Abraham's Wood Carvings

I used to spend a lot of my spare time trying different ideas to see if I could do them. I saw a lady on the cover of National Geographic magazine who was carving primitive characters and thought I might be able to do that. I tried the primitive carvings and ended up with "The Hobos" and I still have them. We lived by the railroad tracks in Gordon, Ohio and hobos stopped at our house for a drink of cold water or a basin of water to wash off with. Mother always gave them water to drink and a basin of water and a cake of lye soap to wash with and she made sure they had a plate or bowl full of whatever we were eating that day so they would have something to eat. I have seen them sitting by the railroad with a puff of smoke giving them away. They would be heating up a pot of beans or something to eat. I assume they carried cans of beans with them as they didn't have much of a sack to carry things in. My oil painting depicts one such character reading a newspaper.

Cleome

An old favorite Cleome.

One of my all time favorites is Cleome. I like the way it looks and I like the way it smells but it is also sticky like tobacco is when tobacco is being cut in the field; and I don't like that very much. It is also a prolific seeder and each stem produces hundreds of flowers and pea-pod-like pods filled with seeds. If you allow the pod to fill and grow old it will split open and drop the contents on the ground. Most of the seed will not survive birds and insects but they are tiny and fall into cracks and some will sprout the following year. 

Purple Cone Flowers

Purple Cone Flowers seeds

Purple Cone Flower with Red Admiral Butterfly

The Red Admiral Butterfly is almost always around our house. Not so much this past summer as I am not able to get outside as much or as often as I used to. Still, this is a good picture of the Purple Cone Flower and it shows one of the insects that feed on the pollen and nectar. The gold finch love the seeds when the flowering season is finished. Sometimes there isn't anything left but the flower stock.

Hibiscus

Hibiscus

Hibiscus

A very attractive flower but grows here as an annual. It doesn't attract a lot of hungry feeders but it sure is beautiful in all its colors and shapes.