Monday Smiles – 4/6/2015

Over the weekend, I posted a picture of a rose from our back yard on Facebook with the caption, Spring is here.  At 70, I am no longer a serious enough gardener to be considered a rose grower, but here in the SoCal climate, roses thrive as long as they get enough water.   With the drought we are enduring, that could become an issue down the road, but for now, they grace our yard without much care.  A Facebook friend, one given to leaving snide comments even as he Likes my photographs said of my rose photo, And after such a hard winter too …..   It is true that winter here in SoCal is more like spring in much of the country so it’s easy to take a rose for granted.   But even here where the winter temperatures seldom fall below fifty, there are other kinds of winter.  At seventy, it sometimes feels like the winter of life and there are of course, winters of the soul and spiritual winters.  At seventy, small miracles like the first rose in the untended garden don’t seem so small and, just as the first crocus poking its purple head through the snow can bring hope of warmer days to come, the first bright harbingers of spring can thaw a cold heart and warm a chilled spirit.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It’s Monday.  It’s spring.  I’m smiling.

Monday Smiles – 11/10/2014

Our weekend started early with a Friday afternoon trip to the Huntington Library in Pasadena.  The website for the library says that, The Huntington was founded in 1919 by Henry E. Huntington, an exceptional businessman who built a financial empire that included railroad companies, utilities, and real estate holdings in Southern California.   Huntington was also a man of vision – with a special interest in books, art, and gardens.  He began his career working for his uncle Collis, who was an owner of the Central Pacific Railroad.  Money builds money and he eventually built his own financial empire which included the Pacific Electric Railway and Newport News Shipbuilding.  The mansion that is now the centerpiece of the Huntington Library was completed in 1911.  The guide for the library casually mentions that in 1913, Henry married the widow of Uncle Collis.  She was his age and shared his interests in collecting, the guide says.  Unmentioned is the fact that His divorce from his first wife, Mary Alice Prentice, birth sister of his Uncle Collis daughter, in 1910 and marriage to Arabella in 1913 after Mary Alice’s death shocked San Francisco society.  I wonder if ever slipped and called his new wife Auntie in bed?

Roy G Biv

red

orange

yellow

green

blue

indigo

violet

Friday Favorites 5/9/2014

I think that some people would say that, for a man, I love flowers just a little too much.  For some reason our society does not regard liking flowers as an especially masculine trait.  If you listen to the local sports talk weenies, you’ll hear them urging you to call 1-800-FLOWERS to send Mom a bouquet for Mother’s Day but for Father’s Day it’s tool or a fancy camera.  Of course, once Dad has that fancy camera, you may catch him in the garden, taking pictures of (gasp) flowers, since their colors often make for stunning close-ups.  And, of course, artists like Monet and Van Gogh painted flower for that very reason.  True, the same weenies who think that a man shouldn’t love flowers often see art as not very manly either.  If I listened to those guys, I’d be a dull man indeed.

Retreating

I’m here at the Santa Barbara Mission Retreat Center.  The evening’s meetings are over and everyone is retiring.  The day starts early tomorrow so there’s no time to post … except this photo of a flower silhouetted against a mission wall in the afternoon sun.

Have a great weekend.

Digital or Analog?

Digital – Expressed in discrete numerical form, especially for use or generated by a computer or other electronic device.  A digital image is made up of discrete color squares called pixels and the colors are defined by digital discrete numbers defining a finite set of colors.

Tiger Eye – digital painting using MATLAB©

Friday Favorites 6/29/2012

It has been an artsy-fartsy week here on Older Eyes – Bud’s Blog: photos of flowers on Monday; the art of film selection on Tuesday; Wednesday and Thursday … computer generated art.  So, I’m going to continue the trend on Friday Favorites with my favorite painters of flowers.  If you’re a long-time visitor, you know that my tastes lean toward impressionism, so it should be no surprise that the contenders are Pierre Auguste Renoir, Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet.

Vase of Chrysanthemums*

Renoir was known primarily as a painter of people, especially women, and is widely regarded as the greatest painter of feminine sensuality.  He did, however, paint numerous still life paintings of flowers, such as Vase of Chrysanthemums, painted in 1882.  Many of his florals were painted during a time when he was trying to break with the impressionist movement and return to a more classical style, so as beautiful as they are, the renderings are more detailed than I’d prefer.

Monday Smiles – 6/25/2012

It was an odd weekend.  Muri and I have had to make some family decisions that have no entirely satisfactory options and we’re still trying to be happy with the decisions we made.  Goldstar, the half price ticket website that fuels our date nghts, came up empty so we went to see a very positively reviewed film, Moonrise Kingdom.  Apparently, the director, Wes Anderson is a favorite of critics and known for quirky films.   Moonrise Kingdom struck me as borderline dumb and marginally entertaining.  Muri liked it better than I did, of course.  Beyond that, it was a To-Do-List weekend, mostly clean up the messes I seem to leave in my wake and work in the yard.  So here it is Monday, and what better than admiring the fruits of my labor to compensate for my aching muscles.

Florals

Yesterday, I stopped at our local Trader Joe’s to find something to make for dinner.   I’ve become addicted to Arnold Palmer’s made from TJ’s Unsweetened Black Tea and Organic Local Lemonade, so I had to restock my supply.   Among the things I like about Trader Joe’s is their selection of cut flowers at very reasonable prices.   When we first moved into our house in Anaheim Hills we bought a bouquet every week to brighten up  the living room, but like many nice but unessential habits, we stopped without noticing.  Our house can use a little brightening right now so I bought a mixed bundle, mostly Mums and Gerber Daisies.   My son once asked me if I like flowers a little bit too much for a man.   By most men’s standards, probably … I often wonder if I got a full Y chromosome.

Spring is Here, Too

A few weeks ago, I posted about the subtle arrival of spring in Southern California.   This week we are in Arizona to celebrate Mother’s Day and my birthday with my daughter’s family.   If Spring in California is subtle compared to the Back East Springs I loved growing up, Arizona Springs can be almost invisible.  For one, here we are in the middle of May and it’s been at least 100° every day this week.  In these temperatures, only desert plants can thrive and because of the heat … the DRY heat … desert plants celebrate Spring cautiously with small, unobtrusive blooms.  But if you take the time to notice, they are beautiful none-the-less.  First, let me set the scene … the desert scene:

Desert hills near our Little House

But if your take the time to look carefully, Spring is hiding among the thorns;

Blooming Saguaro Cactus

It just goes to show that there can be beauty found even in the most desolate places if you look.

Now, if it just wasn’t so damned hot!