Blog of Cris Koonce

"The Nature of This Flower is to bloom."
- Alice Walker

Thinking of spring and hoping for rain and cooler temperatures to give relief for all.

This was the first year I planted gladiolus. I've always enjoyed their graceful, ever-changing beauty. They come in a variety of colors. I had to be quick to cut the stalks to put them in water in the vase. The deer seemed to enjoy the tender flower buds - at least enough to try them out... aka, eat them. So, pretty much, if we wanted to get to look at them, we weren't going to be able to do that much actually outside in the garden.

"I thank You God for this most amazing day;
for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky;
and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes."
- E. E. Cummings

Continuing is the theme of For the Birds - bird pictures. Mr. Shannon inquired as to the possibility of a peacock picture appearing in the mix. I shant disappoint. So these are for Shannon - and for Miss Joni too, who has shared her appreciation for these magnificant creatures as well. They are interesting birds. It never ceases to amaze me how colorful birds can be.

Both of these photos were taken at Clark Gardens Botanical Park, at different times.

There is a lovely, delightful young lady who works at Clark Gardens. We will call her Miss B. Miss B. has a waryness of birds, especially large ones. She never had a bad encounter with a bird, but she is, well, terribly afraid of them. Imagine how she felt, new to her job when she discovered that the peacocks like to stay in the area near the office building - where her office is. The peacocks like to look at themselves in the large glass windows (floor to ceiling) that are - you guessed it - at the front of the building on either side of the also glass front door. During some seasons, the peacocks will jump at the glass to challenge and attack the peacock that looks just like them.

Early in her tenure, Miss B. noted how the peacocks like to stand on her car, and how she would walk way around them to get where she was going, or wait until they moved away from the area she needed to be. It should be mentioned, these peacocks are used to being around people, so they don't exactly scurry away when a human is near. Now - that time has passed, Miss B. says they don't bother her nearly as much as they did in the beginning. Yay.

I'd like to extend a special thank you to Miss Eileen. Eileen, one of my favorite parts of wirting this little blog is the anticipation of getting a note from you. I deeply enjoy the stories and comments you share.

Until next time...

5x7 peacock photo note cards are available.

"I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm."
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Everyone wants to understand painting. Why don't they try to understand the singing of birds?
People love the night, a flower, everything that surrounds them without trying to understand them.
But painting - that they must understand."
- Pablo Picasso

"Different people have different duties assigned to them by Nature;
Nature has given one the power or the desire to do this, the other that. Each bird must sing with his own throat."
- Anonymous

This week is for the birds. That's right. The next few photos will be of birds. Hopefully I will remember there is a theme in the works. Good thing it's in writing.

It would be wrong of me to lead you to believe that the picture above is a glorious capture of a hummingbid in flight, enjoying a honeysuckle flower. While those are the subjects, this is one image made up of two separate photographs.

One of the neatest pictures I never took was of a hummingbird. I was near my dad's house taking pictures of a butterfly on a lone and tall thistle flower. Quite content I was. Click. Click. Click, Then a hummingbird suddenly appeared. [Hummingbirds never slowly appear.] The butterfly and hummingbird were both enjoying the thistle flower at the same time. Wow! How cool is this!?. Oh - I should take their pictu... The hummingbird was gone.

This must be why we have memories. 'Cause we don't always have a camera. And even if we do, sometimes it's just more fun to enjoy the moment. Sounds like a great excuse from the person who missed taking a potentially awesome photograph. Have ya ever noticed how the pictures we miss taking were always going to be the best ever?

I like Pablo Picasso's quote above. You can just feel his frustration from hearing everyone else's views and questions of his work. I'm sure every artist must think, "I paint. You enjoy." Seems simple enough.

The hummingbird & honeysuckle photo above is available as a 5x7 note card and an 8"x10" fine art print. Until next time...

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I'm not a mom myself, but by being around lots of great ones, including my own, I have a deep appreciation for their patience, tolerance and love.

My mom taught me more than she will ever know, and I retained more of it than I would ever let on while she was here with us. Often, when I look at a flowering plant, the identity is shared with me by her somehow. I don't know how it works, and that doesn't matter. One time it was especially noticeable. Bill and I were looking at the flowers along our neighbors hillside. There was a single plant with a beautiful vibrant flower of flame orange-red. Bill asked me what it was. I told him it was a crocus. When we got back in the house, I looked it up and sure enough, it was a crocus. I don't know the first thing about crocus. Mom did. She knew everything.

Mom was a scholar, an intelectual, who knew to come in out of the rain. Not all intellectuals have common sense. She did. She told me that when she was little and in school, her desk was along the wall where the encyclopedias were kept. When she was through working on her school work, she would read them. She started with A and worked her way to somewhere past the middle of the set when the school year was over. (She told me which letter, but I can't remember.)

Mom loved plants and flowers and making stuff grow. And boy could she make it grow. She had lots of green thumbs. She had an opinion too - and shared it. It wasn't often at all that I disagreed; and I could always appreciate her view-point. She and my dad are the two most gracious and generous people I've ever had the privilege of knowing. So- to my dad - I wish you a happy day on this Mother's Day. Thank you for marrying my mom and puttin' up with me. I know you share my feelings for all the great moms, 'cause Grandma was awesome!

The lovely young lady in the picture above is my step-daughter, Laura (19). It was taken at Christmas 2010. She is playing her dad's guitar. His kids and I pitched-in to get it for him. Laura is one of my favorite subjects to photograph. She's always been a willing victim - and she's cute. Until next time...