- Soft focus

Retrospective (5/22/2016)

Patch #132: An "A" in Pop Pop's favorite color ...

Original Post

My pictures today are all slightly out of focus. A morning breeze blew the dayflower ...

and blanket flower ...

Then going out this evening, no breeze, but still no good focus on the brown-eyed Susan ...

and the antelope horn milkweed ...

The deer were too skittish to let me get close enough for a good shot ...

and I was too skittish get close enough for a good shot of this centipede ...

So much to see, but for today you'll just have to take my word for it ...

- Home is where the hearts are

Retrospective (5/22/2016)

Patch #131 "N" is the letter in Griffin and Nana

Original Post

- Movin' on

Retrospective (6/3/2016)

Patch #130 started out as a sketch, but I liked it so well that I ended up transferring it to cloth with a 21st-century-style prick-and-pounce ...

Original Post

One last meal in New Orleans, this time breakfast at Cafe du Monde ...

I was prepared to be underwhelmed, but I left a believer: they really do have the most amazing beignets!

Spotted this on the way back to our lodgings ...

and made sure to take a picture of one of the street tiles that appear at every intersection ...

Then it was time to go, following the improv one way sign one last time ...

Winding our way back up I-10, then down the Bolivar Peninsula to the Galveston Ferry ...

We didn't spot any dolphins, but apparently the fishing was good ...

according to the locals ...

- Laissez les bon temps rouler

Retrospective (5/20/2016)

Patch #129 A first attempt at Newcomb-style darning stitch on coarse linen ...

Original Post

In the spirit of the Big Easy, today will be a rolling post of impressions.

Beignet, done that ...

with a soupçon of jazz ...

Brunch at the Newcomb Museum ...

included a peek at an upcoming exhibit by Diana Al-Hadid ...

But the main event was a behind the scenes tour of the Newcomb Enterprise collections, including a close look at textiles ...

and a book to remember it by ...

Now I want to come back to study the collection in depth. Because ... why not? 

The afternoon was spent strolling down Royal ...

working up an appetite for an amazing meal at GW Fins that included the best gumbo I've ever tasted, pompano ...

and red snapper with crawfish étouffée ...

Who wouldn't be happy?

- NOLA

Retrospective (6/3/2016)

Patch #128 Bourbon Street beads on a slender patch recalling the narrow entries to the houses in the French Quarter ...

Original Post

Our first trip to New Orleans and we lucked out, finding a hotel of 19th-century vintage one block from ...

Doing a quick check on Trip Advisor for nearby restaurants, we found one recommended in this Bon Appetit article 

http://www.bonappetit.com/restaurants-travel/article/eating-trip-new-orleans-riad-nasr-lee-hanson ...

Hey, you can't argue with 494' away, right? So, two draft IPAs later, we were standing streetside ...

awaiting the arrival of shrimp and pork belly poboys ...

When what to our wondering eyes should appear, but a scrum of young'uns raiding a trash can piled high with boxes and cans. Strange.

It all became clear after dinner, as we saw them once again several blocks away. The boxes were set out for tip money, the cans crushed and attached to shoes, the better to tap dance ...

And yes, we threw bills in the boxes. Contributing to the delinquency of minors, no doubt.

Bourbon Street is, well ...

ummm, how to put this? Exciting? Yes. Colorful? Assuredly. At first I was quite taken with it, much to Don's surprise.

But it had a certain air of, je ne sais quoi ... mal odeur? And once whiffed, it became impossible to ignore. Words churned through my brain ... foetid, noisome, redolent ... urg. We finally escaped it as we slipped down Ursuline ...

past the French Market ...

then back up Barrack ...

to Dauphine ...

and thence to our home away from home ... 

Ahhhh ...

- Red

Retrospective (6/3/2016)

Patch #127 Toadstool ...

with thanks to Amy Meissner for the ID ...

Original Post

I finally found a red linen blouse at the thrift store ...

filling a chromatic hole just in time to consider how I might make a patch to remember these ...

which, in a wondrous bit of synchronicity, you can also find in Amy Meissner's most recent blog post here:  http://www.amymeissner.com/blog/unicorn-heart

- Weed eaters

Retrospective (6/3/2016)

Patch #126 Monarch caterpillar ...

Stitched from this photo ...

taken a couple of weeks after the original post was written.

Original Post

As I work the land, the phrase "a weed is just a plant you haven't found a use for" often runs through my head.

Case in point, the briars which I used to cut back without mercy are now known to me as dewberries ...

As I love these tart little pops of juiciness, I now leave the briars untouched in order that there might be more next year ...

in spite of the fact that the vines catch around my ankles as I walk through the high grass.

My land management mission today was frost weed discouragement ...

Frost weed is actually a native and not a bad sort in and of itself. Butterflies are fond of the blooms and the foliage is obviously fodder for someone.

However, large stands of frost weed compete with the prairie grasses ...

So these days I cut back the tall stems, giving the grasses a fighting chance, but also enabling the frost weed to send up a second, lower growth in time for flowering ...

Sadly, our milkweed is not nearly weed-eaten enough. Even though the current blooms are swarming with butterflies ...

the large, healthy spreads of foliage like this one are an indicator that there haven't been nearly enough Monarch butterfly caterpillars eating them ...

Still, the Monarchs are not completely absent, as this series of ever-closer shots reveals ...

While I've always left milkweed undisturbed for future Monarch egg-laying, I did wage war against the thistles several years ago. Knowing that eradication is a fool's errand, still I hoped that pulling out the non-native invasives would encourage growth of the Texas thistles so loved by the native birds. Fortunately, that gamble paid off, as most of the current thistle crop is the good kind ... 

But as I walked the path back to the house, my eye was caught by an unfamiliar form: a fluff of feathers with the delicate architecture of its supporting structure revealed ...

a reminder yet again of the fragile balance that governs our existence.