My Ojai Garden Roses

 I was so nervous to plant roses in my garden in Ojai... and predominantly David Austin English roses.  I thought the weather might be too hot. I took a chance late last spring, surfed the web for ideas and ordered my favorites from Rose Story Farm in Carpinteria. then of course we had a horrendously hot summer and they looked like hell by August.  But, alas... spring came and what a great surprise.  My delicate little babies are twice as big and so abundant .... YIPPPEEE!!!

The roses shown above are "Johann Strauss", "Hot Cocoa", "Glamis Castle", "Gentle Hermione", "Jubilee Celebration", "Julia Child" and "Mary Magdalene"(not in order).

Huntington Gardens ... a shared experience

My sister Lucinda and I are both artists, we both have blogs (hers is cobaltviolet), we both enjoy photography and we often go on outings together.  After most of these excursions, I often find myself getting a post together to find out that she has beat me to it and blogged on the same subject with very similar photos.  Oiy vey!  (spelling anyone??)  As we have some of the same followers I sometimes just pass on posting the same basic story.  But not today!  I'm not going to go on about how fabulous the Huntington Library in Pasadena is and how amazing the gardens... I 'm just going to post a few of my favorite images from our day a few weeks back.  If you want to know more about our trip, check out my sister's blog posts....  She took some great photos of the gardens and paintings and is quite prolific on this subject.  But I am proud to say it was my idea that she start a blog...  I'm glad she took my advise for once!

Huntington Museum in Pasadena - American Collection.

Chinese Gardens at the Huntington - Pasadena

Shakespeare's Garden - The Huntington in Pasadena, California

Japanese Gardens at the Huntington

I will say that it's the Chinese and Japanese gardens that keep me coming back.....

I'm cracking up right now....I was just looking for a quote on gardens and I found this one on brainyquote.com!!!

"Eventually my goal is get a place in Ojai where I can have animals and a big garden. Just drink wine all day and hang in my garden."
~Michelle Branch~

.....maybe I ought to call her over for a glass of wine?

Casitas Vista

My spring fever has not just affected my work but my love of Ojai.  The last couple of weeks I have fallen in love with Ojai deeper than ever before.  So many factors contribute to this high I am feeling..... I have made so many new lovely friends that are an inspiration and a joy to be around and I continue to meet new interesting people every week...even in this tiny little town.  Also, in addition to all of the beautiful places of nature wonder that I have always enjoyed (Sisar Canyon, Meditation Mount, Krotona), I have just discovered several new little gems.... all practically in my own backyard.  I will share them over the next few posts when I return to take photos.

Sisar Canyon

Meditation Mount

Krotona Gardens

....last but not least, my fabulous walk today with my friend Tegan and her sweet "Little Buns" and Sacha around good ol'

Lake Casitas

"Any perception can connect us to reality, properly and fully.
What we see doesn't have to be pretty, particularly; we can appreciate anything that exists.
There is some principle of magic in everything, some living quality.
Something living, something real, is taking place in everything."

~ Chogyam Trungpa ~

Delayed Spring Fever

I think I finally have Spring Fever.....

Some say that this feeling or phenomenon is actually physical, not just psychological, because our seratonin levels rise in spring which create "giddiness, energy boost and enthusiasm".
Enthusiasm was my first symptom.... now I feel giddy.... and my energy is beginning to blossom.
It is difficult for me to hibernate in winter but now the sun is out, flowers are still blooming everywhere and I'm on a roll.  Of course, the weather has been like this for awhile now and summer is almost here but better late than never!

I'm excited because I've decided to truly professionalize my jewelry business and create an amazing website to showcase my jewelry.  I've been searching the web non-stop the last few days for web design ideas and have found great inspiration and in turn,  I discovered so many amazing jewelry artists "out there".  Here are a few that I find exceptional!

Sara Weinstock

Judy Geib

Jamie Wolf

Monique Pean

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

"Enthusiasm is the greatest asset in the world.  It beats money, power and influence."

~ Henry Chester ~

"I prefer the folly of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom."

~ Anatole France ~

Mystery Blossoms

A couple of weeks ago on a Sunday morning after breakfast at the Emporium,  I  passed in front of Massarella's Firehouse Pottery (where our lovely dog water bowl is from) and saw these incredibly dreamy blossoms lining their driveway.  Roses they are not as there were no leaves or thorns. Maybe some kind of cherry blossom... though they were small bushes.  Can't you see them in an antique Chinese blue and white vase! What are they???

"Merrily, merrily shall I live now,

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough."

~ William Shakespeare ~

Springtime Showers

Showers without rain?  Yes, today in Ojai...
my friends and I showered a lovely fertile friend with love as she is full and round with a new life growing in her womb. It was an idyllic gorgeous springtime day...... so beautiful that I carted everything out of the house to the picnic table under the old oak tree in the back yard.... white linen tablecloths and napkins, my Grandmother's floral wedding china and silver, wine glasses, fresh cut roses from my parents garden....  and the vintage silver tea service my mother brought back from Pakistan.  We were truly ladies today... eating our three salad lunch then sipping earl grey tea with milk & devouring my famous chocolate (with chocoloate chips) bundt cake.  The garden fairies were surely watching over us today, pleased that we were so full of joy at the abundance all around us.....I could just feel it.  

Glorious Nature

I just had to share these images I photographed in my backyard on Sunday.  My husband and I planted everyone one of these glorious flowers just a couple of years ago.  It's amazing what a little time, sun and water will bring.  We are blessed.....

"Earth laughs in flowers."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy Easter!

eggs by Benjamin and mommy  (except the chocolate ones!) ...

flowers daddy bought at farmer's market ...

Benjamin's pre-school project ...

......and another ...

mommy's new creative obsession ..... Ukrainian egg dying.... 

ps.  If anyone in the Ojai area is interested in Ukrainian egg making,  contact artist Bernadette DiPietro holds  classes

Our Rosie Ojai Abode

Inside

(when it's tidy, thanks Lucinda...she took photo this while housesitting!)

and

Out

(for only a couple of weeks....I took these today!)

"If spring came but once a century instead of once a year, or burst forth with the sound of an earthquake and not in silence, what wonder and expectation there would be in all hearts to behold the miraculous change. " 

 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Fine Silver Springtime Dream

I just finished this new metal clay Gandhara Collection necklace last night and  I posted on Etsy this morning.  I call it Springtime Dream... a little corny I know.   I usually get excited to list something new to sell but I'm having a difficult time because I do not want to part with it!  It's so spring-y and I'm in such a spring-y mood.... 


I found the beads on EBay. They look like colored glass but they're real stone.  I have never used  rainbow fluorite but now I think it may be added to my favorite stone list.  This stone reminds me a bit of tourmaline as it can go from pale pink to green but rainbow fluorite also has purples, aquas and lime-y greens and pale blues.... just amazing.  The colors are even reminiscent of beach glass.... and Easter!


According to Krystal Love,  rainbow fluorite "brings order to chaos, and elevates intuition and mental achievement. It also provides for the purification, cleansing and elimination of disorder, both physical and mental. Various colours have particular effects: blue- orderly thoughts, calm, clear communication; green- cleanses chakras, eliminates negativity from a room; purple- rationality, psychic and spiritual growth. Fluorite aids in dissipating colds, flu, staph infections, herpes and ulcers, and to protect against contagion. Blue- eye, ear and throat infections; green- stomach and intestinal disorders; purple- bone and bone-marrow disorders."


Check out the following groovy rainbow fluorite items...

carved rainblow fluorite bowl from gem-dragon

egg from ebay

Irish Spring

When I first laid eyes on our little piece of heaven in Ojai, I got dizzy.  After my tour with the realtor, I ran home and burst into tears.  How can we do it?  Is it possible?  Could we really own a piece of land with it's own little babbling brook?  Somehow all the pieces fell into place and here I am.... so thankful.  


The last few weeks have felt like an Irish spring.... everything is so green and lush.  I'm really enjoying this time as I know that soon the Ojai summer heat will descend and my little babbling brook will be dry.... and our fields of green will look like straw.  


And since it's St. Patrick's Day, I have to admit that I was always so jealous of the kids at school who REALLY could celebrate ....I wasn't allowed to eat the special green frosted cupcakes in 5th grade because I wasn't Irish and it still bugs me!  And now, more than 35 years later... after many late nights on Ancestry.com (just ask my husband, I was obsessed), I find out that I AM Irish!  Well, I guess my babbling brook makes up for lost cupcakes...

Arbolada Rainbow - Blush

Lucy (my incredibly cute pup... check out CobaltViolet for pics) and I went on our daily walk around our neighborhood yesterday and just before we headed out the door I grabbed my camera. Boy, was I glad I did. I haven't had so much fun on a walk in months.... it was so beautiful everywhere we turned. I must have taken over 100 pictures! The sun was shining and it was 75 degrees....Fruit trees are blooming, flowers are in full bloom...

How can this be winter???

Stay tuned for more of images from my neighborhood journey!