my shadow

no more winter, says me.

Tree Woman

This carved wooden beauty stands on my aunt's porch.

She was created by an artist who had a studio in

an old shack on my aunt's property.

In the artist's words,

"this woman came out of the tree."

If a woman can come out of a tree,

anything is possible.

Once upon a blue moon

a new year is born!

baby jesus menagerie

Celebrating the Return of the Sun

photo taken in Italy, of a friend's wine cellar.

I want her in my living room.

Happy Winter Solstice!

outside my window

snow frosts my apples.

Have your turkey and eat it too

In 1947, designer Barbara Orr Ehrhart (pictured) demonstrated her love of turkey not just by having it for dinner at her Oregon wedding, but also by making wedding dresses out of turkey feathers for herself and her bridesmaids. LIFE captured the oddball ceremony, feathers and all, in these photographs.

For several months, Ehrhart collected 34,000 white plumes from 300 turkeys. The bridal gown was made of 500 yards of white plume feathers from a truckload of White Holland turkeys. The bridesmaids' dresses came in feathers dyed yellow, pale green, and black. One gown was valued at $18,000 -- the equivalent of nearly $175,000 in today's dollars. - Life Magazine

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Ha.

Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre

by

Wilhelm Staehle

ancestral apples

I picked bushels of apples from the trees my grandfather planted

on our family farm forever ago. I unearthed the old harvest ladder,

and climbed as high as it took me.

I looked down and saw the ghost of my mother, lamenting the rotting apples,

that she would have made into applesauce and pies.

The Yellow Transparents were her favorite. Mine too.

I can taste the tartness of her applesauce, the crisp sweetness of her pies,

in every delicious bite...

Mother Moon

All Saints Day

My Mother's Birthday

Six years gone from this world,

but still keeping in touch.