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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Where the Sidewalk Leads!

My danged interfering sciatica must be feeling a bit better.

After finally checking into my room yesterday afternoon, all I wanted to do was drop off my bags, grab a water bottle and my ear-buds and find myself a sidewalk!

I’d been sitting long enough. Long enough in two airports, long enough on the runway being de-iced, long enough on the planes, long enough waiting for my room to be made ready. This girl needed to MOVE!

Don’t you love this photo? I love late afternoon when the shadows are long. And this is a picture heavy post on things that made my eyes and my heart so happy! Yep, that’s me---as my shadow. I always WAS a long-legged girl. And this reminded me so much of how we used to play with our shadows as kids!



On my walk I saw:

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Ever-present palm trees! Tall and proud ---Green against a blue blue sky. My heart sings when I see their feathery fronds.

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Bougainvillea in the brightest shades of fuscia!

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Oleander in the palest shell pink imaginable. I remember this growing near my house as a child in the Bay Area of California. It grew along expressways and interstates ---sometimes alternating bush colors, pink/white/pink/white ----the faster you drove, the more the colors blurred together.

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SOMETHING pink and fuzzy --- I just had to touch these..can you see the bee on one of the blooms? He wasn’t too happy with me being so close!

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Something blooming in the most beautiful shade of blue! Doesn’t it look like someone dipped it in paint? Lovely!

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Red hibiscus…..so intense!

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The grey-green of Spanish moss dripping from the branches of twisted live oak trees, ages old.

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A couple straggling sun flowers --- or sun flower look-alikes. Brown and Yellow Gold and Green ---future quilt colors maybe?

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The wild magenta and purple hues of a border plant along my way. Nature has no fear of putting certain colors together. Why do we? Nature doesn’t require the input of “home dec” experts to state which colors are “in” or “out”. They are ALL in!

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White and curly! These blossoms have so much texture!

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I dare you. Challenge yourself. Find a sidewalk and see where it leads. Open your eyes and take in the color the world provides. See how it influences the color-play in your quilts --it's out there!

It’ll do your body, your spirit, your mind a lot of good!

22 comments:

Becky Clay said...

Is that a spider on your sunflower? Very pretty flowers!!!

Sandy Beach Sewing said...

Boy, are you TALL!!!! And all LEGS! LOL
Sandy in TN
http://sandybeachsewing.blogspot.com

HelenMarie said...

WOW! Awesome flowers!

Genevieve said...

The purple flower looks like a hydrangea. They look like the ones my grandmother had at her bayhouse...soooooooo pretty!!

Genevieve said...

not purple...LOL. I meant blue. My brain said blue, but fingers typed purple, could that be cause my favorite color is purple.

Joan S said...

Bonnie, I think your fuzzy pink flower might be a Loropetalum (http://www.betterlawns.com/images/Loropetalum2.jpg) and the lily is a ginger lily.

Leeann said...

The blue flowers are Plumbago. Love the shadow photo!

Lori said...

The color brown is very prominent in my world. Spring is on its way though. Thanks for sharing a little of Florida with me today. I've only been there twice and once was with you;)

Dirt Road Quilter said...

I have to drive 30 miles to find a sidewalk around here. LOL. However, dirt roads are plentiful! Not nearly the variety of color you discovered on your journey, but the light here in the desert is rich with color. Thank you for sharing your travels with us - you always make me want to jump on a plane.

Denise J. said...

God's glorious colors! Here in Michigan I've looked out at gray, rain and little bit of snow. Would gladly exchange for your colors!

Janet O. said...

Love the long-legged shadow photo and all the colorful flowers! There are no sidewalks within miles of me (but only about 5 miles) either.

Anonymous said...

Bonnie your sidewalk pictures are beautiful. Hope the next quilt will be just as colorful as your picture.Soon will post my quilts to share.

Lynne's Quilting Adventures said...

I am so jealous of you right now. My inlaws retired and moved from northern MB to Florida in the early 70's so FL was our vacation destination for many years. We love it there and if we could we would retire there ourselves. Enjoy your time in paradise.

kfr14819 said...

I thought the pink fuzzy flowers were "Bee Balm" and the blue ones below were "Phlox". They're beautiful!!

Amy Laura said...

Thank you for this beautiful and uplifting post!

CARMEN said...

I love BLUE them are lovely pictures, tx

CARMEN said...

I feel the same way !, :))))

janequiltsslowly said...

You have a great eye and photograph so well. I walk daily and even though I mostly cover about the same route, I always see something new: the sky changes, the clouds, the shadows on the mountains . . . it really starts my day off right. Thanks for sharing your rambles.

Marie said...

What a lovely walk! And I have an almost identical picture of that blue flower. Mine was taken on Castaway Cay, Disney's island in the Bahamas where their cruise ships stop. They are so beautiful!

Sarah Martin said...

Yes! You know those oleanders in the median on the way to Sacramento! My grandfather was responsible for those being planted! He was a landscape architect who worked for both the state and the Army Corps of Engineers. Seeing those is like a "Hello" from him for me!

Beth said...

Great pictures. I recognize almost all of the plants/flowers. I lived just north in Port Charlotte and went to school in Ft. Myers. I miss Florida, especially in thewinter months.

Barb Johnson said...

It is so refreshing to see pictures of flowers in the dead of winter!
I just can't wait for spring!

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