Month: July 2019

Come Tour with Me

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

Our yard and garden are glorious in summer display here at the end of July. Come tour with me and see the details of flowers and veggies. Beloved Spouse does the planning, planting and tending of the vegetable garden. Honored Mother is responsible for the flowers. Between the two of them, they have nearly 100 years gardening experience between them. When I walk in the garden I notice lots of small things. Won’t you come with me?

Let’s start with the pathway past the flowers to get to the veggies.

Let’s start our tour here on the patio at the base of the steps (coming down from our deck)

The pots at the base of the stairs are filled with a riot of red geraniums surrounded with a cloud of white and blue lobelia. To your right is a small garden with a climbing clematis. In spring the frothy pink peonies nod like debutantes swishing down the spiral stairs to the ball.

Dear Sister and her husband came to visit just before Mother’s Day and so they gave the “tie-dye” colors hanging basket to Honored Mother. The humming birds are terribly conflicted… the feeder or the flowers?!

If you could smell this rose you would nearly swoon. It is called “Double Delight.” Isn’t it a feast for the eyes? And if you were here, it would “swak” you in the nose with the dense spicy aroma of ‘rose’.

The pink rose is called “Belinda’s Delight” and I love to see it because it reminds me of a friend named Belinda who just happens to be a serious gardener (and amazing quilter). Both are beautiful.

I’m not sure of the name of this rose, but its color makes me dizzy with its intensity. It looks nearly ready to burst into flame.

You will only see the remnants of the blue delphinium this late in July, but if you’d walked this path about 3 weeks ago you would have seen the stately blue stalks swaying in the breeze.

Beloved Spouse has an amazing way with veggies. Our youngest grandson seems wired and eager to follow in his Grampa’s footsteps. Last summer when he was here to visit he came to Grampa several times a day hoping to get permission to pick –“Grampa, those cucumbers seem like they are ready to harvest.”

And now for the vegetable garden. Begin with a peek-a-boo with the cucumber blossoms. They are flanked by pots of marigolds and red verbenas that guard the garden shed.

The yellow squash are beginning to ripen. They love to stay in the center of cool below the broad leaves.

Our tomato plants are loaded with blossoms this year and there are lots of tomatoes growing bigger every day. They will probably begin to seriously ripen toward the end of August.

The chard is such a trooper. It grows and grows no matter how many times it get trimmed for the kitchen steamer kettle. The colors of the stems amaze me.

From low to high and across the way, our gardens are full of joy.

I stop to gaze at the fascinating rhythm and symmetry of the parsnip leaves. We are eager for the harvest. I love the nutty flavor. I know many folks find it a bit strong-flavored, but you really should give it a try, just cooked to tender (not to mush), lightly buttered and dashed with salt and pepper. Ahhh! Tongue’s joy.

Last stop in our tour is to look up to the (volunteer!!) sunflower plants. They are so commanding. I think they are 12 to 14 feet tall.

As we start back to the house, you can gaze across our coneflowers, petunias, daisies and sweet peas (climbing the black windmill).

Back to the patio. Have a seat and enjoy it all.

Now our tour is done, stop and have a sit in the flamingo pink chair. There are actually two of them and our standing joke is telling of the day they arrived from the big box home store. Beloved Spouse took one look at them and asked “where are the flamingos?!” (Nothing would do but for Beloved Mother and me to snatch up several yard ornament flamingos… among other garden what-nots)

Thanks for coming along on my tour!

QUESTION: What is your favorite kind of garden?

Alphabets

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey
I love Letters! 26 letters that strung together in millions of combinations make so many ways to convey what is in our mind

I am fascinated with alphabets. The various calligraphic hands have so many variations for the marks we make to convey meaning. More often than not, each letterform is a beautiful work of art all by itself. When I study an alphabet the aspects that give it its own unique character are so intriguing. When I sit down to practice my calligraphy I often write words in an alphabet list that are all of a theme, such as food: apple, banana, cabbage, doughnut, flapjack, gateau, etc. Or, animals: aardvark, bumblebee, cougar, dinosaur, elephant, flea, etc. Now, I am ready to try a new project. I want to practice the various calligraphic hands I know and use them to explore one theme, one letter at a time.  Here’s the backstory.

For my birthday, my Beloved Daughter gave me a book called Hind’s Feet in High Places: An Engaging Visual Journey by Hannah Hurnard (Author), Jill De Haan (Illustrator), Rachel McNaughton (Illustrator). It is a lovely new take on the old book written by Hannah Hurnard in the early 20th Century. The allegory, very reminiscent of Pilgrim’s Progress, has become a devotional classic. I was profoundly affected by it back in the early 1980’s when I first read it as a paperback. In this updated version, De Haan and McNaughton have illustrated and made the book a visual delight so the spiritual impact is even greater.

As I began reading again, I was struck by the following conversation between the Shepherd and Much-Afraid.

“As Love grows in you, Much-Afraid, you will come to understand many things which you never dreamed of before. You will develop the gift of understanding many ‘unknown tongues’ and you will learn to speak Love’s own language too, but first you must learn to spell out the alphabet of Love and to develop hinds’ feet. Both these things you will learn on the journey to the High Places…”    (Chapter 4)

Right then, I decided to try to make “an Alphabet of Love” and began casting about my creative crevices to think of a way to ponder LOVE in all its depth using calligraphy. I dragged out my college-days Merriam-Webster and began perusing the listings under A and B. I jotted down words that apply to love in some way. Then I started playing with various ways of presenting the alphabet and the words. As I began to letter the words I chose, I tried to use alphabets that convey something of the character of the word. As you read the words surrounding the central letter, ponder the connection to LOVE. What kind of love is implied by the word? What action does love take or cause?

Here is my first try with the first two letters. I’d be interested to know what you think. Pay attention… new letters may appear in weeks ahead.

QUESTION: Should I continue this project this way? What other ideas might work? Shoot me a comment or suggestion—I’d love to hear from you!

Small Things

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

We just returned from a trip to Central Oregon with a stop in the Wine Country of Walla Walla. It was a beautiful, eventful trip loaded with so much fun and love. Family, family and lots of “new” family, especially at a wedding reception for Great Nephew which gave us lots of “new” relatives with which to become acquainted. But there is always time for art. While waiting for the festivities to begin, we socialized with Sister and Brother In-law at RV camp. And ART-TIME! I painted rocks while enjoying coffee and company in morning sun. Small things as subject matter suit the tools I packed for this trip. Rocks are pretty unremarkable. “Small things” that get ignored by most of us most of the time. But, in the effort to make time for art, I decided to paint these small things.

preparing to paint on the picnic table- coffee cup at the ready

I took three rocks from the RV pad, pulled out my little paint kit and travel sketch book. Nothing spectacular, but it was a really good exercise in seeing the various values (lightness and darkness) of the grays. And it is quite amazing how various a non-descript color like “gray” can actually be. Tricky time trying to find the right “blueness” or “green-ness” to make distinctions in this little water color.

“small things”- rocks to paint
rocks- sketched and painted

What do you think of the sketch on the left and the watercolor on the right? I realized that it would have been better to use hot press watercolor paper. The rough texture of the cold press paper made getting smooth shadows and clear delineation of detail difficult.  The way to remember the difference between hot and cold press is imagining trying to iron a shirt with a cold iron. Wrinkles remain. Hot iron—wrinkles removed and a smooth shirt is your result. Same with paper. When it is made, the paper is sent through rollers to flatten it. Heat and extra pressure create a smoother texture in the “hot press” paper compared to the “cold press” which receives a much gentler, cooler rolling. And “rough” watercolor paper gets barely any pressing so its surface is very “rugged.”

This painting rocks made me think of a Bible verse about “despising the day of small things.” Rocks are so unremarkable. Most of us never notice or give them any thought. Since I wasn’t sure where the remembered verse is located I just looked it up. Reading it in context stirred interesting ideas in my mind. In Zechariah chapter 4, God’s messenger angel is speaking to Zechariah giving him a vision message for the people of God. Zechariah is shown golden lampstands flanked by olive trees. When asked about the vision, Zechariah declares he doesn’t know what it means. The angel replies and declares that the symbols represent the coming Messiah. The Promised One’s beginning will be small but will result in Him- the “Capstone of the Temple of God” dwelling among men. And the question is put: “For who has despised the day of small things?” (Zechariah 4:10)  I take it to mean that although our Savior Jesus’ entry into the world was small and seemingly inconspicuous, He is great and the LORD of all.

Upon reflection I see Jesus– so very different than my non-descript rocks and my life which is so insignificant in the scheme of the world. In spite of His Greatness, He has made me His own and so I dare not “despise the day of small things.” I will count my belonging to Him, small as I am, a very great thing!

This is one of my most cherished Bible verses. What an amazing declaration from my Heavenly Father!

Question: What small things do you “despise” (not appreciate)? How big is Jesus to you?