Garden architecture

 Yes there are plants growing up there on the roof, among the stones!

 Quite a trellis, ready to hold a lot of vines...wonder what they are.

 Stone fireplace and chimney, which harkens back to a lot of the cabins built in the mountains.

I'm sure on hot days, these benches will provide shady relief to visitors at the Arboretum.

I guess this is either a Christmas tree for a few months, or a fountain for the warmer months, but February gives it a purely structural look.

A beautiful stone wall which will be a background for these beautiful vines soon.

Here a vine is cut and trained to be a...what is that word? Trefoil? Espladair? Oh it's Espladier!  Love that google!

Today's quote:

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”Einstein

Spotted Bellflower/Cherry Belle

Or Cherry Belle (Campanula punctata)

 Wandering a bleak garden at the Arboretum a few weeks ago, I found a blooming plant (the only one!)

 Yes that orange blob is an unfocused bee. There were only a few, and they all had the orange spots, so whether they are a variety I don't know, or these flower's pollen happens to be orange, I couldn't ask them.

These flowers were very fragrant, and I usually don't catch smells that well these days.

Today's quote:

“If there is love, there is hope to have real families, real brotherhood, real equanimity, real peace. If the love within your mind is lost, if you continue to see other beings as enemies, then no matter how much knowledge or education you have, no matter how much material progress is made, only suffering and confusion will ensue.”

Dalai Lama

Artifacts

As I make pottery I often think that this might be an enduring object, an artifact to be dug up in some future...along with lots of toilets.  Fired clay is almost indestructible, as it becomes stone-like.

 One side of sculpture...showing four humans paddling a canoe with raven at the bow...

The Haida natives carved stone figures based upon their stories.  The stone is Argiliate (if I can read the fine print on this description.)  Display was at the Arboretum in Asheville NC, on dugout canoes.

The other side of same sculpture, showing octopus

 Another sculpture with mythical creatures...two bears and two humans with canoe overhead

and reverse side...

Artifacts from various places from Mesoamerica when dugout canoes were a primary transportation. 

The dugout canoe exhibit is at the Arboretum in Asheville NC until May 2.  Since there are very few plants on exhibit for this time of year, this is the thing to see, unless you want to hike through the woods!

I share this with Sepia Saturday this week...


Today's quote:

We are all at once both a composition and a composer. We have the ability not only to compose the future of our own lives, but to help compose the future of everyone around us and the communities in which we live.

Maya Angelou