Tennessee Trip 2011

I went to visit my friends in Tennessee again. It was so great to get away from the Texas heat and drought. The fall color was amazing. Every morning I awoke to the amber hues of the Maples outside my window. They own about 100 acres in the Appalachian Mountains. The second photo is a view of the mountains from their house. I spent the days relaxing and hiking around their property, and found plenty of wonderful things to photograph. I've posted more pics here at Metamorphosing.

Hairy Woodpecker

watercolor

Pileated Pair at Silk Creek

Pileated Pair, from photos by Scott Carter out the window of his spare room at Silk Creek.  Watercolor, by me, Mary Taitt, in Ballookey's Mole.  Click image to view larger.  The male pileated is perched on the outside of the house, threatening his own reflection, which he takes as another male.  Click image to view larger. 5 x 8.  Haven't had time to do much blogging because of our two floods.  :-(

Apologies to Cole Porter

Birds do it, bugs do it,

Even California slugs do it.

Skipping rope with kelp

Yes, there are people in this, but it's human nature to find new uses for natural objects.

Natural Pi

Nature is witty!

Dry Spring

tired again
though winter’s rest is over
sun dried chill blows
through a honeysuckle covered
briar patch

Respite cut short
by an early drought

balmy aroma settles sluggishly
among prickles and poison ivy
like artificially flavored syrup
on bleached, deep fried bread

stripped of nutritional purpose
sweet intoxication deteriorates




I don't know what happened to our April showers here in Texas. It's been over a month since we've seen rain, which is unusual for Houston.

Yea Spring!

I can sit out on my front porch...



without being attacked by mosquitoes.



or in the grass next to Ilma's Garden,...



enjoy a cool breeze,...



and get excited about all my little seedlings that are sprouting. These will be sunflowers pretty soon. I posted more pics here on my blog.

Dragonfly Symbiosis

Dragonfly Symbiosis

A Story for Gretchen

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved to go out in the woods and meditate. One of her favorite places to sit in ZaZen was Lycopodium Knoll, a small rise in the sandy woods above Blue Heron Lagoon. The knoll was covered with lycopodia, and the girl would sit with her back to a red maple and her middle finger touching her thumb and resting on her knees. And sit.

One day, however, her serenity was disturbed by deerfly. The deerflies buzzed nosily around and kept landing on the girl’s arms and shoulders. They were trying to bite her.

Suddenly, there was a much larger, louder buzzing and a huge insect landed on her knee. In its mandibles was a deer fly. The dragonfly noisily chomped down the deerfly and a moment later, zipped out and snagged another. When it had eaten that one, it snagged a third, and continued until it had eaten the entire platoon

Then the dragonfly sat calmly on the girl’s knee waiting. Each time another deerfly or mosquito homed in on the girl, the dragonfly captured it and ate it. The girl acted as a food magnet for the dragonfly and the dragonfly protected the girl from insect bites. And this is a true story. Mary Stebbins Taitt The art is a collaboration with Gretchen Owen.

Lynda's Garden

Lynda's Poem

You embellished my life
with the last five years of yours
Adorned it with stories
from your animal rescue adventures
while I cried on your shoulder
after losing mine
Bejeweled it with bead work
made from our treasure hunt bounty
while helping me blow dust off mine
Illuminated it with photographic treks
no one else had the patience to join
Enriched it with gardens
that renewed environmental wonder
and recycled life

Hours spent in unspoken mirth
or in epic laughter
We shared the same muse
Your diagnosis was terminal
yet you filled life
with life and gave it back
Until the last harvest moon

It’s been a year since then
My camera and beads have
once again gathered dust
But, an overgrown flower bed
outside my door whispered
It’s creator died years ago
A thorny rose stem among weeds
Tiny begonias hidden in the grass
told the story of her love
I thought of you and recycled it

In memory of you
I took a new photo
A huge white bloom
that only opens at night
While inside my house
a bird screeched
A rescue you’d fall in love with
Thank you



Lynda passed away in October of '09. I wrote this poem for her last October. I thought it would be a fitting conclusion for the series I started here. In honor of Lynda, I've started a new garden I named "Ilma's Garden". Ilma was my boyfriend's first wife, who passed away in '99, and who originally started the garden that lays outside my front door.

Waterbirds in flight

My hiking group went to the Humboldt Wildlife Refuge Friday. There were a lot of birds in the marsh pools. This is the best I could do zooming and cropping some Tundra Swans that landed. Egrets are often seen there (as well as many other places in this area). It doesn't seem to matter how mediocre the photographer or her camera -- if you capture them at all, they are beautiful in flight.