Home of the Innocents bronzes get patinas, a trip to Hidden Hill Nursery and photos of insects and a spider

The patinas are finished on the sculptures for the Home of the Innocents project. This is Ascension.

This is Metamorphosis with her patina. Next, they will be shipped and fitted to their granite bases

Tom Burkhart called Don about a Blugrass Festival going on at Hidden Hill Nursery. Don couldn't make the show, but I've always wanted to see Hidden Hill and this was a good excuse....

Another group of performers set up in another area at Hidden Hill.

This sculpture was done by Amy Brier. This is an amazing piece. The photo really doesn't do it justice.

This is a sculpture by Matt Weir. He does beautiful work. There is another sculpture right in front of this piece and I wondered what it might look like through the opening at the top of the sculpture....so...

This is what you see....

Hidden Hill has a number of sculptures throughout the property. You have to explore in order to discover them all.

This is a closeup of a Thistle bloom. I didn't see the crab spider until I enlarged the photo on the computer.


This is a hoverfly.


This is a nine spot ladybug. Nine spot ladybugs are in decline in the United States and Cornell University is conducting a study (called the Lost Ladybug Project) asking people to look for them (or other species of ladybug) and send photos so they can more accurately track their numbers. I found this one in the field below the house.

Two Installations

We installed two sculptures from the Yew Dell show. First, Don's Vine bench.

Don has leveled areas for the legs and is now adjusting them

Don figuring how the top goes on the legs.

Final adjustments are made...

The bench installed
Next Miss Jessel will be installed. She's going into a beautiful garden.

This is a hanging sculpture in the garden, metal and glass, wondered what it would look like from underneath, so....

The easiest way to get Miss Jessel to her site - she is way in the back of the garden- is to take the truck through the
adjoining field and come through the gate at the back of the property.

Have to be careful about closing the gates as there are horses in the field. This guy wasn't too impressed with the big yellow truck in his field, guess he's seen it all before.

This photo reminds me of the Farside cartoon with the caption "When a body meets a body coming through the rye" Of course in this case, it's ornamental grass.

Moses, the resident collie, escorts Don to her site.

Final adjustments.

Miss Jessel in her new home.
And here are couple of flowers I saw that day..

Yew Dell show load out

The Yew Dell show was a great success this year with almost everyone selling, most selling several pieces. I'm looking forward to next year, see what people come up with.


When we loaded up the sculpture to go out of the Yew Dell show we also helped load up Raymond Grafs limestone base for his Lincoln sculpture. Matt Weir and David Bibelhauser are loading the bronze, but the stone base is a bit heavier so we loaded that with the crane.

The wolf and pups get loaded.

Don loads a sculpture, I can't remember its name, ah well.

Miss Jessel sold during the show. She has a beutiful site waiting for her, but for now she's waiting to be loaded onto the truck.

The sea lion gets loaded onto the truck.

Karla gave me a sampling of different tomatoes and herbs from the garden- they were delicious, many thanks Karla! While she was picking tomatoes and cutting herbs I couldn't resist taking a pic of this blooming bean, the color is so striking....

Karla watches the truck as it prepares to depart. But we'll be back Karla, we'll be back....
Right now I'm a finalist for a public art project but I can't show a picture of it, so I'll show you more pics of the Home of the Innocents project...

This is close-up of Ascension.


This is Metamorphosis from the side. Next, the sculptures will get a patina.

The Great Purple Fringed Orchid expedition

We heard a rumor that Purple Fringed Orchids had been spotted on Yellowbank so we went out to find them. They're not around streams but since we were in the area, might as well explore here too, no telling what you might see...


Like crawdads.Saw lots of crawdads.

This was in the woods away from the stream. Kind of purple but not an orchid,I think this might be Apple of Peru.


No way would anyone confuse this with what we're looking for, though this is interesting - this is a parasitic vine, I've never seen it in bloom before.

I think that this is Enchanter's Nightshade, at least that's the closest I could find in the guidebook, probably wrong, but I liked the name...

This tends towards purple but this is Meadow Rue

I have no idea what this is, I went all through my guide book too....

This is partridge pea. Look closely and you will see a well camouflaged spider.

A close-up of Red Clover


This is a plant growing on a rock in the stream I don't know what kind it is, but it has a really interesting texture.


This is a close-up of Sumac flowers

This is an odd flower, I have no idea what it is.

Never did see the Orchids, but we saw a lot of other things, ending with this caterpillar (don't know the species) eating a Gentian flower. Just have to try for those Orchids next year...