I Left My Heart

Hello everyone! I hope your month of May has been merry!

For your weekend viewing, I’m bringing you a colorful tour from our recent adventure in San Francisco. The weather was gorgeous, clear and sunny, with a very strong wind that threatened to blow us over a few times while navigating the steep streets and sidewalks (especially when carrying 30 pounds of gear!)

Our trip was a mix of business, family visits and a little getaway. D used to live in the North Beach area and I’m quite familiar with the city, so we very much enjoyed visiting favorite spots and indulging in perhaps too much Italian food and gelato (but is there such a thing as too much gelato? I think not). Experiencing other environments is so rejuvenating, isn’t it? Even a drive to a neighboring area for lunch or sightseeing can be such a lift to the spirits and also make you appreciate where you live even more. An adventure near to home is an adventure just the same. I’d love to hear what adventures you’ve  been on recently or are looking forward to.

(In other news, this week I completed a huge and important project which had been my main focus for the last six weeks, so my shameful blogging neglect will be soon rectified. Thank you for continuing to visit through it all.)

Thinking of you and sending wishes for a lovely weekend. I hope these photos bring a bit of joy and adventure.

much love,

G

 

Hellebores from Our Garden

Hello, dear friends!

I hope this finds you very well. I’ve been on location and traveling so blogging time has been a bit limited. But I’m back and thought you’d like to see a bit of what is growing in the woodland garden.

Every year here I do a feature on our amazing hellebores, also known as Lenten Rose, which thrive in our cool and damp climate. When we purchased our property six years ago, I discovered three hellebore plants in one of the beds near the entrance to the house and became entranced with them, although I didn’t know what they were! Since then, I’ve added dozens of them to the garden, mostly in the woodland area, where they bloom from January to May or June. And they leaves are evergreen so they are beautiful throughout the year.

They tend to nod their heads rather shyly, and on flat ground you need to bend over and tip the faces of the flowers up to appreciate their beauty. Since our property is very hilly, I planted them on the upward slope of the woodland garden where we can look up at them from our kitchen window and see all the details inside the blooms. They are among our favorite plants and I highly recommend them if you have the climate that is favorable to them. They can be expensive so I watch for sales and pamper them when planting but otherwise they thrive without much attention and reward us year after year with charm and grace.

I know many of you are finally coming out of a long and harsh winter. I’m so glad to see the signs of spring that you are sharing and look forward to visiting you to catch up on your news.

Wishing you a beautiful week!

much love,

G

p. s. Delighted to have contributed an article and photos to this wonderful magazine, Beyond the Camera, published by my friend Sarah Gardner, a creator of gorgeous, romantic images. Do treat yourself to a read of this absolutely lovely publication!

Points of Focus

Hello, my friends. I do hope you are well.

This year has gotten off to a high-velocity, head-long, full-tilt charge into a number of major projects. I have felt a bit like these wild ranunculus, turning in many directions, each full of promise and interest. I know many of us feel it often enough and I found it beneficial to begin crossing projects, ideas, plans and activities off the list until I had only the ones that were THE most important, the ones that, if I really got them done, I would feel that sometimes elusive sense of accomplishment and also know that I’d taken the right strategic steps for the future, for me, loved ones and family. It was a very good exercise and gave me some stable points to focus on and yank myself back to when the daydreaming and imagining of new and tantalizing projects sets in. :)

A very special one that absolutely stayed on the list is nearly complete. Recently I had the great pleasure of helping Erin of Floret Flowers update her blog and website. We’re still tweaking but are pretty tickled with the result so do stop by and indulge your senses in the abundant beauty of her life and floral creations. She has such an amazing year ahead, you are going to love coming along for the ride!

As for these images, I’m a bit ashamed to say I’ve been tweaking and playing around with them for nearly two years. Who can afford such an indulgence of time? Let’s grab our best and favorite projects, get them done and get them out! The world is waiting to benefit from what each of us are creating. And I myself can’t wait to see what you have been up to, so expect me popping in this coming week – I can’t wait!

Hope you are cozy or cool, whichever your weather requires.

much love,

G