xenial Sunny Point garden

Come on in!  Enter the delightful organic garden of Sunny Point Cafe in West Asheville, North Carolina!

"We celebrate the relationship between the kitchen and the garden…where food grows from a tiny seed and meets the knives of creative chefs, all within an acre…from spade to spoon."


 Nestled within the garden are tables for gathering and play areas for kids.  In the foreground grows tall dinosaur kale.

Raised beds are full of herbs and vegetables.  There are even planters on the fences.

Situated in a residential area, neighborhood houses surround the gardens and cafe.

spoon and fork sculptures growing within the dandelion bed!

aah...so xenial!

 













Therefore,

and 

Do you know what xenial means now?! *

LINKS:
⃟  Sunny Point Cafe --Be sure to peruse this site. interesting information as well as recipes
⃟  (short) POST about Sunny Point kitchen garden by Lauri Newman who designed it

PS:  Beautiful flowers grow here, too!  See a gorgeous passion flower on my blog HERE.  

 * hospitable

Alphabe-Thursday, hosted by Ms Jenny, is so much fun!  This week our letter is "X." Come visit others' submissions HERE and join in the fun! 




photos by me © 2013   all rights reserved

Festive Holly: a Challenge

My Blogging Business Artisans team sets forth a new Challenge every month.  The purpose is to encourage us to explore our creativity, to stretch our imaginations.  Perhaps we are re-working something we've done in the past or still do.  Perhaps we're making something entirely new.
 
LeAnn of Pasque Flower Creations gave us this Challenge for the month of October: 

"This month, I challenge you to create a holiday-themed item. It could be a new listing for your etsy shop, a holiday decoration for your home, a costume or special accessory for a holiday gathering, or a gift you intend to give to a friend or loved one."

 

source (more information in LINKS below)

Holly is so festive and pretty!  Its colors of dark glossy green and scarlet brighten gray, dreary days.  Many varieties of holly are evergreen, with waxy green leaves sporting sharp edges.  The origin of the word "holly" is probably a word meaning "prickly."  (from Germanic Hulin to Old English Holegn, and more)

Hollies are dioecious, with male and female reproductive structures found on separate plants.  Only females produce the bright red berries, although both types of plants produce white flowers in the Spring.
The berries are poisonous to humans, but the leaves are used by some as remedies for maladies such as dizziness.

For my Challenge piece, I decided to paint silk with emerald green holly leaves and firey red berries.  The silk was painted by hand with dye.  When dyeing and painting fabric there are several different methods I employ.  Painting on silk is tricky and one must be careful to keep the dye within bounds.  After painting, the dye must be cured.  The silk is then washed and dried.  This silk is now a scrunchie and will be found in my shop soon.

LINKS:
BBA's list of monthly Challenges
Linky Party for the October Challenge (See what others' have done!)    
Karen's Whimsy --5 free holly images from her collection of antique postcards
etymology of holly of "holly"

last 2 photos by me © 2013  all rights reserved

yellow

autumn chrysanthemums

linking up with Monday Mellow Yellows.  Come visit and get more yellow into your life! 


 

photo by me © 2013   all rights reserved

water

a few photos from my trip to the Canadian Rockies in September of this year...

Athabasca River in Jasper National Park

Cavell Lake near Mount Edith Cavell in Jasper

Cavell Glacier and Cavell Pond with floating icebergs

along the Icefields parkway in Banff National Park, Canada--Bow Lake

along the shore of Lake Moraine, a glacially-fed lake in Banff 

Alphabe-Thursday, hosted by Ms Jenny, is so much fun!  This week our letter is "W." Come visit others' submissions HERE and join in the fun! 

I'm also linking up with SkyWatch Friday 

Come join us in this awesome meme, link up, and meet folks from all over the globe!  Skywatch Friday is hosted by Yogi, Sylvia, and Sandy.

photos by me © 2013   all rights reserved

coneflower

 Echinacea (coneflower)  The name is derived from the Greek word echino meaning sea urchin, which the central petals resemble.
There are still a few blooms in my garden even though cool weather is beginning to come on strongly.

Wordless Wednesday--where I linked up: 

The Art and Tree Chatter of Aquariann

Create With Joy

  

photo by me © 2013  all rights reserved

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

WATCHING

Oliver peeks at me slanty-eyed hoping I won't disturb his sun puddle napping.


LEAFY

Nasturtiums spill over the edge of a ceramic pot on my deck.


FIRST WORLD PROBLEM

I got a "smart" phone earlier this year.  I still have a lot to learn.  Recently I got the instagram app, and what fun that is!  I still have a lot to learn.  My daughter (the wine rep) installed the delectable app which tracks wine you like and does so many amazing things.  I still have pretty much everything to learn about that.  so much technology!  so many ways to connect!  But still, how connected are we?  What about simply enjoying nature and talking (by mouth!) to family and friends?  


STILL

still life:  a little snap of a detail of one of my terrariums.  The tiny mushrooms are fun and glow in the dark.  I got them on etsy HERE.  Usually the photos I post are straight out of the camera.  For this one I had fun playing with some editing on picmonkey.


A GOOD DAY 

On Friday evening, a few family members came over for dinner.  My son's girlfriend brought me these lovely flowers.  (I did a little editing on this one, too.)

 

This is a very fun meme hostessed by Ashley Sisk in which 5 prompts are given and one must then take a photo to illustrate each one.  Come see how others have interpreted these words HERE! 
 
Next week's words are:   

1. Change
2. Your Mood Today
3. Dark
4. Welcome
5. Depth of Field

photos by me (taken today!) © 2013  all rights reserved

Roadside Views

When traveling, I like to take photos from the moving car-- "drive by shootings."  This way I can remember the flavor of a place not just the special views.
I offer you a few from my recent trip to the Canadian Rockies in early September this year.  
Oh, and by the way, just in case you were wondering, I'm NOT driving at the time!

along the Icefields Parkway

Oh the colors!   Isn't the sky magnificent?  See the Athabasca Glacier on the far right side in the middle.

 mountains and sky--how glorious!

 That's me, taking a photo.

LINKS: 
Icefields Parkway
Parks Canada
Athabasca Glacier --my POST on my hike up to this glacier in 2012 with lots of photos

(just for fun--last year at almost the exact same date, we were on the letter V.  HERE's my post from then.  Sadly, the trees are not nearly as beautiful this year.)

Alphabe-Thursday, hosted by Ms Jenny, is so much fun!  This week our letter is "V." Come visit others' submissions HERE and join in the fun! 

I'm also linking up with SkyWatch Friday 

Come join us in this awesome meme, link up, and meet folks from all over the globe!  Skywatch Friday is hosted by Yogi, Sylvia, and Sandy.

photos by me © 2013   all rights reserved

seeming to undulate

This stunning passion flower is growing in the gardens of Sunny Point Cafe in Asheville, North Carolina.  The restaurant grows much of the vegetables and herbs served in its own extensive gardens.  Scattered among the gardens are tables and chairs, children's play areas, and gorgeous flowers.

un . du . late --to move with a smooth wavelike motion; having a wavy surface or edge

LINKS:  
interesting information about medicinal usages from the University of Maryland (my alma mater!)
description  of passion flower (of which there are 400 species!)
cultivation --Royal Horticultural Society  

THANK YOU, Judie, for identifying this plant!
 

Alphabe-Thursday, hosted by Ms Jenny, is so much fun!  This week our letter is "U." Come visit others' submissions HERE and join in the fun! 


PS:  I have been on vacation and then catching up with myriad things.  I apologize for the length of time it's taken to visit you.  But visit you, I will!
 
photo by me © 2013   all rights reserved

turquoise Lake Louise

Indescribably gorgeous, Lake Louise is an iconic symbol of the beauty of Banff National Park in Canada.

I will be writing more about this lake at a later date.  My husband and I hiked the Plain of the Six Glaciers Trail (which is in the back middle of this photograph) just below Victoria Glacier, now one of my all-time favorite hikes.  The beauty along this trail is stunning. 

LINKS (a couple of my recent posts on beautiful lakes in the Canadian Rockies):
Bow Lake 
Waterfowl Lake
 

Alphabe-Thursday, hosted by Ms Jenny, is so much fun!  This week our letter is "T." Come visit others' submissions HERE and join in the fun! 



photo by me © 2013   all rights reserved