Hello sunshine!

Sometimes I am kindly reminded that I matter - my dear friend gave this to me yesterday - the smallest flower arrangement is what she calls it. The watering can it is in measures 2 inches. She whipped it up and gave it to me when she saw my riot of spring color that I was wearing yesterday. She deserves a brownie. Oh my, I am just baking some right now (grin).

Can the view get any better than this? I took my bike, my bag of knitting, a jar of ice tea and this is the view from my bench. It was the best hour I have spent in awhile. Yeah.

Rhubarb compote, on the stove, made from freshly harvested rhubarb from a neighbor's field. I could live on this. Maybe this weekend I just will. Fruit and brownies - that is a balanced meal, right?

It is such a joy to see new visitors to the ole blog here - what a joy you all are - you know that, right? Have an ice tea today, or a good hot cuppa, if need be, and we will pretend to have a virtual tea party - just you, me and a handful of brownies...

Scrapping in the rain, foraging without a machine

My sewing machine is officially d o w n - and yet I continue to forage afield for wonderful fabric and bric a brac finds. Seems rather perverse - makes me wish for the machine all the more, even though weeks can go by and I neglect it. But the minute it is out of commission - I am consumed with the need to sew. I am so wrong!

I got this cute little vintage cosmetic traveling case at the same garage sale where I found the other goodies - isn't it just sweet? I plan on clearing it out, cleaning it up and using it on the shelves that are in my "creative corner" - which I really should be cleaning off and clearing up and reorganizing, but instead - I am blogging. Go figure.

It is raining - again. And cold - like in the 40's the other day - and I really had thought I would not be needing my gloves or the heater on - again. We have had a long winter for us here - and I guess this just proves my point. I think winter has not completely left the room - I am speaking to you in hushed tones - I don't want to offend any of the seasons, but I really wish that Spring was truly and completely in control here. Maybe she is - and she's just not in the best of moods. However, the flowers are in no way feeling neglected. There is moisture enough for everyone,
and then some.

These blooms were near a huge crosswalk - and thriving, despite the heavy motor fumes and the lack of respect or awe that the occasional pedestrian might display on that stretch of tarmac. They are a noisy, happy sweet shade of pink - and I stopped my bike and in between the raindrops, leaned down and took photos and smiled. I hope the flowers heard me - everyone needs to hear some praise. It helps us make it through the day, and we remember that what we do and who we are IS important. Being pink and pretty is important on a rain infused day.

A glimpse of gorgeous

Fuchsias - everywhere. The city is bursting with them - popular gift for Mom's, a treasure in a basket for gardeners. Pure heaven for a lover of color with a camera in hand - that would be me.

Intensely gorgeous skies today = what a perfect backdrop for my busy, busy day. Much of it spent outside - shopping for flowers, planting the flowers, riding on my bike to see the flowers. Flower Power, you might say.

Today, my nap was taking near the water. Both types of water. One, the ingestible kind - always therapeutic after a good bike ride. The other just very easy on the eyes and so soothing to the soul. I felt as if I was on a vacation at the most beautiful of spots. I truly was "in the moment" and feeling very, very blessed to be so.

Can't see my feet - I tucked them in, but this was essentially my snoozing view this afternoon - before working on through the late afternoon into the night....ahhh, but this moment here, juiced me up for everything that fell afterwards.

Purple

I have to laugh - as I was planning to do this posting about purple, I read Grrl + Dog's most recent blog bit, and she was just detoxing from a week of being surrounded by that special portion of the female population that firmly holds forth that " purple is the new black". (Not happenin' anytime soon, but then ... that's just my firm belief.)

This isn't my most favorite of colors - but it is Spring, and there is a plethora of wonderful, saturated color out there - and one of them happens to be purple. The lilacs are starting to bloom, and I have been stealthily picking them off of overhanging bushes, huge trees that won't feel the bit denuded and putting them around me, around my home. I am even knitting a really sweet little swing cardigan for my niece out of Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece, which is this wonderful cotton/wool yarn that has a nice dry handfeel and wears quite well. I am considering a little sun hat to go with. I still need a button band, collar - it's a work in progress. Meant for Easter, hopefully completed by the family BBQ on Mother's Day :) (Remember the "chickies"? they kinda ruled my roost that holiday...)

Of course, then there are just the lovely flowers that keep coming in front of my lens as I wander the town in the sunlight we are sometimes blessed with, taking in the beauty that nature so amply provides.

Color is so much fun to play with - but in these photos - there is no adjusting that needs fussing with, outside of a little light. Au naturel and plainly good - "eye candy" my dear friend in Savannah likes to call them (hey, Molly!) - and so aptly put, I'll leave it at that.

Les Fleurs

I am cross-pollinating. Usually I try to keep my two blogs really separate, using unique images for each. Rarely double dipping - though occasionally it will occur. I'm only human. But today, these Spring goodies just had to be shared twice over. Sometimes I really do love my camera. Point and Shoot model - and it still can capture these petaly wonders.

The rhodies are really starting to bloom. Funny - some colors, like the deep pink are so ahead of the rest. These pale pink are just getting their heads up and heading towards the sun (however non present it was today). Can't complain - we have had some lovely globular bits of golden sun. Today was emphasis on the stuff that is good for the soil and making the flowers not become wilty bits of brown.

Vermilion, orange, corals - these are my favorite colors. How lovely to find a flower blooming today that I would wear in a heartbeat.

Ode to the mysteriously appearing sun

The sun came out today - and it was like someone threw the light on in the city. Everyone woke up and headed outside. Things were clear and bright. This flower is the color of all of our joy today.
This Mister needs a cool down every now and again, and he has a definite fondness for puddles. He laps them up, he treads through them happily and today, he just laid down in one.
It was just hailing here a mere handful of days ago. Cars from neighboring areas will come bearing mantles of snow on their brows. Today is like summer - we are amazed - we have too many clothes on - we wonder around dazed and happily confused.

Pretty in Pink

I love to take photos - now that I write a blog about my town - in addition to this creative posting, that I am still trying to sort out the who and what of, I am taking many of them. Photos. Everywhere. This small, almost dwarfed tree has the most lush and beautiful blooms of any cherry blossom tree in town. Only one side of it has any color at all. It stands near a funeral home that is slated to be sold and probably put asunder in the name of downtown "progress". This tree is a local pioneer - a remnant from days gone by - when our high street, main drag, had cars cruisin', people walking, a warm hubub of commerce that did not overwhelm it's occupants, but lived beside them. I see it all getting older, growing smaller under the pressures, like this gnarled tree. I will miss it when it is gone. When I pass it's way, I gaze fondly at it's branches - they are laden with the color of love.

flowers, photos and a good walk about town

Today felt like Spring - smelled of it, looked of it and inspired thoughts of rampant color and bright corners filled with sunshiny hope.

I have never been afraid of the vibrancy of saturated color - as a girl, I remember choosing a special new short set of tangerine and dark lime for our first family outing to Disneyland. I flirted for the first time, intentionally, with a boy twice my age. Only one of us was aware that anything was happening. The color palette of my wardrobe that day had filled me with a new sense of daring and dreamfilled destiny.

Writing through this piece of wire and plastic, this box of amazing interconnected efficiency has unleased the writer and photographer within, and tapped into a deep resevoir of personal memories, stories and inventions that want to spring, fully formed, into the light of day.