a bit of this and that

 

This morning I had a Christmas card and a bill to put out in our mailbox for pick-up (yeah, we are still old-fashioned enough to pay our bills by snail-mail, much to our kids’ chagrin). On the way back up our long driveway, I picked up this bit of ball moss sharing its twig space with a bit of lichen. Yesterday we had incredibly strong stormy winds that blew leaves and small branches all over the ground. It was almost like being back in Kansas.

pool rocks

This is what one of the larger landscaping rocks near the swimming pool looked like a couple of weeks ago. Now we have had a long, dry period of excessive heat and the moss has all disappeared.

Sketch with Me — Outside

Today was the premiere event for Cathy Johnson’s “Sketch with Me” group on Facebook. Sketchers from all over the world joined together to draw whatever they wished to under the prompt “Outside”.

It has been a dampish rainy week around here, so I began sketching loosely, directly in ink, while sitting on our patio. Then some of our kids and grandkids arrived to visit so I left sketching for later.

Later in the day it was still soggy outside but I found a few more bits to sketch . . .
Then I came inside to add watercolor. The leaves of the groundcover next to Bill’s woodshop are a deep purple but the photo shows them darker than I painted them.

found on our walk

I miss the brilliant hues of our Kansas maple leaves but those falling around our new home have interesting forms. And the ball moss is sprouting!

twigs, moss and lichen

This past week has brought thunderstorms through our area, breaking off bits of the local trees. I picked up a couple of broken twigs during a walk yesterday, wanting to sketch the odd moss and lichen growing on them.

Both types grow in abundance on the trees here, but I am not familiar with either one of them. I've been looking for a field guide of moss and lichen but have not found one as yet.

I especially like this tiny lichen that grows on metal boxes and rocks as well as tree branches. An odd shade of pale gray-olive green, it looks a bit fey.


I'm really a bit bummed this morning . . . I declined to accompany Bill on his morning walk because I woke up with a slight sinus headache. He returned, saying he ran into FIVE DEER walking down the lane we walk on.