A Treasure to Behold

During the holidays, it is nice to visit with old friends. One particular friend of mine is a Holy Man with a penchant for collections. He has a nutcracker collection,

And a collection of christmas village houses, which in it's amazement, can only be trumped by the manificence of his studio that he dug by hand,

and he poured each block and placed them one by one, over time until his studio resonated with the richness,

that only this particular Artisan could impress upon the place that he had seen so clearly in his mind, even at that first shovelful. (You see his studio is underground.)

The walls are comprised with his collections. It is remarkable, that each block has a story, and each rock it's significance by person, place or time.

Richness exemplified and resonate.

Each block is numbered and logged in a directory listing it's collection.

And in addition to stones, there were other items added to the molds.

And as you look, it keeps unfolding with more and more treasure,

And then you must find your favorite collection as this happens to be mine, with it's clear quartz, lapis lazuli, shells and fossils.

But then those huge chucks of colored glass and rich vermillion are so enticing,

So for this holiday season, I wish for you to be surrounded with old friends and family, and rich tradition, and delightful memories and may your holidays be joyous and may you be surrounded with simple treasure! Merry Christmas!

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

Circle of Influence

I joined another online gardening community, out of a fondness for the writings of one of the members who was in another group I belong to, and as these members reveal more as I read their posts, they are a remarkable group of people. There was a post recently and it really touched me as it spoke about grandparents caring for ill children, and using tinctures and potions from yarbs (wild herbs and potion stuff) that grew out back, in the back hills of Tennesee or somewhere. It conveyed a quality of sentiment that was intertwined with the herbs and yarbs, and I felt a desire to lift up my herb area to a higher frequency for lack of a better word, and freshen up the soil and relocate those that were elsewhere into this common area, and add a few new herbs too.

So this is the bed with the addition of tree stakes segments that were cut with a saw from 6 to 9 inches and slightly buried for stability. They help define the area and convey a sense of intimacy and elevation for the new herb bed.

The green marble disks presented to me for taking over the care of my daughter's beta fish come in nicely to add some subtle bling to the area. The tour at Diane's yesterday crosses my mind and I smile and appreciate that I can be influenced by the sharing of gardeners. The green marbles are a reminder of that tour.

And I appreciate that perhaps I can influence too. The circle of influence circles on....and I excitedly await it's return.

Thanks for visiting! To all of my gardening friends, carry on and hurry back!

Like a Cat in a Corner

Here is a lovely butterfly iris in bloom. They come in yellow also, but I prefer the white because of the purple and orange.


We went to Bonnie Springs up by Red Rock, outside of Las Vegas for a day trip. It is a spring tradition to go see the baby animals, and because there is a natural spring, with cottonwoods, native grasses, wildflowers, a pond with ducks and turtles, it is a nice little adventure. We didn't see any baby animals though, and alot of the animals from last year were no longer there. There were alot of peacocks, though.


There were some people there, but even Bonnie Springs is experiencing hard times right now.



We went to Cactus Joes on the way back home.

It is a gardener's paradise of color and form, and always an excellent place to visit.

The wandering pet pig stopped to pose for the camera.

Always nice to get home, though and check in on the garden and the cat.

Symba is seated on the wall in the corner. He is intrigued by the moths that resemble hummingbirds that flutter in the yard down below. I hope I can catch him before nightfall or I won't see him again until morning. We have coyotes in the surrounding hills, but I am not too concerned about the coyotes because of his wall walking ability.