cj's Blog: Here Comes the Sun

The sun really does shine in this part of the world!! After living in a one-season climate for most of my life (Texas and Florida) it is a new experience to see the world transform from one season to another. It is also interesting that each plant, tree, flower, etc. wakes up from its winter sleep on its own schedule. Some are early flowering and now covered with leaves - others are "late bloomers".

Today has been absolutely beautiful - and the cats really loved to share it with us, well, at least most of them (Dani and Mikey opted to stay inside for their siestas)!

We are so happy to have the Amish style gazebo up and usable! We can look down to the river or out on the garden, and it is very comfortable (when not raining).

We're really almost finished with the meditation garden and are having a dedication open house May 17th. Wish you could come!! Ronn is busy putting solar lights in it since it is too far from the house for electricity - they look really good at night! I'm not sure what the deer think about it though they still eat all the apples we put out for them, so I guess they're not too intimidated. I don't mean to be redundant, but here are some new pictures for you:

We now have a booth at the local/regional Saturday market and are showing my jewelry and pet portraits work. I'm also starting a local women's group for monthly meetings.
Here is my latest jewelry creation - this one was a new endeavor for me:

It has been an interesting discovery to me that many people here in the Northwest (esp rural) have their own business and oftentimes use natural resources, as with the person who made our signs for the ranch. Other examples:
A "fake stone" made from a rhubarb leaf (some leaf!!) that we now have in the rock garden - soon it will hold a solar light orb.

These are real leaves (aspen, Japanese silver maple, cypress, etc) with metal overlays that I found at the rock and gem show and made into necklaces - these summer colors are new and really vibrant in real life.