Blooming Orchid

 A friend of mine, who is GREAT with plants, gave me this orchid a year ago (or so?) and I didn't really think it would ever bloom for me, Sandra told me they were persnickety and difficult to make bloom.

A month ago I noted that it had shot out these long stems that appeared to have little buds on them and I grew excited, then we went on vacation and I figured it would bloom while we were away and I wouldn't see it. Well, it took it's own sweet time, but the wait was worth it! Look at these exotic blooms in the beginning of a Montana winter!

Dan Hicks and the Hotlicks, Whitefish, MT

 November 19th at the O'Shaunessy Center

 Oh, I am not the best fotographer, but with a little camera from the balconey, this ain't bad!

 You had to be there.

The New 20

 I had a five day weekend! That was a great stay-cation!

We spent the entire weekend at home, just doing busy things and having fun.

Natassia and Silas came for Thanksgiving and we had the traditional turkey dinner.

Natassia and I went out for a cross country ski and started breaking trails on the new 20 acres.

It was terribly brushed in from snowladen trees and branches bending over the trails, so the next day, Mike and I took a sandvik and put our skis on and he chopped and I cleared and now the trails are clear and have a good track set.

 I skied every single day of the 5 day weekend,

and yesterday I took a ski on one of the loops and came home to find neighbor Barb at my house with snowshoes on, so I changed shoes and off we went breaking trails on 'shoes!

 This is one of my favoite spots on the property and part of the loop I make the most!

 Here is the temporary crossing Mike constructed for me after the bridge broke during the summer.

 Here I am precarioulsy crossing it on skis!

On the home stretch into the meadow!

If you use a magnifying glass you can see the look-out tower on top of yonder mountain.

Lunch Breaks

 It was a gorgeous 4 days in Missoula.

These fotos were snapped on my lunch break, walking from yoga studio to the Park

the Clark Fork River.

My walk to school

 Walking across the bridge on Higgins.

Beneath Orange Street.

There were two small deer on the other side of this tunnel and they were not at all alarmed by my presence, they would lift there heads, look at me and then continue grazing.

It was wonderful to "live" downtown for the session and get to walk to Butterfly Herbs

for coffee/tea to fuel my morning walk.

As you can see it was a lovely time of day for a stroll.

The Golden Larches

 It's that time of year

All the light is golden

an aura has settled upon us

night and day, the air is just a different hue

the color of calm

Piece Together Peace

"There are two ways of spreading light;

to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."

~Edith Wharton

"Be the peace you can be today.

How can you be peace today?

What is one thing that you can do differently to bring more peace to the world?

 

The most significant work we can do for the benefit of our planet

is the work we do on ourselves.

  Be the peace you can be today.

Be the change.

Your piece counts!

Your peace counts!"

 

http://www.threadinglight.com/2010/09/piece-together-peace.html

 

My inspiration for this post.

Read on and join in!

 

fotos are from my evening walks.

I step out my door into this light and peace and wonder

immediately I feel calm and happy

lately I have noticed how quiet it is out here

not the usual quiet, but somehow the earth seems buffered

each footfall seems quiet 

perhaps it is the new padding of the fallen leaves

or the damp of autumn

or the new chill in the air

or could it be that I have found a quieter more deliberate step?

whatever it is

it is good

it is peace

 

"The soul of a landscape, the spirit of the elements,
the genius of everyplacewill be revealed

 to a loving view of nature."
Karls Jaspers-Philosophy

'Shrooms

The "Don King" of mushrooms.

 Some unidentified "fungal" type thing! Very wild!

 I call this one the "Starship Enterprise" 'shroom.

This is a mushroom village, reminiscent of the "Smurfs"!



"The Colors"

 When folks heard about our trip to the east, nearly everyone had some comment about

"the colors" and how lovely it is back there this time of year.....

You know.

Well, it was pretty, not spectacular by any means.

They did have a droughty summer and it didn't appear that "the colors" were going to shape up and be outstanding this year.

But look at what we came home to!

 The Colors!

The scarlet oak, the virginia creeper, the mountain maple, and since we haven't had a killing frost

even yet (miraculous!) there are still squash blossoms and sunflowers!

I picked bouquets for the house this weekend!

Boothbay Harbor

Other Activities

 Some of the other activities....

We made hula hoops and actually put bb's inside of one of them for extra fun!

"Art Shots" (spoken with sarcasm!)

Wanting this chair for my yard.

 The rosehips along the beach were shiny, translucent and succulent,

irresistable, I had to attempt to capture their glow!

 Lighthouse embellishments.

 This is the path to one of the lighthouses near Portland, it was great to walk on those giant boulders.

They are HUGE granite blocks.

 NO! I did not press these shells into the sand for a foto op.

They were like this, really!

 Near yeat another lighthouse, all the rock formations looked like Giant hunks of petrified wood.

I tried to capture it, but the light was just all wrong.

 This is a mural in Montclair New Jersey.

I tried to keep the man on the bench out of the foto,

to no avail.

Porchlight candle-light in New Jersey.