2016-04-10 - Sunday - Plant Rescue and Re-Planting

Sunday I went on a native plant rescue with Project Idlewild. We rescue plants from impending construction sites. My friend Nick delineates wetlands before construction begins and knows where there are nice specimens of native plants that are going to be plowed under. Before that can happen we go in and rescue them to transplant into our yards. It's a win/win as the plants are rescued and native plants require almost no maintenance.

This was one of our objectives Sunday:
the cinnamon fern.

I have had some bags of top soil sitting on the edge of the driveway since last year. When I used them Sunday, I was surprised to find earthworms and moss inside the bags.

When I put down the landscape fabric I found a spider crawling across it. At first glance I thought it might have been a black widow based on its shape, but the abdomen was brown and distended with no hourglass underneath. I sent her on her way.

When I came home from Greensboro on Saturday evening I emptied the ice out of the cooler I took with me. It was in the cooler all day and didn't melt much. I often dump the ice in the flower beds outside the back door to let the plants have the water.

I knew it was cool overnight but I was astounded to find a bunch of the ice still in the flower bed at 1:00 pm the next day. It's a slow spring this year.

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2015-02-03 - Tuesday - Spiders, moons, bowl, and pots

I have a nice little pot made by Rae Stark on the windowsill over the kitchen sink. The opening is only 1 1/2 to 2 inches across, but a tiny spider found it and spun a tiny web in it. Amazing that something that small can have the capability of functioning on it's own and building an intricate web.

Before I left for Clayworks I noticed the moon looked interesting through the clouds. I couldn't resist taking several photos of it. As usual I tried several settings to see which one I liked best. And as usual, I liked quite a few of them.

Shutter 2 seconds, ISO 80.

Shutter 4 seconds, ISO 80.

Shutter 4 seconds, ISO 80, shaking.

Shutter 1 second, ISO 200.

Shutter 1 second, ISO 200, different angle.

Shutter 1 second, ISO 800.

Shutter 1 second, ISO 800.

Shutter 1 second, ISO 1600.

Shutter 15 seconds, ISO 200.
YOU try keeping still for 15 seconds in the cold.

When I got to Clayworks I found another bowl had come out of the kiln. I'm still liking them. Expect more next month.

I made two garlic pots tonight since you can never have too much garlic.

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August 28 - Wednesday - Comparing faces and the finished spider

I decided to see how my latest face pot compared to my first and was surprised at the differences.  The latest one (on the left) is quite a jolly fellow compared to the first.  I like to think the latter one is bit more refined than his ancestor.  It's fun to track the changes.

I also got to see Laura's finished spider.  It's amazing and she's talking about making an even larger one.  Stay tuned.

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July 31 - Wednesday - Spider!

This is Laura.

She doesn't like spiders.

So she made an awesome one!

She built it on a kiln shelf so it could go right into the kiln without breaking.  Here she is taking it back to the kiln.  Can't wait to see it finished.

April 18 - Thursday Busy

It's happened again.  Life got in the way and I haven't been posting here.  Things are busier than ever between work, home, pottery, volunteering, etc.  It's life in a blender, just like everybody else.

Onward.

Last week while I was out cutting the lawn, which is growing like Spring hay, I looked around.

Overnight quite a bit of pollen had collected on my van and everywhere else.  That's Spring in the South.  Trees having sex on the breeze and all of us caught in the middle.

The new Autumn ferns we planted in the front yard are throwing up all new heads.  I am happy to see that.

I also watched three hawks doing intricate circles over the yard for a while, but couldn't get a decent picture of them.

When I came back in the house to shower I found this guy waiting for me in the bathroom.

All this in only about an hour and a half and I still had the rest of the day ahead of me.

Stay tuned.

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Family values

As I was coming in tonight I barely noticed something on the bricks by the back porch light. I had to put my reading glasses on and lean way over the railing to see it closer. Once I realized what it was I quickly ran to get the camera.


Make sure you click on it to see it closer. It's a mother wolf spider carrying her young on her back. I've only seen this sight a few times and was glad I could capture it with the camera. Mama wolf was very cooperative and let me take several flash pictures relatively close to her until I got one that wasn't too blurry. If you look at the mortar lines on the bricks you can see that she was pretty big. I'm glad she and her brood were outside the house.

I also saw two adult cicadas up close today, but didn't have my camera with me.



The best I can do right now is post this picture of a cicada emerging that I took in August 2005. I'm always fascinated by the natural world in which we live.