Happy Holiday Season to All

 

 

The winter season is a time of many different traditional and cultural celebrations, each with its own theme, but universally it is a season to celebrate love, peace, and joy.  Wishing all a peaceful season filled with love and joy!!!

 

 





Winter Solstice



The shortest day of the year was stark and gray.  Tomorrow, and each day thereafter, will be longer and lighter, but today winter began on a somber note.  The winter season provides us an opportunity to go inward and reflect upon each moment.  It also gives us the chance to slow down and call up our fondest memories.  Winter, in all its bleakness, gently reminds us to treasure the peace and solace it offers.  It is a time for stillness.
 

Bright Red Berries Add a Splash of Color to a Gray Day

  A Nuthatch Rests in the Crook of a Tree



 

A Time for Gathering & Gratitude

 

Here we are in November already ~ time really does seem to fly, especially as one gets along in years.  My thoughts have turned to family gatherings and cold nights next to warm fires.

 

The gray squirrels, which we rarely see here in the warmer months, are now a common sight.  They are out and about scurrying to collect and store their cache for the winter.  Squirrels are such cute little animals! When one stops for a snack break to refuel on a seed or nut, it's a delight to see the bright eyes and bushy tail.  I like to portray these moments in my artwork.  As with my blog, my painting was on hiatus during the time my focus was so fully entrenched with getting through cancer.  It's been a joy to get back to painting watercolor miniatures. It brings me so much pleasure to create and share these tiny artworks.

 

My heart is filled with gratitude for life and for all the riches it holds ~ loving relationships, the beauty and peace of the natural world, and the opportunities to share the moments which mean so much.  Like the squirrels who take time to savor before heading back into the hustle and bustle, I like to sit back and reflect on the gift of life ~ so fleeting and precious, so full of wonder. 

Fall Finds

 

White Oak



Chestnut Oak Leaves and Acorns

Fall is upon us with its lush and vibrant colors. The weather here the past few days has been glorious ~ sunny, crisp, and sparkly!  The leaves on our white oak tree are turning sumptuous shades of red this season.  I collected a few chestnut oak acorns that are also bright and colorful prior to turning solid brown.  They are pictured along with a sample of chestnut oak leaves, golden before turning a deep tan.  The most exciting find of the day was a huge patch of orange fungi growing alongside and over the top of an old stump ... quite a sight to see!



Orange Fungi Outcrop

 

 

 

Good to be Back!

Hello again!  It was almost this time last year that I signed off to focus on health issues.  I'm happy to report that after extensive chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation treatments, I'm in remission from cancer and doing well.  A huge relief!!!  So, welcome back to my blog.  I hope you will enjoy the photographs and artwork I'll post from time to time, as well as my nature notes and ponderings on life.  Fall is such a colorful season and it seemed like a great time to start anew with my blogging.

We've been seeing quite a few praying mantis' on the prowl, always on the lookout for their next meal.  The one above was laying in wait in one of my brightly hued coleus plants.  We discovered they like to eat stink bugs, which is a big plus.  Invasive stink bugs have become a major pest invading our vegetable gardens and entering our house when the weather gets cool outside.  We need all the help we can get to eradicate them, so anything that will eat them is a welcome sight!

The bees are still buzzing about collecting the last bits of nectar from late blooming flowers.  The bee in the photograph above relished the last of the Mexican Blanket blooms in my garden.  He was so busy that he didn't seem to notice or mind that his picture was being taken!

 

Although I didn't get any photographs of them this year, I'm happy to report that we observed multiple sightings of migrating Monarch Butterflies earlier this fall.  Their bold orange wings flashed in striking contrast across bright blue skies, as they fluttered above our heads.  I collected seed pods from some roadside milkweed plants, host plant for the monarch, and I plan to dry and distribute the seeds where they'll  have a chance to grow well and ultimately nourish future generations of this magnificent and beautiful butterfly.

 

For those of you who previously enjoyed my blog and are return visitors and for those of you who newly chance upon it, welcome!