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Sunday music: Carrie Rodriguez

Carrie’s coming to Castaways in Ithaca April 1. (With local special guest, local banjo hero Richie Stearns.)  Carrie, who got her start in Austin, has been in heavy rotation on the ol’ mp3 players this year.  Her latest CD, Seven Angels on a Bicycle (link takes you to her website where you’ll hear the title track and then ’50s French Movie, another favorite of mine) is a little less twangy than the video, where she performs with veteran songwriter Chip Taylor (Wild Thing, Angel of the Morning). But hey. Nothing wrong with twangy.  Tout c’est bon.

Hey Austin crew: I once heard that Ithaca has more musicians per capita than any other city in the U.S. — except Austin. But watch out, we’re hot on your trail.

Saw you
With him
His hands
Your skin
If you done it once, will you do it again?
No, no, no. I really don’t need this pain.

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As the snow returns …

Snowy spruce

Kokopelli in the snowI forgot to knock wood on that last post.

We picked up 8 or 10 inches late Friday and Saturday. It continued snowing lightly during the rock garden society activities. (I’ll blog about the tufa workshop later.)

Then we picked up another 8 or 10 last night. Official snowfall figures were lower. But the storms often drop a more as they make their way up our little valley.

It wasn’t exactly the Blizzard of ’93 that dropped more than 40 inches of snow in these parts in mid-March of that year. (I remember actually shoveling off my raised beds after the storm so I could get some lettuce planted.)

It’s supposed to hit 60 by the end of the week. But I’m hoping it doesn’t get too warm as my son is coming up from Florida for some late winter snowboarding.

patio furniture under snowjade in snow

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As the snow retreats (lotsa pix)

I love the frenzy of flowers in late spring/early summer.  And the garden here peaks in September when the shear mass of plant  material is nearly overwhelming.  But nothing beats seeing what pops up as the snow retreats.

We hit 63 yesterday and today, and had a little rain today.  The snow has retreated quickly, and we had a nice blanket of ‘melting snow fog’ this afternoon.  (Click on images for larger view.)

snow fog

The rain and melting snow has our little creek up over it’s banks.

over the banks

The snow pealed back to reveil Eranthis (winter aconite) in full flower.

Eranthis

The hard cyclamens are also looking good and flowering within a day of seeing the sun.

cyclamens

cyclamens

And the Hellebores are getting off to a good start …

Hellebores

I’m just as excited to see vegetation that amazingly survives (if not actually grows) under the snow, like these Digitalis ferruginea …

Digitalis ferruginea

… Verbascum …

Verbascum

… Lamium …

Lamium

… and this viny groundcover that’s taking over the patio.

groundcover

Best picture of the batch: This Verbascum has been nibbled on a bit. I wonder by what?

verbascum and bunny turds

Snowdrops, iris and other goodies are coming on, too. More pix from the compressed spring coming soon.

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Glass Flowers of Harvard

Salvia patens Cav. Blue Sage. Lamiaceae. Model 118 (1889).The Corning Museum of Glass — just an hour down the road from here — will be serving up an exhibition May 18 to November 25, Botanical Wonders: The Story of the Harvard Glass Flowers.

The exhibition celebrates the singular triumph of glassmakers Leopold Blaschka (1822-1895) and his son Rudolf (1857-1939); provides insight into the intellectual appetite of the late Victorians, through the lens of botany as an academic discipline and craze; and offers close-ups of the people and the craft process behind the Glass Flowers.

Judging from the photos, they’re really spectacular. The exhibit site includes sketches and details about how the glass flowers were made.

Maybe Julie and the Austin crew should start planning a road trip to escape the dog days.

More on the glass flowers at the Journal of Antiques and Collectibles.

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