Sunday Stills: Things with Wings

This week's photography challenge was wings. I have been working on my own challenge of color manipulating backgrounds without altering the colors of the subject.

Here is the winged stem of Frostweed, Verbesina virginica. It gets its common name from the fact that in the winter when it freezes the dead stems will split and curly shavings of ice will extrude out. They live in colonies in the understory of our creek and serve as butterfly cafes when blooming. You can see a photo of one in bloom with a butterfly at this older post.

I think Borage is one of the most intensely beautiful blue flowers in the herb garden. After we finished picking blackberries yesterday (see previous post) I caught these ladybugs enjoying them too. There is a folktale that if you float these flowers in the drink of a man you like he will ask you to marry him.

This is a Pipevine Swallowtail, Battus philenor, so perfect it must have just emerged from its chrysalis to sun itself. The bitterness of its host plant--Pipevine--makes it unpalatable to birds.

Check out more interpretations of wings at Sunday Stills.

A Berry Good Day

Today we harvested about seven quarts of blackberries, and there's still more to come.

This has been our most abundant crop yet, and yet we entirely neglected them this year, forgetting to prune them at the end of season or tie them up to the trellises. It seems our best successes comes through our own inattentiveness. You might say we are accidental gardeners.

This hearkens to Masanobu Fukuoka's idea of not doing unnecessary work in the garden, especially when Nature will do it for you.

She certainly did a fine job with the blackberries!

Color Carnival: Graffiti

Martha, over at Color Carnival has suggested I join in on her photography meme. Be sure to check out the many colorful images others have posted.


Today we made our first summer trip into San Antonio for business and pleasure.

For some reason I find most graffiti sort of pleasurable to look at--perhaps because it is usually very organic and taking up otherwise dead space. With this record-breaking heat wave upon us, blinding light, and crunchy yellow grass, this mural was a welcome surprise for the eyes, tucked into and brightening a little forgotten area of downtown.

Stand By Your Tree

Thanks to our son and his wife, Farmer Rick received a wonderfully thoughtful Father's Day gift of this sweet Pomegranate tree. This evening we potted it up into a clay pot and will attend to the tree's needs in the shade until fall, when we will plant it in the Earth.

Today's high was 106 (again!) with a heat index of 109 degrees so we don't want it to go into shock.


We are very glad to see it is drought tolerant!

A Call for Bathroom Renovation Ideas

Welcome to our "good" bathroom. It's old and small but has enough charm with which to work. I'm thinking you (homesteaders, artists, photographers, shepherds, poultry enthusiasts, and general blog friends) might have some good ideas to share with me, once I introduce you to the project.

Let's talk positives first. The vintage tub is nice enough (see previous post) and would be difficult to replace so it stays. I like this antique mirror in there, but it may need to be repositioned.

I also like these artisan plate covers I got on a trip to Arizona. Maybe it's the botanist in me.


Last year I purchased enough of this saltillo-like tile to do the floors and the walls. But since peeling off the vinyl wallpaper, I discovered a fake tile board wainscoting and painted it white. Now I'm kind of liking the half white look and thinking a smaller white tile for the wall wainscoting, and this tile only on the floor.

In general, I like Southwest style, as well as Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Mid Century Modern. My entire house is sort of artsy-eclectic. I wanted to replace the 1940's chrome fixtures with wrought iron, but I didn't want them to feel bulky or too primitive. So I just purchased these Tuscan Villa fixtures on sale. I like the curves.

Now, for some of the challenges. When this house was built it only had a bathtub, the shower feature was later added. I am not crazy about the surrounding shower curtains, it's sort of smothering. Even though I replaced the heavy ones with lightweight ones, I keep having to glue the fixture to the ceiling with liquid nails and it's about ready to fall again.

I would like to change all this out for bronze, if such a thing exists. Right now the shower curtains are white, for a simple spa-like look, but that's open for change. I like the tan walls, but I'm open for change in color, artwork, faux finishes, a mural, etc. I'm not too keen on wallpaper.

I'd prefer one of those single rods that curve out. But then, I'd have to tile the entire shower enclosure. Privacy isn't a huge issue here and I don't want glass block in the window. Since there is no ventilation in the room, the operable windows are used and I worry their hardware would rust. I suppose I could sew smaller window curtains out of shower curtain fabric to deflect water.

I know large mirrors are supposed to add visual space to a small room, but this takes up most of the wall...

as does the vanity. It feels cramped, like there is no breathing room. I would like something much narrower.

Worst of all, because of the curvature on the tub and having the vanity so close, a very icky black hole of a space is created that's nearly impossible to clean. If something is missing, it has probably fallen down in there. Also, I don't like having the t.p. dispenser on the door.

And finally there's the damaged door. The bottom was recently pecked away by chickens and the top scratched by dogs. I have rebuilt this door before using DAP to where it almost looked perfect, but I'm kind of tired of doing this and it's very time consuming. I wonder how other people make their doors pet-proof without losing style? Or should I just call Cesar? These same doors are throughout the house.

Would you keep the surround shower curtains and just tile the wainscoting?
Or would you get one shower rod and tile the entire shower enclosure?
If so, how would you protect the window hardware from moisture?
White or patterned shower curtains?
What kind of vanity/lavatory would you get?
What kind of mirror?
What would you do with the walls? A new color, faux finish, mural, artwork?
Other suggestions?

The Day Has Finally Come

Yup, after three months we now have chicken-free bathrooms again! Whoohoo!

We moved the rest of the birds to the coop this weekend. Now I can begin to remodel this bathroom, before I tear the other one out entirely and start over. Stay tuned for more on that project!

Sunday Stills: Tri-Color

For this Sunday's photo challenge we were to use some composition and creativity and get some unusual colors. The most colorful room in my house is my library, as the rest is subdued in nature's palette. This photo, although cropped, has not been digitally manipulated--I achieved it simply by spinning the camera.


For more colorful photography visit Sunday Stills.