...where the road narrows...

"Across the Canyon"

Yesterday, I spent a long day at the Gallery. Although there were not too many visitors, I was able to put the finishing touches on this small painting.  I played with the layers of ridge lines, showing mist hugging the valleys.  The colors and the soft atmosphere, along with my crisp branches and few clinging autumn oak leaves lend a wistful quality to this. 

My daily commute takes me along winding mountain roads, where deer and ravens and gray squirrels are commonly seen. Some mornings it is so hard to drive without stopping.  I have been known to stop and feed llamas, photograph horses and donkeys, and try to capture the views that leave me breathless. I am not a very good photographer, but I can paint.

I heard a comment from one visitor to another that "it takes me fifteen minutes longer now, but it is freeway the whole way."

I long to travel where the road narrows.... 

...feeling Spring...

"Volcano Volunteers"  

collection of Judy Wetzel

This afternoon, I took a break from work and walked out to visit my maple trees. They are looking rather bare and forlorn, but if you look closely, you can just make out their tiny buds beginning to swell.  I took a breath of barely warmer fresh air and looked up at gathering clouds.

When I paused  in the driveway to close the green gate, the waxing moon glowing, the stars a little brighter than usual, the sun setting a little later ~ I felt it.  The frogs feel it, they are making their music in the creek bed. The daffodils are sending up fat spikes.

I can feel the spring in the dead of winter....

GREAT weekend in Half Moon Bay!

I think it was a little cool for our gull friend here.  It was about 55 degrees when I took this photo.  However, rain had been forecast, so weren't we pleasantly surprised when it was sunny and calm!? It was a gorgeous weekend...

...just right for beach combing, dog walking, jogging, hand holding, clam digging, and sunset seeking...

The air at the ocean's edge always has an intriguing spice to it.  It is a fresh combination of briny seaweed on the beach, and Monterey cypress. It makes me feel alive and vibrant~ my lungs feel extra clean and healthy, and my hair always looks like loons are nesting in it.  

...do loons nest?