Okay, not a flower yet, but it will be a trillium of some kind, I promise!

There is a little road that I travel a few times a week called Kirkpatrick Hollow. One of those roads that if you meet someone diving the other way, someone has to pull over – and pulling over can really put your life in your hands if you’re not careful.

Spotted Phacelia

Anywho, I noticed a number of spring wildflowers there – some I know the names of, some I don’t. But I hope you enjoy them.

Oh, and Yay Spring!!

Lobelia, maybe?

Mayapple's shiny leaves light up the forest floor

- Stephen Grellet, 1773-1855, French-born Quaker Minister

The point of the class is improving the artist’s ability to see the light values that all faces share.  We began with a model that emphasized the various planes using a singular light source.

Here’s the gang, hard at work- meet Bob, Vivian, Noel, Dave and Anna.

Anna, hard at work with Dave behind her.

Anna and Dave

Bob and Noel

After painting the model head, we painted a concrete bust of a young girl, allowing us to apply what we learned on a more naturalistic piece.  These are my finished pieces.

Black form of the Eastern Swallowtail (on White Swan Echinacea)

Eastern Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus)

I can’t believe how many butterflies my paltry selection of coneflowers have attracted.  Throw in some dianthus and zinnias, and you have quite a display – as delicate and ephemeral as they may be.

Sorry for how ratty the Echinacea looks  – we’ve had some really hot and dry weather here – especially for Middle Tennesee.

Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus)

Just for fun, I thought I’d put up this lovely catepillar – seriously, isn’t s/ he  gorgeous?  I thinkit’s the catepillar of the big yellow Tiger Swallowtail, above.

The pic is from last summer when I found ithappily devouring my carrot leaves.  Oh well, it’s not like *I* eat them.

See?  See?  Told ya.

I love the centers that echo the leaf color.

Nope, it's not your monitor, they really are that green.

Usually I’m not *quite* as big of of a fan of Coneflowers (Echinacea spp.) but I wanted to show off these pics that I took from the NYBG last week.  I apologize in advance for only getting the name of one of the types, but it seemed like the signs were missing for only the ones I was interested in, grrrr…

Nice, huh?

While Teddy was working, I rode the train (subway?  not sure of the diff) to the New York Botanical Gardens.  Couldn’t believe how beautiful everything was.  All the lilies and the hydrangeas were in full bloom.   They had a tram to take you around to some of the highlights, but I’m sure there was much I missed: the garden is 250 acres, at least one huge library, a gigantic conservatory (that was closed, much to my disappointment,) conifer forest, perennial gardens, rose garden, an edible garden display and tons more.

Herb pot outside of The Martha's edible garden.

The edible garden was  a knot garden that somehow had Martha Stewart connected to it – typical boxwood outlines filled with cardoons and other food plants.  There were gardens  beyond that caught my eye (see above pic,) so I moved on.

Huge Savoy cabbage, overflowing parsley - how pretty can your vegetable garden be?

A little further on was a vegetable garden done in raised beds, beautifully laid out.  And, of course, filled with edible flowers and herbs along with the vegetables.  I can see where it might be difficult to actually pick anything and ruin the design.  Still, it was beautifully done.

More vegetable beds.

Well, thank goodness for the advice of Stephen Johnson, bare-foot farrier extraordinaire. Sassy had been lame for 3 days, and despite restricted activity and soaking, didn’t seem any better at all. Called Stephen and he suggested:

• Soaking with Epsom salts to soften the hoof
• Drying the hoof, applying Ichthmamol (found at Tractor Supply) to the sole of the foot (not to the frog) with cotton balls that are then left in place, then add a
• Gauze pad held in place by vet wrap and
• 8 criss-crossed strips of Duct tape.

Luckily, Sass is a very well behaved horse, or this would have been a real ordeal. But she tolerated the soaking pretty well and my fumbling around with the *#$@* duct tape, which sticks better to itself than anything else. She was a *lot* less lame yesterday, even after losing her bandage in the night. I’ll have to check and see how she’s faring today – and if she’s still got her silver slipper

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