snakes as art -- and spring treasures as hope

post #236
       Today is a day between rains, giving me time to patch up our driveway to keep it from washing away even more during the rainy week to come. I live on a ridge, so flooding isn't a personal problem, but run-off is.  Friday evening the 1.85 inches of rain that came down -- in a short time -- did unusual damage here and in the area.  For us, since the quarter mile driveway is the only road to the house, we have to rely on its holding together! 
        In honor of somewhere dry, I am sharing these photos I made recently inside the Kentucky Folk Art Center in Morehead.  I was delighted by the creative diversity and variety of snakes as walking sticks, along with snakes in other art forms as well.  And so well displayed!  The exhibit closes May 22, so slither on down there before they all hibernate....  (Full disclosure -- the store at the Center sells my photo note cards, and the folks who work there are great fun to do business with.)

 
       Today I also want to show some signs of spring.  The first photo is made by one of my photographer friends when we got together here two weeks ago, specifically in hopes of finding those early flowers in the woods.  (see post #234)

        PHOTO by DEBBIE ABELL, hepatica, 3/27/2015 -- not yet fully in bloom:

          
      PHOTO BY CHARLENE WARD, same day, nearby:

      Despite each of us having some knowledge of the flowers it took us awhile to positively identify this plant!  I just knew it is quite common.  We even had two flower books between the four of us.  We finally decided it was a kind of TOOTHWORT, and if I could back into the woods where we were, I would know what color the flowers turned out to be.

       MY TWO PHOTOS of some hepatica, showing them in their surroundings:

         These intrepid gifts of spring indeed are signs of hope -- and fascinating as well. 


   Recently, Kentucky has been in the news for heavy rains.  While the Louisville area seems to have been the most affected, we had a lot of water as well -- these two photos were made yesterday with Grayson Lake looking very full.  Usually this is where people put in their fishing boats, or, in our case, our photo-taking boat:

      I would like to close with the flowers last week in the yard of a remarkable person who died unexpectedly a week ago, Jean Howard, a much treasured friend to many as a piano teacher, and beloved by her husband - they actually met in the first grade. The world needs more such mischevious and funny souls, and I will miss her.

Jean no longer did the garden work herself, but continued to contribute to its mossy magic.