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A few photos of herbs and flowers from the kitchen and the landlord’s garden.

English parsley drying in the window.

A bit of sage.

A stalk of lavender to dress up the table.

… the wildflowers continue to bloom.

You know those cards that have the seeds embedded in the paper?  Well, a friend gave me such a birthday card a while back.  I’m sure it was meant to be planted outside but I tend to grow things indoors now.  And so I tore up the black-flecked purple card embedded with wildflower seeds, and pushed the paper beneath the soil of a planter or two.  I’d almost forgotten that I had done such a thing and then one day I noticed in a pot of marjoram, new green growth of a different hue. Wildflowers!  Still, I did not think that they would grow very much.  But the spring sun worked its wily ways and one day I peeked into the hallway where the pot does sit, and this is what I saw.

Recently, on a warm day in the city of Boston, I raced through one of its many squares toward my favorite hot dog vendor.  I’d already spent most of my half-hour break running errands and knew that I was going to be late returning to work, but darnit, I needed to eat and wanted a good hot dog.  As I made my way through the square, an elderly man stepped into my path.  He said, “Can you spare a quarter?”  I gazed into his watery blue eyes and said, “No, but would you like a hot dog?”  I don’t know why I said what I said that day, and he certainly wasn’t expecting me to say what I said.  He frowned and blinked a few times and then said, “You don’t have a quarter?”  I didn’t quite put my hands on my hips in exasperation, but I did raise an…

For Hyacinth

I found your flower on this aged image

in the restroom of a hipster douche dive

I could not have been more pleased

With its pistils and leaves

which confirmed you are most certainly

alive.

Captured this New Jersey, I mean, Canadian goose at the riverfront by my house. He was plucking a piece of cracker my son had thrown to him.

That is a very good question–AND it’s one that is oh-so-very relevant for the upcoming Nature Art Challenge! For the first week of May (that’s May 1-May 7), the focus of our artful explorations will center around exploring nature’s TEXTURES through the art of ZENTANGLE. Let me explain.

The Zentangle method, according to their website,  “is a way of creating beautiful images from repetitive patterns. It is fun and relaxing. Almost anyone can use it to create beautiful images. It increases focus and creativity, provides artistic satisfaction along with an increased sense of personal well being.” Sounds like the recipe for focused artful explorations in nature!

Below is an in-process Zentangle that I have been working on. As described in my worksheet that I’ve posted below, I started by drawing the outline of a tree in the school courtyard. I then began dividing the tree into different sections and…