Now THAT’S a road trip!
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I wonder if you made it to that state park in Oregon with all the waterfalls. Loved that. Seemed like Five Finger fern was growing under each one, often on the walls.
@Kendel, All your photos are elegant and make me think of my aunt’s place on a lake in Greer, South Carolina where we went for the last big eclipse. I think you would have been right at home - I was even though our pig’s ear of a home is nothing like your’s or hers. Just so you don’t think it didn’t happen here are the photos.
I’m an early riser and this is what I awoke to while staying with her.
I’d make a cup of tea and take it here.
For the librarian’s and reader’s this is what I brought to read.
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Mark, you are hilarious! You have no idea what chaos is behind the camera. Your aunt’s place looks magnificent. Nothing like mine.
A taste of reality:
I still keep house like a grad student, except the house, and therefore the messes, are so much bigger.
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. Your grad student decor looks homey and and child infused. But the white furniture outside is what made me think of Nita’s place.
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That should all be in the shed now.
The messes in the kitchen are all Scott’s and mine, I think. Yeah. Looking around. No kids at fault here.
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Our family calls that “cozy.”
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Beautiful photos. Some of them remind me of Rich Mullins, “The Color Green.” It’s been running through my mind lately. I realized it can take the form of an African “call and response,” where you could have half a congregation respond to the first with every other line (more in the first and second stanzas, and not so much in the “be praised” portion).
Rich Mullins - The Color Green (Music Video) - YouTube
Thanks.
And the moon is a sliver of silver,
Like a shaving that fell on the floor
Of a Carpenter’s shop
And every house must have its builder,
And I awoke in the house of God
Where the windows are mornings and evenings
Cast by the Sun, 'crost the sky, north to south
And on my way to Early Meeting
I heard the rocks crying out
"Be praised for all Your tenderness
By these works of Your hands
Suns that rise, and rains that fall to bless,
And bring to life Your land
“Look down upon this winter wheat
And be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky, and the color green
That fills these fields with praise”
And the wrens have returned, and they’re nesting
In the hollow of that oak
Where his heart once had been
And he lifts up his arms in a blessing
For being born again
And the streams are all swollen with winter
Winter unfrozen,
And free to run away now
And I’m amazed, and I remember
Who it was that built this house.
And with the rocks, I cry out.
Rich Mullins - The Color Green (Music Video) - YouTube
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Great poem. It reminds me on an article I just read in Christianity Today where Bono is talking to Franklin Graham (interesting in another way) and said,”Look around you. Look at the creation, look at the trees, look at the sky, look at these kinds of verdant hills. They don’t have a sign up that says,”Praise the Lord” or “I belong to Jesus,” They just give glory to Jesus.”
Probably can’t see unless a subscriber, but here is a link anyway in case you can:
Now, if Biologos could get Bono on a podcast, that would really be interesting.
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I would love that, but there might have to be some censoring editing done.
More berries. Bittersweet (pretty, even though the plant is a nasty invasive in North America):
A juniper berry (or rather ‘berry’, since it’s not really a berry). From our Christmas wreath.
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Really gorgeous photos. Thanks for sharing them!
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A handful of pics from about an hour ago outside in my backyard. It’s a very big and bright moon tonight and with all the fog it kind of acts as a background for it all. Lots of noises tonight too. Owls, nightjars, frogs and other things. It’s very relaxing to me being out here mostly away from others. Especially with the creek outside. When laying out there at night it’s dark, cool and breezy. Occasionally a vehicle can be heard zooming by about half a mile away but for the most part it’s just nature sounds.
I really like the southern magnolia in pic 5. It’s about 45 feet tall. Some of those pines in the background are around around 80 feet tall. They look like they are black and white, but it’s not. That’s just how dark the trees get and the whiteness of the fog. It makes the last pic clash with it. That’s Shine in the window watching me. That tree growing next to my house is about 30 years old. For the first 20 years it grew up in the shadow (east side of the house ). Then in the last 10 years it’s tripled in height once it got past the house . Soon I’m going to be planting swamp chestnut oaks, juniper, devils walk stick, and several varieties of paw paws, apricots, kumquats, and so on to snack on.
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I’ve been thinking some about the term glaucous and liked this description I found online. It isn’t primarily a color but in garden contexts it often seems to be.
No term better captures the murky waters between blue and green better than glaucous. It’s not a word you’ll hear often, but you might be familiar with its [etymological offspring, glaucoma. The origin of this word can be traced all the way back to Homer, who used glaukos to describe the color of water, the color of eyes, the color of leaves, and the color of honey. It’s often translated as “gleaming,” which reflects the fact that this word wasn’t really about color, but rather the reflective properties of the object and the texture and movement of its surface.
https://www.theawl.com/2017/12/glaucous-the-greeny-blue-of-epic-poetry-and-succulents/
I think this plant, Melianthus pectinatus, that bloomed for the first time for me recently is a good example. It’s foliage is squarely in the blue-green zone but it’s foliage does seem to reflect more light than most.
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Love that last photo especially. There looks to be both actual plants as well as their shadows on that wall. Having your cat in the window is a nice extra.
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Crossing the bridge on Rattlesnake Creek in fresh snow this morning. The dry flower heads made a stark contrast and reminder of warmer times
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So today we moved house. We’re now living in the staff accommodation at the seminary, on the edge of the New Forest, where my wife is a lecturer.
Here’s a picture of part of the grounds, our new back garden. Those trees are the edge of the woods which are also part of the grounds.
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I know somebody who is a happy boy. 
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