O'z Ark

Rain and Sunbursts

2009-10-26T08:06:00.000-07:00

Rain has become an overblessing around here-I personally am tired of it. I have been experimenting with my camera and the clouds.

Cool pic, I think! Of course I am prejudiced....somewhat of a small patch of sun. I would like to learn how to catch the sun's rays as more as a blob.

Color still standing against the threat of frost

2009-10-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

This is really just a weed, but the small pink blooms hangs out forever in the fall. It lasts a long time, also, in dried flower arrangements.

Well, I was just playing around with the photo shop and this lovely fuchsia pink cosmo. Cosmos are another flower that flourish in the cool temps of September and October.

Sassafras

2009-10-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

A rather insignificant tree on the pond bank all summer, the sassafras seems frail and spindly next to the mighty oaks. However, the fall brings out the best in this tree or shrub. It has 3 different shaped leaves depending on the maturity of the leave and easy to recognize as they appear to be fingers. When you cut a branch open, the distinctive smell, compared to bottled root beer, springs out. The tree spreads in the wild by putting out suckers punching up from the mother tree's root system. The Native Americans used the sassafras from a large number of medicinal purposes by infusing the bark. They would drink the tea to cure diarrhea or used it to relieve pain. You can also make a yellow dye from crushing the wood. The early settlers made a drink from the roots by boiling them with molasses and allowing it to ferment-thus beer from a root or root beer! I've never made anything from the sassafras but have tasted the tea at places like folk festivals and such.

I, of course, appreciate the tree the most in the fall for the gorgeous colors.

Tuffy

2009-10-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

This is sooo funny-I don't like cats! I am allergic to cats! My best buddy all day long is a cat! Eddy started calling Taffy the cat Tuffy as he couldn't remember the Taffy. We felt it would less affect his psyche if, being a male cat, he became Tuffy. NOT! The male cat pysche stuff came from a neighbor and I was stoic and refrained from laughing as she was serious and it meant a lot to her, so........... my good manners outweighed my desire to ridicule and the cat lives on to tell the story of his name change.

He does hold still for pictures as opposed to the dogs. When I try to get close enough to the dogs for up close expressive shots, they lick my face like a child with a sucker.

Fall into a plan for spring

2009-10-21T07:38:00.000-07:00

This is my newest project-there are now 50 new bulbs planted in this bed-daffodils, as the deer don't bother them like they do my tulips. I also put out the various mums that I had raised from 99 cent weebles. Interspersed through out are day lillies and 5 knockout roses. If I can just get the roses started here, they are resistant to about every evil that Arkansas springs and summers have to offer.

The heartache of an October blue sky. The blue is one you want to grab from the sky and wrap into oneself to fend off the chill to come.

2009-10-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

A damp fall-so condusive to some web shots -webs just tingling with the moisture

An ordinary weed on the side of the road heavily pearled with the rain.

2 Variant Oaks at Lake of the Ozarks

2009-10-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

As I was looking through Google Images, hoping to identify one of the oaks in this collage, I came across a site originating in Great Britain with some interesting info on the origin of the oak name and some historical significance of the mighty oak. I have pulled some here to remind to come back to this research when time allows:

The common name oak is from Anglo Saxon ac and Old Norse eik, which mean “fruit” or “acorn”. Alternative names include Black Oak, Female Oak, Macey-tree, Tom Paine, Stalk-fruited Oak, Trail (referring to male catkins), Tanner’s Bark and Sussex Weed (because so many trees grow in that county).

In folklore the oak was held in high esteem throughout Europe, venerated in association with the supreme gods of the Greeks, Romans, Celts, Slavs and Teutonic tribes. The Druids held their rites and worshipped in oak groves and the name Druid is thought to mean “men of the oaks”, a Gaelic derivation of duir, their word for oak. Mistletoe was a potent and magical plant to Druids and often grew on oaks. Ancient kings wore crowns of oak leaves, symbolizing the gods they represented on Earth. The great respect for oak held by the Celts filtered through into the Christian religion, with many early churches being built near the sites of pagan oak groves. Carvings of oak leaves, acorns and even galls are found in many older parish churches and in most English cathedrals, sometimes openly displayed, often hidden away discreetly under misericords or high up in the roof. So-called “Gospel Oaks” were often significant stopping points in the ceremony of “beating the bounds”, which is thought to have originated in an ancient pagan practice connected to fertility rites!
Oak has excellent strength and elasticity and was much used in shipbuilding, giving rise to the phrases “Hearts of Oak” and “The Wooden Walls of England”, the ships protecting our shores from invasion. Charles II made the 29th of May “Royal Oak Day” after his restoration in 1660, honouring the oak because he was supposed to have hidden in one while hiding from Cromwell’s men during the Civil War. The day was a public holiday and people wore oak sprigs and sometimes oak apples covered with gold leaf in honour of the Crown. An alternative name for this day is “Oak Apple Day”. A connection with royalty continues in Scotland, as the oak leaf is the badge of the Royal Clan Stewart.
The Celts believed oak to have the power to preserve youth, protect from lightning and cure toothache and bruised leaves were used to heal wounds.. Some medical properties of the tree have been known for many centuries but in more modern times the bark has been used to treat ague, haemorrhages, chronic diarrhoea, dysentry, bleeding gums, piles and sore throats, as well as being an alternative to quinine for treating fevers, when mixed with chamomile flowers. Powdered acorns and bark, mixed with milk, were thought to be an antidote for poison and snuff was sometimes made from powdered bark.
Other uses of oak bark include the tanning of leather and the making of dyes of various colours when mixed with other substances. Acorns were a traditional food for pigs over many centuries but they have also been used to supplement human food, especially in times of shortage, being dried and ground into flour or made into a coffee substitute.

When I was growing up, Dad had an abandoned hog barn that the sisters and I used to play house. We would gather acorns, put them in an old tea kettle, add water and let soak. The next day this brown mixture would be our "pretend" coffee. When my little sister sampled it one day, I lay through an entire nap time afraid that she was going to die!

The most interesting point here is that these 2 oaks were growing up from the same spot in the ground. I paid no attention to the trees located at Eddy's cousin's house on Lake of the Ozarks until I was up on the top deck of the house and realized from looking at the leaves, that these were two separate trees intertwining at the top. I thought that the one on the left was some type of red oak, but had never really encountered the one on the right. I just assumed that it wasn't an oak at all until I saw the acorns. After consulting my tree book here at home, it resembles both the swamp chestnut oak and the English oak. Given it's proximity to the lake and birds that would inhabit a water environment, perhaps it is a swamp oak. Still interesting to learn about. I regret not getting a pic of the trunks for my post her and the above collage.

Random Nature

2009-08-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

Because of the cool temps and rain, I have the best stand of morning glories I have ever had at this house.

We are in grave danger of being controlled by the cats! Taffy the Tom is not happy here and growled at me as I took this picture. I don't even like cats!

I was working on getting reflections for one of my photo challenges and ended up with this pic of the pond here beside the house. It's home to some monster bull frogs.

Ok, these heirloom tomatoes will not turn RED! This bush has hundreds of green tomatoes. I finally decided that maybe they were the kind that stay green and cut into some. Not! So I ended up breading them and frying them like squash.

A very heavy dew has settled here on the Knockout rose.

Camera settings and colored filters

2009-08-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

My friend, HD, sent me a link to a site called photojo or something similar. It comes into my Hotmail with little tips about photography. One recent one suggested a way to blur the background was to set my camera on portrait and then back away from the object. The two top photos were shot with a color filter on the lens. Then I propped the branch up so the sun was right behind it and shot right at the sun. So what you get is an ordinary acorn turned into a piece of art. Enjoy!

Fogs in August

2009-08-29T07:41:00.000-07:00

Don't forget-fogs in August are snows and ices in February! Look at the green of the grass. I don't think that I have ever had it this green at the end of August.

Goldfinch Glory

2009-08-25T18:50:00.001-07:00

Putting yourself out there

2009-08-11T16:13:00.000-07:00

Eddy took some of my photos up to enter into the fair this year. I am couch-bound and unable so he had the dubious honour of braving the hordes(I didn't know that there would be hordes of people). It was something to do and a way to find out what kind of photos this venue admires. Here's an odd note. I could have entered some of short stories, but I just couldn't. It would have been as if they were rejecting one of my own children if they didn't like them. I know this sounds funny, but somehow the photos you can blame on the mechanism, there is a piece of machinery involved, not just my creativity. With writing, it's all my head, me, my psyche laid bare. I think that I would rather enter them in an anonymous venue first. Which I guess is the next step to take!

well, this used up all my energy so more later

Storm Clouds Arisin'

2009-07-28T08:19:00.000-07:00

Oh, yes, what this camera allows me to do! I can set it for storms by changing the shutter speed and light filter. I really think it let me capture the texture of the clouds.

Just capturing the last of summer's colors

2009-07-28T08:06:00.000-07:00

The rose of sharon that I ever planted 15 years ago. Not a great lay out but lets you see her in all her grandeur.

I almost cut this down earlier in the summer thinking that it was weed that had invaded my flower bed. Either it was something in the wildflower seeds or a gift from a bird!

These mockingbirds came really close to peeving the big daddy cat this time. He had made a giant leap for this one and I was letting him after their behavior with the kittens. They have stopped pecking at the other cats and dogs for awhile.

Morning glory! nothing else need be said.......

Morning glories

2009-07-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

Well, you just can't beat a morning glory for coverage and color. They come back year after year because the seeds drop each fall.

We have almost had it with these mean mockers! Check the next post down for my shot of the one who barely got away!

Backyard Musings

2009-07-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

I don't know what these are called for real-I always called them leopard lillies when I was little-obviously for the spots and the whisker look of the pistals ans stamens.

Some stray zinnias that I just dropped seeds in here or there in the spring.

This mean little bird keeps trying to build a nest on top of my chimes and when you shoo it away, it just goes to the flower pot on the railing and starts all over again-thus the definition of bird brain!

Reesa's Roses

2009-07-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

I always plant roses in honor of big events in our lives. This yellow wonder was to commenorate Reesa's birth in December. I have done pictures of it in it's many stages of bloom-from bud to full blown fall apart splendor. The fragrance is very sweet and spicy.

Just Random Glory

2009-07-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

My newest rose of sharon bush has a white bloom. I have never had one white. My others are all variations of pink and purple. This one also only has one layer of flat petals, not the multi-rose appearance of the others.

Not my best shot of a spider web, but the best that I could do with a telephoto lens on the camera. I guess when I get really serious, I'll carry everything in the little black packback.

Get your sunflower glasses on.

2009-07-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

It is so bright with the sunflowers in the garden. These shots are some of the same takes but with different editing. With this camera, some don't even look real.

Anybody Home?

2009-07-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

The blue birds that inhabit my bird houses are not the bright blue of the birds that live on the creek. These are larger and a duller blue in color. Here momma sticks her head out after I had sat cross-legged in the front yard forever to try to catch them coming or going! I thought my arms would fall off from balancing the camera.

Madame or Mister Meadowlark

2009-07-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, he or she is very far away from me. I had to listen and listen and look to find the source of that achingly sweet sound. They actually nest each year in the hay meadow or pasture and when the grass is cut, spend a week in mourning. They use to sit on the fence post and call, but with the cats around now, an oak top branch is their concert hall.

Birds of a Feather

2009-07-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

If you will all bear with me until I can get an Arkansas bird book ordered, then I will come back and identify as many as I can. I hope you agree that I am getting a better feel for the lens.

more and more and more

2009-07-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

Oriental lillies that smell so divine.

OOH, Summer is hot, not warm

2009-07-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

A relative to the black-eyed Susan found as a wild flower along side the roads in Arkansas. This one, however, has a more delicate petal. Next year I will save the package from the seed company so I can better identify. I order from American Meadows and get my seed mixtures by the 1/2 pounds.

Orange you glad I planted all colors of cosmos?

Different varieties of sunflowers in the seed mixtures. You just can't go wrong with sunflowers if you have the room in your beds or gardens. I am, of course, refering now to my climate and soil here in North Arkansas.

Hot colors of summer

2009-07-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

The big boss strides down the driveway on his evening walk. I can't take the heat in the evenings in summer so we walk separately in this season.

I do so love the gentle beauty of cosmos. They come in so many colors and grow in any soil.

I am not for sure what this sunbursting speciman is called. It is the result of the wildflowers that I scattered. It is obviously in the same family as black-eyed Susans and such.

Now don't accuse me of impaling bugs to get good shots! I saw this unfortunate baby on the fence as I stooped to get a shot of a lizard. June bugs are not built with radar, I guess.