May

Things were in full swing in May. But I still took time to photograph - and more importantly, smell - the snowbells (Styrax japonica) that bloom outside of the guest apartment window. This tree also happens to be between the door of the house and the door of my studio (which is in the garden), strategically planted in that location so that when I walk by, the wafting fragrance forces me to stop, bury my nose in the blossoms (watching out for bumble bees) and get a little tipsy from the sweet scent. Delight.

April: Serviceberries in Bloom

One of my favorite things about our garden is our five serviceberries that we planted in our rain garden. A rain garden is a small detention pond that catches runoff, in this case from our roof, and holds it there while the water slowly seeps into the ground rather than flooding our neighbors:

I have written several posts on the Therapeutic Landscapes Network Blog about these trees, including one called "Serviceberries Make Me Happy." And they do. They flower early, with delicate white blossoms that only last for about a week or so. The leaves emerge soft and downy, like little pale green rabbit's ears.

Faulty camera

My camera started misbehaving in April. Early on, if it was acting up I could just shake it or wait a couple of minutes and it would calm down and take normal pictures again. This is our front yard, with the coral maple all bright spring green and the white redbud (yes, I know, funny name) blooming in the background. The sculpture is by our friend Eric Tillingast.

After awhile the shaking and waiting didn't work and I thought my camera was dead. Luckily (sort of), Canon was very nice and they fixed it, cleaned it, and sent it back to me. So much for my excuse to buy a new camera...

Hudson Valley Light

People are always going on about the Hudson Valley light. Having moved from Santa Fe, New Mexico, another place known for its enchanting light, this one aspect of the area doesn't usually strike me. But on this day in February, close to sunset, the light really was pink. This is not my faulty camera (I know you won't believe me when you see the next post, but it's really true!); the light was pink and made everything else pink as well. It's a terrible picture, but at least you see the light, and our witch hazel in bloom.

Big Bambu and (what used to be and what we Beaconites still refer to as) Tallix

In early spring, before the Starn brothers re-opened Big Bambu to the public, our friend George (who is now running for City Council at Large and for whom everyone should vote) let us wander around the giant (former) Tallix space. I told him I wouldn't publish any of my pictures of the sculpture, and I hope the Starns don't mind my posting a couple snapshots from their studio. Above is a detail of this notepad:

And here's a detail of the ropes that the climbers use for climbing and to tie the sculpture together. You can see a little of the actual Big Bambu in the background:

Outside the Tallix building is pretty great, too. Here's a pallet on top of a marble base on top of a piece of plywood. So Beacon.

I think this lady got left behind:

One of the things we loved and still love about Beacon is its industrial past, and its grittiness. Especially on a cold, blue-light February day, this blue building and other structures looked very, well, blue:

And another thing we love about Beacon is the fact that our friend George can take us for a quick peek at a sculpture in progress by world-famous artists who just happen to be using Beacon for their project...pretty cool.

Catching Up

This is one of my latest pictures, taken in August. August marked our four-year anniversary of living in this fair city. Today is September first. The dill is from Common Ground Farm, our CSA. The tomatoes are from our garden. But we need to back up a little bit...

This always happens. I get all excited about a project in January, in my slow time of year, and then April hits and work stomps out all of the extra non-paying creative stuff I do. Luckily, I get to be creative in work, but still. I've been missing this blog. Today I got a nice note from someone who found A Year (or two, or three...) in Beacon whilst looking for information on Dia:Beacon. I have no idea how she found me; I just tried googling Dia:Beacon for websites, blogs, and images and this blog was nowhere to be found. Nevertheless. I'm going to play hooky for an hour or so and catch up a bit. A fellow Beaconite, Gary, has a lovely blog that's mostly images (actually, it's only images), and he has inspired me to say less and show more.

So, working backwards from early spring, here are a few posts:

Speaking of Gary, his wife Virginia makes beautiful pottery. These pears happily occupy the bowl that she gave me and J. as our wedding present.