Barkin' Mad

Great texture, this.

Tree Bark

Found on a walk around my neighborhood. 

[click photo for larger image]

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The Eagle

While in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada 

celebrating our 21st wedding anniversary,

Dale and I spent an afternoon at Lakeside Park.

Eagle Totem

It's a beautiful place on on the shore 

of the West Arm of Kootenay Lake.

Among other sites, a towering totem pole.

I took this picture of the eagle by

 holding my phone's camera tipped over my shoulder.

[click photo for larger image]

With a Single Stroke

It seems like the sun came out

and with a single stroke

painted the town in whites, pinks, yellows, oranges

Color Me Blue

and baby blues

[click photo for larger image]

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Deeper in the Wood

Further down the path at Kiwanis Park

the trees are budding

White Bud

Pops of pink and white

amid the pine

[click photo for larger image] 

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Stump

I took a walk on a back trail

through Kiwanis Park this afternoon.

Mossy Stump

There are wonders in the underbrush.

[click photo for larger image] 

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Must Be Raindrops

A big wind and rain storm blew through the valley

in the middle of the night.

Jewels from the Storm

Raindrops clung to the rim of the 

table on our backyard's deck

glimmering in morning light.

[click photo for larger image] 

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Idaho Green

I took this photo last summer ...

Pastorale Portrait

It's finally starting to look this green again. Hooray!

[click photo for larger image]

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Idaho Wildlife Area

This has been the most glorious weekend in north Idaho! Dale and I had a great balance of working and loving and organizing and playing in the dirt and eating yummy food and watching a period-piece BBC series and riding the backroads in the convertible. We also did a little geocaching while on the road.

We decided to find the cache hidden in the woods near the shore of the Pend Orielle river, just east of the small town of Priest River. G.Twigs went with us. That crazy giraffe decided to check out the gunshot holes on the sign.

It was a gorgeous sunshiny day in the upper 70s -- the warmest day of 2012 so far. The sky was so clear we could see the mountains on the Idaho/Montana border. Here we are on the north shore of the Pend Orielle River, looking west toward Priest River.

Here, we're looking east upriver. If you keep going this direction and you'll find Lake Pend Orielle.

We didn't see a lot of wildlife on the refuge today. It was mid-afternoon, so not prime feeding time. But we did see evidence of waterfowl. In a shallow depression on the rocky shore, we spotted this goose egg.

 This is as close to a goose-egg that we had this weekend. On a scale of 0 to 10, this weekend rates a 9.98!

Spot o' Color

Crocus Cluster

[click photo for larger image]

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A Violet Wash

I went for a walk in the woods this afternoon.

The Violet Wood 

The forest floor is strewn with purple.

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Spring Sky

It's a lovely time of year in North Idaho!

[click photo for larger image]

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Visit My Family's Blogs

I cordially invite you to visit a couple blogs written by my daughters!

The first is Impact Northwest. This blog was started as part of Jodie's Reporting class at Oregon State University. In it, she'll report on green news and trends. She wants to help you make small changes that lead to a more sustainable lifestyle.

The second, AuralArtists, is a blog that I'm writing in collaboration with all three of my daughters. Because a common love of creating beautiful work holds us together, we decided to give each other creative challenges. One of us comes up with an idea, then we each create a project using that idea and a theme of our choosing. So our challenges will be full of hearts, spectrums, growing things and polka dots.

I have great pride in watching my daughters grow into beautiful, intelligent, active young women. I hope you'll enjoy peeking into their world by "Following" these blogs.

Reaching for Light

The calender says Spring

but the snow returned.

This lone crocus isn't giving up,

Reaching for Light

[click image for a larger view]

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Bouncy Balls

Another sure sign of Spring?
Playground balls for kids are on sale at the grocery store!

Bouncy Balls

This year the balls are full of sparkles!

[click image for a larger view]

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Crocus at Twilight

Look what popped up in our Corner of Hope this week!

Crocus at Twilight

[click for larger image]

Easter's A-Comin'

Lovin' the look of these eggs!

(Saw the image on Facebook, but can't seem to find the original source).

Sunday Secrets: March 18, 2012

I haven't had a Sunday Secrets post in 10 months, so thought I'd break the cycle.

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. I find it to be an insightful sociological experiment.

I could relate to the following two secrets from today's post:

The back of this post card read:

"My faith is evolving."

 

We know.

Sometimes we act extra happy around you

just to watch  you squirm.

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Book Review: I Want It NOW!

My overall impression?

Don't bother.

I Want it Now: A Memoir of Life on the Set of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is (co)written by Julie Dawn Cole, the gal who played the little brat Varuca Salt in the original Willy Wanka movie.


There's nothing really wrong with this book. There's just not a whole lot right. It's a fairly linear tale of how Julie won the role, what it was like on the set, and how it affected her life.

The photos are fun to see, but the captions nearly word-for-word follow the text they accompany -- they don't add more insight. Her impression of the other child actors is a little interesting. The lifelong connections she made at that critical time in her life are understandable.

The trouble with the book is that it's written as though this was the highlight of Julie's life -- at 13 years old. And that is just sad.

Oh, sure, she goes on to tell a bit more about her career in film and movies and voice-overs. But it's told only as an adjunct to the next time she sees her old cast members and other post-Wanka celeb meet-ups. So, it falls flat as a story of a child actor that was able to make the transition into the entertainment industry as an adult. There's no depth of description to the characters presented. There's too much name-dropping. There's nothing to sink your imagination into. There are no real lessons learned. It's the old adage: SHOW us, don't TELL us.

So ... eh.

I recommend spending your time reading a memoir that leaves you wanting more, rather than this tale you're glad is finally over.

2 stars

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Join the Campaign

Joseph Kony is one of the world’s worst war criminals and I support the international effort to arrest him, disarm the LRA and bring the child soldiers home.


KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.

HOW TO HELP:

• Donate to Invisible Children

• Purchase KONY 2012 products 

• Sign the Pledge

Honeybee

My daughter Julie introduced me to this video. Entrancing.
Steam Powered Giraffe - Honeybee



I love the look of it. I love the harmonies.
I want to watch it over and over.