The unexpected

Other digital photographers may have experienced their camera going haywire once in a while, getting blurred images with color flashes that have nothing to do with the original subject. The mandala above is from a picture gone wrong, the colors were bright (I like the purple green combinations). So, I made it into a mandala and liked the results! It turned out quite colorful.

More than one hundred

Hey I looked at the counter and now have 102 postings. Whew! I called up an older flower photo (a lily) to make this mandala. There are so many mandala possibilities with flowers, and such wonderful colors. Here with the pink and green patterns.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

thinking of flowers on a cold day

I was going thru my gardening books and donating unused ones to the Library. One I kept was called Flower Fables by Geraldine E. Nicholson, just a small booklet that started with Anemone, Flower of the wind. It had a discription of "a bluish cup-shapped wild flower, the pasque flower. Pasque (Old French) means Easter, and the name was given to this species by the herbalist Gerarde in 1597 because at Easter is when it blossoms. . . It is the state flower of South Dakota. . . .it is also considered a symbol of old age because of its silvery heads of feathery seeds. Anemones have figured in Indians Songs, legends, and medicines. . patches of these flowers on short furry stems give the appearance of haze. 'Praire smoke" the Indians called them. " We saw a beautiful patch on our way to the mountains this past spring. Usually I see them in smaller groupings of one or two. So of course took a picture that was transformed into the mandala above.

a couple days before Thanksgiving

The mountains in the picture above should be covered in snow by this time in November. Hopefully the storm coming in will deliver some much needed moisture. We are suppose to go from 76 degrees today to 26 degrees by Wednesday. That's a 50 degree drop, scary! So I'm in shirt sleves today but will have several layers on by Thanksgiving. Everyone have a good Thanksgiving celebration! The mandala above goes from rocks at the center nearest the camera to the clouds in the sky, this is from a picture I took from Mount Evans this summer. The feathery edges make it almost a blue flower.

the blossom

The white Christmas Cactus is sort of like angle wings, with the petals arching back. Please note the tiny bit of purple-pink at the tip of the flower, that is what makes the color at the center of the mandala. I like to share the picture the mandala comes from with you, because it is sometimes hard to visualize what it was before it became a circle. There was bright colored paper behind the upper part of the flower.

white Christmas Cactus

Another house plant that blooms this time of year is the Christmas Cactus. The pinkish white blossom is airy with delicate petals and the stamens are a vibrant purple-pink. The color at the center of the mandala is from the stamens. I went to a lecture on gardening in Colorado yesterday- it was very good and reminded me of why I love gardening. And it makes me want to plan for new plants in all the micro-climates in my backyard. I can't wait for the garden catalogs that start arriving in January!

Jade Star

One of the nice things about leaving your house plants outside for the summer is that when you bring them in they bloom sometimes. The cluster of little star flowers formed by my Jade plant is a case in point. They are blooming now toward the beginning of November, and they add a festive air to the plant and to the whole room.

more fallen leaves

We have had such mild weather, it's been beautiful to be outside. There are still leaves to rake and pictures to take. The weather will change next week, thou

trees minus leaves

As the tree branches come together in the mandala above, it reminds me of a stained glass rose window. The leaves are gone from the cottonwoods, but the shrubs still have a fringe of gold. We were walking the dogs along Chreey Creek toward evening when I took this picture. The weather has been so nice here.

White flower with dew

Dew drops on petals and leaves always draws my attention and I liked the folds that the kaliedoscope process creates. The only flowers blooming outside now are mums and pansies. So, I'm using earlier flower pictures to make some new mandalas.

Mudflats

Mudflats at the geyser basin in Yellowstone had all sorts of colors, above are a few. All the pictures are hung ( by the chimney with care ). No chimneys - but it does feel good to have the pictures up in to two shows.