flower poetry

 I am itching to take a day trip and haven't been able to.

So any chance I get, I take these little short photo excursions around my neighborhood.

Today I went up Guadalupe Trail. 

It's a street full of beautiful adobes, large and small, old and new.

And some people have really pretty flowers.

I also saw a mama horse and her little baby.

Mama was getting nuzzled.

 Oh, Georgia - if you could only see these!

I think poppies are in my top three of beautiful flowers.

 These are all in one beautiful yard.

I didn't want to get out of my car, 

so I pulled up the wrong way on the quiet street

and shot out of my car window.

Isn't this a gorgeous iris?

If I would've come about five days earlier, I would've gotten all of the blooms.

 Poppies and roses

  This is pink roses, yellow yarrow, a gorgeous purple and white iris,

and orange iris. Really, orange?
Never seen one of those in person before.

 This is Mr. Giraffe. At least that's what I call him.

I've photographed him in various stages of fashion ensembles.

He must be getting ready for Memorial Day.

Might dapper, Mr. Giraffe!

 This might be my favorite photo pf the whole group.

Those poppies are so up close and personal.

The sun is shining right through them and there are

lots of little spots of color in the background.

This will be fun to paint, especially with a knife!

 Another view

 Lots of beautiful color in this one!

Reds, pinks, yellows. magenta, purples, and oranges.

Wow, this is wonderful.

I would like to drop a chair right in there

and hang out for a while.

 Hollyhocks with some catmint or lavender in the background

A saint inside a tree.

Can anyone tell me who this is?

I hope you enjoyed my trip through the flower fields!

Next week?
Painting churches and a day trip to Abiquiu.
And getting my gear ready for the Corrales Garden Tour paint-out!

finally...a little vacation

We just had our 37th wedding anniversary

and decided to celebrate by going to our favorite place,Taos, New Mexico.

We rented a house and spent two nights.

I have put the images in large format so you can better view them.

Please let me know what you think.

Taos and the surrounding area is always beautiful, even in the height of summer.

We got rained on coming in to the canyon and this was our view of the 

Rio Grande Gorge after horseshoe curve.

It was very misty and mysterious.

Arroyo Seco was beautiful too. 

Lots of puffy rain clouds and beautiful mountain shadows.

The house where we stayed had these beautiful horses 

running around in the field next door.

We found the secret to getting them to come and talk to us - apples!

A beautiful sunset on Blueberry Hill.

This so reminded me of an ocean wave - I almost expected a surfer to emerge!

I just painted my version of this, #74 on my upcoming Retro Challenge show.
I had to eliminate the telephone wires from the panting.

To view on the Retro Challenge blog, please click HERE.

As usual, Arroyo Seco is beautiful.

I really want to live there!
I envision having art retreats and painting workshops in my little adobe casita.

The picture below is a little shop full of colorful scarves, red chile ristras, 

and that old beautiful truck.

I took a drive through Valdez one morning.

This little village has a beautiful view of Taos mountain.

This is a cute little hacienda driving through the main road.

I loved the orange color of the wood on the roof mixed
with the turquoise windows and the brown of the adobe.

My favorite Taos horse.

This guy lives on the road to the Taos pueblo.

I have painted him several times.

 A thistle in bloom.

There weren't too many left but lots of spent blooms.

I think if I had come a week earlier, 

I would have seen fields of thistles in full bloom.

I drove into town to take a few photos.

My destination was a row of hollyhocks along the main street.

This truck happened to be in my way!

There was a grower's market going on and this was about 6pm in the evening.

I loved the sign!

One of the hollyhocks next to the truck.

Love the dark deep burgundy color.

Another favorite horse.

Actually, he was a new friend.

Look at all the beautiful sagebrush and chamisa surrounding him (or her).

 The beautiful village of Arroyo Seco.

We got breakfast burritos from Abe's the morning that we left 

and ate them by the stream.

A scene painted on one of the adobe walls in Arroyo Seco.

Not sure what's going on here, but I do see Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The most beautiful village of Valdez along the toad to the Taos Ski Valley.

I love the shadows on the mountains in the back!

My husband Mac posing next to the little tower by the stream.

i don't know if you can see the water behind him but it was running strong.

I guess you're going to find graffiti everywhere.

This is the first day trip I have been on since my friend Tom passed away

and my cousin moved to Atlanta to be with her kids.

It just felt really weird. I just kept wanting some fellow creative person

to share my photo and experiences with.

My husband is as tolerant as he can be, but he'd rather be hiking or playing

frisbee golf or something that involves physical activity.

Anyway, I'm slowly getting back into the groove.

I want to than all of you who offered support when Tom passed away.

i miss him every day and know he would have loved to take this trip.

He was there in spirit.