goodbye summer

When I stepped along to the place where I paint yesterday , an enormous yellow butterfly drifted by my head. That, I thought, could be the last one I see for awhile. So I abandoned the idea of painting fox on a picnic and painted the butterfly instead.

Good bye to late suppers with wonderful peeps like Duane and Amber~

They live to beachcomb and find the best shells.

Beach combing is a serious sport around here. The birds are always at it.

All summer I made this to quaff; water lots of ice and fresh mint, cucumber and lime. Plus you can eat the contents along the way of drinking it!

Donkey will miss the picnics

But there are compensations

Fall vegetables

 

bittersweet gathering

a favorite fall hat

 

Cambria Scarecrow festival, there are over two hundred all over town. American Gothic Cambria style in front of the Art Center.

 

A little sanderling having a fall feast

Summer is flying away, but she brings such beauty in her wake.

Here is your special seat to watch it all~

xx julie

tulip trees

It started when i saw the tulip trees blooming in San Luis, just a few days ago. When I arrived back home, I glazed some of my old clay pots, and painted them with signs of spring.

You can see why I was so inspired.

From left to right, hedgehog with nemesia, viola in a morning glory seedling pot, and thyme and thyme. I think that if you don't have a kiln, you could paint these with white acrylic and do the same thing. Even cut out pictures , glue and glaze with sealer.

Some think of spring as a time to enter their prize tulips in bulb competitions.

There are those who smell it arriving in the very air around them

Then discuss new forget me not seed varieties with gardening friends.

I visualize acres of sweet peas in my tiny side garden.

Some are more the vegetable type

Just this morning I decided to take the path marked 'Spring'.

I hope I meet you there

xxx

julie


ps thank you for you wonderful and sweet comments from my last post, meant so muchxx

pss I forgot to add I'm giving the hedgehog pot and holder to a random commenter,
the pot is originally from France, the little clay holder from our nursery right here

juliewhitmorepottery.etsy.com

you'll never know, dear

I've been thinking about love alot lately. Married love, friendship love, and mother love especially.
Mr. and Mrs. now. I hope they know whats ahead for them , but you never really do, do you?
Just hope there is lots of luck and love in reserve......
Journey's end in lover's meeting, especially for loyal donkeys
How wonderful it is to have a friend to laugh and cry with!
My beautiful mother on the left with me on the right. You can pick your friends and mates, but not your mom. I was lucky with mine. Fun loving, nuturing, art loving and as you can see, stylish. Here we are on one of those rare days, where everything conspires together for happiness. Beautiful Santa Barbara weather, an art show at the beach in the morning, then lunch at El Paseo downtown and visiting grandma and grandpa in the afternoon. I loved my mother so much. miss you , always will. xxxxx
juliewhitmorepottery.etsy.com

Summer Pie Party

Donkey told Chicken that he would celebrate the first day of summer with a pie party.
"Am I invited?" Chicken asked.

"You may have the apple peelings." answered Donkey.

Donkey returned to his pink house and scoured his recipie box. This was one of his favorites, from Viv in the pie country of Stafford. http://www.hensteethart.blogspot.com/

In need of more pies, he trotted to Farmer Julie's and found her gathering beefsteak tomatoes.

He asked her to make a cox orange pippin apple pie.

"Am I invited?" asked Farmer Julie.

"Yes", said Donkey, "If you don't comment on table ediquitte."

So Farmer Julie made a pie. She kept the peelings for Chicken.
And she cut out the shape of a donkey with a toothpick and placed it on the top.
Hedgehog, however, made the tastiest pie of all. Strawberry rhubarb with a dash of lemon zest and extra cinnamon and a sprinkling of castor sugar on the top. It was a tiny triumph. She also wore her favorite bonnet.
All arrived at Donkey's on the first afternoon of summer.
They pulled their special cups from the sideboard. They ate pie, drank tea and gossiped.
There were some frightening manners displayed, but Farmer Julie kept right on sipping and smiling. After all, she was very happy to be in Donkey's pink house, with all of his pie-loving friends.

Happy Summer everyone!
xx
julie
juliewhitmorepottery.etsy.com

Outside, Inside

Can you blame me for going twice to this mustard field in the last week? Its been three days since my last visit and I'm already plotting ways to return today. A bridge spans over the creek, and the swallows have built a metropolis there. There are hundreds and they swoop all around you, emitting soft little peeps as they dive after the insects that drone above the water.

The mustard is so high this year. If I were to clomp around down there, it would be about two feet over my head. All this yellow, all these birds and sweet clean sky make me feel airborne too, just like those swallows. So clomping seems unseemly.

Looking North from the bridge, our house is about two miles from that clump of eucylptus.

A squirrel watched me, hanging from a new fence that keeps the cattle from creek trespassing.

I nearly stepped on this one foot long lizard, I was so intent on looking up, not down. He skittered away just in time.

A brand new winery up the highway. They planted fields of lavender and roses. Olive trees too.

I was hesitant to go inside . In overalls, boots and a sweater with a patch on it I decided to wait til I wore my Sunday best to try their wine tasting.

These are their cabernet franc grapes, just emerging.

Now we are home. The inside part. Thought you might like a gander around, and this is my pantry. If you open the doors its full of dry goods. I only have about two built in cupboards in the kitchen and so this has given me a wonderful excuse to indulge my cupboard love!
The painting above of Moonstone Beach is by Terry DeLapp, a local tonalist painter.

English cupboard in the kitchen. I know this because there are little hooks in the side with donkeys, from Clovelly, near Devon.
heee haaaw

Dining room. The wall is painted a pale robin's egg blue. Old botanicals on the wall.

Dining room again. This is the first antique I bought. I got my drivers' liscense on my 16th birthday, drove to Orange, near our house in Southern California and bought this with my babysitting money. I had borrowed my brother's convertable and brought it home sticking straight up from the back seat. I still can't believe I didn't get pulled over.

Now just so you don't think I live entirely in a Charles Dicken's novel, I do like contemporary things too. Especially craft. This rabbit is by Paulina Temmes. Paulina's things are tender and exquisite. She doesn't have a blog but does have an Etsy store:

http://www.lemmikkiapina.etsy.com/

Pottery by local Potter Paula Teplitz. Dark clay, wax process. I really don't understand how Paula makes this , I just know its beautiful. Paula shows her work at Chamber's Gallery in Cambria.

A Cathy Cullis heart with a poem about a traveller. An anniversary gift from the mister.

The back as wonderful as the front!

In pottery news, new lady and animal plates.

and beakers too.

Back outside!

xx

julie



juliewhitmorepottery.etsy.com