Taking down some Christmas ornaments, the sun was reflecting off a plastic crystal star, so I took a couple pictures. Above is a mandala of one, I'll post the original picture tomorrow.

Christmas Flowers

A Christmas cactus with petals folded back, pistil and stamen pointed toward the center. The flowers brighten up the winter season. It sort of reminds me of a laser focused at the center but it really is just flower parts!

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

ice and very cold weather

We just had a record setting -18 degrees for a low last night. The ice on the pond is solid. The heater and bubbler for the fish weren't enough to heep a hole open in the ice. The mandala is made with ice patterns from the pond.

lights

Lights, snow and candy canes making a heart. We have some snow on the ground and it feels a lot like Christmas. This has been an interesting year. Hope you have enjoyed another year of circles/mandalas I'm puttting a book of mandalas and quotes together. It's not to hard to learn how online.

snow!

It's snowing here. All day. The flakes are just gently sifting down at the moment. It is very cold also, only 14! This is Thursday and Tuesday it was 70 degrees and shritsleeve weather. Oh, well, it's December and it's suppose to snow and be cold. In an earlier snow it accumulated on the branches and berries of this bush.

blue feathers

More blue in the world - peacock feathers! Peacock feathers are such an intense blue, forget the tail fan, the blue is irresistable. The picture is a bit out of focus which makes it harder to figure out what you are seeing - it is basically the back and neck of the peacock with grass in the background.

blue pool

The blue pool at the gyser basin in Yelllowstone had steam raising from it. The steam creates a soft edge in the design. Some minerals calcified around a rock which created the white pattern in the middle. Weather has been mild here with only a bit of snow and we are getting ready for Thanksgiving.

all forms of water reflect the sky

Snow in the shadows takes on a blueish cast. A magpie landed in the sideyard leaving his prints in the snow.

Amber wavew of grain

Most of my blue mandala come from flowers, water or the sky. This one has both a lake if you look closely at what's behind the top third of the grasses and sky. This was taken at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge last January with the last light of the sun hitting the dried grass. I'm intrigued by these mandala that almost look like an eye.

more blue

Land, lake, mountains and clouds. Love the clouds.

a sunrise of a historic day

Up early on this Nov 4, 2008, to be greated by a wonderful sky of pink.

more blue

There were some really interesting clouds this afternoon. Wave clouds that form when the winds come down from the mountains - we have a front approaching. One of the clouds had a sun-dog on the edge. When I tried to bring out the colors of the sun-dog, I tried solarization. Above is the result, which was totally unexpected, but I liked it.

Blue Skies

There have been some gorgous blue skies in Colorado lately. Just blue enough to get lost in. Highlighting the blue sky, a dead cottonwood tree next door was stark white with the sun shining brightly on it. There were geometric patterns and sub-patterns.

going blue

Another version of blue morning glories

I suspect this week will be the last for the morning glories as a hard freeze is coming. We even had thunder and lightening tonight, but cold is coming. Seeing that it is almost the end of October it's time for cooler weather. I will have to move on from my flower subjects til next spring, unless. . . . I took the dog out for a run yesterday, I walked and did pretty good. The sun was shining just right on the cottonwood trees along Cherry Creek. It lit them up like a line of gold in the middel of the dry field.

Tooled leather

Just added Anna Troth's new blog to my links. She had a birthday and so did I. We got an old saddle to add to the decorations at the cabin. I love the patterns the tooled leather presented and made a couple of mandala out of them. I am glad someone else has the patience to tool the leather although maybe it is automated now - no matter how, the patterns are sure intricate.

blue morning glories

Morning Glories are beautiful. The ones I planted this spring are just now starting to bloom prolifically - a little late in the season considering we just got our first warning of a possible freeze. So until they bit the dust with a freeze I will enjoy them! I love the sprial pattern that the tightly closed buds present. Then the unfolding! The pattens they present are neat. I'll upload a couple more in the coming days.

another view of the changing leaves

The vine was growing on the fence which created the straight lines in the mandala. There are so many colors in the fall even from the same plant. Both this and the previous mandala are from engleman ivy vines in my backyard. I'm getting around with a cane now, still very slowly.

on the way to recovery

We are still having wonderful Indian Summer weather here at the end of September. And I am getting better, recovering from hip replacement surgery. I practice walking up and down the halls and outside on the sidewalk. I'm greatful to be able to sit outside in the sun and to see things still growing. The leaves on the engleman ivy are starting to turn red/orange, they make up the mandala above.

Hardy Amaryllis

Speaking of hardy things it is getting time to bring in the house plants to aclimate them to being indoors again. I am always surprised to see this flower, late in the summer. It is potted in with another plant and it's leaves disapear after it has bloomed. So one year to the next I am pleased to see it bloom again. I am hoping I am going to come back from hip replacement surgery as readily as this flower comes back every year. In a couole of days we shall see. So this blog may be spotty over the next couple of weeks. See you on the other side of surgery.

moonset

This was taken earlier, I loved the moon's closeness to the hills and the sandhill crane.

more flowers

Sometimes simple is better. I love flowers.

more traditional view of a sunflower

Thought to brighten your day with a sunflower. The patterns formed by a sunflower are a spirial here it is a little more convoluted. You have to smile with the brightness of it. We in Colorado are getting ready to host the DNC this week. We are jumping From the Olympics to the Democrats to the Republican convention. WHEW!

sunflower sideview

The sunflower is itself an almost perfect mandla. The view above is a sideview turned into a mandala of the one of the two sunflowers growing as sentinels by my backdoor. I liked the white highlighting on the green leaves and the bright yellow of the flower.

flowing water

This was taken at the alluvial fan in Rocky Mt. Nat. Park. It is a rushing mountain stream and lots of boulders big and small. I like the feel and texture of the rocks and the solid shapes the make.

stargazerlily

The color burst and the fragerance of the stargazer lily cause this flower to be a favorite of mine. The heat we have been dealing (23 days of above 90) caused them to have a much shorter life span than usual, but long enough to take a picture or two! Plants perked up this past weekend after a downpour of 3".

flowers and grass

The heat continues . . . Staying in where it's cool, is one solution or in the the pool.

the Heat

According to the news, we got to 104 today! with 21 days of over 90. It is darn hot and the fan is blowing directly on me at the moment. Thought I'd do a mandala of a heat tolerant plant, curly yucca. The result reminds me of dragon flies, except there aren't enough legs or wings. Imagine. It is always interesting what shapes appear when the mandala is formed. Hope all are staying cool!

marmot

I had the opportunity to go over Trail Ridge Road on a one-way, uphill dirt road that is only open durning the summer. It was beautiful, like one's own privite wildflower trip. At the top of that road Above timberline, we found this fine marmot sitting on a rock not far from us taking in the scenery. He turned his head to see what we were up to. The patterns the rock made were wonderful.

grasses2

This grass picture was taken in the first light, which made for some nice light and dark areas.
I also liked the arching element that forms in the center. Enjoy.

grasses

I've always been intrigued by grasses waving int the breeze, the rythem of the movement. Since that can't be captured on a still camera - I make mandala out of them. There is a movement in the patterns in the grass mandala - just let yourself feel it. I'll have several grass themed mandala in the next couple of days.

Arnica

Arnica, above, is one of the earlier wildflowers that come up around the cabin. It has a heart shaped leaf, and is used as a homoeopathic pain relief medication. Beyond that it is pretty! In the mandala above, the shapes have mosiac quality which appeals to me.

trees

I love trees. I planted a catalpa tree a couple of years ago. It got a topped by a snow storm at about 3 feet tall, recovered, and for the first time it bloomed this year! The blooms are white and fragrant.

mountains, clouds and trees

Just got back from the mountains again. It is sad to the the red tide riding over the hills. Take pictures while you can. The forests are dying in Colorado. The beatle kill is more evident this year than last and it is even coming towards the hill that the cabin is on.

baby fox

We were on our way over Gore Pass when the car in front of us stopped, when we got up behind him they were watching a family of fox emerge from a culvert near the road. Above is one of the babies looking at us with as much curiosity as we were watching him. I'm glad we still have wild critters!

frost on the dandelion

Don't know if you can see it but the edges of the leaves show a little frost. It was still cold in the evenings in the mountains last week, enough to frost the plants. This is a dandelion, there are lots and lots of them in the roadways and other disturbed land. This one was in the road.

new leaves

It has been a cold spring in the high country, with flowers and berries slow to come out. Last week the leaves on the aspen were just coming out and the willows at the center just look kind of fuzzy, with their new growth just starting. It has been such a slow spring that bears waking up from hibernation found nothing to eat and have had run ins with people in their search for food. It was 90 last weekend and will be 90 again this weekend here in the Denver area and warm in the high country. So maybe we'll see some more plant growth in the mountains in the next couple of weeks.

leaves

Don't forget the leaves they have interesting paterns and shapes. It has finally become summer with the heat that goes with it.

columbine

The architectural quality of the columbine spurs intertwining was a neat happening in this square mandala. Also, the yellow stamens were an explosion of color. A magazine in the doctor's office had an article on 'Miksang' which means 'good eye' in Tibetan. I believe this is how I see and take pictures. I take pictures of what draws my attention. They may not be perfectly composed and the ultimate capture of the subject, but they do indeed reflect what has drawn my attention. There is a web site www.miksang.com which give more information about what they call contemplative photography.

one more gerainum picture

Thought I'd try a tile format this time. I love the yellow of the stamens. I had a columbine open yesterday, it has glorious stamens too. I'm headed to Steamboat Springs this rainy day. We need the moisture but I miss the sun. I have a picture in the Steamboat Artists member Show, with an opening this Friday. If you are in Steamboat stop by the Depot Gallery.

bleeding hearts

The flower of the bleeding heart plant has always fascinated me. The heart shaped flower with the petal drop that represents a drop of blood. I purchased several shade tollerant plants this year since my trees are all pretty mature, casting lots of shade in the back and front yards. There were two branches of bleeding hearts on the plant which created the two layered look of the mandala above.

The picture

Here is the flower from the previous mandala. I liked the funny puffy bottom part of the flower. My wild roses are all in bloom making the front yard fragrant. With all the moisture we got in the mountains this winter I am wondering if it will be a banner year for wild flowers. We are headed up to the mountains this coming weekend.

gerainum

The spring flowers are out! This mandala is looking just under the lip of the flower, looking at the yellow stamens in the middle. Colorado weather has gone from cold to hot overnight. I was sitting out in the sun absorbing some of the heat this afternoon. It felt good. It was so cold in the mountains that it was snowing at the beginning of the Memorial Day Weekend, so we did not go open up the cabin and we are not up there this weekend because of flu like symptoms. I'm sure everything will come together eventually.

Pinecone

Found a big old pine cone and liked the structure I saw from the side view. It made for interesting patterns seeing the layers go from flat to on edge. There was a bit of spider web, too. The flowers are starting to pop so I will be uploading some of them next.

mountain snow

Crazy weather in Colorado! Today a tornado hit some towns north of here. And the record snows in the mountains are causing flooding. We just found out the the road to our cabin is not passable and we usually open up on Memorial Day Weekend. We may not be able to this year. Above is picture of snow covered mountains and clouds.

adifferent kind of flower

A rust flower from an old car body. The weather has been beautiful for the last coouple of days. And I've been working in the garden, planting new things and pulling weeds. It's so nice to be outside in the garden again. The wet weather we've had has greened everything up, the leaves are coming out on all the trees and the lawn is getting long.

moving Dirt

This was the excavation for a new shopping area on the side of a bluff. They were buldozing the dirt in rows which formed the crinulated area in the center of the mandala. I was drawn to the pattern.

Peony and bee

There are lots of tonal variations in this white flower and I liked the squarish blocking in the middle Peonies are a wonderful big flower, I haven't had much luck growing them myself but he Botanic Gardens has a wonderful collection. I was down there yesterday at their annual plant sale. There is always some new plant to try.

Street Scene

More quilt like patterns along the edges. Man-made structures have a different feel than the organic shapes of flowers and plants. We have snow for the first day of May, so full blown spring is still in our imagination! Good moisture, which we need.