Happy Thanksgiving!

 Thanksgiving is traditionally a time known for big gatherings of friends and family around a table with an over-abundance of food. What wonderful memories I have of Thanksgivings just like that with my huge extended family of aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents as I grew up.

Nearby Farm

If I had to pick, Thanksgiving would be my favorite holiday. I find joy in our crisp Pacific Northwest weather and the beauty of our land this time of year. 

I love that Thanksgiving is less commercial than the other holidays. I respect its meaning; thanking God for this country and for the many blessings he has given me throughout the years. 

Making Pies

My Thanksgivings have changed. They have become more intimate. I have God in my life and now find the day more humbling as I think of how he has blessed and watched over myself and my loved ones. I'm thankful for being fortunate enough to have a bountiful feast, most of the food from my own garden.

However you will celebrate Thanksgiving this year, I hope you will have the kind of peace, joy and thankful spirit that only our Lord can give. 

Inspiration for October Calendar Page

 

There isn't a more colorful month than October on our farmstead. 

I grow a variety of pumpkins. Some make delicious pies, but most get set on porches, tables, fence posts and among the flowers. Recognize the pumpkin that was painted for the October calendar page?

The third week of October is usually the peak of autumn leaf color for our area. I was raised in northern California and had no idea how awesome autumn can be until I moved to the Pacific Northwest of Oregon. The colors of the leaves, clean and crisp air and bright blue skies are breathtaking during October. 

Our farmstead has a few oaks that are over 200 years old. To the squirrels delight, the ground is covered in acorns each October. Thus, the acorns with the colored oak leaves painted on the page.

Evening showers bring bright morning sunrises through our trees. No more watering pots in the garden. 

Time to get cozy by the fire and sip a pumpkin latte!

Happy Autumn 2022!

The sun takes a step back, the leaves put on their finest colors, and autumn is awakened! 

Fall is a beautiful time of year most everywhere I travel in the USA.

We even travelled to Alaska in the fall and it is gorgeous! On our way to a resort via a float plane, there were large patches of gold among the evergreens and glaciers. The weather was clear, crisp and perfect for hiking, fishing and kayaking. 

I can't wait to decorate for the fall. We grow most of the pumpkins and gourds that get placed on fence posts, porches, tables and mantles. Still, there's always a trip to my favorite farm for fresh pressed apple cider and donuts.

I love the warm colors of fall; gold, orange, red and purple.

And, what's not to like about pumpkin and apple pies fresh from the garden to table?

Enjoy the pumpkin spice!

Inspiration for September Calendar Page

 Can it really be the end of summer and start to fall already?

The giant sunflowers are a couple feet above my head. They are a gorgeous contrast against our bright blue skies.

We planted sunflowers around three sides of the vegetable garden this year. There's also sunflowers scattered here and there around our farmstead that were planted by the birds and squirrels last spring. They bring a smile when we walk around our property. Thus, a sunflower painting for the month of September!

Hope you had a nice summer and are looking forward to a beautiful autumn!

Inspiration for August Calendar Page

 August; the unofficial last month of summer! We like to celebrate our anniversary (number 28 this year!) and the end to summer by spending time at our nearby beach. Thus, the beachy scene for the August calendar page.

No beaches can be privately owned in Oregon. Anyone with a home by the beach has to provide public access to it. We can walk for miles on "our" beach near Newport and never see another person. 

Our beaches are very different than other west coast beaches. Our coastline is rugged and pristine. The north Oregon coast is considered to be one of the top tourist destinations and most beautiful in the world. 

Our yellow lab, Cotton, is quite the beach hound. She gathers rocks and sticks while we gather shells.

I hope that you are enjoying this last full month of summer. I'm always sad to see summer come to an end. But, fall is so gorgeous and invigorating that I don't complain too much.

I hope you have a beautiful, fun end to summer!

Inspiration for July Calendar Page

 Sometimes I'm asked if I paint from real life. Yes, I do! 

Most of my paintings are of flowers, birds and various subjects around my home, garden and the countryside where I live. To get a glimpse of the process, I thought I would blog about the inspiration for the artwork I paint for various products.

I'll start with this month's calendar page. July, 2022! 

I collect clay pots. I have them stacked on a shelf in the sunroom, planted with topiaries on the porches and annual flowers throughout our landscape. I'm partial to the worn, mossy ones. You'll see them tucked in here or there on many of my paintings.

  We're blessed that our climate allows us to keep the pots outdoors all year, or it would be a pain to set them out, or in, each season. We have perfect plant-loving weather here in the northwest corner of Oregon. Nursery stock, sod and seeds are grown in our area and sold world-wide; it is Oregon's #1 cash crop. Your Japanese Maples and various flower seeds may come from large nursery farms only a few miles from our home. It is quite a sight to see the large fields of flowers before their seeds are collected.

This is Monrovia Nursery, just 5 miles from us. They grow Japanese Maples and various Conifers to ship to nurseries worldwide. It's a pleasant afternoon to visit there.

The geraniums are lush in July. I plant bright red ones in my concrete pots that line our back patio. This month's calendar is painted from the plants first planted in April, when they were babies in smaller clay pots.

The white daisies in the calendar page are African Daisies, which I planted from seed. They are a hardy perennial and grow to five feet. They need constant deadheading to keep under control, but bloom prolifically from May until our first frost the end of October. 

I've planted the daisies in the front flower garden and the vegetable gardens. I think they add a nice, cheery touch, don't you?

I painted the July calendar page from flower bouquets picked from my gardens. I usually will pluck a flower out of the bouquet to paint it at a certain angle to fit the scene that I want.

What is more "summer" than the month of July? What is more "July" than red, white and blue? What is more red and white than geraniums and daisies?

Flag with my artwork, "God Bless America."

Alas, July is almost over. I hope you enjoy the rest of the month with joyful summer days. We're off to the beach (which is also a little hint of the art for next month!) Drop back in soon to see how I was inspired to paint August.

In Like a Lion

Hello March.

Tis a lovely month, filled with daffodils, hyacinths and snowbells.

A Glimpse of Spring in the Snow

Daffodils and Grape Hyacinths Meander Down the Walk

March is a fickle month here in the Pacific Northwest. We'll get gorgeous sun one day, then heavy rain with winds to blow out the winter and sometimes even a snowflake or two the next day. There's always a few rainbows in the mix. This year, March is starting with a "Pineapple Express." We're having heavy downpours of rain and blustery wind all week.  However, the daffodils dance and hold their heads high as if they know spring is only three short weeks away! 

The birds have started looking for nesting sites. There is one surveying the overhang outside my studio right now as I tap the keys on my computer. The purple finch hops from one porch rafter to another.

Purple Finch

The purple finch has a beautiful song. We're lucky to have many come to our feeder and nest around around the property.

I love early spring rains!

I hope that you are staying cozy during these last days of winter, and that you're looking forward to a beautiful spring!

Hello Gardenistas!

It's not quite the middle of winter but I am already planning and planting for my gardens.

I have a goal of eating my first beefsteak tomato by the 4th of July. With early seed starts in the little greenhouse and our outdoor raised beds, I believe that we can have a German Johnson and maybe a Mortgage Lifter with our Independence Day celebration bbq.

Tomato and onion from our past garden.

I'm propagating hundreds of flowers for a purple and white theme in my front English flower garden and orange, blue and white flowers for the back patio. The cutting flower beds will have an ecclectic mixture.

Most of the winter eating squash I plan to have will be Sweetie Pie pumpkins and Butternut squash. I find these last in storage the longest and have the firmest, sweetest flesh for pies, breads and side dishes.  Of course we'll have a separate large pumpkin patch for fall decorating.

A few Sweetie Pie pumpkins on our front porch this last autumn.

Glen has daydreams of canning lots of hot habanero salsa, raspberry jam and freezing all sorts of fruit for homemade pies.

A few lights are turned on in the little greenhouse now. Tomatoes, peppers and hundreds of flower seeds have been tucked into their propagation trays; some have sprouted! 

Heavenly Blue Morning Glories

To all of you gardeners...

May all your seeds sprout!

Christmas Cheer

 I recently went on a fun Christmas shopping trip with some girlfriends to two nurseries and a farmhouse shop. 

Bauman's Farm Store has acres of nursery plants and produce. This time of year there's live Christmas trees, poinsettias and other hardy winter plants. The gift shop inside is loaded with Christmas decorations and gifts.

Glen gave me some Bauman's sparkling peach cider for my birthday. It was yummy! 

We had lattes and warm, freshly-made cider doughnuts while looking at all the Christmas baubles and gift packs.

Next stop was Al's nursery in Woodburn. The greenhouses of poinsettias were amazing! 

The last stop was Garden Gallery Iron Works in Hubbard for farmhouse inspired gifts and decorations.

It gave me the push to get my decorations up as soon as I got home.

Our dining room

Kitchen Window

Sunroom Tree

Candy and Cookie Buffet

And now, with  the Christmas Cookies baked, the house lit by hundreds of twinkling white lights and the fire glowing, we wait for the snow to arrive late tomorrow (so they are forecasting!)

I hope you are enjoying some festive days this season. 

Green Friday

 In Oregon, "Black Friday" is "Green Friday." All state parks, fishing, clamming and crabbing is free the day after Thanksgiving, hoping to get people out into the beautiful Oregon countryside and forest instead of shopping malls.

We headed to Champoeg State Park which is 10 miles from our home. It was a gorgeous, fresh fall day after rain all night. It felt great to hike the trails with Cotton, our yellow lab, and work off a little of the Thanksgiving feast.

Old growth firs, Oregon oaks and a wild prairie cover the 678 acre park.

Some of the trails follow the Willamette River and there's a dock for easy canoe and kayak access.

Champoeg is a ghost town that was an important settlement in the early 1840's. It is the site of the first provisional government of the Oregon Country.

The park includes Butteville General Store, which was founded by a French Canadian that helped form the government in 1843. 

The store sells various Italian sodas and other drinks and rents bikes. In the summer, there's a pioneer garden and pioneer re-enactments. Bluebirds arrive in the spring to take up residence in the many bluebird houses set along fence posts.

Thank you, Oregon, for turning the day after Thanksgiving into something so fun . . .and all free!