Thoughts for a Monday Morning......

Song - You Can't Always Get What You Want by The Rolling Stones

Because of the drought, we have decided to let our big side lawn die.....difficult decision for me because I get so much enjoyment from the garden.  But our boys are all grown.  No more baseball practice on the side lawn, croquet, badminton, golf, wrestling, volleyball and only an occasional game of horseshoes and you don't need grass for that!

I sit on the bench under a large Oak tree and watch it slowly turn brown.

But the positive side is that we will continue to keep the flowers, shrubs and trees alive.

Golden Celebration - Mr. B's favorite!

There is so much to be thankful for!

Mika can cool off on those really hot days!

"Between stimulus and response, there is space.  In that space is our power to choose our response.  In our response lies our growth and our freedom." - Viktor E. Frankl

Light and Grace

Song - Musica Zen

"Your spiritual journey is

 whatever light and grace

 you bring to 

whatever you do." 

- Elizabeth Gilbert

TBT

Song - Hold Me Tight by The Beatles

I was just going though my photo's this morning to find something juicy to paint and I came across this photo of Mr. B and myself from 1978.  It was taken by my good friend Gwen on her front porch in Portland. Mr. B and I were taking a "road trip" in his sweet little blue Alfa Romeo.


"You can't control everything.  Your hair was put on your head to remind you of that!" -  Someecards

Wild Goose Chase

Song - Little White Duck by Burl Ives

You have probably heard me complain about the Canadian Geese overpopulation in our neighborhood. They fly overhead and "honk", they land on our roof and in our pool, they are noisy and at times messy.

They even follow me to Lake Tahoe!

 But I have to tell you that they also bring me a lot of joy

Some years they nest right under our deck, near the creek.

Some evenings at sunset they fly overhead in a large flock and are beautiful to watch.

Did you know that they mate for life?

And that they were nearly extinct in the 1950's?

This afternoon my son, Tyler called for me to watch the two geese in the top photo, down in our little creek. They seemed to be enjoying the waterfall and the warm sunshine.

After a few minutes, these six little goslings came out from behind a bush.

And floated away with mom & dad........

Who were keeping a watchful eye on Tyler and me!


(Did you happen to see the horse head shadow on the floor of the creek? I have been teaching them to do shadow puppets all year now and it finally paid off!!!)


"If you feel the urge, go on a wild goose chase.  What do you think wild geese are for anyway?"  --Will Rogers

Imperfect Beauty

Song - Nobody Knows Me by Lyle Lovett

"Adopt the pace of nature;

her secret is patience.

Sometimes you don't need

the things you "need"

to enjoy the simple

things, quiet times, 

friends, family."

--Amish Proveb

The Good Life

Song - Serenading the Cattle with Royals

On Sunday Mr. B and I took a drive to an iris farm up north.  On the way I spotted a herd of Texas Longhorns and boy were their horns long.  This guy in the photo above must of had horns about 6 feet across from tip to tip.

When he walked, he seemed to have trouble lifting his head up and balancing them.  So, with head down, he wobbled those mighty horns to a different side of the pasture.

Arriving at the Iris Farm, we were met with fields of beautiful color.

It turned out to be a beautiful day at the iris farm.

So many to choose from.  Mr. B teased me that we should open our gardens for visitors who are looking to buy iris plants.

I mean, can you ever have too many iris?  Really???

As I was checking off my list of which plants to purchase, I noticed several families of Hmong people enjoying the beauty of these gardens.  They kept taking photos of each other in front of the flowers.  One elderly couple were having their photo taken but the man kept tickling the woman's cheek with his tongue and she would erupt in a fit of giggles.  She was missing several teeth but had a grin from ear to ear and boy did her eyes sparkle!

The women's outfits had silver coins all over them and when they walked, they jingled.

The above photo reminds me of Vincent van Gogh's painting "Irises"1889, with the one white one in the bunch.

Hmong Proverb -

Hlais nqaij ntshaw zoo riam,

Ua neej nyob ntshaw zoo pojniam.

To slice meat, you need a good knife;

To have a good life, you need a good wife.

If I Had A Boat

Song - If I Had A Boat by Lyle Lovett

Busy as a bee.....

The roses are in full bloom.

The iris are just beginning to bloom.

Tomato plants (18) have been put in the vegetable garden.

 The shade garden is happily showing her beauty.

Dogwood

 

Hosta

Azalea

Fern

Fern

And the geese are doing a little hanky-panky up on our rooftop every morning.

Our neighbors roof

Then it got cold.

Very cold in comparison to the weather California has been used to. Which has been Summertime in the Winter!



Easter was held inside this year due to the rain and cold.

Yesterday it rained and then hailed.  Weird weather.

But we need the rain so much that no one is complaining.

It rained enough to bring this rowboat down the creek and lodge in some brambles by our property.



The Governor is placing California on a 25% water reduction plan starting soon.

Luckily Mr. B and I were already changing our overhead sprinklers to a drip system and Sherman (our drip guy) said his phone is ringing off the hook with jobs.

We are also collecting grey water, you know the clean water we get from waiting for the hot water to come on, water from rinsing veggies & fruit, etc.  I have buckets in both showers and pitchers near each sink to gather the water.  Then I go outside and water my potted plants. 

Today I just ordered a 50 gal. rain barrel but it's not for rainwater (because we have none) but for all of these buckets and pitchers of water.  It is truly amazing how much water can be reused.  I am now looking into organic shampoo's, soaps, etc., so that we can collect even more.

"The farmer will never be happy again; 

He carries his heart in his boots;

For either the rain is destroying his grain

Or the drought is destroying his roots." 

--Alan Patrick Herbert