Dragonflies in Oil

One fine summer afternoon, a young fairy leaned over the bank of a creek to drink, but slipped and fell into the water. Now the current carried her away quickly like a wisp of wheat. Unfortunately, the fairy had left the magic wand in the grass, but no one was lost.

Fortunately the water fairies came to help, with a clap of hands made up by the river wave that lifted the fairy to the blue of the sky. While falling, small drops of water were transformed into dragonflies …. that’s why it seems that between the transparent wings of a dragonfly is entangled a drop of water.
source

16" x 20", Oil, Copyright Nancy McCarroll
PPF

Artists in Blogland

...Like dragonflies, the hansoms hover,

With jeweled eyes, to catch the lover...

             (Richard Le Gallienne)

UPDATE: Just as I was finished hanging the above picture in our kitchen this morning, a dragonfly, very large, about three inches in length, flew into my study.  I took his picture (below).  I wonder what he was trying to tell me? Unbelievable!

Wildflowers Part Deux

Being jazzed up by my wildflower visit to the Colorado mountains last weekend, I decided our flower beds in the back yard needed a make over.  And why not plant some wildflowers while I was at it?

After removing two dozen or so iris bulbs, clearing off the leaf debris from our cottonwoods which shed leaves all summer due to the low rainfall, I was ready to start planting.

Thus far here is the gardening score:

Purchased columbine and lupine this morning and planted:

Transferred yellow columbine: two plants:

Planted Bluebells: two plants:

Planted Penstemon: one plant:

Tended this ground cover which I am not yet able to identify, but it is doing well:

Shopped in my herb garden for dinner tonight (sage, parley, basil, oregano, tarragon, chives):

And here are morning glories about ready to bloom and some planted three weeks ago:

Transferred clematis: one plant, transferred delphinium: two plants. Transferred ground cover from top bed to prayer garden below.  Transferred two iris bulbs in prayer garden.  Husband chopped down 6 foot shrub and I cleaned off the debris.

Showered, ate yogurt and cereal, shopped, gardened and blogged and it is now 11 AM.  I am pooped already!  What is on your Saturday morning schedule?  Whatever you do, I hope it is relaxing.  Have a great weekend!

Wildflowers in Colorado High Country

The Museum of Western Colorado sponsored its popular annual Wildflower Tour to the area near Crested Butte, Colorado over the past weekend.  A dozen of us traveled by van to take in a tour of Crested Butte, eat and shop in the quaint downtown area, and later attend an excellent evening chamber music concert of piano, violin and cello sponsored by the Crested Butte Music Festival.  Then we were off early Saturday morning to meet our wildflower guides and travel north through Gothic and the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory and on to find wildflowers.

We were at an elevation over 10,000 feet when our guides arrived at the areas where they had previously scouted out the best display of wildflowers.  We stayed on the gravel roadway (mostly) and were shown about three dozen different wildflowers growing close to the road where our guides pointed out unique characteristics of each of the flowers. Breathtaking views, magnificent flowers, and being taught by experts in their biological fields was memorable, to say the least.

I took about 100 photographs, then chose 50 of the better ones to put into a movie.  If you have a couple of minutes, the entire YouTube video can be seen below.  A few separate photographs are shown at the bottom of the post.

Crested Butte Mountain

Cow Parsnips

Elephantheads

Columbines

Although Colorado has had low rainfall this year, our guides kept a sharp lookout and found the following varieties of wildflowers to show the group: Tall Larkspur,  Sneezeweed, Longleaf Arnica, Bistort, Silvery Lupine, Parrot's Beak, Showy fleabane, Coulter's fleabane, Rosy Paintbrush, Sulphur Paintbrush, Daffodil Senecio, Tall Bluebells, Sawleaf Senecio, Cow Parsnips, Fireweed, White Geranium, Dock, Queen's Crown, King's Crown, Yarrow, Corydalis, Fringed Gentian, Star Gentian, Monkey Flower, Goldenrod, Shrubby Potentilia, Whipple's penstemon, Scarlet Paintbrush, Monkshood, Monument Plant, and Golden Aster.

On another note, I found an excellent app for the iPad called "Colorado Rocky Mountain Wildflowers" that can be seen here.  It can be accessed without using wi-fi; a great buy for $10 and good to use in the field.  They say, in part, ..."We have been careful to include the most abundant and visible plants and also those less common but found in unusual habitats, such as, wetlands, ponds, and rocky slopes. We have also chosen species from various altitudes, from 85 families and 200 genera, and from all geographic locations -- East Slope, West Slope, and the mountains between."