A Trip to the Local Garden Nursery

african-violet-plant

It’s Thursday which means it’s Artist Date Day. In my last post I showed the African Violet Pot I’m making in my slip casting class, and even though it will be a couple of weeks before I finish the project, I thought it would be fun to select a new plant. A visit to the local nursery would also be the perfect place for this week’s Artist date,  because it’s certainly colorful and has a creative atmosphere. Both are requisites for an Artist Date.

Purple-orchid-blossom
I love the green house at the nursery where they keep the African violets and orchids. Here are only three of the many gorgeous plants I saw while browsing.
Creamy-orchid-blossom
It’s a good thing that I traveled by motorcycle and not car today, or else I would have come home with more than just the one African Violet.
White-orchid-blossom
After this lovely white orchid I’ll leave you with a splash of color.
red-poppy-blossom
It really was the perfect place to go for this week’s Artist Date.

An Artist Date

cabbage

One of my favorite books is,  The Artist’s Way,  by Julia Cameron. It’s a very inspirational book about blocked creativity. In her book, Julia  tells us that the we must continually fill the well of creativity to avoid being a blocked artist. One  of the ways of doing this is with a weekly  Artist Date. Thursday is usually my best day to do this, because generally it’s a free day for me. When deciding where to take myself for the Artist Date, I choose a  place that speaks to my creativity and makes me feel happy inside. Yesterday I went to a local market to doing a little fruit and veggie shopping, but yesterday I really took time to look around and absorb the rich colors.

peppers-2

I took photos with my cell phone camera and tried to be discreet. I wondered if the employees might think I was from the health department inspecting their produce. I was really amazed at the rich colors, and even more so when I got home and looked at the photos I’d taken. I have included a few of them here.

Red-onions

necterinesChoosing the market for my Artist Date was perfect. Perhaps the next time you go to the market, you’ll slow down a little as I did and take time to look at the colors. Nature really is amazing. I wonder where my next Artist date will take me?

RVing in Hemet California

Diamond-Valley-Lake
Diamond Valley Lake is one of the places we visited while spending the holiday weekend in Hemet, California, at Golden Village Palms RV Resort. Our last visit to the lake was in 2013 and this time, we could definitely see the affects of the drought. Below is the boat ramp which was in active use when we were last there. The launch ramp is unusable now because it no longer reaches the waterline.
Ramp
Science-center
After our visit to the lake, we stopped to look at the nearby Western Science Center.

When I hopped out of the truck to take a few photos, I spotted the sign below.
snake
I tend to forget that we share the landscape with these California natives. So far, I’ve never met up with one, but you can bet that after seeing the sign I watched where I was stepping.
On our way back to the RV park we spotted this old adobe ruin in Tucalota Springs.
adobe
We had a wonderful weekend of relaxing and seeing a few of the sights around Hemet. The days were pleasantly warm, and the nights quite cool, which made for great sleeping. It all made for a great RVing adventure in Hemet, California.