sacrifices

this little bird hit our window and died instantly.

a quick watercolor sketch and we buried it in the zen prairie plot. 

 it saddened me that the beautiful bird died this way.

i went for my first summer swim in medicine creek today.

greg had to sit on the banks since his leg has a giant wound

from a brown recluse spider bite.  two months and the tissue is

 still being scraped out by the doctor and the wound has not shrunk 

one iota.  he is bummed about not being able to sail or swim.  me too.

i've had a major disappointment.  the vegetable garden

was attacked by a grasshopper army.  they seemed to laugh at

my home-made natural bug repellant.  i put so much time and

effort into my garden.... not sure if the plants can recover.

also, three healthy potted tomato plants that i've been

babying for weeks got battered by a severe hailstorm tonight.

who knows? the rest of the garden may be demolished as well.

i'm hoping the hailstorm smashed the grasshoppers to pieces!

nature has been harsh lately.  

odd and random....  a chunk of hail knocked an antler

off this mini elk that stands in a cactus plant.  this feels

strangely symbolic to me. . . . 

  abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram 

caught by its horns.  he went over and took the ram and 

sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

GENESIS 22:13

God will provide.

medicine all around

last evening we went to the nearby sacred native american grounds-

medicine bluffs with medicine creek flowing below.

this has always been hallowed ground to the natives.

and i always feel and see the magic all around.

i picked some sage here, and if you're interested in a little 

to put in your medicine pouch - just drop a note.

healing and happy weekend to you.

a wedding in the neighborhood

 

 

we are 5' 1" - my standing cypress and i! it's still growing though.

our neighbors, beth & gary got married last evening -

the ceremony was outdoors in the neighborhood

and the couple took their vows facing west with

mt. scott in the background.  the weather behaved

and so did all the guests - until it came time to dancing. :)

another neighbor and i had the honor of gathering

wildflowers from the prairie. we collected standing cypress

and fleabane daisies for the bride and made smaller bouquets 

of standing cypress, cutleaf daisies and fleabane daisies

for the maidens.  the wedding was beautiful, festive

and romantic.

i hope your weekend has been beautiful.

I give you a seed....

"I give you a seed." (encaustic on panel)

"When a man or woman is truly honest, 

it is virtually impossible to insult them personally."

-Brennan Manning

More sadness for Oklahoma this weekend.

I pray for gentleness and grace.

Oklahoma Penstemon

This penstemon only grows in Oklahoma.

It's white and delicate and withstands the wind on the mixed prairie.

Peace to you this coming week.

Bittersweet Memento

surprise!

 a friend gave me some of her plants when she moved away

a couple of years ago.  we planted one of the large cacti in the front yard and 

it had the most exquisite bloom on it today. four more buds will follow.

the snakes have gone wild.  i saw two at lake lawtonka yesterday

and then found this snake molt in my wild back yard this morning.  

 

blue-eyed grass

tornando memento

 greg cleaned out more tornado debris from the grill of his car,,,

and it's crazy how this 1984 check from Moore ended up

with us in Medicine Park, Oklahoma.

it's a bittersweet memento.

Italian Stone Pine

The Italian Stone Pine

Inspired by the beautiful native trees I saw in Italy.

This Lilac was a commission from a few weeks ago.

Don't think I ever shared it.

I just love trees!

monday - one week later

prickly pears in bloom

tiny frog

coneflower

working on a musical illustration

'where's charley?'  (papercut)

   

roadrunner w/prickly cactus (encaustic photo)

the vegetable garden is slowly showing more green.

we drove through Moore today as we headed toward OKC.  

the tornado wreckage in Moore was awful. one week ago... 

greg & i looked over at the warren theatre from the hwy 

and we shuddered to think he was in there with his sons. 

after shopping in OKC we headed to the Norman,
to meet up with his sons and watched the new star trek film.

have a good week everyone.

Godspeed.