carrots

you think you are looking at flowers and seedheads. but break one of these stems and smell, and you will realize the truth, that you are simply looking at the visible parts of a bunch of wild carrots. also known as daucus carota.

queen anne’s lace

softie

i do have thorns that i can deploy when i need to. i am a softie at heart. and my softness is where a lot of my inspiration lies. and softness sometimes needs a little army to protect it and allow it to stay soft.

agave

variety and harmony

i end up spending a lot of my life thinking about palette. what are the colors that belong with each other within a particular field of view? how can colors create a mood that both invigorates and soothes? how much variation is enough to create an interesting thing to look at, but not so much that the view becomes jarring or chaotic? as always. nature is the first place to look for answers.

palourdes, mediterranean clams

birthday bouquet

yesterday i turned 55 years old, and although it was a coincidence of school schedules and available flights, i ended up spending my birthday evening flying to paris to see our daughter, who is spending her spring quarter the way i might have dreamed at her age–studying art and design on the left bank. here’s to birthdays occasionally spent well. and to good dreams occasionally coming true. hers for her life. mine for her.

pink tulips

final flight

i love this time of year because all of the warblers gather in the trees outside my window on their way up north. i hate this time of year because all of the warblers try to fly through my windows on their way up north.

tennessee warbler