A Fanciful Twist

Springing + Petals

My addiction to painting flowers is being fueled in major ways.

The heat just appeared yesterday like fireworks.

Warmth shooting through trees, as leaves unfurled madly.

Flowers popped up like magic.

As delicate ruffled frosting roses sat in shock.

So of course, I had to bring some in.

Any excuse to sneak off with a few.

Remember how I said I wasn't planting in the flower garden this year?

I couldn't help my greedy self.

I spent all Saturday driving around like a mad woman.

I was on the hunt for Cleveland Sage.

OH MY, a new fave.

It smells sooooo good and doesn't even like water that much.

I saw it growing at a church rummage sale.

I asked everyone there if they knew what it was.

An old man was so excited for me to have some cuttings.

But the ladies almost had my head when they saw me with it, haha!

Eventually someone knew what it was.

And in the midst of holding my sister hostage on my hunt, I found about 10 other perennial plants I could not live without.

By the by, I finally found Cleveland Sage at a local nursery called The Great Outdoors.

(in Catalina, Arizona)

They have some of the most beautiful plants I have ever seen.

I so recommend them.

Anywho, all the petals below now have new siblings :)

I can't ever get over roses.

They just always amaze me to pieces.

You?

Oh and, did I tell you?

I spied a few berries.

I had my second strawberry today.

Why do such things amuse me so?

Actually, I only had 1, because I gave half of each to Mister Lovee.

They are so sweet this year.

Mmmm.

Helooooo Grasshoppa!

I am a happy girl.

Petals on the table.

Pepto and corals a plenty.

Yellows too.

Ready for treat time.

I made about 5 dozen pumpkin empanadas.

(Mexican hand pies)

Only, if I dare share the family recipe I might mysteriously disappear.

So, I will have to find you one that is just as good.

There's just a bunch of secret natural ingredients that make these super flaky and lovely.

And butter too, no shortening.

Yumm yumm.

One of my hugest fairy tale pumpkins was used in the making of these.

I still have a couple more and a bunch of little orangies too.

These were the first good fairy tale pumpkin seeds, so it was most excellent to grab them before pumpkin planting begins tomorrow.

(Some are coming to you soon Ms. Misantropia)

The flavor and sweetness of fairy tale pumpkins is unlike anything I can describe.

The best for eating for sure.

Roasted and pureed.

Yummm yummm!

I put some orange zest in my filling which took the empanadas from pumpkin holiday flavor, to a bit fresher spring version.

So now, we get to munch away.

And can you believe...

I only just yesterday washed the Christmas greetings off of my homemade chalkboard.

I know.

Pretty ridiculous :-)

 

It is 90'F here today.

(32.3'C)

Are you floored?

I am.

 

We got catapulted straight into summer my friends.

Weirdness weather patterns indeeeeedy!

 

Love, Vanessa

 

 

 

 

ps:  My sister and I had a great laugh (on our journey of belly laughs til we scream in pain) when she playfully suggested that my Metamorphosis post the other day, had an air of me sampling some serious shroom nog.  Just for the record, I was not, nor have I ever partaken in funny fungi :-)

(Partaken? Is that a word?)

All this wackiness is natural my friends, hee hee!

Yikes, gulp.

I don't even feel wacky though.

:-)

 Okay, maybe just a little.

Glittered Girls {Original Art Cards}

I have some fresh new sparkly lil' gals in the shop today.

Original art cards, some in pencil and others in ink.

All water-colored and sparkly.

I wish you could see them in person.

As photographing sparkles is soooo hard.

They throw off the brightness of the cards.

So, just know they are lovelier in person.

Most folks who have given a card or two a home mat and frame them.

And hang them on the wall.

I have been playing in pencil and ink.

Along with different shades of backgrounds.

For all sorts of little faces.

They are all in the shop as of now.

Looking for homes.

Glitter makes the world a better place doesn't it?

:-)

 

It's going to be very warm today.

I noticed tomatoes and carrots sprouting in the vegetable garden.

Time to paint in the garden before it gets too hot.

 

I just love the warmest sun.

Remind me when I am melting in summer okay??

 

Hope you are having a loveliest day!

 

Love, V

 

Metamorphosis...

There is something brewing.

A buzzing, a flutter, a burst of sun through the trees.

Is it rose buds, morphing into petals, opening wide?

Or petal edges drying in the sun?

It's something, but what?

Is it where fuchsia meets thorns?

I wonder in the garden.

Where everything looks different.

It's exciting, it's monumental and then...

Subtle.

The air is scented with fragrances so strong, you feel dizzy.

Jasmine and orange blossoms collide.

Smell that?

As sun goes down, and the wait for trees dripping in leaves continues...

I stroll.

What is it?

Do you know?

Who knows?

Anyone?

I look at cactus pads framed in blooms reminding me of Frida Kahlo.

Flowers and bees will make fruit.

As tiny grapes turn up.

I sniff, I wonder.

I go from anxious to calm.

From curious to alert.

It's a change.

Some kind of change.

Down the steps, up the steps.

Something feels odd and interesting and different?

Is it spring?

Is it me, is it you?

Is it the weather, the time, the years??

What?

And then I start to understand.

It seems clearer.

I hide, and stroll, and think.

Think too much?

Think too little?

I look up, I look down.

I admire that bluest sky.

And then...

I get it.

A little.

A lot.

Not so much.

Maybe.

The bees in the pittosporum sound like an engine at work..

Do they know?

Or...

What if??

What if it's seeing things through someone else's eyes?

 

I don't know what it is.

But I am sure it is some sort of metamorphosis.

I feel a change in the wind.

It's been tapping on my shoulder the last month or two.

In the core of my soul.

Do you feel it too?

 

I am starting to embrace it.

I think I have felt it before.

Yes, I have felt it before.

Journeys in life.

But it has been so long, I almost forgot what it felt like.

 

Everything looks different.

Have you ever woken up one day and realized...

Too much has happened to stay the same.

Or turn your back on it?

Life has taken you on journeys so vast.

You just aren't the same.

And maybe it's good?

 

You try to understand.

This change.

 

But then you realize...

 

That, it's only at the moment that you let go...

Plunge over a cliff, off a tree, into the deepest lagoon...

That you trust and jump...

That you take deep yogi breaths, and sit legs crossed in the dirt...

 

That you say, okay, I give in.

 

Here, have control.

 

That it all begins to make sense?

 

That it doesn't seem scary, but instead, exciting.

 

We grow.

We change.

Growing pains?

Growing gifts?

Growing brain and soul?

 

I don't know.

 

I don't know.

 

Do you?

 

All I know is...

I feel something brewing.

 

Nothing is the same.

Or is it?

Or do we just see it differently.

 

Do you feel it?

Is life trying to tell you something?

 

One thing I know for sure.

It's in the moment that you go with it, and stop fighting...

That a huge peace comes over you.

And it all looks good.

 

I guess, we never stop growing up.

 Seasons change.

And so do we.

Maybe I changed long ago and am barely noticing it?

 

But it's interesting.

I am waiting for what is to come.

 

Is it happening to you as well?

What do you see?  What do you feel?

 

I kind of want to dance and sing more.

And climb really tall hills.

Maybe not mountains, but hills would be okay.

And swim in hidden waterfalls.

I love doing that.

And laugh laugh laugh.

My sister and I have had some serious laughs lately.

So much laughing I had to scream from belly laughter pain.

You see...

We got a hoola hoop.

Does that say it all? 

 

Today is blog post number 1001.

 

Maybe the message is hidden in the questions.

What if this metamorphosis is the acceptance of change?

Woe, that's heavy, haha!

 

I kind of feel like it's about being able to throw your hands up in the air and say, big deal, oh well, c'est la vie!! 

(and really mean it)

 

 

Love, V

 

 

 

 

 

To the Gypsy Garden... {& giveaway winner}

When my sister suggested it was time for evening cocktail hour...

I knew it was time indeed.

Time to bring back those gypsy garden evenings for the season.

Music, candles...

Light the lanterns in the trees.

Trees just beginning to get their leaves.

You know, it wasn't until I got into my thirties that I have really felt like I belonged in Southern Arizona.

Looking back, I know now that I always have.

That I am a real part of this place in the depth of my being.

And that I identify with it madly.

But I didn't really embrace it as kid, as I do now.

I thought it was mysterious and fascinating, and I loved collecting crystals and peeking in old mines and ghost towns.

But I always thought, when I grow up I will go somewhere else.

But then I didn't want to really, when it came time.

And I am so glad I stayed.

Actually, those early road trips around our state with Mister Lovee really caused me to fall in love with Arizona, in a real way.

It's so wonderful to live in a sunny warm place, even if summers are really hot.

It's a dry heat that is manageable.

Not too many mosquitoes.

I rarely see a snake except for a gopher snake going into gopher holes once or twice a summer.

(knock on wood)

The winters are mild.

The mountains are glorious.

People are casual and smiling most of the time.

It's a tinge New Agey, I think at least.

And arty too, and interesting.

New age is a vibe I love and feel.

Even if it's totally 90's of me to love New Age ;)

Did you know that Northern Arizona is super forest like and chilly?

Not all of Arizona is a desert, like here in Southern Arizona.

Even here, the mountains I see from my garden are forest like and get snow.

Where desert meets forest.

I live at a bit higher elevation, about an hour from downtown Tucson, which is why it seems greener.

And cooler.

Do I sound like an Arizona infomercial??

Hahaa!

I always thought I was meant to be a California girl.

Living there half years most of my childhood.

But now I know...

I am not.

I am an Arizona desert girl.

Under mesquite trees, on gypsy nights, I know it for sure.

I can't imagine living any other place.

And sooooo.

Point is, before I ramble on and on...

That my sis suggested a cocktail hour.

Hinting that there was a bottle of champagne in my fridge.

Who knows how long it had been there by the way.

So, she cracked it open.

Meddled it with fresh mint from the garden.

Gave me minty lime soda with just a splash of champagne.

Which I must say, I feel ever so slightly hungover today, but I can't be so it must be in my head.

Not after a thimble full of champagne, me thinks.

What a a glorious night.

The climbing roses are exploding over the lil' gallery too, on the west side of the garden.

Over by the gypsy wagon and the wisteria gazebo thingamabob.

Perfect for frolicking under slight moonlight.

Sipping away....

Cuddling under warm fuzzy blankets and old sparkly quilts.

We absconded with Mister Lovee's current transistor radio.

Of which I have gifted him about 7 in our time, only to have them drop in buckets of water and such.

He listens to NPR all day long especially on weekends, and carries that radio while doing yard work and such, which is why the radios meet their demise so often.

We listened to the radio, rolling through stations over and over.

Stevie Nicks came on and I twirled around, which made the pups excited and then everyone was kicking up dirt.

It got real chilly later in the evening.

I cuddled up into my sister with Douglas (her min pin) and Matty on my toes.

And when my sis was ready to go embroider the night away, I swapped her for Mister Lovee.

Who had been watching his show.

So chilly by 10 p.m.

But bewitching.

We found it hard to pry ourselves away.

But then took comfort in the fact that we always have tomorrow.

As gypsy nights are here to stay.

For now.

Oh oh oh, these glorious days of Arizona spring.

Where lanterns sway, and if you listen just so, the moon will share a secret or two.

I closed my eyes and found inspirations for paintings tugging at my skirt.

Paint me, paint me...

Whispered the moon.

 

Love, V

 

 

 

ps:  The tote and bunting winner from the previous post is.....

#21

Sandra Sheets, hoooray you won!

Please email me your snail mail address, yay!!