.
Yet we never realize
that all the time God is at work
in our everyday events
 and
 in the people around us.
 If we will only obey,
and do the tasks that He has placed closest to us,
 we will see Him."

My Utmost for His Highest, February 7
Oswald Chambers

Monday, February 15, 2010

Seeing

“Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes
were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a
shame that this beauty should not be seen and
appreciated by others. Every crystal was a
masterpiece of design and no one design was
ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that
design was forever lost. Just that much beauty
was gone, without leaving any record behind."
(Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley, 1925)
"My fascination with snowflakes was renewed when I recently read that they are not white. Their brilliance surpasses our own vision. Each one contains millions of tiny, clear, light-reactive prisms. Imagine millions of prisms. What a sight to consider. While these prisms break up the light that strikes them into all the colors of the rainbow our own eyes see “white” instead. With all the mystery of such splendor as snowflakes, I learned that we don't see the half of it. The millions of prisms creating millions of colors in each snowflake are too beautiful to even perceive."
 (Samuel J. Alibrando, Nature Never Stops Talking)

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Thinking

Because God
has made us for Himself,
our hearts
are restless until they rest
in Him.
(Augustine)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Friday, February 5, 2010

In Bloom...almost


Flowering quince: Chaenomelea speciosa

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Monday, February 1, 2010

Eating Seasonally


Recently we joined a CSA group(Community Supported Agriculture) in which we receive a box of local produce each week. The beautiful vegetables that arrived in my kitchen this week were: Butternut Squash, Swiss Red Chard, Green Cabbage, Canistel (a persimmon-like fruit), Tomatoes, Watercress, Carrots, Lacinato Kale, and Green Bell Peppers.