thankful for... red

It's the season where you're just thankful for anything providing a spot of color in the garden-- and these reds just seem to be getting redder (it's called Purple Hop Bush (dodonaea viscosa purpurea). Its evergreen (or ever-red) and can grow to be a huge hedge (up to 15 feet tall), but I have this one in a pot, and so it ends up getting moved around to... anywhere that needs some extra red.
(I also have the same plant growing in more shade, and there it is far more green. (photo to come!)

apples hanging on...

I like the look of trees that have lost their leaves, but still hold on to their fruit-- persimmons are a great example of this; they look like ornaments, in a season in need of ornamentation. And I think there's something pleasing about it to my painter's eye-- these orbs suspended at different distances in space... like some oranges I posted earlier.

a wintry day

Here's Tony on one of our frequent walks down by the bike path-- a couple blocks away. It's pretty swampy down there around now.

A number of the tree paintings I've done have been based on photos taken on such walks, along this very trail...

morning walk: trees

On the morning I left for this walk, I remember being in a bad mood. Cranky. Irritable. But a short while later, nature had worked it's magic.

So much beauty so close to home.

of ice and grasses

The cat is perplexed here about the ice in his dish.

I forget it's name, but this grass (I think it was an Annie's Annuals selection--) positively glows. Especially on these grey days. It looks like it has its own light source.

Christmas Workshop

The garden? grey grey grey. and cold. an inch of ice on the cat's water bowl. brrrr.
Meanwhile, over at my sister Karen's in Calistoga it was toasty warm this past weekend, and full of Christmas projects underway. There was card-making and cookie-baking.







And yes, there's something funny going on with Claire's hair. There was practice for the Christmas Eve's Program (a family tradition) going on. (and I just have to say here, that I always have more pictures of Claire to choose from than I do of Lauren-- because half the time Lauren is behind the camera! She's developing a knack for photography, and she can figure out anything digital twice as fast as I can...)








Here's how Claire's hair got that way.

trees from November

This one goes back to our Fall Coast Trip--
the drive from Cazadero over to the coast.

on my campus...

This rose had a label, "Bronze Master-piece." It's a kind of yellow I don't usually go for in a rose, but on a grey Dec-ember day... I'll take it.










And still dahlias (gone from our neck of the woods).

yes, we have a tree!

It's not our most beautiful or least expensive tree, but it is our own. Next year, it's back to the Noble Firs.






















We think the tree on top of the car goes well with our iquanas. Any questions about why we have iguanas riding the roofrack yearround, I'll have to refer to Tony.
















And here are scenes from last week's Tree Hunt with Karen & family...

Garden Cat!

wistful roses

Can you tell I'm enjoying the macro feature on my new camera?! So useful for capturing those raindrops.
Yes, roses are still coming, but mostly they look sort so forlorn; I find myself looking forward to pruning them back & giving them a fresh start for the new year. In the meantime, I'm trying to resist my compulsive deadheading tendencies. The first one, aptly enough, is called "Singing in the Rain."

yellows

sorry, but...

we're experiencing technical difficulties.
Our internet is down (back tomorrow?)
so no Christmas Tree Cutting photos til tomorrow. Alas.

christmas card--a prototype

I was just saying on the phone to my Mom how I'm not feeling the Christmas mood. Even though we went to our first party of the season last night, where it is always Tres Festive!

I have, however, been inspired by the idea of making cards with the nieces (maybe even more than they are...) and have been buying bits and pieces for the project. And I carved this rubber stamp... Here's a possible model. I'm sure the girls will come up with fun variations of their own.

(procrastination? who said that?)

Frost

If you live where it gets truly cold, does frost start to seem less magical?

Samsara

Remember that sweet little cat we took to Tony's mom, Alice, a couple of months ago?
Well, she's plumping up nicely, and is just as smart & happy as a little cat can be!

Sick!

Yes, after resisting it for almost a full week, I got the Cold that Tony had. There's a lot of it going around here, it seems. Guess I need more oranges.

Seriously, this photo, with its floating orbs, sort of reminds me of something I might do (have done) in a painting...
and the citrus trees seems to be doing okay despite several nights of serious freezes. However:
nasturtiums, dahlias, angel's trumpet, castor bean, canna lilies, nicotaina--whomped. toast. gone til next year. There are whole sections of the garden with plenty of evergreen stuff, looking none-the-worse, others totally wiped out. Ah, the cycles of the seasons.

a tree ablaze!

Earlier this week I was teaching in a classroom from which I could see this tree, suddenly ablaze with late afternoon light. It literally stopped me in mid-sentence, and everyone had to get up to see. The next day, I was outside, and had my camera with me when the same thing happened.
(Sooo much more impressive in person)