Dr. Seuss's Garden

 

Sometimes as I walk Kingwood, I stop in my tracks and think to myself, I have been transported to Dr. Seuss's Garden.  My last encounter was in the Greenhouse with the Sensitive Plant.  But again just yesterday in a walk from Kingwood Hall to my Jeep, I experienced it again in the Perennial Garden when I saw this seed pod. I pay close attention, because Dr. Seuss's Garden only shows itself for brief periods of time. 

 

 

Grape-leaved Anemone

A. tomentosa

Robustissima

 

Here is a picture I took of the flowers last September.

 

 

 



A Winter meet Spring Encounter

Today it was a sticky snow day at Kingwood Center.  The gates are closed, but I was up at the house for a meeting, so I took the opportunity on the walk from the parking lot to the house to take a few pictures.  Kingwood in the snow is such a beautiful thing.

Winter Aconite blooming under a draping of snow.

 

 

 

Indian Runner and Peking hanging out on the pond.



Kingwood 5K

WE DID IT!

Yes, it took me three years, but I finally entered the Kingwood 5K!  Here Kathy and I are coming to the FINISH LINE!  Picture compliments of our best bud Lynn who turned up along the course in various places to give us encouragement.  Yes she took better ones, but this is the one where I look thin!  Perfectly beautiful day.

Showed up early because I didn't turn in my registration form and needed to guarantee that tee shirt.

Here is a picture of the THIRD ANNUAL TEE SHIRT

The tee shirt features Kingwood's Indian Runner ducks.

Kathy's goal was to finish within two hours.  We finished in 51 minutes.  Yea us!  Here is a fantastic video by Missi which documents the entire morning!  THANKS MISSI.

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http://youtu.be/aynBgGgxUW0

Next year....COSTUME!

Townsend House Tour

Here is the picture tour......  words to follow at a later date!

Ambassador Cart or My Lesson in Flower Painting

. . . . . . . . It all started with a great idea

by Lisa Duckworth and Chris Roddy. . . . . . . 

Kingwood should have a Saturday Ambassador to direct guests so they don't miss out on the full experience of a visit to Kingwood Center.  From that idea came the next great idea that a cart should be provided for the volunteer Ambassador.  Cart was created and painted an interesting shade of green.

Lisa has her third idea.  The cart should be painted with flowers and Kingwood Center in an arch. 

Of course from there is where silly me gets involved in the following manner:

I suggest that Ellen paints the cart. 

Ellen tells Lisa she doesn't have time.

During Herb Garden I show the cart to Ellen.

I talk up how much fun this would be to paint.

I tell her I can put it in the back up the pickup and take it to her house.

I tell her we can do this together!

And so it begins . . . . . . . . . . . .

The cart was too heavy to put into the back of the pickup truck.  I suggested we take out the umbrella.  I really wish I had a picture of the umbrella to show what a silly suggestion that was.  A new plan was made to paint the cart at Kingwood Center.

Ellen and I started early on Thursday morning.  I was scheduled to plant annuals, but I didn't end up planting a single annual all day.  Ellen knowing what drives me showed up with a thermos of coffee!

And then we got to work!

Ellen drew out sketches of the flowers.  Our plan was for cone flowers, tulips, roses, peonies, snapdragons and iris.

I tried my had at painting leaves.  I got better on the second side.  Ellen went over them with other colors to flush them out and make them look more leafy.  I created this yellow Dr. Suesse like flower that is supposed to be a snap dragon.  If you look closely enough you can see a purple one on the side as well.  Ellen did a marvelous job with the stencilling of WELCOME.

Here is where the project got fun for me!  I painted these pink flowers which I called peony.  But then I painted these white flowers.  So the white flowers became peony and the pink flowers became poppies!  Ellen did an outline for the white flowers, but I was getting an understanding of how to paint things so I took a few liberties outside the lines.  GO ME!

We found that adding white paint to everything really made the flowers look nice.  So Ellen added white to the tulips and I added white to the pho snap dragons, which turned out to look more like marigolds on a weird stalk.  He He.  Ellen painted these awesome bees.  I need a close up for those.

The cart is done, but I was exhausted and Ellen finished it up.  I will post a final picture soon!

The Day I SAVED a Duck and the day I almost didn't

Volunteering at Kingwood getting ready for the Spring Flower Festival, Lisa Duckworth and I were back in the service building area putting sand in baggies. (to hold papers on the tables the next day).  A guy brought in two white peeking ducks in a tub to donating to Kingwood.  Later that afternoon, I was watching them in the pond thinking they didn't look so well.  They were thrashing and splashing in the water.  But I wasn't sure and thought it was a possibility they were getting use to a new pond.  The next day I found out that the poor ducks didn't know how to get out of the pond and were found that morning exhausted, trying to keep afloat.  There is a secrete duck exit, but I guess they failed to figure it out.  I felt terrible that I didn't say something the day before.

So flash forward to the day I saw this peeking duck and I knew to act.  He wasn't thrashing the in the same way as last time, but the strange way its back tail feathers were up was my clue.  He seemed to just go around the side of the pond keeping its webbed feet against the slight concrete ledge.  Well, I went to the greenhouse and asked for one of the security guards to check on him.  I don't have a picture of the security guard pulling him out with a net, or the blood on his tiny webbed feet.  But the rescue mission was a success.  And I am happy to report that since his recovery he has been living happily on the pond with a wooden walking plank to safely get him in and out of the pond!   

THIRD ANNUAL Kingwood 5K

Tee Shirts from 1st & 2nd 5K

This year's Third Annual 5K is scheduled for June 9th.  Well, I have paid fees for two tee shirts and still have not walked or ran in the Kingwood 5K.  2012 is the year!  My good friend Kathy M and I will be at least starting out together.   She has already signed up, so I'd better get my registration form in.  I'm not even sure how far 5K is.  I missed the Capitol 10,000 (I know how far 10K is) (6.2 miles) this year by one week so I'm really looking forward to the Kingwood Race.  I know I said this year I would dress up, but I think I will save that endevor for 2013!  I do have four more weeks to come up with appropriate attire, maybe I can get creative by then.  The 2011 tee shirt was moderned after a tatoo that someone has on his back.  Note:  I don't plan on getting that creative!