I’m off to Phoenix tomorrow for a week of adventures.  Yesterday “harvested” all the hydrangeas in anticipation of late fall bouquets,

took a walk around Deepwood garden

and enjoyed the last of the summer bouquets from Sharon’s garden as I tidied for departure and made some lunch:

See you next week!!

Ten years ago or so Sharon Rose wrote a book about Minto/Brown Island, our local riverside park of many many acres for bikes, runners, dogs.  The bike trails alone are more than nine miles of beautiful riding.  Last year she put out a revised edition of the book (with a Carl Hall painting on the cover):

Landscape painter Cynthia Herron is a denizen of Minto and a runner/biker/dog lover and found the book.  This summer Cynthia and Sharon met and then got together for coffee and talked about the park.  Cynthia is preparing a show of paintings (she’s hoping 25 or 30) and the titles are quotes from Sharon’s book.

Yesterday Sharon and I went out for a cup of tea to Cynthia’s studio (and home) to see the first few paintings and to look at her sketch book.  Her method is to take her dog Lucy and her backpack on her bike and ride the park with a quote or two from Sharon in mind.  She then stops, sketches, makes notes.  In the studio she works only from the sketches and memory–not from photos.  Sharon’s book is organized chronologically through the seasons, starting in September.  Cynthia had many questions for Sharon about plants and identifications.  Sharon is a biologist/botanist and had interesting answers.  I was the lucky bystander.

Cynthia lives out in the country on 13 acres in an old house.  Her studio and classroom are on the first floor and she and her partner Jay live upstairs:

After a tour of the property we settled in front of the studio fire with our tea and the two “collaborators” began to talk about the park, the plants, the light at certain seasons and times of day:

Here’s Cynthia’s drawing of a growth on a rose plant which Sharon explained was a “rose gall” and that inside each growth was a tiny wasp larvae

And here a plant which Sharon identified as Camas

and this one made Sharon laugh as she herself had been unable to identify the plant though had tried several sources:

And finally the pumpkin patch:

Here are a few of the paintings Cynthia has begun with from the summer:

and here’s my favorite–the one painted yesterday:

We’ve been invited back to check the progress of the series.  And here’s just a little post script, a picture of Cynthia’s strawberry patch–an effort to keep the berries away froom all the deer:

and here’s Sharon’s photo of the pumpkin field at Minto taken this morning:

It’s always a aurprise when you go to the door on Halloween…

but in this case the giant scary chicken was Mike who came with his son Owen who was dressed as an egg (in this case we know which came first)

Trick or Treat!!

Yesterday three of us went to the Goodwill Bins, an astonishing experience.  In a large room there are many many blue bins, all on wheels in rows, all FILLED with junk.

Some bins have only books, some have only clothes, some have junk.  Mostly (except for books) you pay by the weight.  At 4:00 p.m. the 6 or 8 bins that have been there the longest are taken away, making room for more bins with “new” stuff:

The place is now packed–mostly men.  They line the yellow lines waiting for the new bins to arrive:

Then in come the new bins and a free-for-all begins:

Mostly, it’s stuff you wouldn’t want:

but there are hidden treasures and here’s what I got:

Three new heavy crystal wine glasses for the beach house (to replace the three we broke this summer), some forks and spoons for the beach, a few books and a terrific deck of botannical cards for Christmas gifts (you’re probably glad you aren’t on my gift list when you see this) some old pattern pieces for “works on paper” at the studio, and some old ornaments of my favorite type where the red has faded to pink.  Then to the studio went the following:

a few more books for inspirational/collage purposes, an old tool box to corral pens and clutter, and a little picture frame to put something in for somebody’s stocking stuffer.  All-in-all a fascinating 45 minutes.  It’s a treasure hunt–some people rip through throwing stuff everywhere and some people carefully pick to the bottom of the bin (us) to see what we can find:

Here’s Kay’s box:

We went up to Battleground, WA, last week to visit sculptor Jim Hansen and his wife Jane, who had invited us to tour their “compound” and have lunch.  They have 13 acres just north of Vancouver and it was a rainy but beautiful fall day.  The “front yard” is the perfect place for sculpture, but then the sculpture is so terrific it looks good anyplace–like the deck for instance:

and while most is cast bronze, there are other choices, including cement.

After touring the house we went out to the studio, where a just few sculptures are sitting around:

(These things are so beautiful and just ASK to be touched…and this might be the only venue where you actually CAN touch them!)

The studio has the delights of most studios–the evidence of work being made.

Jim talked to Roger about work in progress:

and showed us where the molds are stored

Jim has been amazingly prolific as an artist, and Jane is in the process of compiling a catalog raisonne of all the sculpture.  They are photographing everything still in their possession :

and Jane explains that a white string means the photographing is complete

We then took a walk down to the gallery–a separate building at the front of the property where prospective clients can visit and see some of the beautiful, muscular pieces on hand:

By now our tummies were all growling for lunch so we walked back up to the house passing the studio

wherein there is a nice wall with the marks of all the grand children as they grew:

Back in the friendly and warm house we settled down for a terrific lunch, and a toast to the artist and the cook:

YUM!!!!

On the way home I noted that everything had begun to look like a James Lee Hansen sculpture:

Well it just POURED yesterday morning.  Torrential.  But, in the afternoon the guys arrived to do the final work.  Cleaning the walks, patching and trimming the grass, testing the sprinklers.  Even if it’s raining the sprinklers will run twice a day for a few weeks.  Roger has had a test run on the “system”.  By the time they finally drove away it was dark and raining so this morning I took some photos–it looks pretty good I think…a real improvement.  The neighbors are all really happy!?  No raking or mowing for three weeks.  I can recommend the company for sure:  Mainstream Landscaping, ask for Wayne.

Just discovered my nephew is an alien…

Considering they laid the sod in the dark, it looks pretty good this morning.  They covered the walk in sod as it can’t stayed rolled up another day.  Tomorrow, Monday, the LAST day of this process, they will come and use the grass on the sidewalk to fill in little spots, trim, clean up, etc.  But here’s how it loooked this morning (and P.S. no mowing for three weeks):

Well the fog and mist of the morning kept the guys away until noon.

Then began the long process of preparing the dirt to take the sod.  We went off to do errands and came by mid-afternoon to check the progress:

Home about 5:30 to find the sod just being spread out and the stepping stones being put down:

They told us the sod had to all be laid today or it would turn yellow and they would just work until they were done which was about 9:30 p.m.  Too dark to take a photo so we’ll have to wait til tomorrow.  Then they’ll be back Monday to trim it out.

Well it rained all day.  They needed a three hour window to lay the sod, but it rained all day.  We arrived home at 6:00 to find the dirt spread and the sod delivered, but no new lawn.  Tomorrow maybe??