more Fall bounty

...this time from Hale's Apple Farm, just up the way...

Come & Visit Us!

Tony & I will be hosting Open Studios (& garden!) during the upcoming two weekends. (October 11, 12, 18 & 19, 10-5pm)
If you live near enough-- you know it's a great time for a daytrip. www.artrails.org for maps, other participating artists and the like.





...and remember, when the going gets tough, you probably need more art in your life!

Brugmansia

...first blooms of the year. Closer to the coast (where it doesn't freeze), these become good sized trees. Ours dies down to the ground each year, and it has taken it until now to put out a few blooms. Still, the first blooms are huge, and so fragrant at night. This one leans into the studio window.
(bonus points if you see the cat!)

exhibit A:

We frequently walk a stretch of bike trail close to our home, and of course, I frequently have camera in hand, documenting the subtle color changes in the landscape over time.

these 2 photos were taken in early October (a couple of days ago), and early June.
The pictures weren't cropped after the fact, and I made no effort to stand in just the same place.
No, I have a feeling that my intrinsic personal sense of composition causes me to photograph the same scene over and over again, and I could probably find pictures of this tree in other seasons in my archive.
I was struck by just how similar these two are...

some Fall color

...flowers, that is.

hot cocoa again

I've raved about my "Hot Cocoa" here before.

If I could have only one rose-- well, let's just say it would be in the top five. (Don't make me choose)

Oh, and in the background there, some pillows I had to re-cover. I loved that fabric.

farmer's market, part 2: tomatoes

from the farmer's market...

mmmm....raspberries

Feeling Fall

Over a month without a post!

I had a kinda odd summer, several reasons-- and I am happy to be moving into a new season.

It even rained a little drizzly rain this evening.

Coast Trip # 2: Mendocino Botanical Gardens

Another over-the-top great garden visit on my recent trip with friend Wendy was to the Mendocino Botanical Gardens in Fort Bragg. Tony and I were there once five years ago or so; and I believe there's a new gardener weaving his magic there. Go, if you possibly can.

Up the Coast I: Digging Dog Nursery

Photos cannot possibly do justice to the experience of visiting this fabulous nursery (display gardens, really) on the coast above Albion. Only open by appointment, except for a couple Open Weekend events a year. Really lovely.



And featuring lots of varieties of Kniphofia, (or Red Hot Pokers, or torch lilies), which I've recently taken an interest in...

up (actually, this picture is from 'down') the coast

Up the coast photos-- to come.

roses against the sky

Graham Thomas, of course. (click to see it big)

a bit of 'old' Graton

Our little town has undergone a bit of a 'renaissance' over the past decade or so... yet there are some pretty ramshackle bits still, this one just around the corner from downtown, where it was completely hidden from view by many years of ivy growth until verrry recently. And I have a feeling that this building is going to disappear from view again forever within days...