Strawberry season

If I could choose any scent for my favorite perfume, it would be the smell of strawberries wafting over the fence on a warm summer afternoon.

Just down the road is a huge patch of those ruby gems, ripe and smelling like heaven.

Workers straddle the rows or crouch between them, fingers sifting the leaves for each berry.

It's the same in our garden, except that I try to weed the beds as I pluck enough berries for a juicy pie.

The bunnies along the fence top guard our berry patch and I can hear cows calling across the fields as I pick the berries and sketch them...

Strawberry season. 

Heavenly.

Summer joys...

Summer is the season our little valley really shines.

Our gardens overflow (we're overflowing with spinach at the moment) and the colors are bright and saturated. Cherries are hanging ripe on the trees, raspberries dangle like candy from the branches, and
morning comes bright and early.

Ahhhh, summertime in the Pacific Northwest...

 

Even with the long hours of daylight, there's not time to capture the glories of summer with camera, brush or scissors.

Counting your blessings is good in any season but during summer, the reasons for gratitude almost hit us right between the eyes.

Happy summer, dear friends.

Want to paint with me in Norway?

Do you secretly dream of Scandinavia? 

Want to paint the fjords with me?

I'll be teaching watercolor painting on a two week cruise to Norway on Royal Caribbean in early September and I would just love to have you along!

Here's the link to the itinerary. We'll sail out from Southampton, the port city for London, and visit Cork, Ireland, six of Norway's most charming cities and sail along the picturesque fjords, then stop in Belgium for a day. Doesn't it sound irresistible?

And (drum roll!) the unbelievable part is that I saw it online today at an unbelievable rate! 

Just $784 for two full weeks, including your room, all food and entertainment and even my watercolor classes. If you're interested, you can find that price right here on Vacations to Go!

Just think how much fun we will have sketching, snipping, and splashing color. Not to mention parties at the dinner table. Let's meet in London and sail away...

Filled

The paper cutting class at the Nordic Museum is filled.

As is my grateful heart.

It's the season of joy, when even the weeds are breathtaking.

I'm wishing for light that lasts and lasts, and energy to match.

There is so much to sketch, paint, snip.

One hardly dares to carry out the salad trimmings to the compost pile lest

the distractions prove too much and the palette has to come out and play.

Entire afternoons can disappear this way. And do.

 

 

The inspiration progresses from eyes to hands to the brush and pen and scissors on the page.

On days like these, gratitude knows no bounds.

Thank you for the world so sweet.

Thank you for the food we eat.

Thank you for the birds that sing.

Thank you, God, for everything.

Snip along with me...

Want to join me for a paper cutting afternoon? Dreaming of sipping tea, munching a Scandinavian cookie and wandering through the Nordic Heritage Museum?

There are still a few openings for my cut paper class on June 15 from 1-4pm at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard (which is in greater Seattle).

Here's the link to register...

but sign up fast, as there are only a few slots left.

See you there, ready to snip and sip!