[OT from cottage renovations]
First Avenue cottages, their metal porch rooves gleaming in last Sunday's afternoon rain.
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With the leaves down, sight lines have opened around the Grove and architectural detail is now easier to see and appreciate.
[OT from cottage renovations]
given how ridiculously soggy wet this year has been it really didn't come as a surprise when the temperature went down for the precipitation to have continued.
it was a very quiet day here in the Grove, most folks having the sense to stay indoors.
the only people I saw abroad had snow shovels, sleds or cross country skis.
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there are some images that I haven't had the sense to get past taking, and this is one of them. of note is that the snowcap on the porch roof has drifted up above the bottom of the upper front window; it is odd to look out through it and have the view partially obstructed by snow.
of course. what else were you expecting?
with no events going on in the Town Hall the snow was drifting up to its porch. the sign in front, the flag and the brick chimney provide the only chromatic highlights in an otherwise highly subdued scene.
another iconic image, we seem to have some severe repetition settling in here. the large oak growing up through Mimi's porch is framed by lesser trees in the foreground; that one on the R with its leaves doesn't do much for the image but I was neither able to crop it out nor willing to remove it digitally (not that I wasn't tempted, but perhaps tomorrow will afford a chance to go back and find a better location from which to try again with this image).
unlikely though it may seem to those who know the setting well, this has become one of my favourite views within the Grove: looking down Acorn Lane across Chestnut Avenue and the church parking lot into the West Woods. this is another image I've tried to capture at different times but it can be a challenge to compose -- I wanted it to be about depth as well as height so it needed more cropping to the R than I would have liked.
if you think you've seen this before, you're right.
crank the wayback machine to April 2006 (and scroll to the bottom of the entry).
holiday lights shine brightly on the façade of Hutch and Linda's cottage.
[OT from cottage renovations]
the afternoon was so pleasant I couldn't find it in me to remain sensibly indoors. surely fresh air and a bit of a walk would do more good than more resting, right?
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this time of year the hydrangeas can be nearly just as attractive in the dried state as they had been at their peak.
backlighting helps bring out the detail of the upper cluster from whose delicate structure nearly almost all of the petals have been blown away.
cottage peaks show to best advantage in the afternoon light.
[OT from cottage renovations]
for a couple weeks the days have drawn me away from the Grove and I have been obliged to lay down camera and take up other pursuits. Saturday provided the start of a three day weekend, a welcome chance to take it all in again at least for a while.
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for some reason our hibiscus flowers seem to be more horizontally than vertically oriented. that aspect, and the morning light, were sure to catch my attention.
morning glories, radiant in, well, glorious morning light.
click on through for a better look at how it all came together.
disregard for a moment the Subject: line of this post. this last image was actually taken on Sunday afternoon.
[OT from cottage renovations]
in this case, the same mimosa that's been burning a hole in the camera's CCD sensor. but this afternoon's sky cranked down the blue to that palest of shades you see below, backlighting these fronds and the next thing I knew I had just taken yet another image. sorry 'bout that ...
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[OT from cottage renovations]
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with the light coming from behind it like this, this one is more about the leaves than it is about the blossoms. it doesn't really catch the light the way I saw it, but here it is anyway.
you might need to click through to see what's going on with that stalk.
[OT from cottage renovations]
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oldhouses and victorian_house]
another image in the continuing irregular Grove cottage porch series.
this cottage is the smallest in the Grove and is considered the oldest. somewhere along the way the front doors have been blocked off so nowadays the porch is used only by cats; nonetheless it is an excellent example of early Grove porch design. Bittersweet Cottage is among the many whose porches once looked like this but were since expanded.
note that the outer posts are square section while the ones at the L rear were turned on a lathe and have decorative brackets.
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[OT ]
when a hosta's in bloom
like this
with its blossoms backgrounded by the plant's leaves
like this
I know better than to
even think about
walking past
without stooping
down to its level
for an image
like this
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[OT from cottage renovations]
I'm not sure what it says about my upbringing that I ended up with such an affinity for plants that look like they were designed by Dr. Seuss.
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this is one of my favourites.
[OT from cottage renovations]
over the weekend another Spider Man film is said to have been released. haven't seen it myself, but how coincidental can it be that here in the Grove arachnifera are blooming? cinematic marketing is completely without limits.
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[OT from cottage renovations]
those who have the calendar might recognise these as being from the same plant featured this month.
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[OT from cottage renovations]
these wild cherry trees, common in the area, are just coming into bloom.
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[OT from cottage renovations]
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the azalea out back seems to be joining the list of plants that are having an exceptional spring. these blooms are just a couple of the many it has that are getting ready to happen.
down the other end of First Avenue this wisteria is uncompressing its tightly packed buds and extending them into the characteristic trailers.
[OT from cottage renovations]
though things haven't yet warmed back up, a great deal of preparation for spring is still underway. for example, this 1st Avenue wisteria has produced these buds.
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it's hard to keep from falling for a vine with such graceful loops.
still trying to catch up with the image backlog; this is from Saturday the 23rd.
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the Grove's layout tends toward smaller lots and larger common spaces. one consequence of this is fewer fenced yards, which creates a greater visual sense of openness.
one of the first things I realised on first moving here was that the slab fence then surrounding the property didn't seem to fit well with its surroundings, so I experimented with ways to make it work: first by alternating its boards to opposite sides for a wyngate effect, then by removing alternate boards, and then by cutting it down from six feet to three or four. though each of these seemed to help, none were satisfactory so in the end I removed it entirely.
some in the Grove have animals, or small children, or just a preference for neatly delimiting their boundaries. this fence surrounds the grounds of 1 the Circle. during the process described above I traced the outline of one of its pickets onto a template that I used to shape the remaining boards of the last standing phase of the fence -- if it was going to remain I wanted it to fit in with one as attractive as this.
[OT from cottage renovations]
as I headed out Friday morning to a difficult and depressing day at the office, it was even harder than usual to leave the Grove with the light so clear and abundant. this instilled in me a wish -- and resolve -- to get out into that light if it were to last into the weekend.
it did, and I spent almost all of Saturday just walking around the Grove, seeing afresh what the light can do for the place and, consequently, what the combination can do for my own spirits.
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the taxonomy of this ornamental species was elusive at best, but I was pleased with the reflection of tree and cottage in its glass marble fruit. the plastic berries and fabric blossoms will be wanting a bit of dusting.
we've already been touched by a couple of frosts so these hydrangea leaves won't be looking like this much longer. but there's plenty of texture, shadow and light here, and that one stalk behind the leaf to the L can be made out both by shadow and by translucence.
this pokeweed stem has already set loose its fruit and seeds. though use depleted for that purpose, it now provides a habitat for the tiny spiders whose webs can be seen against the light streaming across the field and through its structure.
autumnally blooming crocus can be found in a few places around the Grove. these clusters are near the gazebo. others can be found near the Circle, where in a week or two a couple of the azaleas will be following a similarly syncopated cycle.
are these plants out of season, or is it merely the floral embodiment of traditional Grove eccentricism?
there's nothing special about this plant, other than what these leaves did with the light. I didn't need any more provocation than that.
multiflora rose is one of the nastier invasives around -- right up there with bamboo and kudzu. but that doesn't keep me from falling for its shape and form. I really should be firmer about these things.
I don't know this one either, but it sure does a fine job of catching afternoon sweetlight.
it can take a lot of work to keep up with the tendency of Mimosa trees to spread all over the place -- it seems one is forever pulling up seedlings. nonetheless one can admire the luminous quality of the pods from which they disperse.
I was alerted to these by the property owner, who kindly invited me to take these images. getting the right sun angle entailed two trips back: one in the afternoon and another the following morning.
the common name for this plant is American Beautyberry or Beauty Bush; the former brings to mind roses and the Grateful Dead. the berries are wonderfully chromomorphic: lavender in sun and purple in shade.
[OT from cottage renovations]
I returned to Mimi's back fence to see how yesterday's chain link rose was doing in this morning's light. it was too late; it had passed its peak and was on its way out. the consolation prize was this one, rising up from the top of the fence around the corner on the Center Street side.
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[OT from cottage renovations]
one of Mimi's roses is blooming through the chain link fence. I went back today and tried both the morning and afternoon light.
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have you a preference? if so, which one and why?
[OT from cottage renovations]
Mimi's roses are in bloom out back of her cottage.
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[OT to cottage renovations]
[cross posted to doorwindowwall]
seven avenues (walkways) radiate from the Circle; this cottage is located at the other end of 1st Avenue. it also appears in the entry for 12 February 2006 and in a loose gallery image from 13 July 2005.
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