(a belated) Happy Thanksgiving!

Heck, it's still the weekend, anyway. Hope you all had great times!
We're thankful for all our family & friends, near & far!


Yankee Doodle

Golden Celebration

Purple Penstemon

(during a break in the rain!)

on a grey November day

"Teasing Georgia"

"Charisma"
(reds are so hard to capture)

and a pensive garden kitty.

Four Pretty Pictures, and...

...and one truth in advertising:
Former home of super sweetpeas & amazing gourds, the party's over.
There was a trend in garden blogs a while back to show the less perfect moments of the garden... Don't get me started!

in the shire

Here's a scene from a few days back-- driving back from the coast. Pretty near to Occidental, I think.

SUN again!

the last leaf

Coast Weekend 2006

We determined, over the famous Cajun Prawns, and numerous bottles of wine, that our family has been making coastal pilgrimages, to various rented houses, in various family configurations, for 22 years now (is that right? 22 years.) Long before these smaller ones were born. With previous boyfriends... and so on. Here's the group from 2006.
The only rain came at night, but it was a blustery day at the beach on Saturday.

I took along my new new camera. And probably drove everyone nuts snapping away incessantly. And snapping more doesn't NECESSARILY mean BETTER. But I was entertained... Mostly I was shooting at the lowest end of my possible resolution, because I haven't upgraded the memory card yet...











































Thanks Dad!
and Thanks Karen, primary food & kitchen godddess!

a walk in Ragle Ranch Park

...on a happy post-election day!

Lauren & Claire...

twice in one week! Could be habit-forming.



These girls feel like painting-- or drawing-- whenever they arrive at the studio.
They especially had fun when they discovered my stamps.

chrysanthemum season

rain rain rain rain rain...

Suddenly, we feel quite solidly in the rainy season. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention...
All those 80 degree days we were having. Ah, well. Here's a photo from an angle we don't often see/photograph, with lovely California Buckeye (chestnut) in foreground. On a sunnier day.