The Tell-Tale Heart

"What is uttered from the heart alone,

Will win the hearts of others to your own."

Quote: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The Debutante Ball

The ruffled petals and mauve hues of this bearded iris remind me of the soft, lighter-than-air feel I would want in a ball gown. 

A young lady excitedly clips a flower from her mother's garden.  She takes care to wrap its tubular stem in a dampened cloth so the fragile petals don't wilt.

Rushing through the narrow streets of the city, she arrives, breathless, at the dressmaker's shop.  The door has barely closed behind her. "This is it," she says, holding out the long-stemmed iris.
"This is the dress I will wear to the Debutante Ball!"

The Beauty Underneath

This is the view that insects and other assorted animals have from the inside of my garden, looking out.   Kind of wonderful, don't you think?

(an excerpt from)
The Beauty Underneath

By Andrew Lloyd Webber

Have you ever yearned to go

Past the world you think you know?

Been enthralled to the call

Of the beauty underneath?

Have you let it draw you in

Past the place where dreams begin?

Felt the breathless pull

of the beauty underneath?

Summer star

Pointed perfection, sublime grace,

In my garden, you've earned your place.

A geodesic dome

Nature provides the inspiration for so many architectural designs.  Could this... 

have inspired this?

The U.S. Pavilion at Expo '67 in Montreal

They call me Violet

Look at me,

Don't rush by,

Come a little closer,

Don't be shy.

Flamenco dancer

The Flamenco Dancer glides onto the dance floor, casting a spell over those who have braved the heat to watch her dance.

Watch as she twirls her colourful skirts like a matador's cape in a bullfight...

Tiny intruder

The Fieldmouse
Where the acorn tumbles down,

Where the ash tree sheds its berry,

With your fur so soft and brown,

With your eye so round and merry,

Scarcely moving the long grass,

Fieldmouse, I can see you pass.
By: Cecil F. Alexander

I found this fieldmouse on our deck the other day.  It didn't move and kept its eyes closed as I approached.  Obviously, something was wrong.  Although I said no when my daughter suggested we give it a peanut to make it feel better...

Somehow it managed to find a peanut and with its eyes still closed, peeled off the brown skin and ate the whole thing!  Funny how big the peanut looks in its tiny hands.

Curious about the center of the sun?

This azalea looks like a hot, burning sun. While its centre glows liquid red, dazzling daylight shines from its outermost petals.

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploration

Will be to arrive where we started

And to know the place for the first time

T.S. Eliot

I'm ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille

Unlike Norma Desmond's terrifying close-up in the movie Sunset Boulevard, the closer I get to these flowers, the more beautiful they appear.

Mushroom art

"Nature alone is antique, and the oldest art a mushroom."
--Thomas Carlyle

The path of opportunity.

Tree buds speckle a stone path in our back yard.

They remind me of the many options and opportunities we have in our lives.

Why fixate on the obstacles and no's, when the path ahead is covered in let's see and yes.