Sculpture tribute to a local hero

This sculpture is out in front of Oak Grove Elementary Scool, in my tiny town of Graton. Made by local legendary junk-art sculptor Patrick Amiot (there's a whole street lined with his sculptures over in Sebastopol, where he lives), this one honors Fred Hall, the school's custodian, who's gotten the kids seriously excited about recycling.

(note that his body is a refridgerator, and there's a little globe inside his heart... click to enlarge)

nearby

Let the re-leafing begin!

On the way home from the mountains earlier this week, we were surprised to see California Buckeyes leafing out, ahead of the one in our own yard. But its coming along now. Shown, Tuesday, & Friday.

experiments in photoshop

I'm taking a class in photoshop---
here's an experiment using one of last year's pics of 'Brandy'...

through the magic of cropping...

before:

spring comes closer

after a couple days away, a few signs of spring develop in the yard...

and so it begins...

Oops, new plants. I was overcome by the spirit of spring. Sources say it was 79 degrees yesterday! Sure was nice.

Les Fleurs

this one isn't ours, it's up at Harmony (farm & garden supply)-- the fabulous nursery in WALKING DISTANCE of our house.

and when you simply must see flowers, regardless of the season, try Flowers, or how about Flickr Flowers Pool ?
and... happy flower day.
(I'm trying to figure out the Flickr site, and how to save favorites, make 'mosaics'-- but it doesn't look like it'll all come together tonight. So I bring you this, from Steph A.)

Two (garden) Things We Know

1) We will have installed irrigation before the dry season comes
2) One day soon, a flagstone path such as this will cross the lawn between the house and the studio.
You are my witnesses.


(all photos are from Leslie's yard)

rain, glorious rain

I can't really remember the last time I've been so happy to see rain!
Dire predictions were being made, driest January ever (practically); drought, etc. Plus the one-two punch of that dry-ness with all the freezes on the plant-life.
Now, wet grey-ness. yahoo!
There was also a time when I didn't appreciate camellias. Or the color pink.
Yet our yard came with 5 well-established camellia bushes, in 5 different colors, from white to red, and anything that wants to bloom away through January & February is welcome here. This one pink bush is right outside the office window, and I really appreciate looking out on it!
(The truth is, camellias do really well in this climate, and I even planted one.)

a beautiful day

...spent hiking Sunday at Sugarloaf State Park.

cuteness

Colin & Sarah (twins!) on a recent morning walk with their mom, my friend Leslie.

another one for Wendy

again, something that surfaced in the great office renovation...
I collect old photos of cardplaying for friend Wendy-- 'cuz of the pub, and the many evenings we've laughed ourselves silly over a hand of gin rummy...
Yep, these guys are playing cards. (click to enlarge)
...and then there's this one--
after things turn ugly...