Pulling The Rabbit Out of The Wood

 
First Wonderland sand art and now the Huntsville Botanical Gardens brings us Wonderland chainsaw carving! Earlier this month I had the pleasure of watching Roark Phillips at work on a 6 foot carving of the White Rabbit, as the Gardens continued the journey down the rabbit hole.

 
A quick and skilled worker, Phillips "pulled the rabbit out of the wood" in two short days. That's his pun by the way. 

 
Roark has been working on chainsaw carvings since 2006. He told his audience at the Gardens that it was a spur of the moment decision and he simply began carving one day. He told his wife he was headed out to go carve a bear - and so he did.



Phillips also created the smaller White Rabbit carving that has been hanging around in the Gardens for a few months now. This is his big brother being worked on in these photos.
  

Chainsaw carving is certainly the most entertaining sculpture to watch during creation. Large chunks of wood fall away and sawdust fills the air while a great wailing is heard. Even the smell is exciting- a mixture of gasoline and the crisp, clean fragrance of cut wood.

I'll be posting video soon, and I'll update this blog when I do. Phillips had a camera set up and I'm look forward to seeing his video.

 

Above, a couple sits in the shade, watching the artist work, while below the crowd begins to gather to see Roark Phillips and to play in Wonderland.

 

 

Start

Middle

Finish!

I hope you'll continue to join me on my journey down the rabbit hole. The Hsv Botanical Gardens has some wonderful little areas set up in Wonderland. Be sure and visit them, and check back here for more photos of my journey along with some an upcoming Wonderland photo shoot.

May Day on Green Mountain

While Monte Sano gets all the attention, there is another mountain trail that's just as beautiful...

Took a trip up to Green Mountain this May Day. It had been quite some time since I had been there. Beautiful spring day! May Day is a celebration of spring and new beginnings - a perfect time for a nature hike.
 

The lake is called Sky Lake for lovely mirroring it does of the heavens. 

A low dock allows you to walk out and stand at the edge so that all of your view is the lake, giving you the feeling you are standing on the water itself. A very freeing spot. You can also sit on the bench for longer viewing.

The place is made for picnics in the summer, with plenty of tables in the shade, with the cool lake air blowing over you.

A great place to be in nature! Wildflowers grow hugging the edge of the water, curious squirrel's check you out, ducks and geese often inhabit the lake, and if you don't see at least five water turtles on your walk you're just not paying attention.

I have a memory from when I was small of a pair of swans that used to grace the lake. On May Day the only animals I saw swimming were several water snakes skimming along on the top of the water. A different type of grace, but grace nonetheless. I never managed to get a good closeup, unfortunately.

 Aside from the abundance of nature, the park also offers a 40 year old covered bridge, perfect for feeding or watching the turtles. The bridge is older than me and I have wonderful memories of playing there as a child.

Another place that was fun to play in, is the historic old cabin. There used to be a few out buildings that have fallen into dust, but a replacement to the roof has kept the cabin in good shape. Also don't miss the little chapel in the woods.

The path borders the lake for most of the trail, with a few excursions into the woods. A swampy boardwalk is the perfect place to see frogs and other wildlife, too.


The trails are usually quiet, although groups often meet in the picnic area, including local banjoists.






 







This photograph to the right features Mr. Snake making a wake in the background behind the irises bordering the lake. It was one of my favorites from the day.



Nature, trails, gorgeous views, wildflowers, calm waters -- 

  
-- as brochures often say, there's a little something for everyone at Green Mountain.

  
As always, click on any of these photo to see them in them in a larger size and see all the details of Green Mountain Nature Trails.

Thanks for looking!

May 6th, 2013

As a rule, I rarely share personal things on my professional site. The strange thing about this media of blogging is it encourages you to talk way too much about yourself to strangers, and I choose not to whine. However, today is a special day...if not a happy one.

I took this photo in 2009 of one of seven kittens that were born to a stray my grandmother took in. That's my grandmother in the background. The kitten found a good home and is doing well; I hear updates about her now and then. I love all those siblings born and am glad to have a nice photo of her so small.

I value this photo more, however, as an artistic photograph of my grandmother in her natural environment: sitting on her front porch, dressed in bright colors with babies all around her. Children were her favorite things, no matter the species (except perhaps rodents). She relished in her children, grandchildren, and kittens. As my grandmother aged she insisted that she never felt old. I think this is true until she got sick. 

My grandmother letting me listen to 8 tracks

My grandmother was given 4 to 6 months to live in late February of last year. I moved in with her and took care of her, with my mother taking over on the weekends, until the last day. There's never enough time. She died barely over 2 months later on May 6th. 

All life for me, and probably anyone lucky enough to have the technology and education to be reading this, is build around a set of false securities. Somewhere in Tibet a monk is quietly meditating in perfect oneness with the idea that all life is transient, but for the rest of us this realization would bring a complete break down in a flood of tears. Everyone we meet, every flower we see, every beautiful mountainside, even the sunset itself -- all these and more, some day will be taken from us.

Grandma, my little cousin, and me

Of course we mentally know this. We probably spend a little time each day thinking, is this the last time I'm going to see my grandfather? Is this the last quilt I'll ever make? Thoughts like these creep in, yet knowing something in your heart is different. The few times we Americans allow ourselves to realize the inevitable loss of any thing are times of absolute terror.

Forever may be unfathomable, but in a little while sends us screaming in a fit of terror and rage just like when we were little children. Now was all we had then, and it is also all we have as adults if we have the courage to see it.

A year later, May 6th, little has changed. Grief does not diminish. That's another thing you need to start thinking about...

My grandmother and I inspecting the garden, six years ago