Remembering...

It's hard to believe that a year has come and gone since my Mom passed away.  How I miss her.

I love this photo of her ~ it is so typically her, puttering about in the garden, which she loved to do. Yesterday, on the anniversary of her death, I spent a lovely hour wandering through the garden center with my daughter.  The last time I had been there was with my Mom.  We had gathered plants and little items for a fairy garden that she then planted under the weeping willow tree in her yard.  Yesterday we gathered a few new plants for the yard at our new home.  As my sister and I gardened with our mother, now my daughter gardens with me.  Someday she will pass her love of gardening on to her children.  And so the torch passes along down the line.

Spring is arriving slowly as it often does in Colorado.  The Junco's have left and we've had a robin in the yard.  Jessie and I have watched a pair of great horned owls many times in the past couple of weeks.  This morning, the maple tree burst into bloom with lovely little clusters of reddish flowers! These are the female part of the blossoms known as the stigmas.


Other branches already had clusters of anthers, the male part of the blossom.   There should be lots of "helicopters" later in the year!


I'm anxious to get my painting skills back up to speed so that I can do some plein air painting this year, so I've been playing around with some small oil sketches.  Usually, I like to paint from life, but ever since a snowy drive last month, I've had this idea for a painting growing in my head, so it was time to see if I could bring it to life.  This is just a little oil sketch (5" x 7") for what will probably end up being a much bigger painting eventually.

This past week I started my new job!  With several days of general hospital orientation behind me, I get to begin orienting to the Mom/Baby unit on Wednesday.  I'm looking forward to it, though it will take me a while to adjust to the long commute.