That's Gneiss! #178 ~ Spring flowers bring a bit of cheer
Plus: Art from beach trash, and dubious ways to treat your pet
It is a blustery day here at our house, with impending rain and possible thunderstorms later. Exciting! Thunderstorms are so rare around here that it’s quite a novelty when they do occur. We’ll see if anything pans out.
Now it seems like we’re in waiting mode - waiting to get vaccinated. Michael becomes eligible this week, so with luck he’ll be able to get an appointment quickly. Our county has had supply issues, which will hopefully improve now that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is starting to trickle in. I’ll be eligible once they open up to everyone, which could be May 1st. It feels like an eternity. Anyhow, here we sit a bit longer. Of course, getting the vaccination doesn’t mean you can go wild, either. Cases are on the rise again, imagine that. It’s almost as if opening things up sends the wrong message to people who then make bad choices. Yes, I’m very grumbly about this.
It is heartening to see flowers beginning to bloom everywhere, and the longer days are great. Cherry trees are on the go, and daffodils are in full swing. I saw this interesting variety a few days ago.
I’ve spied a few tulips, but they’re not quite ready yet. The flowering quince are looking good though! They’ve become one of my favorite early spring flowers. I’d planed a small bush at our old house, and imagine by now it might be starting to get some size on it. The vine maples I planted at the same time are probably looking good by now too. The neighbors have a flowering quince they prune into a weird lightbulb shape, and it doesn’t have many flowers. This one is an unruly specimen a couple of blocks away.
Here at our house now the hyacinths are going bonkers. I’m going to have to rescue the bulbs from outside the fence and move them to a new spot. They’re so pretty and they smell so nice!
I’ve spied rhodies and azaleas starting to bloom, along with all sorts of other things. It’s so nice to see the bright colors - they do cheer me up. In a more humorous vein, I saw these two very different examples of bamboo gardening about a half block from each other.
Out of control…
Under control…
Rowland is quite pleased that more dogs are out in their yards. He loves to say hello.
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I’m not so sure all the dogs like to say hello to him. Sometimes there’s a lot of teeth on display.
WOW. It is really windy! We’re in a bit of a rain shadow right now but I’m not sure how long that will last. The skies in the distance are pretty dark. We’re planning a walk in the little arboretum park this afternoon, but it may be too icky out. We don’t mind a bit of weather, but then there’s weather that’s just silly to be out in. It’s a good day for a cup of tea.
On a COMPLETELY different note:
If you see this product, run away as fast as possible! We received this sample bag with our groceries recently, and gave them a try.
SO GROSS. The texture was nasty, and they would be a punishment for your kid. Heed that “NO” on the corner of the bag and stay away.
Petco recently suggested that I give Rowland a treat. He would probably like the little dog the best, but the snake might be fun too!
Stay warm, stay dry, and stay safe. Don’t let your guard down.
And I think we’ll be skipping that walk in the park today. Much cozier here at home!
Tidbits
All hail the mighty earthworm!
New fungi discovered in seed banks
XXXX Swatchbook - a book made without ink
Over a period of a year and a half, Matt Kish created one illustration for each of the 552 pages in the Signet Classic paperback edition of Herman Melville’s novel, Moby-Dick. He then turned those illustrations into a book, Moby-Dick in Pictures: One Drawing for Every Page.
Making: SO MUCH! Having a blast with Sketchbook Revival, just trying out some new things. There are a few more days to go, and two more weeks of free access to the videos so this will go on for a little longer. I especially enjoyed the Automatic Drawing session with Shelly Klammer. So different than the slow drawing I’ve been doing a lot of lately.
Reading: Yeah, right. Started Rough House by Tina Ontiveros - she’ll be visiting the library virtually in May. Seems like I’m starting a lot of books these days, but not making much progress!
Art Zone
One of the only things I miss about living on Whidbey Island is the proximity to water and beaches. I really missed our usual Darwin Day vacation to the ocean this year, and when it is safe to venture out more the intersection of land and water is high on my list of places to go. Searching for interesting finds on the beach is a favorite activity of mine, but today’s artists have taken that pastime to an extreme level.
Since 1999 Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang, as a collaborative team, have been visiting Kehoe Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California. They have rambled 1000 meters of tideline of this one beach hundreds of times to gather plastic debris washing out of the Pacific Ocean and from this one beach have collected over two tons of material. By carefully collecting and "curating" the bits of plastic, they fashion it into works of art that matter-of-factly show, with minimal artifice, the material as it is. The viewer is often surprised that this colorful stuff is the thermoplastic junk of our throwaway culture.
The somewhat monotone pieces appeal to me, but the sheer amount of colors and variety of shapes and sources astound.
I remember a trip to the Oregon coast that included a stop at Cannon Beach, a particularly posh tourist town. I remember being amazed at the amount of plastic debris on the beach, and even found a mostly intact toy.
Videos of the Week
My new favorite follow on Instagram is Useless Farm. The farm animals (and birds) truly are useless. There’s the alpacas - Craig, Keith and Michael who frankly are all bit simple.
Doug the mini donkey is sweet (mostly), and Karen the emu is a bit testy. Okay - a lot testy.
You can meet all of the animals here, including Lorraine and Josh the baby emus.
If you’re in need of some laughs, pull up their TikTok account and watch a few videos.
Current Temperature: 46.0 F (7.7 C)
Current Humidity: 88%
Wind (max gust): 22.8 mph
Precipitation: 0.01 inches