and September's sapphire haired beauty, Iris. she is available FOR SALE here:
i'll be posting little Opal (October's mermaid) in the next day or two. just have to scan her, as she's been done for a few days now.
September means FALL and wow, it can not come quick enough for me! this rain forest-like climate is a bit much. never liked summer. never will.
looking forward to all the smells of autumn (like pumpkins, apples, cinnamon...). speaking of pumpkins, i am already drooling at the anticipation of my first cup of pumpkin spice coffee from dunkin' donuts. OMG....SO YUMMY!!! and if that wasn't enough to excite me....
4 MORE DAYS TIL KICK OFF AND MY MAN PEYTON TAKING THE FIELD!!! SUPER STOKED!!!
sapphire blue, to be exact.
working on Iris, September's mermaid this week. still slowly recovering from c spine surgery so i can't paint as quickly or as much as i'd like.
the nervous system never ceases to amaze me. especially how neck surgeries affect your arm and your hand. i guess that's why those neurosurgeons get paid the big bucks! they certainly deserve it! amazing how all that stuff works...
hoping to have beautiful little Iris done soon! :)
and it's beautiful little sapphire haired mermaid named Iris.
i've had just about enough of this rain forest like humidity and awful heat we've been having for the last few weeks here. soooo ready for september, fall...and dare i say....WINTER?! i'm ALWAYS ready for WINTER, but this summer is really one for the books! so over it!
i've been sketching out the remaining 5 mermaids over the last week, with september, october and may all sketched and ready to be laid out on the canvases. february and april are the only 2 left to sketch.
still recovering from the third c-spine fusion a couple of months ago, as healing this time around is going to take longer than i would like, due to all the surgeries in a short amount of time. so, i'm trying to pace myself and work a little slower than my usual rocket speed pace. but...doctor's orders :)
going to start painting beautiful little Iris here in the next couple of days and i can't wait to pick up the brush and work with gorgeous blues and violets on this one!
Iris in April?
Should be Memorial Day --
Seasons are wacko.
© Mary Lee Hahn, 2012
Poem #23, National Poetry Month 2012
Truth in advertising -- this is neither an iris from my garden, nor is it an iris that's blooming right now (it's name is Fire and Ice, and it's from Mom's garden last June).
But I really did do a complete double-take last week when I saw whole beds of iris blooming in Denver. Some are blooming here, too. What's up with THAT?!?! Iris bloom at the end of May so that you can cut them and take them to the cemetery to lay on the graves on Memorial Day. Used to be, at least. Can't tell me nothing's wacko about the weather and/or the seasons...
Cathy, at
Merely Day By Day, is joining me in a poem a day this month. Other daily poem writers include Amy at
The Poem Farm, Linda at
TeacherDance, Donna at
Mainely Write, Laura at
Writing the World for Kids (daily haiku), Liz at
Liz in Ink (daily haiku), Sara at
Read Write Believe (daily haiku), Jone at
Deo Writer (daily haiku)...and YOU?
Working with a macro lens is like looking at life through a microscope—seeing what you would not see were you just passing through. So that yesterday, between rain bursts, I could be found crouching in my garden or braced above a vase of flowers, dialing in and out of temporal focus. I was catching the reflected crossbars on a puddled stamen and discovering the zebra stripes of iris. I was thinking how razor edged the lily is, how much like a skirt a blur of hydrangea seems, as photographed from above.
I brace myself for the macro lens. I balance against a wall, try not to breathe, snap. It's rare when a photograph works just right. No matter what gets MemorySticked in the end, I've had the privilege of seeing.
Okay, I just finished this book and I loved it! Iris, Messenger, by Sarah Deming, tells the story of a middle schooler named Iris Greenwold who lives with her mother in Middleville, Pennsylvania. Iris, like many other protagonists, hates going to school and really doesn't have any friends but she loves daydreaming and does her best to just get through the day avoiding detentions. Which she is not very good at.
Slight Spoiler AlertThen on her twelfth birthday she receives a copy of Bullfinch's Mythology and is captured by the stories as well as the notes scribbled in the margins. Of course the notes lead her to the world of gods and goddesses living right in her hometown, carrying on their own lives and trying their hardest to do a job similar to their immortal powers: Aphrodite owns a beauty shop, Hephaestus works as a mechanic, Artemis is a private detective and, my personal favorite, Hades is the principal of Iris's middle school ("Middle school is the closest thing we've found to hell." How great is that quote!?). Greek myths are woven throughout the story as the deities help Iris to discover her identity as well as help Iris's mother (a soybeantologist) get her job back.
The book was a completely exhilarating read. Iris had a delightful personality and the story was both witty and poignant. I also love books where the author redeems the characters from another story (The Game by Diana Wynne Jones is another) and Deming kindly saves the poor, dilapidated Greek gods and goddesses from their tragic lives to a happily ever after in a hilarious epilogue (and I would have been very jealous of Iris's happy ending in my middle school years, that's for certain). I actually learned more about myths from this fun book (and I considered myself an intermediate myth-lover, if not an expert); I can't wait until Ms. Deming comes out with another.
You are so right! My iris are up, not blooming yet, but the color is there. And it's supposed to be 90 today, while it's snowing in the northeast. Wacko for sure. The haiku makes just the right comment!