Strength Balance Courage Common Sense Castell: For several centuries, Spaniards have been engaging in human tower building. It was first recorded around 1712 in the area of the Catalonian city of Tarragona, Spain. This age-old tradition continues to this day. During our travels there, we […]
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Up Close & Personal … The Spotted Towhee
This spotted towhee visited my garden last Sunday after it had snowed. The clouds had mostly drifted off into the distance and sun rays were peeking through the forest. The afternoon lighting was beautiful and the neighborhood quiet. Suddenly this distinctly patterned bird hopped right […]
Up Close & Personal … Painting with Sunlight
Rainbow planet wearing a belt? Potholders created from worsted felt? Gutter ball rolling down the lane? Colorful art work ready for a frame? Bright yellow, green, purple and blue What are you looking at? Do you have a clue? At the bottom of the post […]
Friendly Friday Photo Challenge … Revisited
When Amanda’s Friendly Friday Photo Challenge prompt “Revisited” appeared in my Reader today, I thought about it for a moment and then opened my photo app to see which moment in my life I’d like to revisit through this post. While browsing my photos, I […]
Happy Friday from my Garden!
The downy woodpecker is a regular visitor in the garden. Males always have a bright red patch at the back of their heads. Downy woodpeckers are only about 7 inches tall. They are very cautious and always take a look around before coming to the […]
Tasty Tuesday … Gujarati Dal with Peanuts and Star Anise
I love Indian food and have plenty of Indian cookbooks, but also enjoy checking out new cookbooks at the library to try out new recipes. Sometimes I come across a winner. A newly published vegetarian Indian cookbook I recently checked out turned out to be […]
Meditation in Moments … Slowing down in the Suburbs
synthetic & natural sounds, textures, colors, patterns… suburban grounding… Last Saturday was a perfect winter day with lots of sunshine. About ten to fifteen minutes on foot from my house is a nature park. I hiked along the West Ridge Trail which meanders through a wide-open […]
Happy Friday from my Garden!
This guy has been pressing his nose up against the patio door some mornings. He’s even knocked on the glass with his paws! I wonder if there is some coffee left for me? I hope you have better luck and get to start your Friday […]
Zunday Zen … Winter Solstice Sparkles
weightless pairs of wings in solstice sunshine … cold moon lit Christmas roses. Have a Zen Sunday! Sabine
Up Close & Personal … The Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Last week a small flock of 5 golden-crowned kinglets visited the garden. They are about the size of a hummingbird and can survive temperatures up to -40 degrees Fahrenheit by snuggling together in the cold. They don’t really sit still for more than a second […]
Up Close & Personal … The Downy Woodpecker
This time of year we get a lot of woodpeckers visiting the suet feeders. The female downy woodpecker identical to the hairy woodpecker, except for its size and the length of the bill. The downy has a short stubby beak in comparison to its body size. Males […]
Up Close & Personal … Purple Blaze of Beautyberries
Years ago I took a few horticultural classes at the local community college. Callicarpa bodinieri ‘Profusion’, commonly known as beautyberry, was one of the many plants I was introduced to then. The instructor stressed that these plants like to be close to another one of […]
Up Close & Personal … Coyotes howling in the Night
It’s not very often that I see coyotes walk past our garden, but we do hear them howling during the night sometimes. Yesterday evening a group of coyotes congregated in the dark forest behind us, howling, yelping and barking loudly. They sounded almost a little […]
Up Close & Personal … The Hairy Woodpecker
Lunchtime for this little guy! With the weather getting colder it’s starting to get busy at the feeders. Suet is loved by just about all the birds and even squirrels try to get to it. Hairy and downy woodpeckers are almost impossible to tell […]
A Stroll through Old Town Olympia
We’ve visited Olympia several times. The people are friendly, the city easy to navigate, and if you stay in, or near Old Town, everything is within easy walking distance. Some of our favorite things to there are looking at the many incredible murals, grab […]
Think! Before you Drink!
On this rainy stormy all hallow’s night the upcoming election gives me great fright this toxic bubbling witches brew it’s a really nasty hate-filled swampy stew Let’s flush the hate and vitriol down before our cherished democracy completely drowns Simply worded, I’ll say it out […]
California Road Trip 2018 … “Good Grief Charlie Brown”, Part 2
Snoopy’s Home Ice has a bit of an alpine chalet look. The flower boxes remind me of Europe! The area around the entrance. Come on in! Welcome to Santa Rosa! Welcome to Snoopy’s Home Ice! I spent many an afternoon watching our boys learn to […]
California Road Trip 2018 … “Good Grief Charlie Brown” Part 1
Do you remember when most of us used to get a newspaper delivered in the driveway? Some mornings the paper would be wet because it had landed right in the sprinklers. The Sunday paper always contained lots of add inserts and a multi-page color comic […]
in cahoots with muddy boots 