Mid May

May brings many celebrations! Spring's in full bloom in upstate New York and the air is filled with birdsong and the heady scent of lilacs balanced by the delicate fragrance of pale pink apple blossoms. The lilacs overwhelm the senses from any distance, whereas the apple blossoms invite you closer to detect their faint, pure scent, nose directly in blossom. (Watch out for bees!) Lilacs remind me of older ladies who trail an overpowering scent in their wake, and apple blossoms are like newborn babies whose powdered scent is barely noticeable until you nuzzle close to kiss their soft spot on the tops of their heads.

May is our family's birthday month (father, daughter, longtime friend, brother,oldest son) and also Mother's Day. It seems like we are celebrating everyday! This year, I'll be adding a cousin's wedding to continue the celebrations until month's end.

R's animation project

We enjoyed seeing an end-of-semester, end-of-year art show  yesterday. It's nice to continue to be inspired by the work of others, and it's especially gratifying when that inspiration comes from younger people!  We saw hallways filled with student drawings and paintings, cardboard chairs that really held us, uniquely constructed instruments that made sounds, historical Hudson River floating constructions (R's group reconstructed the jet that landed in the river out of soda can  sheet metal rectangles- it floated!) and many, many more projects.It was fun seeing R's friends, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOn7Uxib8HA&feature=channel_page

This is a link to my daughter's recent college animation project titled, "From Where She Stood". It seems like she has done more drawings to complete this project in the span of one semester than I've done in over thirty years of drawing;  we are all proud of her creativity and long hours of work. Keep it up!

May Flowers

Wake Robin Trillium (I think)


Trailing Arbutus

Bluets

Daffodils and Tulip along stone wall

Pink Hyacinth

Daffodil Audrey gave me Last Fall, a nice surprise, since I forgot it!

Shad Blossoms and Moon (looks very oriental to me)

Crabapple blossoms (I really like this photo!)

Spring Photos

Posting a few photos from the last two weeks...of flowers,a walk among Mohonk rocks, Easter basket cat, garden dreams, parents, more flowers!

Ahhh, Spring at Last!

Crocus grace our borders and random spots in our lawn, heralding the arrival of long-awaited Spring. They look like ragged-shelled, pastel Easter eggs tossed like a flower girls' petals in handfuls. They catch the sun's shine and the attention of drowsy bees. They are small, gentle reminders that life remains good, despite recent horrific, senseless shootings of thirteen innocent souls in nearby Binghamton.The gunman, also took his life making the total fourteen. The only way I can make sense of this incident is to not give up belief in the goodness of mankind, to actively seek its existence even in the minute details of everyday life and actions. Maybe it's a Pollyanna outlook on life, but it's how I cope for now.

Our cat, Jazz, copes by sneaking catnaps where he shouldn't (on top of our bed).

Recent Quilts

Yesterday, I finally sent baby quilts off to twin Scottish boys born before Christmas. I finished this watercolor one earlier this week. It has lots of blues and greens, colors which I'm partial to- maybe I'm trying to influence the color preferences of wee Cormac or Lorcan?



The quilt displayed by Ray (below) was made in a hurry when we found out a regular customer at Henry's Diner had cancer. The lighter squares represent the diner's tables and we had patrons sign them. The long strips between the tables represent the rug or aisles. The quilt was given to Sheila Brown (even before the quilting was completed) and we heard that she put it right on her bed. Within days, she died, and the quilt was passed on to Margaret, the lady she always sat with at the diner. Hopefully, Sheila left this world, knowing that she had a family of friends at the diner, people who cared about her. Her daily presence will be missed.We miss your colorful hats and your running commentary and your daily witty exchanges with our favorite waitress.

Snowdrops! Crocus! Spring! Oh, my!

It's nearly Spring according to the calendar, but it's showing up in my front border already as long awaited first blooms are popping open. What a sigh of relief! Winter is over! Hurray! Hurray!

Show time

My Saturday reception went well! A nice mix of friends, quilters, line dancers, gardeners, family and even a few strangers showed up to see what I've been quietly doing for the last twenty years. The cookies and punch are gone, but the show remains in the community room of the Sidney Library through the end of March. The most commonly asked question at the show was, "What will you do with them next?" and the answer is, "Fold them up, and store them in trash bags in my sewing room." (Unless I get ambitious and try to show them at an Art walk venue in Binghamton later this summer, or unless the loft gallery at the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown is interested... but that's more work).









I even found out who sent the beautiful mystery flowers- thank you, Janet W!

Back from Philly

Made my annual trek to the Philadelphia Flower Show yesterday. Three packed buses organized by Cornell Cooperative Extension in Binghamton shuttled us safely to Philly and back, leaving at 7 AM and returning about 11:30 PM. The show was dazzling, themed Bella Italia (Beautiful Italy),dripping with a profusion of colors and teaming with flower admirers of all ages, mostly women, mostly older, like myself. It's impossible to see everything, but I ran around, snapping pictures, getting a feel for the overall displays, some of which were beyond my wildest imagination. I really liked the Botanical illustrations and pressed flower pictures and window boxes, and overblown, jaw dropping flower arrangements. I also enjoyed seeing the people admiring the displays, the older couples, pointing out every nuanced detail to each other, the small groups of Amish women traveling in tight little flocks,and friends, snapping each others' photos against gorgeous backdrops of flowers. I always enjoy going alone and setting my own pace, sometimes dashing around quickly to get an overall impression of the show and theme, sometimes limping along as my feet start hurting from wearing the wrong shoes. I spent a couple hours, resting my feet, listening to two flower arranging lectures in the afternoon.























When I returned to the show area to take one last look around before boarding the bus at six, I spotted Lisa, a fellow blogger and Flickr contact, zeroing in with her camera on the magnificent floral arrangement at the entrance. I'd seen her pictures on the web, (I discovered her when I searched for Philadelphia Flower show photos last year, and I've been a faithful reader of her great blog ever since). I thought it might be her, it kinda looked like her, she was toting a camera and wearing comfy looking boots (her trademark), but I wasn't positive. Hmmm. I knew she'd be going to the show, but thought she'd be going Wed instead of Tuesday. Finally, asked if she was Lisa; she was! We snapped photos, I was excited and nervous, so didn't do very well holding out the camera for a quick pic of both of us, but it made my day! She's just as genuine and warm as her blog, a very real, cool, talented person and inspiration. Sending out good wishes for her and Mark and extended friends and family.





My new camera batteries died shortly after that, so I just walked around again, absorbing the sights, smelling the heavy, damp, scent of flowers and picked out one more bouquet of inexpensive roses to add to the other two I had in my bag.