attempting a new jar votive with a papercut of mine...
her fox mask awaits cutting but is adorned with her numbers...
because i felt like a root yesterday, awaiting the day that i will arise beautiful and anew...
my first paper woodlander ready to plant flowers and seeds...
the next little creature awaiting completion...
i washed and dried my stones and put them in a little bamboo container box i have. i picked two of the bigger stones and wrapped them with hemp twine and then stuck a feather in each of them (the feathers, from another walk, all put away in a jar too).
i looked for the first little thing i knitted a few weeks ago (i'm learning) and put my favorite rock on it. i can't quite remember where i got it from. i know it's not from here, in california, i believe i picked it up in arizona but i do know why i took it. i like its size and that it looked like a big, smooth egg. 
i tried wrapping it with my little red knitted 'thing' after i had made it into a little pocket of sorts using my hemp twine to 'sew' it together. natalie loved it so much, she wanted one too. since i am still learning and don't have any others, i gave her mine and we lovingly put her rock that she got from the san diego zoo in it.
She never went out on horseback but she brought home something - something found, or something bought. If she trotted to town or village, her burden was books [or distant melodies]. If to hills, woods, or the seashore, it was wonderful mosses, abnormal twigs, a handkerchief of wet shells or seaweed.”— Thomas Hardy
this afternoon, we decided for all three of us to visit creek park again, but to explore the second part of the park that breaks off from the first half. walking through the horse trail in a residential area was nice (avoiding the horse droppings of course) especially when we saw two girls walking their horse with two dogs. as the came nearer we realize only one was a dog, the other was a fat black goat, just following like a dog would but would run with his head down as if to head butt someone. we loved it!
i told nat to bring along a green bag, in case she found some rocks, leaves, pine cones or such that she would like to keep. here she inspects some leaves and i love the interest she has in them. 
a delicate web lies above, if you look closely, you can see it.
we finally came to the part of the park before the underpass where i was completely thrilled to see it unmanicured and wild. i wanted to spend so much time here, exploring and taking pictures. my heart soared as i told rick that this is exactly what i've been needing. to break from the suburbia monotony and just be in nature, even if it is a small spot regulated to a park within a city. 
'The day I see a leaf is a marvel of a day.' - Kenneth Patton
i was taking pictures and had wandered off a bit. nat and rick caught up to me and he showed me that i was standing by something really cool. i had no idea, and when i turned around i was in so much glee to find a few milk thistle. it later occured to me, that nat, standing in the picture above, was reflecting the milk thistle plant, at least with the colors she was wearing.
'A weed is no more than a flower in disguise.' - James Russell Lowell
afterwards, we found a nice little haven of branches and twigs that reminded me of when i was young and would find myself spending time under the trees of our backyard. i would crawl underneath and would sit next to the earth and roots, and just play make-believe or read.
'Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life.' - John Muir
another intricate webbing. hopefully, one day, i will get a really good camera and you can see these details more clearly. 
once we came home i found that i had a little package from my friend kathleen. it was filled with four wonderful napkins that she had embroidered coo-coo clocks on. so nice! i love them so much all in all, what a great way to start the week...
i've been doing a lot of pencil and ink sketches and drawings lately. i posted a few on my art blog, littlebighead. here is the latest in front of my beloved mandrake drawing and next to a delightful owl votive i received through a swap with rebekah of littlebyrdvintage (she finds the best things!), thank you so much!
for easter, rick and i bought natalie this tea cup planter instead of a basket this year. she had wanted it for awhile and we thought it would make a perfect gift for her (of course, we filled it with little delights as well). today we finally got to plant some seeds for her very own tea cup garden. 
she planted six different types of seeds, with various growths but all beautiful just the same. she filled the planter, made the holes and then dropped the seeds of (going clockwise): sweet william (tall double mixed colors), cleome (rose queen), flower garden mix, gysophilia (covent garden), echinacea (purple coneflower) and lavender (munstead). from all of these, it will be nice to see which sprouts and succeeds in her little garden.
of course, while we were doing this, luke had to come for a visit (and a scratch)!
watering the hopefuls and another photo of luke next to the herb tin cans.
In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful. ~Abram L. Urban