Don's Blog Mountain Scene 4-28-21

The Art of Jan Sessions: Jan is adept at creating miniatures. This magical water color mountain scene is 2"x2".

Don's Blog: Collage 4-27-21

The Art of Jan Sessions: The artists first love is collage. This collage is paper on watercolor paper with various glue-ons.

4"x5" Whimsy is her stock in trade.

Don's Blog Outdoor Installation 4-20-21

The Art of Jan Sessions Jan also does outdoor installations. This is "Mossy Railroad Tie with Feathers".

Don's Blog Jan's Wreathe 4-21-21

The Art of Jan Sessions - The wreathes that Jan makes are filled with whimsical treasures.

Flower for the Day Common Mouse Ear Chickweed 4-26-21

For the last few month I have changed the way I walk through the meadows behind our house. If I see a miniature flash of color

instead of ignoring it I stop and hunker down and take an image. It is amazing how these small flowers appear and then after a few weeks disappear and are replaced by new ones. This is common mouse ear chickweed (Cerastium fontanum). The last time I saw it was in the Canadian arctic. It is a herbaceous perennial found in more than 50 countries.

Don's Blog Anchorage Moose 4-25-21

The Art of Jan Sessions: When we lived in Anchorage we had moose walking through our yard much like deer do now. This work shows a moose in watercolor on paper. 4"x5" It brings back great memories.

Flower for the Day Spanish Bluebells 4-22-21

Here is another bluebell which is different from yesterday's Virginia Bluebell. It is Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanics)

also called Spanish Hyacinths or English Wood Hyacinth. It is a perennial late spring bloomer. It is in the asparagus family as is the soon to bloom Lily of the Valley.

The flowers of the bell are more scalloped than the common bluebell.

Bluebells under the trees

Spring has sprung out of the soil

Holding the moment

                                                                                                Kingston Lacy Haiku

Flower for the Day Virginia Bluebells 4-22-21

This is a nice stand of Virginia bluebells (Martens virginica) a Missouri native in the wildflower garden. When I put these in near the house the deer and rabbits ate them before they could bloom. In the wild they are thriving and the space is enlarging yearly.

 

The flower buds are pink and flowers emerge with a pinkish cast before turning blue. 

Virginia bluebells

at first neither blue nor bells

spring ephemeral

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2021

Flower for the Day Wild Blue Phlox 2-20-21

On a walk in the woods the other day We came upon this Missouri native, wild blue phlox (Phlox divaricata). It is

also called wild sweet William and woodland phlox. It has rhizomes so it has slow underground spread.

Its five petals will help differentiate it from Dames Rocket (four petals)  which will soon be blooming.

Flower for the Day Celandine Poppy 4-19-21

Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)  is a Missouri native which shows up in early spring and hangs around for almost 6 weeks. Its also called a wood poppy.

This stand started out in this area several years ago and was moved to a front garden. Last year we moved it back and it grows along a path with stairs and a dry creek bed.

It is thriving,

even in a tree stump.

The yellow blossom is striking.

Primroses will have their glory

And long as there are violets,

They will have their place in story:

There's a flower that shall be mine

'Tis the little celandine.

William Wordsworth

Don's Blog The Art of Jan Sessions 4-19-21

The Art of Jan Sessions: Untitled - collage with clothes (Gordon's T-shirt and Shorts) on canvass with acrylic. This piece was done in the late 1960's.

Don's Bog The Spiders Web 4-15-21

The Art of Jan Sessions: 'The Spiders Web'

This is Jan's interpretation of an actual spider's web. Water color on paper. 12"x20"

Don's Blog Gladys 4-14-21

The Art of Jan Sessions: "Gladys" - this is a painting of how my mom looked in the 1920's. Acrylic on canvas. 28'' round. I smile each time I see it.

Don's Blog St LouisBlues 4-13-21

The Art of Jan Sessions: The St Louis Blues Acrylic on canvas 34"x 42". Can't you just hear Bessie

Smith singing?

Burma Shave

Memories of family trips.

Burma Shave

A man, a miss,

A car, a curve.

He kissed the miss,

And missed the curve.  

Burma Shave

I'm sure that Burma Shave actually saved some lives. People laughed and they were more careful!  It was a REAL "service" to America, even though it was an advertisement and it was one of the RARE "really useful" ones!

For those who never saw any of the Burma Shave signs, here is a quick lesson in our history of the 1930's and '40's.  Before there were interstates when everyone drove the old 2 lane roads, Burma Shave signs would be posted all over the countryside in farmers' fields. They were small red signs with white letters. Five signs, about 100 feet apart, each containing 1 line of a 4 line couplet and the obligatory 5th sign advertising Burma Shave, a popular shaving cream.

DON'T STICK YOUR ELBOW

OUT SO FAR

IT MAY GO HOME

IN ANOTHER CAR.

Burma Shave

TRAINS DON'T WANDER

 ALL OVER THE MAP

'CAUSE NOBODY SITS

IN THE ENGINEER'S LAP.

Burma Shave

SHE KISSED THE HAIRBRUSH

BY MISTAKE

SHE THOUGHT IT WAS

HER HUSBAND JAKE.

Burma Shave

DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD

TO GAIN A MINUTE

YOU NEED YOUR HEAD

YOUR BRAINS ARE IN IT.

Burma Shave

DROVE TOO LONG

DRIVER SNOOZING

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

IS NOT AMUSING.

Burma Shave

BROTHER SPEEDER

LET'S REHEARSE

ALL TOGETHER

GOOD MORNING, NURSE

Burma Shave

CAUTIOUS RIDER

TO HER RECKLESS DEAR

LET'S HAVE LESS BULL

AND A LITTLE MORE STEER.

Burma Shave

SPEED WAS HIGH

WEATHER WAS HOT

TIRES WERE THIN

X MARKS THE SPOT.

Burma Shave

THE MIDNIGHT RIDE

OF PAUL FOR BEER

LED TO A WARMER

HEMISPHERE.

Burma Shave

AROUND THE CURVE

LICKETY-SPLIT

BEAUTIFUL CAR

WASN'T IT?

Burma Shave

NO MATTER THE PRICE

NO MATTER HOW NEW

THE BEST SAFETY DEVICE

IN THE CAR IS YOU.

Burma Shave

A GUY WHO DRIVES

A CAR WIDE OPEN

IS NOT THINKIN'

HE'S JUST HOPIN'

Burma Shave

AT INTERSECTIONS

LOOK EACH WAY

A HARP SOUNDS NICE

BUT IT'S HARD TO PLAY.

Burma Shave

BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL

EYES ON THE ROAD

THAT'S THE SKILLFUL

DRIVER'S CODE.

Burma Shave

THE ONE WHO DRIVES

WHEN HE'S BEEN DRINKING

DEPENDS ON YOU

TO DO HIS THINKING.

Burma Shave

CAR IN DITCH

DRIVER IN TREE

THE MOON WAS FULL

AND SO WAS HE.

Burma Shave

PASSING SCHOOL ZONE

TAKE IT SLOW

LET OUR LITTLE

SHAVERS GROW.

Burma Shave

Do these bring back any old memories? If not, you're merely a child.

Flower for the Day Missouri Violet 4-15-21

The Missouri violet (Viola Sororia) is filling my meadow. Known as the common blue violet it is a herbaceous perennial. Its other names

include common meadow violet, purple violet, woolly blue violet, hooded violet, and wood violet. It is another favorite miniature which requires you to get down to it.The glossy, heart-shaped leaves of this  violet are topped by purple flowers with conspicuous striped throats. 

The three lower petals are  hairy.

There is also an even smaller version which is white.

Don's Blog Laumeier Sculpture Park 4-11-21

Laumeier Sculpture Park has been our favorite for over 60 years. A work of art

can grab hold of you creating questions that remain unanswered. Here is one.

So what number are you?

Flower for the Day Phlox 4-14-21

The phlox beds are now in full bloom. Phlox comes from the Greek for flame. I love the way the phlox 

grow in mats that cover and overhang.

They come in various rich colors.

And even white.

The Little House of Lost Play (Mar Vanwa Tyalieva)

by J R R Tolkien

 We knew that land once, You and I,  and once we wandered there  in the long days now long gone by,  a dark child and a fair.
  Was it on the paths of firelight thought  in winter cold and white,  or in the blue-spun twilit hours  of little early tucked-up beds  in drowsy summer night,  that you and I in Sleep went down  to meet each other there,  your dark hair on your white nightgown  and mine was tangled fair?    We wandered shyly hand in hand,  small footprints in the golden sand,  and gathered pearls and shells in pails,  while all about the nightengales  were singing in the trees.
  We dug for silver with our spades,  and caught the sparkle of the seas,  then ran ashore to greenlit glades,  and found the warm and winding lane  that now we cannot find again,  between tall whispering trees.
    The air was neither night nor day,  an ever-eve of gloaming light,  when first there glimmered into sight  the Little House of Play.
  New-built it was, yet very old,  white, and thatched with straws of gold,  and pierced with peeping lattices  that looked toward the sea;  and our own children's garden-plots  were there: our own forgetmenots,  red daisies, cress and mustard,  and radishes for tea.
  There all the borders, trimmed with box,  were filled with favourite flowers, with phlox,  with lupins, pinks, and hollyhocks,  beneath a red may-tree;  and all the gardens full of folk  that their own little language spoke,  but not to You and Me.
    For some had silver watering-cans  and watered all their gowns,  or sprayed each other; some laid plans  to build their houses, little towns  and dwellings in the trees.
  And some were clambering on the roof;  some crooning lonely and aloof;  some dancing round the fairy-rings  all garlanded in daisy-strings,  while some upon their knees  before a little white-robed king  crowned with marigold would sing  their rhymes of long ago.
  But side by side a little pair  with heads together, mingled hair,  went walking to and fro  still hand in hand; and what they said,  ere Waking far apart them led,  that only we now know.

---

Poem by J R R Tolkien

Flower for the Day Cutleaf Toothwort 4-13-21

This time of year the trees have not leafed out yet so the sun can bring out a myriad of wildflowers. These are called spring ephemerals as

they bloom early and disappear quickly. Here is Cutleaf toothwort (Cardamine concatenata). It is in the Bittercress family and is also called crows toes and pepper root.The common name comes from its tooth shaped edible rhizomes. They reportedly have a peppery taste.

Flower for the Day Grape Hyacinth 4-8-21

When we moved to this home many years ago there were a few grape hyacinths (Muscari racemosum) in the front yard. They gradually

thinned out and disappeared. Last fall I planted some muscari bulbs in the gnome garden along the path.

This week they have shown up.

 

They are commonly called bluebells. I am happy to have them again. They are not real

hyacinths.

             Muscari Haiku

        Blue muscari

        newly washed, in pristine garb

        lounging in my path

         Eleanor Patrick

Don's Blog Robert Frost Poem 4-8-21

The Art of Jan Sessions: This Robert Frost Poem is printed on illustration board with acrylic painting. 8"x10"

Which road did you take?

Flower for the Day Henbit Deadnettle 4-7-21

For years I have been pulling out an early spring weed called Henbit deadnettle (Lamium amplexicaul).

Today I took some closeup images of the flowers. Much to my surprise the blooms are spectacular and exquisite.

It looks like I have fallen in love with a weed.

Don't you just want to crawl inside and close the hairy lid?

Don's Blog - Jan's Angels 4-7-21

The Art of Jan Sessions: Jan's art work has often been practical. This piece is a ceramic trivet printed with some of the angels Jan created out of heavy cardboard while undergoing treatment for breast cancer. She sold the angels for Cancer Society donations. During her therapy her artistic output actually increased.

Don's Blog A New Trail 4-6-21

Our house is on a hill with a meadow behind it.  At the bottom of the hill which is called Grassy Ridge is a creek bed on the north and west sides below us. I have named it Grassy Ridge Creek. It is fed from ground water, street water drainage and a nice little spring. For several years I have been clearing a walking path beside the stream bed and this last week I finished the project which is on common ground in the High Meadow subdivision. The path goes from our meadow down to the site of the spring and follows the stream bed down to the bridge at the  Frank Lloyd Wright House in St Louis County's  Ebsworth Park. It is rough but quite peaceful.

Starting at the bottom near the FLW bridge and walking north you can see the creek's major feature is massive slabs of bedrock.

Continuing north the bedrock gives way to smaller rocks. The creek itself is still overgrown.

Turning to the east the creak bed has even smaller racks and gravel.

It then turns back to stratified slabs of bedrock again.

As we near the spring there is a section that almost always has water.

As we come to the end of our walk there is a delightful area with two quiet pools. The stratified bedrock is unique.

The spring bubbles up from the center of the stream bed all year long. After a big rain the aquifer pressure creates a 1" to 2"

height in the spring.

Don's Blog Painted Stone 4-5-21

The Art of Jan Sessions: Jan sees any flat stone as a work of art. We have a large collection 

of painted ladies just sitting around.

Flower for the Day Spring Beauty 4-5-21

Spring beauty (Claytonia virginica) is one of the earliest Missouri wildflowers. It has multiple names including fairy spud, Good morning spring, and narrow leaf spring beauty. Each flower has 5 petals. 2 green sepals, 5 stamens with pink anthers, and a pistil with a tripartite style. The petals have pale pink stripes.The flowers open in the sun and close at night. 

Once you see them they are everywhere.

Peaceful Spring Morning Haiku

 Fresh spring morning time.

 That's the sound of solitude,

 The presence of peace.

  Billy R. Warner

Fresh spring morning time.
That's the sound of solitude,
the presence of peace.

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/the-2nd-season

Fresh spring morning time.
That's the sound of solitude,
the presence of peace.

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/the-2nd-season

Flower for the Day Periwinkle 4-1-21

No foolin' - periwinkle (Vinca minor) is my true sign of spring. Within a week the ground cover is turned into

 a beautiful blanket of blue flowers. And it happens again in the fall. 

The vinca stays green all winter and does not climb up trees.

Its delicate center is comforting.

Periwinkle Sky

You descended into my soul so effortlessly, like dark blue dissipate into the muted periwinkle sky that kiss the hilltops of dew covered mornings.
Had there been but no measurement of the graceful manner in which your touch take a turn from skin to grasping onto organs locked behind the stern walls this may not be so difficult to comprehend.
Yet for the first time, the notion of numbers on a clock became irrelevant and I saw this beginning in gradients and neon bursts of color that illuminate all in its path.
For what can we track the depth of which we dive into oceans- with a ticking minute hand or the depth in which the opacity of our surroundings grow?
I caught you at midnight, I drowned in your essence like 500 kilometers below sea level, I admire you most at sun break, and I love you, how I love you, like the most effortless periwinkle blue.

Written November 2015

hazel NYC

Don's Blog: The Quilt 4-1-21

The Art of Jan Sessions: Jan and her sister Peg put this quilt together in the 1970's. It is in use every winter. It features flowers and pandas on pink and lots of hearts.

This one of a kind quilt  was beginning to wilt so I asked a quilter named Joy to

rejuvenate it. Her quilting machine added multiple hearts and stability to work of love and art.