Well I wasn't able to get to the beach for a breather during camp preparations last weekend as I had hoped (wishful thinking)...but instead, after hours of trying to figure out how to construct the Grand Canyon out of a ridiculously large amount of paper (to no avail), I ended up going for a very long walk in our neighborhood which thankfully, due to the beauty of the day and the luscious flowers that greeted me along every path, thoroughly refreshed and renewed my poor muddled brain.
Glorious roses peaked at me from behind a fences.
A tower of bright purple Clematis entwining itself around a cute fence post completely charmed me as I usually see these blossoms either climbing flatly up the side of a fence trellis or bridging themselves up and over an arbor. This way truly captivated me and produced quite a few fanciful thoughts of having one exactly like it in our future garden.
And then there were these luscious fluff balls of sunshine...
I think they were my favorite.
I kind of wanted to lay down in them. I know, I know...it would have been a little prickly, but look at them! don't they look like golden pillows of comfy softness just waiting to be napped upon?? Why yes they do....
So all was not lost, I had found so much to inspire and revive my overwhelmed and frazzled imagination.
Which allowed me to come home...
And try once again to whip up a Grand Canyon out of this mess, which by the way happens to be sitting on the dining room table that I insisted we take out of storage so that I wouldn't have to fabricate our beloved national park on the floor...it helped tremendously!The table belonged to Mr.24's grandmother and her parents had it before she was born...it's over 100 years old and a dear family treasure. We still have to find the missing leaf, but for now this will do just fine, and after five years, I was just very happy to see it again.
The camp is coming along beautifully by the way, thank you so much for all of your well wishes! We have an amazing group of young artists that have been creating some pretty fun masterpieces and I can't wait to share them with you. Wait till you see *their* Grand Canyon's...they rock!!
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17 comments:
Hello Jessica:
The Grand Canyon from paper on the dining room table does, to us, seem somewhat ambitious. Could you not, possibly, have set a slightly easier task, at least to start with? You know, something like the Alps or the Dolomites!
Your walk looks to have been marvellous and we too thought those soft, papery roses to be lovely. Growing clematis up and around posts is a most effective way of treating these climbers. We often too grew them through shrubs or into trees.
Jane&Lance...The Alps, what a brilliant idea! Our next camp is called 'Around the World' so that would be a very fitting task...so inspiring, thank you!!
And the idea of of clematis winding its way around a tree is even more intriguing to me than the post, very enchanted garden-like, must be beautiful...another inspiring idea!! xo
I would say the Grand Canyon is coming along nicely! It's always good to get out and absorb a little local beauty for some inspiration--and we live in a part of the world where (lucky us), all we have to do is step outside our doors! Gorgeous photos!
Your Grand Canyon looks fabulous!!! Such beautiful surroundings there. The Houston drought has everything so fried and brown here that I'm missing the pretty flowers this summer.
xo~
T
We are frying up our flowers in N.C. too! I wanted to give you a heads up: We are excited to be included in HGTV's Freebie Friday giveaway tomorrow. We are giving away a cool Asian lacquer coffee or low side table in one of 5 color options, so come on by for a chance to win!! Its worth upwards of $500.00 so its our biggest yet.
Good Luck!
Liz
What a stunning neighbourhood, I'm so envious and is that water I see? Now I'm plain old jealous.
Elizabeth...That Grand Canyon was trickier than I thought it was going to be, who knew?!Figuring out how to teach it, made it much more interesting of a project...thank heavens the walk reset my compass, so thankful for where we live! xo
T...Thank you so much!! And I'd love to send some of our moisture to you, we've had way too much this year and you've not had enough...let's trade!! xo
Liz...I'd love to send you some 'wet & cool' too, I suppose I should be happy that we're not frying here in the NW, but a little warmth would be very nice...especailly since it's *summer*! Hope I'm not to late for the giveaway...I'll be over ASAP!! xo
B&P...Yes that's water you see, Lake Washington to be exact! It's *almost* as pretty as one of your Loch's and I feel very fortunate to live so near it, the views are always amazing (but we need more 150 year old "chinky Victorian walls" around here to enhance it!). xo
Bonjour,
You have such a lovely blog! Beautiful roses...We look forward to future posts. Have a wonderful day
Check our shop out or stop by our blog to say hi!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/chezjolly
Love you candy colours&flowers!
Sorry about not posting the scarf, but things move slowely here sometimes. Have taken the picture, but so quite a few others that are better to post first ....
Have a great weekend!!
Jessica-Nothing like a walk to spark a little creativity. Love those yellow roses too. They remind me of sunshine....and since we can't seem to hold on to any of that, the roses will do. Sounds like you're having a great summer. Take care my friend.
Hugs,
megan
Your interpretation of the Grand Canyon is great - so colourful! I know exactly what you mean about those yellow roses. They really are beautiful and billowy. Have a lovely weekend xo
Hello Jessica! Your photos from your walk were really...really..gorgeous. Were you by any chance walking the trail that goes from Lake Forest Park to Seattle? If you were there are definitely some beautiful views of the water, and so many pretty homes. It's amazing what a good walk, breathing in fresh air, and soaking in nature will do for ones spirit and imagination. I hope your Grand Canyon turned out well and camp has been a terrific success? Your husbands family table is beautiful. Looks ideal in your magnificent home. Wishing you a good weekend, despite word I got that it's raining! Thinking of you my friend.
Love,
Deb x
What beautiful flowers - I love the yellow roses as well - so lovely. And you are doing wonders with your Grand Canyon - can't wait to see your students' projects!
Chezjolly...Love that you visited, thank you, so nice to meet you! xo
Linnea...I understand moving slowly...no worries! Glad you liked the eye 'candy'!! xo
MademoisellePoroit...Thank you, it was fun to play with all those bright colors...some of the students though are going 'dark', very interesting! Billowy is the perfect word to describe the roses, I love it! Wishing you a lovely weekend as well. xo
Deb...You clever girl, so close! We live right above the Burke Gilman Trail...the exact one you're talking about. The images are from our neighborhood, just within a few blocks of our house. They're actually working on the trail right now and have detoured everyone through our neighborhood...lots of bikers around here lately! The camp was fantastic and another starts Monday, hoping for the same (all girls so far)! Thank you about the table...it's so nice to have it back. xoxo
btw- yes, rain again, and sweaters! :/
Quintessence...You're so sweet, thank you!! I'll share their work soon, it's so cute, and I think I need a cutting of those roses and some root hormone, can't get them out of my head! xo
Quite gorgeous, all of it.
Great pictures of your walk, and it seems you made a great grand canyon, love the Cacti....Maryanne xo
Sigh. I'm so behind on my blog reading. I don't even know about your camp. It sounds super fantastic! I LOVE your artwork. Your Grand Canyon is the happiest version I've ever seen. :)
You know how I feel about taking walks in nature, so I won't do the broken record thing. I can't believe all the gorgeousness you saw on your walk. The yellow posies...isn't nature grand?
xoxo
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