walk to the beach with my Sweetie

Looking across the straight of Georgia to the Salish Sea we have an incredible view of the coast mountain range.  I am forever amazed at the beauty of this island and it's surrounding waters. Salish Sea map

One of the many liitle wonders that we come across on our walk to the beach.

Sometimes it's just all about the sky....

A little whimsy... can you imagine taking the time to place rose hips on barbed wire?  Well someone did and I am very grateful for their vision.

This rotting stump looks like a wise old monster from the Lord of the Rings.

Beauty in twisty roots and spruce needles.

Something weird and wonderful happened with my camera here... I have no idea what but if this isn't serendipity I don't know what is!

It's hard to imagine this beautiful green moss growing on a log on the beach in December.... in BC but here it is.  What a wonderful place to live. And yes, I am bragging :)

Snow day again! Yippee

 There's something so architectually stunning about snow covered trees. I can't seem to take enough pictures of them.

 My favorite garden gargoyle.  Don't you feel sorry for him?

 And if this isn't a snow sky... what is?

 I love the vista from my backyard.  It's like living in a tree house... looking out to the tops of the giant westcoast maples.

And my neighbors house, as warm and inviting as they are!

It's starting to look at lot like Christmas

What says Christmas to you?  For me it's always been little things, like a bowl of fresh walnuts.. or some beautiful Clementines.   Can you ever get enough of these lovely morsels?

Yummy!  And how about those delicious juicy Pomegranates! 

Then come the decorations.....

 And up goes the Christmas Tree !!!!

And if you're really lucky, along comes some beautiful soft fluffy snow to cap it all off!

It's magical to see the snow covering the moss draped maple trees through the lights of the Christmas tree.

Serendipity

I'm adding Serendipity to my blog description.   It's so fitting. If I'm searching for something special to jump out at me for a photo opportunity, it never really happens.  Then I open the front door and there is the tiniest little tree frog stuck like glue!  It was dark outside so the photo was extremely under lit, but look what happened when playing with Picaso.  It looks like the most amazing pencil sketch.

Serendipity is a propensity for making fortunate discoveries while looking for something unrelated. The word has been voted as one of the ten English words that were  hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company. However, due to its sociological use, the word has been imported into many other languages.

When was the last time you really looked at clouds?  Remember when you were a child... it was so great to spend an afternoon just laying on the grass looking up, your imagination set free.  I see the profile of a Roman God... what do you see?

Spiders so totally creep me out that I won't crop this guy any closer :)  I didn't notice him at first, I just liked the blurry edges of the grey/blue background against the color of the maple tree.  That's some set of legs he's got there.

First Snow!

Our first snow happened on November 19.  It didn't last long, it never does this early, and I think that's one of the reasons I love the first snow of the season!   It's so nice to still have some leaves on the trees so we can enjoy the oranges and greens peaking out.  

 The arbutus tree really shows off it's lobed leaves with a dusting of snow.

 This plant with the "finger" type leaves is a Choisya, or Mexican mock orange, native to Mexico and the American southwest.  I bet it's wondering what the heck!!!

 As always, one on my favorite views is round the bend of the driveway, when the snow is fresh and unbroken.  Once we drive up and down a few times it loses it's appeal!

Snow makes whiteness where it falls,

The bushes look like popcorn balls.

The places where I always play,

Look like somewhere else today

~Mary Louise Allen

Holed Up ~ making Christmas cards

I've been "holed up" in my craft room making Christmas cards. At least that's what Sweetie calls it. I moved my laptop out of the way, then piled paper, pens, glues, stamps, inks and so many other things I can't see the table top. For a highly organized individual (read: anal retentive) this mess I find oddly comforting.

A wonderful youtube video I stumbled across lead to the two 3D cards above.  It was very easy and I really enjoy the results.  If you are interested check out this link: Origami Christmas Trees

The three cards above are the result of cutting up some old cards I've had laying around for years.  This was fun, and what a great way to recycle!

I had to do something with this lucious paper I found at The Papery in Victoria..  I doodled on it with one of my many gold pens.  I think I have a pen addiction....

I'm not sure about this one... so I haven't glued it down yet. I think it needs more pizzazz.

The cardinal is from a stamp set I purchased at Michaels last week.  The snowflakes too!  LOVE IT!  And it looks particularily pretty in person as it's highlighted by a Jelly Roll pen... "copper star"

This is one of my many attempts at wire words.  So cute... but I need to wrap my pliers as they removed some of the lovely color from the wire.

Talisman ~ the Hummingbird?

Have you ever noticed that certain things...like an animal or say a bird... will appear to you as you go through the daily rituals that make up your life?  Well this summer when we were doing a little driving tour of BC I noticed that everywhere I looked I saw hummingbirds.  Not live ones mind you... those had migrated by the time I really noticed what was going on.   What I saw was depictions of hummingbirds. It started with the sun catcher that sweetie bought for me in Merritt. 

I just had to bring home the temporary tattoo & matching rubber stamp I found in a little hardware/gift store in Lillooet, BC. Both are by the same BC native artist Maynard Johnny Jr.

A few weeks later at the Filberg Festival in Comox I stopped to admire the most beautiful rubber stamp collection by Lisa Yang.  She immediately hooked me by demonstrating her beautifully designed original stamps.  She picked out of quite a pile .... if you look on her website, well over 200 different sets .... the hummingbird.

So I decided a little research was in order.  I found many sites that explained the symbolism of the hummingbird as a Totem animal or Talisman as it were.  Here is an excerpt of one I quite enjoyed.

"The hummingbird symbolizes many different concepts. Because of its speed, the hummingbird is known as a messenger and stopper of time.

It is also a symbol of love, joy, and beauty. The hummingbird is also able to fly backwards, teaching us that we can look back on our past. But, this bird also teaches that we must not dwell on our past; we need to move forward. When the hummingbird hovers over flowers while drinking nectar, we learn that we should savor each moment, and appreciate the things we love.

It is not commonly known that the fluttering wings of the hummingbird move in the pattern of an infinity symbol - further solidifying their symbolism of eternity, continuity, and infinity."

So as far as symbols go this is one I can embrace.  It seems as if we are bombarded with the idea that we must live in the moment, don't get caught in the past with "what if's" and "if I had only ..." or maybe worse yet, always thinking the future holds whatever it is to make us happier, more sucessfull, thinner :) ... you know the "one day soon" that we like to tell ourselves.  I think that we should savour the moment, learn from our past, and look forward to the future all at the same time. How hard can that be?

Sylvan, I really didn't know

sylvan, SILL-vun

DEFINITION: adjective
1a : living or located in the woods or forest b : of, relating to, or characteristic of the woods or forest
2a : made, shaped, or formed of woods or trees b : abounding in woods, groves, or trees : wooded

How could I NOT KNOW what this word meant.  Trees are like Gods to me.  One of my favorite sayings, and I'm not sure where it comes from..

climb a tree

it will get you
closer to heaven

Do you remember when you were a kid.  I think we lived in the trees.

WORD: farraginous .... a challenge to find a photo to match!

"farraginous\fuh-RAJ-uh-nus 

DEFINITION

adjective

: consisting of a confused mixture : formed of various materials in no fixed order or arrangement

EXAMPLE: The large box at the hotel’s lost and found desk contained a farraginous assortment of hats, umbrellas, cell phones, and other personal items."

Another example;  the plastic container of bits & pieces that Gladys collected from the parking lot of the school she works at.  To see exactly what she does with this stuff check out her blog! fibresoul.blogspot.com

I think I like it better sorted into like objects... but then, that's me :)

LOVE this word of the day: GIMCRACK

Word of the Day

gimcrack

DEFINITION, noun

: a showy object of little use or value : gewgaw


On a day trip to Coombs one fall weekend Sweetie bought me this hand made ceramic wind catcher from a wonderful co-op gallery.  I love the message.  BE

Geegaws, tchotchkes, dust catchers... whatever you call them we seem to fill our houses, offices, our lives with them. Why do we collect the things we do?  I think my answer is to have tangible proof of a memory. Let's face it... our memories do fade, even disappear over time.  The sight of a precious momento brings me back to the time, place, even person for just a little while. And I like that. Of course there are also the things we collect just because they make us smile.  This gekko flower frog ** how-to-use-flower-frogs ** has never been in water.  I just like the way he looks on leaves from my favorite maple tree along side a couple of unusual rocks. And yes, I remember exactly where I picked them up too :)

The sight of a funky teapot purchased on a weekend gettaway with a life long friend brings me right back to Port Townsend, Washington where we spent a great weekend wandering through the artsy Victorian Seaport on the Olympic Peninsula. 

I find these water globes, a Christmas present from Sweetie (he knows how much I love glass) aren't really that effective in keeping my plants alive... but they sure look pretty grouped together in front of a window!