Splashes of Glass

Surprise!!

I'm actually blogging today and it's not for a class or prompts!  I finally have something to blog about and some halfway decent pictures to add!
 

 

I want to share  a few pictures I took recently! Maybe I should reword that, I want to share quite a few pictures. My sister and I visited the beautiful, botanical Garven Gardens in Hot Springs, AR. We only intended to stay a couple of hours, but, wound up staying all day and taking hundreds of pictures!  The garden was sparkling with the unique art glass creations of James Hayes.  Mr. Hayes,  from Pine Bluff AR, created about 225 pieces of multi-colored art glass that are exhibited throughout the garden. The glass depicts flowers, onions, mushrooms and vines, as well as some of his traditional bowls and chandeliers.  It wasn't easy to get good pictures of the glass. It was too sunny, you couldn't get close to most of them, and the backgrounds were usually very busy with plants and trees.

 

 

One of his chandeliers was hanging under the Full Moon Bridge.

 

Glass balls were floating in the Koi Pond and vases were sitting on the rocks.

 

 

I was a little disappointed in the pond. I wanted it to be fresh and clear where I could get some good reflections of the balls. I had forgotten the pond is not clear, in fact it's quite muddy. The water for the ponds and for watering the garden is pumped out of Lake Hamilton. As you know, lake water can be very muddy!

 

Also, the pond was filled with Koi fish that kept the waters churned up!

 

 

We were constantly on the look out for the glass. We would round a corner and there would be spirals of glass hanging from tree branches or...

 

sticking up from the ground.

 

 

We got in every position you could image to get pictures. There was a lot of stooping, squatting, looking up, and looking down!  No wonder we were a little sore the next day!

 

You probably know I love mushrooms, so I was in mushroom heaven when I spotted glass ones. I'm not going to tell you how many pictures I took of the mushrooms!  Way too many!  But, they were so cute!

 

How about some glass onions hanging from the roof of a pergola?

 

In the middle of the park is a large pavilion. Hanging from it's glass ceiling was this stunning chandelier. I'm no good at guessing, but it's probably five to six feet tall.  Since the roof of the gazebo is glass, it allows light to shine on the chandelier and...

 

create cool shadows on the floor.

 

 

Speaking of the floor. My sister and I both managed to get down and lay on the floor and look up.  We got down better than we got up!  That took a lot of shuffling, grunting, and laughing! It was worth it though! The view of the chandelier from below was breathtaking.

 

 

We had such a great time together! Oh, before I go, let me show you what we had for lunch from the Chipmunk Café in the park. 

Doesn't this look delicious?  It's grilled chicken with romaine & iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado; topped with bacon & parmesan peppercorn dressing and served in a spinach wrap. YUMMY!!

 

Thank you for being patient we me, while I'm struggling with my photography and not blogging much. It is getting better!  I've been spending a little time outside each day, seeking light, and I'm even keeping a few pictures! That's an improvement!

 

I so enjoy when you stop by to visit me!

Enjoy the rest of your week!