Spring in the south means puddles of pollen and a million flowers!

Happy Saturday friends!

Spring in the south is this 👇🏽

White dogwood (state flower) and red azaleas:

And this:

The pollen is so thick on the edge of the pond at the rental that the frogs were jumping on it to get into the water. From the edge of the pond, three ploink, ploink, ploink! jumps across the yellow pollen and then plunk! into the water.

I’ve taken to wearing a mask when I do farm chores:

Hopefully the thick air ends soon. We got rain, wind, and hail this week and that washed it out of the air for a bit but the next day the pollen numbers were even higher: 11.6 out of 12 and the farm was in a yellow haze:

They say that it isn't the pine that makes you sneezy, it's the hardwoods but the pine is more visible. Hmmm...I get their point in that hardwood pollen is spikey like covid germs and pine is more smooth and round but I can't help but think the sheer amount has to be aggravating to our systems!

The culprits:

Over this last month they've gone from that pretty green with the pink tips to the fuzzy yellow

But with those crazy numbers and the puddles of pollen, come so many beautiful flowers, some wild, some curated, so I suppose it’s worth the clouds of yellow ;-)

Redbud:

Azalea buds, these bushes at the rental are about 8' tall:

Just a few days later, after the rain:

The pollenators are out in full force, hanging out in all the "weeds" aka wild flowers. Buttercup:

Iris (they smell like jelly beans to me):

These pretty pink azaleas are along the walkway to my front door at the farm:

Common Bluebell:

And let's not forget the most beautiful, stunning, and fragrant sight, the wisteria:

Great swaths of the forest in Apex are covered in this stuff. Did I talk about it last time? I don't remember now. The stuff that takes over the forest is either Chinese or Japanese Wisteria, supposedly American Wisteria are a little more sedate. They spread by runners and seeds, it doesn't seem safe to grow either! I will admire them from afar!

Their vines are strong and kill and eventually take down trees:

And I'm very glad that I got to experience them at the rental and also glad that they aren't at the farm because I would have a hard time cutting these down, the smell is intoxicating!

Wisteria is a member of the legume family so imagine a forest filled with Sweet Pea flowers, yummy:

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This week we finished up the 8 week Women’s Circle and the next one will start on April 23rd and run for 4 weeks. What I found this past session is that, as the circle deepens (some have been coming every Wednesday night for a year now) the check-in portion of the evening (usually the first half) sometimes runs the entire 3 hours. I wondered if they would prefer no art, just talking but they wanted both. So, for this next 4 week session, we are going to see how we like doing the check-in over art. At the end of the four week session, we will talk again about what we’d like to keep or change.

One of the newer members said she wouldn’t have been able to manage coming into a Women’s Circle without the art to focus on, it would have been too overwhelming. I’ve always assumed this and this was part of the reason I wanted to add art to the circle. That and because art is healing in and of itself!

On the flip side, art can be intimidating for many. So, here I am again, telling you why I want you to come and try it :-)

I was reading something this week about processes and how they are a roadmap to success. Doing something the same way can be soothing, you always know what to expect. Change can bring distress to our lives, worrying about the unknown, wondering if we’ll be safe, wondering if we’ll be okay.

And each of the current Women’s Circle attendees felt the same: Will these Wednesday evenings be safe? Will I be able to do the art? Will I enjoy it?

And I suppose, since most of them have been coming since May of 2024, the answer is yes :-)

There has been some amazing positive changes happening within this circle and it makes me happy to be a part of it 💜

Because I’m not currently living at the farm, the Women’s Circle is being held every Wednesday evening from 6-9pm at my rental. I would love to have 2 more women to add to this group, I have space for 8 here at the rental. When we move back into the farm house, I will have space for 10.

Text or call me at 720-635-7015 or email me at [email protected] if you’d like to join the next Women’s Circle, starting on Wednesday, April 23rd!

Now, let’s say you’re an anxious sort and/or you just can’t bring yourself to pay for 4 weeks up front when you’ve never even tried one. I am going to offer some one-time meditation/art groups this year. They will be held on a Saturday and I’m thinking 2 a month. Stay tuned for next week’s newsletter where I will list those dates/times. You will be able to sign up through Eventbrite.

•••

Next week I will be hosting a paint-along over on my Substack. It will be Wednesday evening at 7pm and I will walk you through doing this little illustration: 

And the following week, also on Wednesday at 7pm, I'll host a paint-along for this illustration:

It’s free and I hope you will join me! Let's play!

Look closely at both of these and note the lack of actual detail, much easier. We start with basic shapes :-)

All you will need is: 

• some mixed media or watercolor paper or a mixed media journal

• a basic watercolor set   (even your kid's Crayola set would work) 

• a basic watercolor brush (a #6 round would work great)

• a pencil (I'm partial to an HB mechanical pencil with .03 mm lead) but any sharp pencil will do

• a white Pentel hi-polymer eraser

• a waterproof black pen

I only have a few followers on my Substack since I just started but I'm going to do it anyway, it will be good practice for me to do some videos! Afterwards, the video will be posted on my Substack too :-)

THE MEMES:

Hello! I am all three :-) Brace yourself.

Even better? The above is true!

•••

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