There are some things I try never to miss.
Like the sun coming over the mountain in the morning, outlining every leaf with white gold.
Or the sun beginning to set in the afternoon.
Washing everything in fairy tale glow.
It’s the light that shape shifts the land.
Everything looking different.
Perfect time for gathering.
Who knows what magic the sunbeams will hold…
As they illuminate the shady afternoon flower garden.
Showers of dusty sun.
Most perfect ingredient for dreaming up dreams.
Outlined, translucent.
What do we see?
I gather in my skirt, bits and bobs of nature.
Hydrangea, spent rose, pyracantha berries, pecan, basil flower, morning glory…
Silent butterfly.
The lingering summer meets up with a mere taste of autumn.
And I love it.
My body has decided to accept the warmth over the last few years.
I no longer long for cold.
I embrace what I am given.
Sunshine warm, most of the days.
Dusty high desert sun.
Eating early oranges, standing in an afternoon sun beam.
Citrus oil dripping down my wrist.
Bliss.
Chasing the last light of the afternoon.
Casting bursts of gold upon everything.
Bee bodies glow.
Collecting cosmos in the vegetable garden.
Then watching the sun dance through cosmos in the flower garden.
More gathering.
And so many scents.
Squeezing basil flowers and breathing in gulps of scented air.
Filling my lungs full, exhaling slowly, but with the wonderful strength of air wanting to escape.
Feels so good.
Spent grape leaves, crinkled and golden in that afternoon sun.
And then, that last moment.
Where the sun washes everything out.
Until tomorrow.
Or today.
But…
We have our collected cosmos, as night turns up.
Glowing too, in their whiteness of petals.
Gathered.
Adored.
Moments of morning, afternoon and night.
Always a gift.
For you and me.
For everyone.
If you’d like to take it.
It waits for you all day.
Life.
Sun.
Morning.
Twilight.
Dusk.
Night.
Everyday.
Isn’t it grand?
Love, V
It’s so nice to see plants that are still alive & colorful? We finished packing up our yard last weekend & putting everything away until next spring! It’s a sad time. It seems like I just put everything out there. Our growing season is simply too short!
Your pictures look so different from other pictures I’ve seen on the news from places that got over a foot of snow!!!
We are just bracing for the cold that’s coming. The snow is staying north of us!
It’s nice to have a little snow after everything here dies. It looks much brighter & less dead. It can be pretty in small quantities!
Is Arizona going to have some cooler weather from that big storm?
Oh how I miss the warm sunny days already!
Thanks for sharing all those lovely photos!
This was an absolutely gorgeous post. I’ve been so inspired after reading and looking at the beautiful images of your gardens and flowers. I will be moving soon and I’m itching to start yet another garden of my own. Thank you for sharing your lovely life and thoughts.
Its still in the 80s here. My whole life I wanted to live somewhere
cold, but now that I am getting older I soo embrace the warmth. Oh well if
it doesnt feel like holiday season, hahahahaha!! A little snow in
February is always fun. It only lasts one day, 2 if very very lucky.
But yes, Arizona sun shine all the time. Here have some 😉 I am
still walking in a tank top in the morning, eeeeks!
So lovely, Vanessa. Those bright and dusty sun rays are so familiar to me. I embrace them as long as possible before the little bit of winter we get sets in. I am always so sad when daylight savings time ends here, which it did last week. After Thanksgiving, I am ready for springtime again.
I wish I had the amount of land that you have. I am making due with my suburban square of yard, but I long for the country. I am a country girl stuck in the suburbs! I am thankful that I have your blog to visit.
xoxo
Kim
Gerushia’s New World
Those glowing purple Cosmos are just bee-yoo-tee-full! (See what I did there? Bee?) : }
Seriously, they really are a stunning, rich colour. And oh that light! Evening light is wonderful any time of the year, but somehow as the days get shorter and colder (at least up here in the Northeast, if not in AZ!), those long golden rays seem even more lovely.
Things have gone a little sideways up here the past few days, so thanks for the sweet pics and the reminder that life and gifts and light are always there for us – I needed to read that.
Happy, sunny days to you (and maybe a little snow at the winter holidays…maybe…)!
So beautiful Vanessa… sunrises… sunsets… my favorite times… and just the word “gatherings” makes me happy… Tessy and I gather what we call “treasures from the trail” when we take our daily Nature walk… all kinds of precious treasures fill my gathering bag… seed pods, twigs, heart shaped stones, a pretty little feather a little Kestrel gifted us… your desert is truly amazing… I have not been to Arizona in years and I miss it… you have captured the beauty I remember so well… xoxo… Julie Marie
It is, it is! And you are grand for sharing your bounty with us.
love & blessings
~*~
You My Lil’ fairy friend have a billion talents in one lil’ body.Poet,artist,gardener,writer,cook,dog whisperer,photographer,dreamer,and others only Your hubby and/or close family know.You are a delight to the world.
Us northern folks will gladly continue to enjoy your beautiful warmth and gorgeous blooms while we are buried in snow. Looking forward to enjoying your blog all winter long!
It makes you glad to be alive! We are truly blessed my friend! Sweet hugs, Diane
We were in San Francisco over the weekend, and also in Monterey, and Sacramento, taking a three day anniversary weekend, and the weather was all shirt-sleeve weather, even at 7 P.M. as we stood on the opposite side of the Golden Gate Bridge, on Vista Point at sunset with the lights of the Bay Bridge lighting up the night and the whole of San Francisco in view too. But there is something so marvelous about nature, and the times of the day, like you said…sunrise, morning, afternoon sunlight, sunset, and then the stars coming out at night. Your cosmos are so delicate and lovely. Our camellias are about to bloom, with our autumn spring weather. But I do need to start thinking about protecting my outdoor succulents from the frost we sometimes begin to get around this time of year. I don’t want to loose my sweet succulents to the chilly nights.
XXOO
Miss Teresa
Oh my how you are making me miss spring! The flowers, the sunbeams, the warmth! It is bitterly cold and icy here. But I suppose the differences in latitude mean the differences in weather of course. I think we should trade one winter. I’ll take the warm days and flowers and you can have the snow and frigid temps. What do you think ;)?
Your garden is a place of utter magic, it is in my list of perfect gardens 0
n my blog!
YES! Just perfect and I agree. Once again, you’ve brought beauty to my day.
My days to gather these lovelies are long gone for a few months. I’ll delight in living vicariously through your pictures!
Lovely, lovely, lovely!
Wow. always love your pics. Some of your best flower still shots are in this post. “Martha” needs your photos on her mag covers.
Oh such wonderful photos. They make me smile. We has our first snow fall today. Very insignificant…the only things we have to show for it is the dead leaves sticking through the light snow. About 20 miles from here, they got 7 inches. Let winter show its beauty. Oh yes, it was 30 degrees (F). I do long for the sun already. Brrrrrr…
I, too, have learned to accept the warmth. It has been hard for me to see others in their cozy environments, lots of rain, lush green in the spring and summer. I, too, have learned to accept what I am given. This is such a beautiful post. xo Jen
And now I am loving the warmth and dreading the cold. Silly me,
piningafter cold for years and years just to accept the warmth, tee heeee
😉 But it does feel so good. Its cool now with warm sun, cool in
the shade, perfection 🙂
Ah, it’s true – there is that magical, fleeting light that you need to run outside to enjoy RIGHT NOW! Because it will be gone so soon. We do that with sunsets, must run out immediately. Within moments, even seconds that perfection will be gone. Thank you for sharing through your eyes.