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This was awfully fun to see.
Author: get back, laurettadimmick
Now is the moment. For nothing is more beautiful than wisteria in bloom.
This particular wisteria is blooming at the Seattle Japanese Garden as we speak (as I write). This incredible vine was planted in the early 1960s when the garden was first constructed and it was already 35 years old when it was planted. You still with me? That means that this vine is roughly 75 years old! So, yes it is true, some things just get better with age. Fine wine. Wisteria vines. Certain bloggers.
Isn’t it absolutely dreamy?
It even grabs attention even from far away.
This wisteria was blooming in another incredible spot on earth, in Alberobello in Puglia, Italy. I was there in March about four years ago which was springtime in southern Italy. Again, a gorgeous vine! If you are a lucky person, you will recognize that you are in Alberobello by the conical shape of the roofs in the background. They are unique to this spot.
How beautiful is this? Pretty darn beautiful.
And now we are in a different place. You know it immediately by the palm trees.
The picture above and the next few are of a wisteria just starting to bloom in Sorrento on the Amalfi coast. This is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I just couldn’t believe how gorgeous it was. It is almost incomprehensible.
Another picture.
And another.
See the Bay of Naples in the background. I mean, come on…what is more beautiful than this!
The word for wisteria in italiano is glicine.
One day soon I will talk about another of my favorite plants, known in Italian as ortensia. You will have to check back soon to find out what this one is.
Ciao, tutti!
Time Travel, back to April 2013
About a month ago, I had the great pleasure of visiting Skagit county, about an hour north of Seattle, to see the fields of blooming bulbs. There were pastures of daffodils, as above and below.
There were fields of tulips.
Rows of tulips.
Rows and rows and rows of tulips.
You can walk up to and in to some of the fields. But the better place to see the bulbs up close is in the display beds that some of the bulb producers have prepared for visitors. I enjoy looking at the names given to various species throughout the horticultural world. In the photo above you see the variety named “Seattle”. Did the namer think Seattle needed sunshine? Is there a better reason to name this tulip “Seattle”?
This variety is named “Laurel”. For obvious reasons, I always have an affinity for anything named with the Latin root of “laur”.
So, feast your eyes on all the tulips and other bulbs. It is great fun to visit Skagit county in April!
Seattle Japanese Garden on May 10, 2013
Today was one of the most beautiful days on earth. These photos are all of the the Japanese Garden, with an emphasis on the azaleas.
Check out this living wall of blooming azaleas. Check out the reflection of the same flowers in the water.
Another angle.
And the wall again. Did you ever see a more beautiful walkway?
The garden is at its peak right now. There are flowering shrubs everywhere you look.
See what I mean?
The koi are coming out of hibernation (seriously, did you know they hang at the bottom of the water all winter and don’t eat?), and people love to watch them from the zig-zag bridge as above.
The azaleas look even more lovely from below the wisteria arbor.
The water lilies are waking up too. They aren’t blooming yet, but they are growing up from the bottom of the pool.
It seems like most of the azaleas are pink, but some are yellow. You know what, I don’t love azaleas. I like them. But they are so lush and so vibrant here that I find them too gaudy.
Here are some in pumpkin orange.
Happy weekend!
Mother’s Day, in a world saturated with love.
I admit, I am biased, but really, some kids just can’t take a bad photograph. Heart you J.
Dale Chihuly in Tacoma
If you’re a Dale Chihuly fan, you’ll have to go to Tacoma, Washington.
In a landmark Tacoma building, which opened in 1911 as this then booming city’s major train station, some of Chihuly’s large-scale work is displayed with great effect. This is a terrific old building–it’s on the National Register of Historic Places— and the old and new are integrated magnificently here.
One entire wall of the former train station is made up of windows. Originally this would have allowed passengers to watch for incoming or outgoing trains. Today the wall of glass serves as a great light box, covered with these bright yellow and orange disks of blown glass.
Even on a typically overcast northwestern day, the space glows with the warm light shining through Chihuly’s hotly colored spheres.
The masterful manipulation of the blown glass, which you see in this close-up of one of the gigantic spheres, creates a zig zag pattern within the sheet of glass. This design makes me think of Missoni zig zags (and rest in peace, Ottavio Missoni, founder of the great Italian fashion brand, who died today at age 92).
Handling the molten glass in a certain way to produce this design is a time-honored method in the world-famous Venetian glass world, and Chihuly’s training in that tradition shines through beautifully.
Standing directly in front of one of these huge transparent disks, it’s easy to get lost in the spectacle of orange and yellow.
Mother’s Day
The love of my life.
Through the years, we’ve been together.
And then, while I wasn’t looking, you grew into your senior high school year. How did this happen so quickly? I am still trying to figure it out. I love you JDDB!
More Dale Chihuly
Just can’t get enough of these colorful glass extravaganzas by Dale Chihuly.
Both of the images above are shots of the glass ceiling in the current Chihuly exhibition at the Seattle Center. For me, this ceiling gives Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling a run for its money. Some pope or other fantastically rich person should give Chihuly a commission for a ceiling on that scale.
In this picture you can get a clue of how this incredible ceiling of glass was built.
One more of the ceiling and now I am forcing myself to move on. It’s hard, but I’ll do it.
Take a gander at this major centerpiece, as in centerpiece of a room. A very large room.
A detail of the blue centerpiece.
Another detail. Man how I love this piece. Let’s look at one more detail.
Pretty amazing, yes?
And then there is this white confection. Did you ever pull taffy? That is what I think about looking at this gorgeous thing.
L’ ultra Cosa Bella (the most beautiful thing)
What else is there to say other than, Henri Matisse. Love this painting of The Dance.
Happy weekend, everybody! Ciao!
Dale Chihuly in Seattle
Lord knows Seattle has got a lot of gorgeous things in it.
Very few of these gorgeous things are more extravagant than the Dale Chihuly glass sculptures.
You can catch some incredible reflections of the Space Needle in Chihuly’s work.
But in Chihuly’s current exhibition at the Seattle Center, the best thing is that you can see are the reflections of your own mind.
I love to wander through this extravaganza of Chihuly’s work, which feels a lot like being in the rabbit’s hole in Alice in Wonderland.
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