A Favorite Place for Inspiration

One of my favorite things to do is sit in our backyard and watch and listen to nature.

These days we have robins, cardinals, chickadees, yellow finches, and house finches hanging around, along with a few types of butterflies, cabbage whites, sulphurs, monarchs and swallowtails passing through.

We also have lots of chipmunks, squirrels and rabbits digging, gathering and munching.

I have a few favorite places I like to go for inspiration, including the botanical gardens, the farmers market, the lake and beach, and hiking trails, but I am lucky to have such a fabulous backyard sanctuary to relax and soak up some fresh air and fresh inspiration.

I also like to collect things along the way to save for experimenting in my sketchbook. Here’s an example of a few things I picked up over the weekend that I put together in my sketchbook:

If you’re feeling stressed or running low on fresh ideas, do you have a favorite place (or two) you like to go to relax and be inspired?

Thanks for stopping by!

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Weekending Makes Me Happy

I don’t have much to report today.We just spent a relaxing weekend with our out-of-town guests.

We made it to the farmers market on Saturday morning. I was surprised there wasn’t more produce, but there were lots of flowers. I heard strawberries will be available next weekend.

We also made it to the student union on campus. It’s such a great outdoor patio on the lake to people-watch and have beverages.

We spent a lot of time hanging out on our backyard patio.

We were surrounded by the next round of flowers in bloom for the season. Our rose bush exploded with flowers over the weekend.

Our peonies burst open too.

We planted new peonies a couple years ago, but it has taken awhile for them to get used to their new environment. This is the first year they have bloomed, and it’s so nice to know we have these lovely pastel pink peonies.

I found this cool caterpillar hiding out in the grass!

We always have a great time hanging out with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. (They are the family we visit when we travel to NYC.)

I have at least three patchwork projects going on my sewing table, so I hope to be back in a day or two with some productive results to share. Hope you enjoyed your weekending too!

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