Spring Around Here

 While I have not been posting much of late, and still have not caught up visiting many blogging friends, you can see from this sketch that my nine year old granddaughter, Haley, has pictured me with pen in hand after she and I were working on reading together one day. [very kind of her to make me appear thinner than I am]

 Several weeks ago I was thrilled to see Mt.Hood from 307th Street near our home.  We are dashing about through many April showers so views of Mt. Hood are precious and few!

 One day between showers, my oldest daughter and her five daughters and I, hiked around our ponds to see what we could see.  Molly caught this beautiful little green frog who soon leaped down along his way.

 We admired the Holly trees still showing us their pretty red berries.

 Last year we could not find any Trillium in the woods, but this year we saw four!

 Johnson Creek is full and flowing along at a merry clip.

Thanks to Karen's post, I believe we saw a patch of Salmon Berries.

 These Pansies somehow survived our winter.

 Our neighbors across the drive had profuse blooms in their Camellia hedge.

 The Mallards are visiting us, and we hear geese cheering their way south in the skies over us.

 The Wild Cherry tree has gorgeous white blooms.

 Although, they were battered by an impressive hail storm recently.

However, after one such storm I looked up and saw this rainbow through the window to the right of the fireplace, then saw the other end of the rainbow through the window to the left of the fireplace.  By the time I aimed my camera through the left window the rainbow had faded and did not show up well in the photo, but seeing the rainbow that way is an exciting memory for me!

 Aren't these sweet heart coasters and hand painted card lovely?  My dear blogging friend, Pat, blessed me with them. Thank you again, Pat.

 Completing this crocheted pocket for my iPhone is my main crafting achievement since my last post...unless you count frogging many rows of a baby blanket as an achievement...sigh...

 While driving around our neighborhood I loved seeing this row of trees.

 The local nursery arboretum was coming alive with fresh colors.

 The Saturday before Easter my five granddaughters went hunting for eggs in the yard.

Sarah was pleased to find this one.

 Then on the way to church on Sunday while my youngest son in law was driving, this flock of sheep and our church sign came into view. Sheep not only remind me of my love of trying to tame fiber into yarn and fabric, but they also bring to mind numerous scripture verses that challenge and comfort me...chief among them, Isaiah 53:6 NKJV All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; Psalm 23 NKJV The Lord is my Shepherd...He restores my soul...I will fear no evil for You are with me...

Joy, my retired nurse, blogging friend from northeast England, sent me a wonderful hand-made card and note and a book mark for Easter, which I really appreciate and I thought some of you might like to see as well. Thank you again for your kindness and encouragement to me, Joy.

What season is around you there?  May you know comfort and joy in it!

xx
Gracie

Come Along!

My oldest daughter, Mary Kathrine, used my camera to take a photo of my granddaughter, "Princess" Rose and me after we had been down to the front pond to see if we could see any duck activity today.

Several days before we had witnessed Mrs. Mallard shepherding her ducklings from the back to the front pond.

My youngest son in law loves to do complex puzzles.  I think I should make this photo into a puzzle for him!  I especially appreciate the grass and leaves that provide some protection for the ducks. Several days ago we saw a heron take off from the front pond.  It was startling, because they are huge birds and I have been thrilled to see them.  However,  I did a Google search on herons today to learn more about them, and now know that in the circle of life drama, ducklings and ducks, and moles and fish are possible prey for herons.  I have been thinking vegan thoughts all day...but had salmon for dinner...sigh...

Isn't Mr. Mallard handsome? I wonder if the males are so brilliant in color so that they can distract predators from the mother mallards and ducklings.

Mama Mallards kind of blend into their surroundings here.

I think this is one area where the Mallards have a nest.

I caught this duck just taking off from the front pond.

On another day I got a photo of  Mr. Wood Duck snoozing on a branch.  Did you know they do that?  I didn't until I witnessed it.

 I think this is Mr. Mallard resting on a branch.

My blogging friend Bethany asked if I planned to show you my finished Haystack Rock painting.  I have worked on it several times since then. I think it is finished...or it is finished for now at least. Most recently I added people. Two are riding recumbent bikes like those Teresa and I saw some folks riding along the beach.

I finished writing heart themed Scriptures around the acrylic splatter painted heart I made at our worship art group and am interested that it has kind of a 3D effect...there is probably some sort of scientific explanation for that...that I do not know :)

Watercolor, Staedtler triplus fineliner, PROGRESSO KOH-I-NOOR woodless pencils
Dover Kaleidoscope coloring book patterns [not colors] by A.G.Smith
Original Dover (2005) www.doverpublications.com
I taped the three little pages on a window and took the photo with the daylight shining through the pages.  The paper is a similar texture to tracing paper and I wondered how it would take the colors, so I tried three different coloring mediums. On the far right I colored both sides of the paper with woodless colored pencils to intensify the hues.
Have you been coloring lately?

This week I have knit some rows on two of the blankets I started, and I have a dishcloth half knit while watching House Hunters International on Netflix, thus traveling to Easter Island and Mongolia from my armchair. I have been reading everything from newspapers to completing the fascinating auto-biography of Catherine de Hueck Doherty...then lunch out with a friend, reading and cooking with grand girls, and sleeping and cleaning and studying, and.............. 

Thanks for coming along with me!  Where have you been wandering along? I do hope you will tell me.

Gracie xx

Spring Perspective

Perspective.  It has special meaning to me at the moment.

Put aside the hot topics of money, politics, and religion. Focus on visual perspective.

You see, on Tuesday, my blog friend, Teresa, drove us to Canon Beach, Oregon for the afternoon. We had a yummy seafood lunch at the Wayfarer.  Then Teresa found the perfect spot for us to work on watercolor paintings of Haystack Rock.

Teresa is a wonderful, interesting friend from whom I feel I learn something new each time we are together...and I have a lot of fun in the process!

Tuesday afternoon we sat side by side to sketch and paint.  As in so many skills, Teresa is way ahead of me in knowing what she is doing.
Although we were looking at the same seascape, we each picked a different angle to sketch.

After two enjoyable hours, Teresa had a lively painting signed with a flourish and my painting still wasn't/isn't finished, but you can see what we painted by clicking here.

In order to finish my painting, among other things I need to adjust the perspective of the horizon I sketched...otherwise I have the Tillamook Rock Light floating on thin air!  But I loved the process of sketching and experimenting with strokes of paint.  Very satisfying!

Here at home recently I enjoyed the perspective of a Trillium flower my oldest SIL snapped in a photo in our woods with his phone.  Then this morning I enjoyed a perspective next to our front yard hose,  of our little apple tree full of white blossoms.  Also, I enjoyed seeing flurries of white wild cherry blossoms which landed on our front yard flower gardens and our gravel driveway.

In the perspective I shared with you of the preemie blanket I am knitting, the blanket is folded in half.  I am making good progress on it and enjoying how the self-striping yarn is flowing from row to row.

What is your perspective?

Gracie xx