SEASONAL Archives - Barbara Sefran Art

Outport

This is an acrylic painting from about 1963, of a snowy winter evening at sunset in a small outport not far from Corner Brook, Newfoundland.

A Frosty Moonlit Night, Long Ago and Far Away.

*A frosty moonlight night, long ago and far* away

Many decades ago, on the way to somewhere else even further away, I passed through a small town in eastern Europe.

This is a whirlwind in Fall, just a little local one, catching up all the fallen leaves.

But “whirlwinds” can happen at any time, unexpected happenings, things you never imagined would happen can suddenly shake up your life. It’s not always easy, among the debris, to search for the gifts such shake-ups may bring. But it is possible!

Autumn Garden

Autumn Tree

Tangled Garden: Chocolate Lilies

Tangled Garden Series : Chocolate lilies

All native west coast wild lilies, including also Camas or Easter Lilies, are a real source of joy in the Springtime.

Chocolate lilies, Fritillaria, are found all along the Pacific Coast from California up British Columbia to Alaska. The Salish and other indigenous peoples used them for food. The root is bulb-like, containing grains a bit like rice, which could be boiled or steamed. They could also be dried and stored for the coming winter.

The name comes from the colour, a purplish brown, not the taste, which is somewhat bitter, and as for the smell, the nicest way to put it . . . is a bit like skunk cabbage! This attracts flies, which are the pollinators rather than bees.

If you want to know more about this interesting plant, here’s one source, a great site about nature on the west coast:

https://heartofthewestcoast.com/2012/04/26/spring-feast-for-the-eyes-chocolate-lilies/