Yosemite

What a week of wonder and amazement! We spent our vacation week in the Eastern Sierras, hiking and fishing.

It has been a week of trout-flicked diamond droplets on a pristine lake, hikes along creeks lined with beaver lodges and aspen, and picnics where we found ourselves sitting in a meadow full of wild blueberry and strawberry.

Near Tioga Pass, we made our usual pilgrimage up past an abandoned silver mine, into the back country where Russell caught and released wild brook trout and I, on hands and knees, followed a tiny frog and captured with my camera butterflies and bees sucking nectar from wildflowers.

Silently we sat for almost two hours watching deer browsing on sage and drinking at the edge of the lake. Speckled twin fawns, a yearling buck with velvety little antlers, an elegant doe...



It has been a week of rest and joy.

Next week will be radically different. The whirlwind of a photo shoot for a magazine and the reality of major surgery await me.

Sometimes an island of peace is a precious thing, preparing us for the stresses of life ahead. For me this time apart has been a memory to savor, carrying me through the more dramatic adventures ahead.

cheerful barns

One of the best parts of rural living is the barns that dot the landscape. Every time I drive past one, I'm seized with a longing to snap a photo, an odd desire to eat a picnic in its shade or swing from the rafters and peer out the hayloft doors.

But usually I'm without the camera or in a hurry, and I haven't had a lazy afternoon in a barn since I was at Boydean and Astrid's farm years ago.

Early yesterday morning I found myself jogging along a country road not far from home and between nibbles of blackberries from the hedges that line the way, I could not help but admire this dear little well kept barn. Flowers form a welcome mat and trees line up like giant wooden soldiers as if in formal greeting.

Wouldn't you agree that barns are among the most charming amenities of the rural landscape? Even the falling down wreck just over our backyard fence boasts a certain rakish, devil-may-care attitude.

If I were to count my blessings today, I'd have to include that cheerful barn, which sent me jogging down the road with a smile.

Small Miracles

My feet were pounding the trail as I huffed and puffed on my daily run yesterday, determined to get my daily run in as fast as I could, so I could get back in the studio to work on an overwhelming list labelled "Must Do Today!"

But it wasn't meant to be. My typical downfall is my eyes, and I fell victim to the eye candy fairly quickly. I was a goner, making several stops along the way to snap photos of irresistible beauties.

The bee on a thistle make me gasp. How do they walk around like that, their dainty feet avoiding the spikes of the thistle? Don't you wonder what thistle honey tastes like? Wild cherries hanging at the edge of the lush Northwest forest... is there anything lovelier than the sun shining through amazing red globes. Tiny yellow wildflowers, blackberries ripening along the trail...

And all this beauty immediately adjacent to the local airport, right alongside the county jogging trail. I have to drop off more packages at FedEx this afternoon, so another run on that magical trail awaits.

I put up a new series of glittered letters on the wall last week. It reads"Real Life is the Best Fairy Tale." Truer words were never spoken.

Sprucing up!

You peeked at the glitter on the windowsill last time I posted... Now I'm going to share a sneak peek at the shelf next to it!

My family laughs that I'm not even legal to operate a camera, so you just have to bear with my poor skills. I simply point and shoot willy-nilly.

But you must admit this is a rather sweet little vignette. I went wild with the glitter this week and attacked what was supposed to be an oversize Easter Egg. To me it wasn't necessarily Easter at all, since there are beautiful nests all over the garden and the sparrows have just hatched their third set of chicklings for the year.

You can't see them, but there are three dear tiny eggs in the nest atop the egg! and the mossy base, the ribbon of words, and the beautiful sparkly glass glitter make it charming, indeed. Nestled into a nook with books and photos, some old sheet music and my own test-tube-and-wire-from-the-hardware-store vases, I find the whole look very satisfying. Last January I bought a giant roll of giftwrap paper because the shade was just right, and it is turning into curtains and other embellishments for the studio... I had no idea what I'd do with it but along with a pale lime roll of the same stuff it's proving to be just the thing. I'm enjoying the fresh look enormously.

When Victoria Magazine's photographers arrive I hope they will think so, too.

Sprucing up can be such fun!

Sparkly!

Don't you just love glitter? I am smitten, captivated and completely gone-over-the-top about glitter!

Here's a quick peek at a little squish of my current faves in the glitter department. Most delicious of all the sparkly confections are the glass glitters. Their clear jewel tones are irresistible in almost every hue. Glass glitters gladden the heart with undertones of complementary shades, and they take me back to childhood, when an ornament would crash into a million pieces and my mother could hardly keep me from picking up the shiny shards. The only competition glass glitters have for my heart is large flakes of natural mica, captivating in their earthiness and innocence.

I keep my glitter handy on the windowsill in adorable vintage containers, some of which even have sprinkle holes right on their tops, left over from the day some dear farm wife sprinkled cinnamon on her toast or nutmeg on a custard pie.

I think those glitters are calling to me even now... I will sign off and get out the glue... I feel a sprinkling sparkling afternoon coming on!

If you're a glitter diva like I am, send me an email and I'll share my source for the most dazzling glass glitters of all! Happy summer... Let yourself sparkle!