Light and Shadow

 

 

 

 

Sunset on a Sunday

Sprinklers

Good morning!

Hello! Hope this day finds you blessed and ready to start a relaxing weekend!

Just had to share a funny little thing that happened on the morning of the 4th. I fell in love with coffee. Now, I know you’re probably thinking…”um, okay sweetheart, that’s great.” But you don’t understand. I’m a tea snob and have never understood society’s obsession with coffee. I was a barista at two coffee shops for a total of 3 years and never drank it, well, except for the required tastings Starbucks has you do which I totally understand. My husband is a coffee aficionado who almost bought his own coffee shop and buys green coffee beans roasting them to his liking. But me…no.

I grew up on iced tea. It’s hot here and nothing is so refreshing as a glass of tropical tea iced to perfection. Long lost peaceful hours spent reading under my beloved lemon tree next to the pool sipping happiness in a glass creep back into my memory and heart when I taste that first sip. Comfort pure and simple.

On the morning of the 4th the clouds decided to join us in celebrating the holiday. I love clouds just as much as I love iced tea and their presence was very welcome. The sun had been so bright and unflinching for the past month that I felt my soul becoming scorched like our poor plants trying to survive in our backyard. The morning was so perfectly cozy: the rain falling outside, my husband home from work and our customary holiday breakfast of cinnamon rolls waiting to be enjoyed. I was excited to try out my latest Goodwill find; a ceramic mug with big yellow flowers on it very much in the hippie fashion. Tea just wasn’t going to cut it this time, not with the rain and rich cinnamon rolls. My friend had given me some pumpkin coffee from Trader Joe’s a while back so I decided to french press some and give coffee a shot. It…was…perfect.

I’m excited to explore this strange new world…my journey begins 🙂

Compost = Awesomeness!

My husband and I began gardening last year. We’ve learned a lot along the way but one of the most important things we’ve learned is that seeds from compost grow much better than transplants. We have a plot of earth that we dug up, shoveled compost all over the top of the soil and planted corn and some various squashes. The corn is doing alright but the squashes have long since dried up. A few weeks after the squash died we began seeing random sprouts coming up and realized they were from our compost. This is the result!

 

For a while I called it the Mystery Garden because we had no idea what was growing. It was a lot of fun to go outside each morning and poke around to see what had grown. We now know that we have pumpkins, tomatoes, watermelon, spaghetti squash, butternut squash and cantaloupes! I think we’ll pick the spaghetti squash in a few days and cook it with blue cheese and lightly sauteed asparagus spears!

Here are a few shots around the garden. Enjoy!

 

In need of the sea

 

This is my home, the Sonoran Desert, and it’s hot this time of year…really hot. With temps well into the triple digits and my iced tea becoming warm tea rather quickly I find my heart aching for the waves and sand of the pacific coast. I need the salt breeze and the spray of the waves on my face. I need the water searching out my toes wetting the sand beneath my feet. I need the laughter of kids chasing each other along the water line and building sandcastles. But alas, I am here for the time being. So to fill my heart’s desire in my own little way I took these photos of shells I have around my house. Hope they bring a little sea breeze your way.

Have a beautiful day!

 

A bit of white and brown on a Sunday morning

 

 

Birds

One of my sketches.

 

 

I took this photo at my 4th grade camp on the Mongolian Rim. I just love the quiet solitude of it.

 

 

My dad took this photo when I was around 4. I remember those geese chasing me around and they were as big as I was! Regardless of that memory I find this one of my favorite pictures. It still sparkles with the magic of childhood.

Seed Bombs!

Anthropologie has been one of my favorite stores for quite some time now. I love to walk around and just be inspired by all the creativity that goes into making the store what it is. One item I found there was a  little bag of Wildflower Seed Bombs. They are balls of dried dirt with a gazillion little seeds rolled up inside. I planted them this spring and they were true to their name!

Go to Visualingual’s blog to see more varieties of Seed Bombs.  http://visualingual.wordpress.com/