Collecting...

It feels like the time for magical conjuring is wafting around.  Pulling on my hem, calling my name through the breeze.  Nights filled with vast dreams, so real, I have to convince myself it was a journey during sleep, and not real time happenings.

Thick clouds, darkened skies which I love, meet me today.

And so I begin...

Collecting.

I just received a huge box of goodies in the mail, plus finished a huge project.

I will photograph to share both in a couple of days.

Both things inspire me to plunge into enchanted realms.

I gather herbs, flowers, candles...

Thank you for stopping in.

I took a smattering of photos this morning in drizzly glorious weather.

A darkness by day sets the mood, as we gather in the garden.

Collecting, searching...

Here's your tea, careful it's hot, now come this way...

If you will.

The colors we choose, the petals and leaves, have to be those that infuse the being...

Light sources of hope and magic unfold...

Misty clouds, here we go...

Through the front garden, here come the flowers.

Which seem to get strong all summer, then explode with blooms in September and October.

Vines twirl about.

Making me ever so thrilled.

Blues in the garden always astound me.

Pinks take my breath away.

Stealing my heart.

Purple and fuchsia, I don't know what to say.

Bountiful zinnias.

I wished for them every day.

In winter, in early spring, I begged for them to find me again next summer.

Now it is that time, and again they are here.

I always feel so lucky.

When flowers make it.

You wouldn't believe the lengths I go to, to ensure they survive.

Rabbits, gophers, toads, rodents, oh my.

Dealing with them kindly.

Zinnias own a piece of my heart.

And without them, things sort of feel incomplete.

So many blooming about.

Reds, pinks, oranges, purples and more.

Oops, here we go...

Around the giant wall of 15 ft. tall oleander bushes, behind the white swing in the front garden...

Passing the gypsy wagon, and over to the courtyard garden, which borders the office and gallery and wagon.

It's mysterious over here.

Gypsy wagon and bath...

Crimson petals.

But even better than that, a secret to show you...

Outside the gallery, where dichondra grows in a circle on its own, so sweet!

A volunteer gourd vine grows up the unsightly power pole I told you about in spring, remember here?

(sadly, the electric company meter reader will never see it, he reads our meter electronically, and never comes in)

I couldn't be more excited about it.

It's a major nature gift for a gourd lover like me.

How could you learn to L O V E a power pole that sits right smack outside your lovely gallery window?

Well it's old wood, which is good.

But still.

Here's how.

A volunteer gourd vines covers it, and then proceeds to have a whole bunch of birdhouse gourd babies!!!

My neighbor and I counted 12 HUGE ones this morning.

Aren't we so easily amused?

Haha!

Heavy as can be, so how do they just hang there like that?

She asks me, and I ask she?

So wonderful, what a gift!

A treat, makes me wildly giddy.

Gourd love abound.

As I clip the tallest flower.

Or should I say, the tallest rose stem I have seen, maybe, ever?

Thorny as heck too.

I collect in my skirt, I collect in my basket.

Delightments galore to conjure this and that.

Like oils and soaps, and candle infusions.

Hello marigold.

Thank you for living with me in seclusion.

Oh yes.

Where's Vanessa?

Where has she been?

Why isn't she at the party?

Why doesn't she want to come out to play?

Something must be wrong.

Ahem.

Or could it be, that she has found her happy?

And, she ain't leaving?

I found a happy place in me, in my gardens.

They help me balance my mind and heart in the most real way.

Petals and pups and paint, and a mad hatter too - fill up the voids of a younger me.

Voids I had almost forgotten.

If I can help it, I never want to leave.

I am aware of the gift of here, this moment.

In one breath it can all change.

So let me hide out here, for a little while longer please.

40 - 50 years would suffice.

Lover of nature and quiet and snores of a dog.

Conjuring up this and that, oh, I hear rain from up above.

I think I have rhyme of the brain because of a recent project.

We are all mad here.

And we like it.

Are you mad, and like it too?

I hope so!

Oh yes, I do.

Happy Weekending!!!!

Loooove, V

See ya soooon!

 

ps:  A word(s) on music.

Do you have songs that totally identify seasons of your life?

I do.

They're endless really.

I bet you do for sure too.

Some remind me of pure winter, and my 3 boys, flannel, crocheting.

Like this.

This summer I have played a few songs on repeat.

Way too much repeat maybe.

CocoRosie, We are on Fire.

I love the chorus.

+

Sierra with her wonderful voice at 2:57 can be on repeat forever as far as I am concerned.

Tearz for Animals is really good too.

Always love hearing Antony with CocoRosie.

I put them on my Ipod early this summer, and have listened over and over and over.

Also, don't forget, Bat For Lashes' new album (The Haunted Man) comes out on October 15th.

Love this.

Most excellent.

Can't wait for my copy.

And Tori.

New album called Gold Dust, which revisits older songs, interpreted as she sees them today.

20 years later for some of them.

Curious about this indeed.

I hear these are the songs below.

Flavor. Yes, Anastasia. Jackie’s Strength. Cloud On My Tongue. Precious Things. Gold Dust. Star of Wonder. Winter. Flying Dutchman. Programmable Soda. Snow Cherries From France. Marianne. Silent All These Years. Girl Disappearing.

Oh, Flying Dutchman.

Met me in my painting worlds in my younger days all the time.

Comes out October 2nd.

Can't wait.

Since we are talking Tori, one of my fave performances ever is here.

The bridge at 3:03 - 4:21 is heart love.

OKay, I am leaving now :)

Longest post evah.