These woods....

The other morning we had a very frosty one. 

The sun came out a bit and showed off the workings of cold and nature...

Look how sporty Jed looks!!

Ready for some duck hunting bud?

Another perspective on wabi sabi...the beauty of the decaying...acceptance of the imperfect...

I have a never ending fascination with moss...thick, thin, feathered, velvety, fluffy, trailing...

Remnants of the old farm that used to be here many years ago...

And then there are These Woods.

Growing up in Victoria I had a love for Garry Oaks.

There ecosystem is restricted to a small area on the Southeast part of our Island.

Nowhere else in the world do these gnarly, craggy ones grow...

The very bones of them in the winter, the loving dappled shade in the summer.

But for eighteen years when I lived in Sooke I had a relationship with the coniferous

evergreen forests that surrounded our house.

The deep, tall woods of the west coast are a spiritual place for me.

A free and open place of worship where quite often I was alone with my thoughts and prayers.

So now I think among these different beings...some tall, some short and scrubby. 

But a place like this is my tall drink of water in this sad and beautiful world.

I can sit and wonder and grow along with the moss and the lichen.

Invent my own stories of the things I find.

Like this simple wooden cross I found lying at the base of a big oak.

I wondered...what lies beneath?

So I propped it up against the great tree, stood up some of it's meaning again...

So I will wander these wiry meadows now.

They are new kin to get to know.

I find comfort when I drive up our road, past the subdivision, entering our block

 where the oaks still line the sidewalk-less street. 

Some parts around here were left to be.

For that I am grateful.

Dog bits...

This new house we live in is lovely and old.

Which means the house has lots of rooms chopped up and even

though we put in an amazing wood stove, the heat doesn't quite

reach the room which is my studio.

So during the cold months I've been working in the main room where

the heat is but now the spring weather is on it's way

and I am once again able to work in the studio room in comfort.

Sometimes I watch these shows about the Tiny Living revolution and I wonder...

Could I be in a space that small?

I must admit I do love 'my stuff'...

I love to surround myself with lovely things from near and far, old and new and treasures

I've had for years. 

I love to look at art my friends have given me or pieces I have purchased from them.

Anyway, back to work..

I'm currently creating a likeness of a customers dog...

His name is Alexander The Great...appropriately since he is after all

a Great Pyrenees!

 So he's coming along nicely...

 The form is what I am looking for and so far so good...

 Sometimes I start a piece and It's just not taking shape.

I will cut off heads, legs or whatever and start again and 

do whatever it takes to get it just right...

Still got a ways to go...

The finishing touch will be using some of ATG's real fur which

the owner has been collecting...

That's all the news for now.

Hope everyone is well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Variations on a theme...black and white

Alright, so everyone in the East and up North can stop laughing now.

Yes, Victoria has snow in February.

Our days of bragging about walking by the water in our shirt sleeves

whilst everyone is shovelling their walkways are over.

At least for now.

So, lets embrace this stuff called snow!

This is my street this morning...

Of course Lil' Jed was ready for some snow action!

Although he wasn't impressed with the tiny snowballs gathering on his legs and feet...

"these things are really starting to annoy me" 

Aside from the ornaments, he really had a great time out there plowing with his wee snout...

I live in an area filled with Garry Oak trees and they really lend themselves beautifully

to shadows and light and general perfect silhouette specimens...

The paths are no sooner trod with footprints then are covered up just as quickly...

Wild roses and blackberries preparing for spring have put their plans on hold...

The bright green lichens and mosses have been subdued by falling snow...

And so we trudge through our unpredictable season, 

embracing what may come, being grateful for the warmth of a good fire when we return home...

Jeds big adventure...

Talk about timing!

With a new puppy in the house and my hubby going in for a knee replacement in two days,

it just seemed like the perfect opportunity for my back to decide to go out on me. 

Argh!!!

In the mean time I will take you with Jed and I on his first real adventure.

I wanted him to get use to travelling in the van so I'm starting

with short trips.

Two days ago we went to a sweet little wild park in 

the city called Anderson Hill.

It sits on the eastern edge of the city of Victoria and 

has lovely views out to Trial Island...

Actually a group of small islands, it houses an automated lighthouse who's main

function is to record weather and tides for the area.

There's Jed heading out to the lookout!

It's a small park but along the mossy, rocky terrain it has BIG views.

Here, looking west towards the neighbourhood of Fairfield and Gonzales Bay...

Jed was full of wonder at all of the new smells and sounds...

I forgot how hard it is to take pictures of a black dog! he kept getting lost in the light!

...thats better!

I kept telling him that this was the start of many rambles together and that the van will be his best friend. He was kind enough to listen to me even though it probably sounded like Zulu to him.

Once more, a lovely view of Trial Island, this time with a freighter gliding by...

"hey there little mite!"

The Garry Oaks up on this point are very short and scrubby.

They are very exposed to mighty winds here.

The trail looking back to whence we came...

Jed trying to become one with the grass..

A big day for a wee lad...naptime on the way home...dreaming of what's to come!