Tag: garden

It’s Complicated

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complicated

James Burke and his late 1970s series Connections must be to blame for why the Professor and I always feel compelled to link up random comments about small seemingly innocuous “things” with their place in the far larger scheme of things. All those little bits of our world that we have become accustomed to, that we attribute or ascribe, that we deny or decry, sometimes have far different origins and infinitely more complex backstories than we take the time to consider.

Bringing such thoughts to others’ attention inevitably gets us into trouble. There seems to be a really fine line between revelation and lecture where offering up an alternate explanation for why things are often comes off as just plain pedantic. In real life, physical or verbal indications give one a relatively good idea of which direction the conversation will be going but in the virtual world context is variable and tone is highly subjective. Sometimes we are left unsure of just how much more to say or even whether to pursue the thread.

Our interactions on social media can be problematic for no good reason and bring to mind that uncontrollable kid with no censorship filters at the luau running around arms flailing, screaming “Why? Look at that! NO!” and then crawling under the table howling “Impossible!” when you offer an answer. Entering into such “discussions” becomes a fire-walk of promethean proportions. Meanwhile, his parents are otherwise occupied or (un)concerned and the guests are casting sideways glances at each other. We are left with the impression that maybe it is better just to drop it and help ourselves to some of the better libations. But doesn’t someone have to say something?

What to do, what to do…

Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Dirty

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dirty puppy2

snoofing is a full-time job

Seems like it was just a week ago that the weather was warm enough to zip around the back yard in a t-shirt yanking out by the roots those nasty burr things that get stuck in our dog’s tangled coat. Then the cool air crept in wilting what was left of the foliage, turning limp and pale what had once been crisp and green.  A few cloudy days and autumn weather finished off what was left but did prompt one brilliant purple flower to bloom two months after its due date. On a mission in the garden once again to clear what is left of our procrastination, our assistant ensures that we don’t miss a spot, probing his nose into the earth, paws flipping the weeds up with great abandon. White fur, brackish black soil: doggie heaven.

Our puppy has no reservations about lying down in the muck. He must have been a socialite in another life for he is keenly aware of its cool, soothing properties and knows that no matter how caked he gets, there is bound to be someone at the door with a soft towel to wipe his paws or – worst case scenario – a trip to the shower for a fast hose down. It’s all part of a day’s work.

“What does dirty look like to you?” – mud or mould, dingy or dim, greasy, creasy or caked on, rated X, fair or foul – We would love to see your vision…

For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?

  1.  I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
  2. Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
  3. Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
  4. The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
  5. ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.

 SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post

  1. Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
  2. To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
  3. If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
  4. Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
  5. Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.

iPhoneography Monday: Nature

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moss face

nature has her way with even the most resistant

Shot with the iPhone 5 native camera, edited in WoodCamera, framed in PhotoToaster
for iPhoneography Monday: Nature.

Have a look at Frames & Focus, Lens and Pens by Sally and Watching the Photo Reels to see the originators of this challenge and their interpretation of the theme.  You may also join the challenge by clicking here.

iphoneography-monday

A Word a Week Photography Challenge: Flower

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Avid gardeners perk up when the subject of heirloom is broached – this peony bush has been in the garden for longer than most of us can remember; its larger than generous dinner-plate sized blooms last but a few short days and it is only then that we know that summer is not long behind.

A Word in your Ear has opened up a whole world of blossoms with the Word A Week Photo Challenge – Flower.  Follow the link to view more…

Story Challenge: Letter “R”

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Should we be worried?

The garden is a touchstone, the ever-morphing Reality check that tells us what is Really happening in the natural world.  A moment of brilliant sunshine found Across the Bored in the back yard, in search of inspiration and a snack on the last few Raspberries clinging to the vine. Where the lilies grow in the heat of summer, this Random garden thing was found, a Righteously Reptilian Rustic Response for Frizztext’s  Story Challenge: Letter “R”.

R you able to find and R for the challenge in your Realm?

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: One Single Flower

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Not just a bunch of little flowers…

Hydrangeas used to be in that class of flowers grown in grandmother’s gardens – not any more! With a head over a foot in diameter, this variety is the perfect candidate for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: A Single Flower. More than four species of this bushy plant and enough shades to rival a watercolourist’s palette give gardeners a wide range to choose from.  They can be temperamental, the colour deepening or fading with the ph balance of the soil they are in. Having a less than green thumb, I buy them, plant them and hope that they will reappear the next year…

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Contrasting Colours

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Where have they gone?

It is a common occurrence in our house that searching for one thing leads to something completely different. It was on a such a mission, in the quest for material for a current project, that a long-forgotten archive popped up and presented exactly the right pic for Cee’s Foto Fun Challenge: Contrasting Colours. Taken in the garden quite some time ago, numerous photos of glorious blooms brought to mind the nagging question “Where did they go?” Not as in, all those lovely flowers are dead and where did they go, but rather that many of those very same perennials have not been seen in those specific locations in at least the last two years. Is it us who have been too busy to notice, otherwise occupied in trying to lay ground cover, removing tenacious weeds or concentrating on beautifying other areas of the garden? Did they flower at the exact moment we were on vacation?  It is a mystery – one that will not be solved until spring rolls around next year when we wait for those blossoms to peak out from the damp earth.  Or, as is more likely the case, we will forget and rediscover our photos next fall…

Weekly Photo Challenge: Solitary

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When few are awake 

Travelling into a time zone that is ahead of our own lets us rise comfortably early.  As the sky starts to change from inky blue, everything is calm and it is easy to imagine those who have already been up for a few hours, from the vendors in the market and the bakers pushing golden loaves into ovens to street cleaners sweeping away the dust of yesterday. From a hotel window we can survey the city as it stirs from sleep: at dawn, all is quiet and one can easily pick out single sounds before they get swallowed by the rush of the day – water tumbling over itself into the fountain, a robin calling to its mate, the far-off rumble of a city bus making its rounds.  Like the solitary woman who wends her way to work or the man practising tai-chi in the clear light of a new day, we are alone with our thoughts, undistracted and undisturbed. 

 

Serene amid the weeds

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Rose quartz necklace – Ideflex Collection

An especially bright morning called out for closer inspection of the garden that we had left, somewhat unhappily, at the beginning of the summer in the hands of non-horticulturists. It tends to be wild back there on the best of days, a hodge-podge run to ruins English garden that lets grow what it will. Like us, it resists attempts at too-neat order – flowering weeds sprout rampant in the smallest patches of dark earth and each season brings a new yield of blooms that seem not to have been there the year before. Huge bright green elephant ears beckoned as an ideal bed for a piece of jewellery finished in another climate. A chinese clavicle pendant of rose quartz from Studio BBG was the catalyst for this necklace; two large Murano glass beads, some pink jade, blush pearls and silver spacers add lightness and bring an element of reflectivity to the larger rose quartz rectangles.  Feminine in nature, this lovely pale pink stone is said to be the crystal of love, emitting a calming and cooling energy. It gives inner peace and makes the wearer receptive to matters of the heart. Much like the garden…