Gardens of Flowers

Last month I went to the 25th Annual Spring Garden Tour held by the Soroptimist International of the Sierra Foothills. I was going to rank the gardens as I had appreciated them. After thinking about that for a while, I came to realize that it’s not really fair to rank these six gardens, as each garden has its own personality, just like the people do, that tend them. I have, however, decided to share some photos of the garden that I liked most of all.

Butterflies Abound in this Happy Wooded Garden

Fabulous Rose Garden

Dainty Yellow Peony

Pretty Little Colombine

This garden sat up on a hill in Grass Valley, California. It was host to an aviary with happily singing finches and canaries. The butterflies appeared blissfully happy, and with every step that I took, I would find a lovely surprise in the form of some sort of flower that I had never seen in its particular color. You could tell that the people who grew this garden had spent many hours laboring in it. I would  have liked to have had the time to sit out in it with a glass of wine in my hand to just drink in all the sights and colors of this magical place. I can’t imagine daily living in that environment. Well, I can imagine it, but I think the best way to see the garden would be to fly through it. No tending, no trouble, just sheer availability to loads of wonderful flowers. Oh to be a butterfly, just for one glorious day. Imagine…  

 

 

Additional Spaces

I’ve been pulled away from my blog for a few weeks. We are in the process of having an addition put on our home. It takes a lot of time to find and purchase those things we need to make this project complete. So I apologize for failing to send Happy Holiday Wishes your way. I want you to know that you were in my thoughts and intentions to send greetings to. I hope you had a wonderful season  filled with family and friends.

A Sierra Winter’s Lake

We have found the smallest of time to go to the Sierra Mountains and look at a Winter Wonderland. The snow has been relatively scarce and it has made the lakes available that would normally be snowed in. The sights are abundant and amazing. Winter there, feels like it is still approaching.

Fragile Ice Near The Shore

For me, looking into the shallow depths of the lake and realizing the stillness that permeates there in the winter months, calms me in a time that seems so turbulent to me. The addition will be done soon and all this will pass also. I wish you all a warm and calming winter.

 

 

Peace & Quiet

A couple of weeks ago we walked the trail to Frasier Falls that was covered with snow. I didn’t realize at the time that this photo would take me to a very quiet and peaceful place during the holiday rush.

Snowy Bridge

While we were there, we didn’t know that our car battery was dangerously low and about to give out completely. It would have been a very long, icy walk back to a spot where the cell phone could have found a signal to call for help. I guess someone was watching over us. 

Frasier Falls

I try to reflect on the blessings from this year as I hurry to this year’s end. In the month before Christmas, it’s often hard to find a moment to be still and silent. I think it is important to carve out a little down time to help us all keep our sanity.

Shattered Ice Pond

So, I think of you as I mail my cards, wrap the boxes, and stand in the long post office lines. I think of you and hope that you have a safe and sane holiday season. I hope that you will find time to spend with family and friends ringing in the year that is soon to pass and the year that is about to be. Happy Holidays   

 

 

First Sierra Snow

We’ve been out on some beautiful walks over the last couple of weekends. We were fortunate enough to head up to Sardine Lake in the Lakes Basin area, up the mountain from Graeagle, California. This is the best reflection of the Sierra Buttes that I have ever captured. It was still and silent at the lake, except for the sound of the distant waterfall that echoed from across the deep blue water. 

Reflection on Sardine Lake

We continued on to Sand Pond which is adjacent to Sardine Lake. We’ve never been there when you could walk through the first, fresh inches of snow. The road is usually closed all winter. The ice crystals were everywhere and I found that I couldn’t quite capture the diamond like effect that they were giving off.

Snowy Crystals at Sand Pond

As we were walking, I was thinking about my friend, Robbi, who is recovering from a fall and some broken bones. I felt like I was walking for her. She would have loved the sights and sounds during the off-season there. We’ve continued walking to other places too but you’ll have to come back to see where we’ve been. I hope you had a very Blessed Thanksgiving.

Lazy Daisy?

Why is it the daisies                                                                                                                      Seem so struck by the bugs?                                                                                                                 Is it in their color                                                                                                                                 Or their look from above?

Sierra Daisies

For me it’s the wonder                                                                                                                    In these flowers so white                                                                                                                         The attraction they have                                                                                                           Though it often seems trite

France Daisy

I do love the daisies                                                                                                                         As they sway in the breeze                                                                                                           With the free way they seem                                                                                                        To do just as they please

Bonnie DiMichele 2017

Just a little whimsical thought as many men work on my new addition. It’s loud, dirty, and may be slow in progress. My beautiful backyard is an absolute mess but it will make my home so that we can live on one floor. This surely is a thought I never had as a younger person. I refuse to let those thoughts make me feel old…I’m simply being practical.    

 

Beauty Fully

Last weekend we fled to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to get out of the smoke in the valley. There was some smoke lingering there too, but it was a good reminder that a colorful Fall is here, the skies are still blue, and the air is breathable. The reflection on Sand Pond at Sardine Lake was still and peaceful with no mosquitos in sight. 

Peaceful Sand Pond

This last week we voluntarily moved all those things we thought were important to us but had to leave one very precious thing behind. The Atlas Fire was on the ridge, not terribly far from the neighborhood we live in. I said goodbye to this item I had to leave behind and said I would be back, but it made me realize how very much I take this piece for granted and what tremendous pleasure this thing has yielded me over the course of about thirty years. I hadn’t even given this prized possession a name. So before anymore time passes, here is the name; Beauty. You see, Beauty fully fills my life with joy, peace, and a tranquility that few other things can offer. My black Knabe grand piano has given me Beauty, fully for years and never asked for anything in return except a yearly tuning. Beauty fully was too large to pack in the car. You see, everything you need, or is very important to you, can fit in a car. It was a lightbulb moment for me. If my family were still living with us, we’d pack them in first and possibly leave everything else behind. All that is important to you, fits in your car. That means we have many creature comforts that don’t hold much value in our hearts. When it comes to what’s important, family is at the very top of my list, and I think it is at the top of yours too. Don’t forget to let those family members know the depth of the Beauty they fully bring to you.

Tower Bridge

Just over a week ago, we were fortunate enough to be asked to attend the Tower Bridge Dinner, that takes place on the bridge that spans the Sacramento River, in Sacramento. I never thought I’d get to go to this event. The tickets are very hard to come by and sell out immediately. When we got the call, we dropped everything else we were doing and said, “Yes!” It was a Farm to Fork event and the weather, people, and sunset couldn’t have been better. The photo doesn’t do it justice as it was taken with a phone but I hope you can see the magnitude of the event and get a feel for the good time that was being had by everyone.

 

Tower Bridge Dinner

Going to Seed in Explosive Fashion

What a difference a week makes. The tragedy in Las Vegas is now weighing on all our minds. I can’t make sense of it. It makes me force myself to listen to my own words. My poem, Daffodil Spring, has a final stanza that goes like this:                     So I give to my children                                                                                                         Advice through their years,                                                                                                   “Look for life’s colors,                                                                                                                 Lest you drown in life’s tears.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  I leave you with that thought, and this photo, taken last weekend in the Sierra’s. What an explosive sight, this weed going to seed, gives off. So try to remember that the world, though it may be cruel, is also a magnificent place.

Reflective Waters

I have been waiting for this day for the entire Summer. Cool, slowing, lazy, Fall days. I thought they’d never get here. I couldn’t go towards the coast enough days last Summer. I kept thinking that we would get one more round of hot weather.

Fall In The Sierra Mountains

Leaf Peeping In Delaware

Then it snowed yesterday in the Sierra’s and I knew that Fall was finally upon us. I can’t remember a summer that was hotter than the one we just had. Maybe I’m getting older and less tolerant of the climate changes, season to season. There have been times, recently, that I have thought of the seasons, liking them to the seasons of our lives. If this were the case then I think that Spring would be our baby, toddler, elementary school years. Summer would be our teens and twenties or even our early thirties. Fall would last a very long time before Winter would creep in coldly somewhere around our late sixties and beyond. The changing seasons, you can’t ignore them, they’re upon us any way we may look at them.

I’m hoping that all of us have a very long and glorious Fall Season.

Young Critters

It’s that time of year again when we get to meet the newest critter families that romp around our cabin. Just like our own kids, they grow up so fast. In just a short time we won’t be able to tell the babies from the adults.

New Graeagle Family

They all love to play together when they’re young and then it’s hard to get them all together when they grow-up. Where ever you are this weekend, give your mom a call and let her know how much she means to you. If your mom is gone, channel some lovely memories her way. I wish all of you a Very Happy Mother’s Day.

Enjoy.

Meadow Snog

As we returned from the Sierra’s this week we came upon some beautiful sights. The old Mill Pond was nearly frozen-over so we stopped and tossed rocks across the frozen part and listened to the echoing sounds that the pond makes in the Winter.

Later we came across a meadow that had fog hanging near the ground. There was a couple walking through the snowy meadow with a photographer following them. Engagement photos, perhaps; ’tis that time of year. It made me shiver and warmed my soul all at the same time. So I wish for all of you who read this, that you Have a Memorable and Prosperous New Year. We all need something to celebrate. There are days I look about me and realize that the amazing land we live in, and the joys that family and friends bring, gives us cause to celebrate every day that we have here. So go out and celebrate the very fact that you are here.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

(I always loved how Dr. Seuss would make up words and so I took some liberties and created the title Meadow Snog. It is the blending of snow and fog which is what I saw in the meadow. Snog  had no trouble spell checking, so I became curious. Snog is a british term for kissing and caressing amorously, which is exactly what the fog seemed to be doing with the snow in the meadow and the couple were doing while taking pictures. I suppose it really is the perfect word to use for what I was viewing.)