A Different Kind of Mushroom

Do you know what these are? They're a common mushroom (more specifically I think thought of as a "shelf fungus") found in lots of places all over the world and in the States we call them turkey tails (trametes versicolor)..Curiosly, they're a major component in many herbal anti cancer formulas....I am fascinated by how they grow in concentric rings. Plus, they have a super velvety texture when they're fresh.

And their colors are more nuances of earth tones than you knew about.

I found a whole bunch out in the filbert orchard behind my house. It's pruning time and there were lots of downed logs with loads of turkey tails growing on them.

I brought some home and thought about displaying them all science like....maybe pinned onto some black paper with names and arrows written in white ink.

But then I decided........to make one big hybrid rosette out of them.

And enjoy it on my front porch for a while.
Turkey tails mesmerize me.

Apple Blossoms in the Willamette Valley

The palest of pinks.......apple blossom....it's a member of the rose family......five petals.......

These delicate blooms are from some gnarly old trees in the side of my yard.......and if the apple is blossoming the lilac cannot be far behind.

More Tillandsia Love

Here's a tillandsia getting ready to flower. I attached it to a piece of rustic bark.....

Kind of grounds it don't you think? Gives it something to spring forth from.

Experimenting with Tillandsias

I took some tillandsias home because I wanted to get to know them a little better. Tillandsias are in botanical world what is know as epiphytes or air plants because, while some have roots, they do not need to be rooted in the ground. How cool is that? They can live in the air!!!!!!!

This actually is an ingenious strategy for how to live higher up in the tropical forest canopy where there is more sun and less competition. I think if one considered the forest like a city their strategy might be called infill. And they're not just exactly free floating away in the atmosphere, they generally tend to attach themselves to trees and branches.....If you've ever been to Hawaii, Mexico or other tropical places you've probably seen them in the wild. Anyway I digress....I took this one home.
And then it had little babies!!!!!!!!! This little guy literally dropped from the plant.

And then there were two.

They're so tiny....but I don't see any reason why they won't continue to grow.
I'm just going to dunk them in water once or twice a week like I do the other tillandsias.

And then I have an idea about maybe attaching them to rocks (instead of branches) -
sort of like a plant/ mineral hybrid.

I'm still playing around with that idea.

Changing the Mantel......

Remember my stark winter mantel tableau from January? See it below.

Well the times they are a changin'......I have been playing around with tillandsia (more on these amazing NON TERRESTIAL plants in another post) a lot lately and so scattered some throughout the mantel.

Here's one on a pile of driftwood and assorted coral and shell pieces. I like how otherwordly it looks.

More tillandsias and I added a baby photo of moi....which qualifies as vintage....



Of course wanted some kind of flower on the mantle so am using the pretty little white phaleneopsis orchid. It is the orchid world equivalent of the little girl photo.

So I didn't really start over. I just added.

Interior Shots

Close ups from my house on a very grey Sunday morning.

Words to Live By

I think it's important what we have by our doors as we come and go from our homes everyday.

When I lived with a teenager there was a mirror at the entrance. This considerably slowed down exit times. Now I have this great hanging I got at Pewter Rabbit Antiques. Shelley thinks it's from an old Masonic Lodge and they probably had a whole lot of them along the walls each with a different virtue.

Courage works for me.

Rooting Begonias & Other Natural Wonders

I could easily become obsessed and imagine myself with a houseful of vases and jars of various shapes and sizes and colors filled with all manner of vegetation; avocado pits and jasmine vines, willow whips and tropical greenery but instead I'll just channel my obsession into this one little begonia cutting pictured above.

Spring Cleaning Anyone?

Happy Friday

Art & Nature Co-Existing

I'm going to try to do a post a day - sort of like a little blog sketch book.

Shots from my house - late March last year. The magnolia and cherry blossom
in the lower right date the picture.

Long ago and far away, I think it was in January, we had our staff holiday party and I realized what an art loving, crafty bunch we are. Handmade cards and drawings and beads and journals and other goodies were flowing in abundance.

Becky made everyone these little egg cups (at least that's how I think of them) from paper mache.

Mine had a little "J" inside it and the words were all kinds of writing about flowers and mist and dew and lots of ephemeral things like that. I loved it.

And then we did a gift exchange and (lucky me) I got this beautiful miniature book framed in a small shadowbox that Becky made.
Wow did I feel rich. So much art made me want to luxuriate in it and so I decided to redo my mantle.

One of the great things about collecting art is that over the years you end up with a treasure trove of possibilities when it comes to putting together a vignette. So I mined my house for treasures and came up with these paper spoons made by Clare Goddard. They were paper and they were white - like Becky's egg but different so I thought they'd be able to have an interesting conversation together.

Then away with all the holiday goodies and on to the cool, spare, clean lines of the winterscape.
Here's my new winter mantle - Becky's art, Sue Tackmier card, the Clare Goddard spoons, and bare huckleberry branches. I like the objects all clustered together instead of spread out.
They become something greater than the sum of the parts.

Promises of Spring & Valentine's Love to Come

Okay it has been way too seriously long since I've done a post - almost a month and I have been a busy girl. Lots of things to show & tell- trips to Seattle & NY, Valentine's Day, Amazing Art Show at Passionflower etc... - but in the meantime I'll leave you with a photo of some pussywillow from my backyard and a little ditty to go along with it -

To be recited as you gently touch someone's face with a pussywillow bud.

"Close your eyes and do not peek and spring will dance across your cheek'

There is something about softness to learn from the pussywillow.

The World's Longest Pine Cone

Here's a detail from the wreath on my front door.......The big cone is a sugar pine and it has the largest cones of any pine. Even though they say it grows in the Cascades, I have never seen one. It must be a sight to behold with the big cones weighing the branches down.

I love using it as a big focal point with mossy branches, fresh greens, magnolia leaves turned backside - says winter without screaming Christmas.

Some random photos of my house this holiday season.

I don't go overboard but I like it festive.

A Beautiful Greeting Card

Lots of fresh greenery.

A little high drama is always good at the holidays.

And lots and lots of lights on the tree.....

Autumn Greetings from the Depths of the Earth

It's rained a few times here in Eugene. That means there's mushrooms to be found in the yard. Here's a few. And yes they really do grow in large circles sometimes referred to as fairy rings.

And mushrooms mean I get to make spore prints. Here's what I do: (the basics are very, very easy)

Bring the mushroom into the house, gently remove the stalk and place the mushroom face down on a piece of paper. Wait anywhere from 6 to 12 hours and watch what happens. Note- I've never tried this with store bought ones but I have noticed, the younger the mushroom, the more spores you'll get.

Here's two different mushrooms that were loaded with spores and I got a couple of prints from each one.

Sometimes you get lucky. Here's a pretty good print.

But pressing the zoom button is what fascinates me the most.

Like fingerprints and snowflakes, no two spore prints are the same.

The spores are fragile and ephemeral. You could blow them away.

How mysterious and strange and beautiful is the world we live in?

Favorite Flower of the Moment - Teasel

Here's a partial view of my backyard weed patch - er we'll call it my wildflower meadow...that sounds better. These are teasels.....and they're about 8 feet tall....books say this plant doesn't get over eight feet and I'm here to tell you , that just isn't so. I can be fickle about my flowers - loving whatever is right in front of me as though it is the only and the most beautiful flower I have ever seen.....(this could be from reading too much Saint Exupery as a child)...And so it is with the common weed named teasel - latin: dipsacus fullonom.

There's something magical about it. If you look at it carefully you see how it only flowers in rings around the head. Sometimes one ring, sometime two. And never in exactly the same place on any two heads.
And it also has this tactile quality of being very soft (the young head really is quite soft) and prickly at the same time. Maybe that's why I like it!

And look at the head on the left. See that soft purple haze across it? That may, or may not develop into the floral halo. This may be as far as it ever gets towards flowering. I find this very poignant - a flower that is only suggesting it's possibility and doing it so subtlely.

Here it is in the cooler with some locally grown, fuzzy wuzzy, lavender liatris. Who knew I would ever LOVE liatris? I can be so fickle.

Stay tuned for more favorite flowers.

Sun Tea with Mariage Freres

It was hot last week and I made sun tea with Mariage Freres Marco Polo tea that I got at Watson Kennedy. (Small sidenote, Watson Kennedy is my all time favorite store anywhere, ever, and for all time. Many more posts to come on Watson Kennedy.) I put a small handful of tea into big glass jar full of cold, fresh water.

Then I added some rosebuds and half an orange peel for some color. It was a hot day and it only took an hour or two to steep.

I had fun shaking it up like a big summer snow globe. Then I chilled it and added Santa Cruz Strawberry Honey Lemonade and/or fizzy water to suit my mood. Delicious and Refreshing.

Check out this website for more tips on iced tea.