Wonderfulicious Wednesday

What? I haven't posted since mid June?

These days I mostly post on Instagram at @gailpe.

Dancing Leaves, above.

I have a penchant for decay and or withered botanicals. 

My gardener knows that if I have leaves on the patio table that

they're not to be cleaned up. Often, a leaf needs another day or

two of weathering.

I'm not sure which version of the Plumeria leaf I prefer. 

The leaf was so delicate that pieces of it started flaking off

before I got it into the house.

I created all of the backgrounds.

My guy planted a yellow hibiscus 8 years ago that hasn't grown much

over the years, in fact, it's shrunk and has nearly died a few times.

It rarely blooms. This year I severely cut back a red hedge

of hibiscus and fertilized them, a lot. The bushes have filled out

and bloomed like crazy. But until the last few weeks the struggling yellow bush

continued to look pathetic and then suddenly it started filling out and 

producing flowers. 

The macro above is unedited. I know, rare for me . . .

The center of the yellow hibiscus is spectacular! 

There is another yellow hibiscus in the yard, but it's 

center is yellow, nice, but a bit ordinary.

Continuing with my love of creating a series of images 

the Mexican Bird of Paradise bush started blooming  . . .

I only have one bush this year after the other one

drowned last winter when the pot didn't drain. 

Decayed flowers, above.

A single flower, sculptural, went through a variety of apps

to achieve the painterly/sketch effect.

When a bunch of flowers scatter

on the ground they become precious to me.

The above flower went through a few apps to give

it a painterly/sketch effect and then it needed a background.

The background was a long process of layering and layering and layering

textures and images. I imagine I'll use the background again someday.

And finally, a macro of the Mexican Bird of Paradise 

in all of its glory! This image is only tweaked a little

to bring out the texture and colors. 

I must have flowers, always, and always.

Claude Monet

Wonderfulicious Wednesday

Oh my! I decided to treat myself

to a macro lens for the iPhone. 

I do love close ups! 

Decades ago when I

had a Hassleblad camera 

and did darkroom work it was

all about landscapes!

I don't know if it's that I'm older or what, but

now I prefer close-ups and a more intimate 

view of the world. Landscapes rarely interest

me anymore.

The macro lens caught what I

didn't even see on the Begonia, 

a few brown spots. 

I do love the combination of sharpness against blurred

areas. 

Shells on the worktable waiting to be photographed

became perfect candidates for the first few photos

with the new lens. 

There is a bit of a learning curve with 

the new lens, mostly because

my vision is wonky. 

Happy Autumn! I'm looking

forward to cooler temps and 

time outdoors again. 

Wonderfulicious Wednesday - some nuggets for this week.

Saw this Begonia as I walked into Trader Joe's yesterday.

I haven't had a plant call out to me in

awhile; seemed apropos on

my birthday week.

Finally, a little rain yesterday. While

 some areas got enough rain to flood, the

rain here was a mere surface wetting.

I discovered the leaf, above, dried in a book.

I don't know where the leaf came from or

why I stuck it in a book but when it showed

up in my life it felt like a gift from the past.

I had to photograph it. 

This morning the yard was full of 

gifts from yesterday's wind. 

The beautiful bunch of leaves, above, is from

the Calliandra vine. And below . . .

a mystery leaf.

The cluster of leaves, above, is from 

the Tipu tree that has

quadrupled in height this

year, much to the dismay

of the gardener who recently

told me he wishes he'd pruned

more off it last year.

The growth of this tree in

8.5 years is nothing short

of phenomenal, 

Plumeria

Plumeria! Who knew that I'd try a Hawaiian flower? I'm impatiently waiting for these two to open. They're right outside of my bedroom window under the pergola. I have a feeling that the intense desert sun might be too much for them even though the info. on them is that they like up to 6 hours of bright sunlight. The newly planted flowering plum tree is now enshrouded in burlap to keep it from getting anymore sunburned! The leaves started to crisp on the edges; what wouldn't get crispy in this heat!?

What can be more luxurious than sleeping in until 10:30 in a new soft bed? The decade old bed had been purchased for its hard mattress in the belief that I needed lots of support for my back and hips. But lately that belief wasn't living up to itself so the full size bed was traded in for a queen size one with a pillow top. Oh my gosh! The luxury is almost too much and I find it very difficult to get up in the morning. The old sheets had so many holes in them that my toes would get caught in them. I splurged and got a high cotton count and will never ever again buy cheap sheets! After all, one's bed needs to be a comfortable haven!

I stayed up until 2am this morning, so I deserved to sleep in, cutting out patterns and paint and rust dyeing the muslin pieces. My hands are blue tinged today, when will I remember to wear gloves! I cut out a shirt and a long skirt. I picked up a new pattern on Tuesday at JoAnn's for pants and skirts. I think that the last time I wore a skirt was in the 80's! I didn't even wear a dress to my daughter's wedding, but I remember how nice it is to wear a long skirt on hot evenings. The pattern has an elastic waist, deep pockets and a back split; should be fairly easy to make. I have a feeling though, that I should have chosen to cut out the larger size out rather than the smaller one. When did patterns start having 3 sizes to choose from!? The cut out pieces are rust dyeing. The shirt pieces were Dyna-flow paint dyed. I wet fabric and sponged on Turquoise paint, scrunched the fabric until the paint was fairly evenly blended. The fabric was then scrunched up into tight balls and left to dry. This morning there were crackled blotches of deeper Turquoise in random areas. Nice pattern. The only thing that was wrong was that the front pieces weren't dyed as dark as the sleeves, back or yoke was! I doubt that I can get the color right but after they dried I redid them a little bit darker. So naturally, they'll have more crackled blotches on them. The fabric is after all hand-dyed!

I've mentioned the heat; probably too much! But it's painful when it reaches 121 which it did last week, I don't think though that I've mentioned the bugs! I nearly packed my bags and left this morning when a cricket the size of a mouse joined me in the bathroom! We've had numerous crickets in the house but this one was by far the largest one I've ever seen! I stood there swearing at it hoping it would die of fright, but no such luck. Of course I was bare-foot so I ordered the darn thing to stay put until I could find the flip-flops. Amazingly enough it didn't move! They usually jump off to a safe place before I can find something to smash them with; I'm all for getting rid of bugs that invade my territory. If they leave me alone I leave them alone, but when one that large makes its presence known one of us is going down!
Stacy later told me that there is a "monster" cricket in the house somewhere and she was so scared by it that she went back to bed this morning! No wonder she didn't come in to wake me up. She's relieved to know that it's no longer wandering around the house.

The gnats are the other bug that is driving me nuts! Who knew that they would multiply and take over the entire house!? I must have inhaled hundreds of them by now. They end up in our glasses of water, in the food, in our noses and eyes until we're nearly driven mad! Guess it's time to call an exterminator!

Yesterday was one of those days-from-hell that strike without warning! Had to deal with more health oriented issues than I had patience for! The Ins. keeps changing about what meds are covered leaving me scrambling for samples from the doctors until I can order the meds online from Canada! One of Stacy's meds always needs a prior authorization before its filled and the staff in the doctor's office always has a million reasons why its taken over a week to get to the paperwork. Then there was the post office line that was ridiculous (my friend needed his cell phone that he forgot to pack on Tuesday when he left after a week-long visit), the paving being done in the pharmacy parking lot; smelling tar in 105 degree heat walking further than I have energy for wasn't pleasant! Then there was the mistake in billing for the meds that were ready at the pharmacy, then there was the road construction, then the computers were down in the dialysis clinic causing glitches and delays getting on and off the dialysis machine, then . . . by the time I got home I needed to be alone! Mom couldn't figure out where the bread was or how to make a sandwich, again! and one of the cats had thrown up! "Don't I have wine with my lunch?" mom asked. Since when? Of course she couldn't get the cork out of the wine bottle or find the wine glasses. Sheesh! Today I found the lunch meat in the freezer along with the mayo! I forgot to check the freezer after she'd made lunch for Stacy and herself; she puts too many items into the freezer that should go back into the refrigerator; mayo doesn't freeze very well, good thing I had a new jar in the pantry!
And to top things off the nurse from Dr. D's office, mom's doctor, phoned at 2pm to say that the bone density test had come back and that the doctor needs to see mom to give her the results! "We can't have them over the phone," I asked. "He'd like for her to come in next week." Now what?!

But yesterday ended on a high note when a package of goodies arrived from C! I have the "bestest" friends; people I've never met in person, but who I feel close to anyway. Yummy fibers, fabric, books, beads, game pieces, the tiniest journal in the world, journal cards by Randi Feuerhelm-Watts(I'm a fan of her work!) texture plates . . . oh my gosh! I'm so thankful and blessed to have special people in my life who take the time to send me goodies! T, D, and L have also sent my packages when I seem to need them the most.

Kangaroo Paw

There are three Kangaroo Paw plants in the garden and while the red blooms are wonderful I almost prefer them when they start to die and begin to look even more other-worldly than they normally do. Without the spiky red blooms the plant isn't very exciting. I tried growing them up north; all I got for my effort was one tiny spike that lasted about 3 days. These have been in bloom for two weeks; they seem to thrive in the warm weather.

After an hour of playing with various shots I opted for the black-and-white version. This image reminds me of a vintage photograph. The background is painted paper towel. I've been slapping paint onto paper towels in an attempt to come up with something abstract to use for a postcard exchange. I couldn't understand the current hoopla about painting paper towels but I'm beginning to understand it. In fact, painting paper towels can be quite addictive.