Lovely Find: Sweep Me Away

Lovely Find: Just the kind of item that makes your Cinderella heart start beating fast -- a beautiful vintage bustier, bronze crown, and antique cameo make magic on an altered dress form found at a boutique clothing store in the small California town of Sonoma.

Party Dress

I can't believe the weather here today -- mid-70's and sunshine gorgeous. I needed to take some photos today for my Art Every Day Challenge. This species rose we planted about 9 years ago, caught my eye (how could it not?). It's on the edge of the driveway at the beginning of the walkway to our house. I've never ID'd this rose. We purchased it in an unmarked gallon container at a Norther California nursery back in 2000. It has grown at least six feet tall and at least six feet wide. Prodigious bloomer pretty much all year. Old stock -- it seems to be a species rose. It has the most lovely delicate rose scent that lingers in your nose. I think I'll call it "My Party Dress". More photos here.

Finally...A Moment to Be Creative!

Got my camera back after dropping it last week right smack on the zoom lens, wickedly jamming it. Was very doubtful it could be fixed, but Canon Powershot SD1100 is a sturdy work animal and the magic man at Seawood Photo, Carl, patched her together. Dance performances all over (successfully) and Thanksgiving Day prep mostly done -- so I had time to take some photos in the California morning light. Beautiful. I am the luckiest girl in the world to be living here, right now, at this time. Here is a slide show of the rest of the photos I took this morning yard, garden, and Deer Island -- enjoy (slow it down or speed it up under "Options")!

Happy Thanksgiving or Happy Autumn to everyone!

Beautiful the Light (Autumn Rose)

Antique bottles at the Jimtown Store in Healdsburg, CA. They were sitting in a screened window. Not the best photo but I like the blue color (reminds me of those blue antique canning jars I used to find in the farm sinkholes in Kentucky) You can see a reflection of some of the other bottles for sale. I was looking through all of the photos I've been taking over the past year -- and I thought that I should post some of them instead of letting them languish in a file somewhere. Somebody will probably like seeing them.

I Confess...

Western Redbud, Tub Level (Eeek! Don't Drop the Camera!!!!)

I have to confess that one of my greatest pleasures these past years is my morning rise-and-shine-ritual. I get up around 7:00am and wander into the kitchen, accompanied by my two cats Angie and Zeus, plaintively yowling about how late it is. I fix their breakfast (what a procedure, but I'll save you from that description) and a pot of Peet's coffee.
I take my husband his cup in bed where he reads the weekly book proposals, and I take my rainbow-colored harlequin mug (my favorite mug -- always the same) and step onto our backyard redwood deck. I slip into our two-person tub. Usually the birds haven't arrived yet, because the sun hasn't hit the backyard. When the first rays strike the back fence, they start to arrive -- usually a bold jay or mockingbird, sometimes a sparrow, chirping, squawking, making all those busy bird sounds. As the minutes go by more and more birds come to visit. Sometimes I sing to them (either "Bluebird smiling at me..." or "Mockingbird" or "Somewhere over the Rainbow"), and then even more show up, flitting about, curiously checking out the strange lady as they look for their morning grub.

Close Up -- Riotous Hot Pink Buds

Now here is my favorite part of the year -- our Redbuds (Cercis canadensis) are blooming! They are my absolute favorite blooming ornamental. Kentucky is filled with them, they are the first tree to bloom in spring. As a child, we had one in the front yard by the mailbox. My brother and I were always pulled like magnets to this brilliant tree. We would even climb it, sometimes breaking its skinny branches -- risking being scolded or paddled by our mother. It felt like a fairy tree and it was a moment of happiness and joy for both of us.

Even Closer -- It Looks Like an Orchid or an Unfolding Heart

Up close the Redbud bloom resembles an unfolding heart or an orchid bloom. They cluster together on the branches like so many insects coming together to feed. In our backyard we have Western Redbuds that are native to California, a couple of Eastern Redbuds, and even an Oklahoma Redbud. They are so beautiful!