Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!
I'll be visiting my sister in Tennessee for a few days, so my wishes for a fun holiday come to you early. Sending me off on my journey is a group of scary gourd heads, crafted by Gourdo, his mother, and our oldest daughter. The gourd in front and center looks diabolical, with the gleam from the camera flash in his eyes. I'm sure they'll ward away evil in my absence. BooooOOOOoooo!

Stars, Sparkles, Seeds and Snaps

Stars: The sepals of spent roses look like stars in my autumn garden. Some roses may form hips, red or orange, vitamin C-rich fruits good for tea, jelly or jam--and a superb food source for winter birds.

Sparkles: Frost rims nepeta leaves and sedum blossoms. On sunny autumn mornings there are a few minutes where the garden sparkles like it has been scattered with diamonds before the frost melts away. I found it impossible to capture on film, but those fleeting moments are breathtaking.

Seeds: Rudbeckia nitida seedheads add interest to the autumn garden and provide food for the finches. Viewed closely, the intricate pattern is a marvel.

Snaps: Old-fashioned snapdragons retain bloom until the bitterest frost finally brings them down. These pink beauties seem to glow in the morning sun, apparently unfazed by the frost that blackened flowers all around them. Garden photos by JulenaJo.

A Break in the Dry Spell

It's been one month since I've made a blog entry. Writer's block!
Everything seems to be in transition these days: the garden, my handcrafting, my reading and writing.
Everything seems to have gone dry for me. It's like the drought that plagued the county all summer sucked my creativity dry, too.
What finally snapped my month-long wordless spell was a trip to Hocking County to visit my mother-in-law. At her gentle insistence, I sat down to paint with her. It was good to dabble with watercolors again. I've been wanting to do so for a while, but I seem to procrastinate even doing the fun things these days. The little painting above, which I hastily and poorly photographed just so I could get something, anything posted tonight, was the result of an hour or so of putting brush to paper. Although it isn't a masterpiece, it accomplished something within me: a break in the dry spell, a creative renewal. Viewed from that perspective, I think it's beautiful.