windthread

this is the pic i lost.   see below

this would be next…it's flowering now,  there is a very subtle powdery  fragrance like you might imagine in a victorian lady's budoir.   The flowering clusters are round.   The flowers themselves at first look simple…how they have looked to me the first year,  last year and this year up until today

standing at the distance that i normally stand from this bush/shrub,  the flowers are just small balls…like on the snowball bush back in Michigan.   Not any more.  There is what i might call the primary flower and then these wonder Full  Dr.Seuss flipper petals that make them quite exotic,  more like a  million of tiny orchids.   So….these were what i had in mind at the beginning of the day of searching to identify.  To name.   But as the search went on and on to just more searching,  i learned more ….of the obvious….i needed to know about the leaves…their positioning,  their texture,  smooth or rough edged.  and then the form of the wooded  part,  the brush tree itself and specifically, the bark.

so i ran back down for the third time and was Amazed and what i had not seen.   LOOK at this!   Double click for sure…How Elegant.   and the lower,  older trunks..there are several to this one shrub,  even more so.  Typepad only allows me 5 pics.  I looked at a LOT of images Google found for me and finally,  at the near end of the day thought to find the copy of 

John Muir Laws    The Laws Field Guide to Sierra Nevada   that i'd gotten last year.   Which is not the Go To that i'd dreamed it would be…but then you can only fit so much in one book.  But Ta Da……

I SOMEHOW LOST A PIC HERE.   WILL see if i can add it back when i finish …what a BUMMER

I think this is IT.     and I laughed…look at his illustration of the bloom clusters!   Duh.   but that little close up image,  with the fippers….and i ran down a 4th time,  and yes…old stems make sharp spines.  So i think we have a Chaparral Whitethorn.  OR at least Something in the ceanothus family.  There was no note of the great and facinating form of the trunks….i would think for sure that would be noted?????   

this is the Beauty Full bristol notebook that Acey sent during the 30 Days.   the image here is just a little nothing that i did to test the Inktense pencils at that time.   Am looking at it as maybe for the preliminary drawings.  OR,  if she likes it,  maybe a book instead of a big picture?   

ok…will go see if i can retrieve that pic.