Walking through Palm Desert’s surrounding landscape was like visiting a sculpture garden. The forms and textures were powerful and fascinating. The almost monochromatic palette was never boring and its understated beauty appealed to me.
I shot most of the images mid day so the shadows are subtle and the contrasts soft.
The last image is a cactus in a landscape near where I was staying that I shot in the early evening and this time the low light defined the details and enriched the color.
The desert is reluctant to share her beauty, but careful and patient observation reveals perfectly designed intricacies that are stunning.
Last week I was in Palm Desert, California and the weather was divinely warm and tropical. This was a lovely contrast to my Oregon spring weather of wind and rain and chill.
The downtown shopping area in Palm Desert was nicely designed and the landscaping was spare and elegant with desert flora starring in contemporary garden structures.
I love the blooms of spring and I love to bring the springtime inside with bouquets of these early blooms.
These branches of white blossoms are from wild plum trees that grow along the Willamette River; lovely souvenirs from my after lunch walk.
Cut branches of Japanese quince, Forsythia or other spring flowering bushes and trees may be brought inside for forced blooming in January and February. At this late date the buds burst into delicate blooms in just a few days.
The branches in my living room are white Japanese quince from the back yard. This is a yearly tradition for me and I am always in awe of the Asian flavor of this dramatic arrangement that brings early springtime into my home and my heart.
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Arriving in Paris for the first time in my life on December 27, 2013, I found it to be breathtaking and big and crowded and moving fast.
I couldn’t wait to settle in at our hotel and begin a walking tour of the neighborhood. I was charmed immediately by the florist shops, groceries, seafood markets and more all spilling out the doors and filling the granite sidewalks with their offerings.
Many of these shops were very small and filled to the brim inside and out with the freshest, most beautifully arranged goods. The arrangements were simple and oh soooo elegant. I love the French aesthetic of understated and ordered beauty.
Above these shops were five to eight stories of apartments built of granite and limestone with wrought iron railings and balconies. These timeless stone structures were crowned with slate-tiled mansard roofs.
The narrow streets of fan-patterned cobblestones soon gave way to the larger boulevards frenetic with movement from the cars and sidewalks of pedestrians. These streets were also lined with mostly small shops with the typical Parisian apartments above.
As we traveled the Metro to some of the great churches, museums and government buildings, the streets of Paris revealed more and more extravagant architectural riches. I saw more than I could take in; Paris seemed unending in its size and extravagance!
8 April 2014
