Winter Scenes

Nearly all of the photographs on this blog are taken by Karen Garofalo.
A bee enjoys some tasty Tuscan Rosemary blossoms.
Photos from 2013-2016

A lizard crawls over some Chickweed.

"Which is better off, a lizard basking in the sun or a philosopher?"
-  Ursula K. Le Guin, Changing Planes

Acacia tree in bloom.

Minature horses grazing in green pastures, an almond orchard in white bloom, and a dusting of snow on the Yolly Bolly mountains to the west.  Karen and I enjoyed this dramatic February view from our backyard from 1998-2016.  

The McCloud River near where it flows into Shasta Lake.

Karen enjoys the McCloud River scenery.

The Spirit of Gardening

Travels in Northern California

July

Repost from July 2024:

We will  have hot weather today - over 93F (34C). This high temperature is infrequent in Vancouver, Washington. 

We did all our watering chores and gardening projects early in the morning.  Then, we rested in the shade in the afternoon and read, listened to music, and napped.

Listening to Adam Hurst on cello Obscura, and 2 albums by the chromatic harmonica virtuoso, Gianluca Littera.

Even a squirrel was lounging below the wisteria vine.

I set down pavers in the area below the back bedroom shower. It is a paved area, part of the back porch, and under total shade of the wisteria vines.

Karen worked in the vegetable garden and on potting various plants.

  

The Spirit of Gardening Website

Sunshine and Shadows - Quotations

"The eastern light our spires touch at morning,
The light that slants upon our western doors at evening,
The twilight over stagnant pools at batflight,
Moon light and star light, owl and moth light,
Glow-worm glowlight on a grassblade.
O Light Invisible, we worship Thee!"
-  T.S. Eliot

"Darkness is to space what silence is to sound, i.e., the interval."
-  Marshall McLuhan, Through the Vanishing Point

"What ideal, immutable Platonic cloud could equal the beauty and perfection of any ordinary everyday cloud floating over, say, Tuba City, Arizona, on a hot day in June?"
-  Edward Abbey 

Autumn Garden Mosaic

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting
and autumn a mosaic of them all."
-   Stanley Horowitz

"There is a harmony
In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,
Which through the summer is not heard or seen,
As if it could not be, as if it had not been!"
-   Percy Bysshe Shelley  

"The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly
changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools."
-   Henry Beston, Northern Farm

Autumn- Quotes, Sayings, Lore

November - Quotes, Sayings, Lore  

39F degrees this morning, clear, blue skies, needing rain and snow.  Too cold for me to walk early in the morning, I wait till about 10 am to do so.  I've been fighting a chest cold, so I take extra care to stay warm and not over exert myself.  

We have been improving our winter vegetable garden.  We set up a cold frame on Friday and moved the frost tender plants inside. 

Here are a few photos that Karen took in our back yard.

 

Fecund, Powerful Beyond Measure

"Ask of Her, the mighty Mother.
Her reply puts this other
Question: What is Spring?-
Growth in every thing -

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,
Grass and green world all together,
Star-eyed strawberry breasted
Throstle above Her nested

Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin
Forms and warms the life within,
And bird and blossom swell
In sod or sheath or shell."
-  Gerard Manly Hopkins, The May Magnificant, 1888 

"The festival of Floralia began around the year 258 BCE. Pagan Romans celebrated for six days, from April 27th to May 3rd, honouring their Goddess of Spring and of Flowers, Flora. Flora, known as Chloris to the Greeks, was a beautiful and serene Goddess, the Queen of Spring. She was married to Zephyrus, the west wind, and her temple is in Aventine.  Floralia was a time a great merriment and rejoicing in ancient Rome. During the festival, Romans would cast off their habitual white robes for more colourful garments, especially green ones. They would also deck themselves and everything around them in flowers then engage in all sorts of activities. There would be feasting, singing, dancing, and gaming. Offerings of milk and honey were made to the goddess Flora. Goats and hares meant to symbolize fertility were let loose in gardens and fields as protectors in Flora's honour. Singing filled the air and dancers stomped the ground to awaken nature and bring it back to life.  Ancient roman prostitutes in particular enjoyed this festival as they considered Flora their patron goddess. So Floralia was especially important to them. They participated in many events, from performing naked in the theatre to gladiatorial feats.  With the occupation of Rome in many countries of the western world at the time, especially in Britain and continental Europe, the festival of Floralia spread, with each country adding its own special touches to the festivities. And finally, Floralia became May Day. Many countries choose a May Queen to preside over the day's activities and children dance around the Maypole. Some collect flowers on May Eve for the next day and some couples even make love in their garden to ensure fertility. One belief that has been passed on is that one should wash one's face with the dew from May Day morn to obtain lasting beauty."
-  Linda Cassleman, Floralia  

The Month of May: Quotes, Saying, Poetry, Lore

"The force of Spring -
dancing,
forever moving,
mysterious,
fecund,
powerful beyond measure."
-  Michael Garofalo, Cuttings

Repost from 2016.

November Garden Planning

Every year, from 1998-2017, in November, Karen and I would talk about what fruit and nut trees, shrubs, and ornamental trees we were going to plant that winter.  We would purchase bare root tree stock in December and January, and plant in our orchard.  We would also place potted plants in the ground in the winter season.  

We purchased most of our plants at nearby Kathy Goodin's Rock Garden Nursery near Flores Road and Highway 99W.  The photograph below was taken in late winter in part of our orchard in Red Bluff, California.  We both enjoyed this creative garden work.  I miss our five acre gardening playground.  

The Smell of Spring

"Scents bring memories, and many memories bring nostalgic pleasure. We would be wise to plan for this when we plant a garden."
- Thalassa Cruso, To Everything There is a Season, 1973

"The act of smelling something, anything, is remarkably like the act of thinking. Immediately at the moment of perception, you can feel the mind going to work, sending the odor around from place to place, setting off complex repertories through the brain, polling one center after another for signs of recognition, for old memories and old connection. "
- Lewis Thomas

"Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains; another, a moonlit beach; a third, a family dinner of pot roast and sweet potatoes during a myrtle-mad August in a Midwestern town. Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines hidden under the weedy mass of years. Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth."
- Diane Ackerman

Rhododendron's are especially prevalent in our new home town of Vancouver, Washington.  I would not call the Rhododendron plants that I have seen as having a strong fragrance, but mostly pleasing.  

Property for Sale in Red Bluff, California

Karen retired in June of 2014.  I retired in June of 2016.

Karen and I have decided to sell our home in Red Bluff and move to Vancouver, Washington.  

This is well maintained 1909 square foot house, with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a large office area, and large screened back porch.  There are extensive gardens, beautiful landscaping, an orchard, and 5 acres of land.  There are two 125' wells and 2 ponds on the property.   

Here is a detailed webpage on this house and property.Here is the current Zillow listing.

Reflections of Autumn Green

Backyard Bounties

Sitting in a Sacred Circle

I've put together a webpage on the subject of Sacred Circles.

This webpage provides links, bibliographic citations, resources, quotations, notes, and comments on medicine wheels, henges, labyrinths, neopagan sacred circles, holy circles, the symbolism and myths about circles and spheres, sacred circle gardens, the four elements, and related topics.

This webpage includes information and photographs of our sacred circle garden at our home in Red Bluff, California.

Those folks who walk the circle in labyrinths, walking meditation or baguazhang might find some of the information in sacred circles to be of interest to them.

Here are a few pictures from our sacred circle garden.  They were all taken a few years ago.  Everything is the same today, except all the trees and shrubs are larger.  

March - The Master of Winds

"I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."
-  William Wordsworth, Daffodils


"Ere frost-flower and snow-blossom faded and fell,
       and the splendor of winter had passed out of sight,
The ways of the woodlands were fairer and stranger
       than dreams that fulfill us in sleep with delight;
The breath of the mouths of the winds had hardened on tree-tops
       and branches that glittered and swayed
Such wonders and glories of blossom like snow
       or of frost that outlightens all flowers till it fade
That the sea was not lovelier than here was the land,
       nor the night than the day, nor the day than the night,
Nor the winter sublimer with storm than the spring:
       such mirth had the madness and might in thee made,
March, master of winds, bright minstrel and marshal of storms
        that enkindle the season they smite."
-  Algernon C. Swinburne, March: An Ode


March: Quotations, Poems, Sayings, Lore

The Spirit of Gardening

A Beaver in Our Back Yard

We have lived in a rural area in the North Sacramento Valley since 1998.  Our home is on a five acre parcel of land.  There are two small ponds on our property that attract many species of wildlife.  

Over the years, we have observed numerous wild mammals on our property: bats, coyotes, ferral cats, foxes, gophers, mice, moles, possums, raccoons, rats, and skunks.  

This week, our next door neighbor, Debbie, called us and said that a beaver was in her back yard.  There is a large pond west of Debbie's home and property. 

Yes, a beaver!!  Very curious.  Very unusual.  Pictured below.  

Mrs. Murphy, who lives 120 yards east of us, told us that beavers lived in her large pond a few years back.  

Beavers

The Spirit of Gardening

Animals

Animals around our Home and Gardens

Flee Into Concealment

"Rather, go away, Flee into concealment. And have your masks and subtlety, that you may be mistaken for what you are not, or feared a little. And don't forget the garden, the garden with golden trelliswork. And have people around you who are as a garden──or as music on the waters in the evening, when the day is turning into memories. Choose the good solitude, the free, playful, light solitude that gives you, too, the right to remain good in some sense."
- Frederick Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, #25, 1886

"Solitude, though it may be silent as light, is like light, the mightiest of agencies; for solitude is essential to man. All men come into this world alone and leave it alone."
- Thomas De Quincey 

"Seek silence.
Gladden in silence.
Adore silence.

As one progresses on the path, one seeks silence more and more.
It will be a great comfort, a tremendous source of solace and peace.

Once you find deep solitude and calm, there will be a great gladness in your heart.
Here finally is the place where you need neither defense nor offense -- the place where you can truly be open.
There will be bliss, wonder, the awe of attaining something pure and sacred.

After that, you will feel adoration of silence.
This is the peace that seems to elude so many.
This is the beauty of Tao."
- Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao Daily Meditations 

Solitude: Quotations, Sayings, Poems

Long Fence Line

Looking north from our home, at the circled end of the Kilkenny Lane cul-de-sac.  The smell of eucalyptus trees is potent and unique.  There are many eucalyptus trees on my property.  The fence line separates Debbie's property to the left (west) of the fence, and Ruth's property to the right (east) of the fence; and Slade's property is to the north of Debbie and Ruth's property.  Everything is fenced.  Cattle are raised on Slade's property. 

 

Sitting Still

"The first level of stillness is about being with yourself in order to know yourself. This is accomplished by being wide awake and aware as you deliberately relax into yourself. The idea is to consciously enter into a state wherein you temporarily suspend everything you think you know about who you are, including anything you have ever been taught, and simply be attentive to what's going on right there where you are. You practice being quiet, both physically and mentally, as you pay attention to the sensations in your body, the various thoughts in your mind, and your current experience of being conscious and alive. You practice simple body-mind awareness, being conscious of the moment you are now in, and thereby experience with clarity the energy of you. You consciously experience yourself as you actually are. In this way you open yourself to a new, truer, less distorted experience of you and the world."
- Erich Schiffmann, Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness, 1996, p. 7. 


"Sit quietly
focus and forget
rest with the great achievement.
The ancient child asks
"what is the great achievement?"
It is beyond description in any language
it can only be felt intuitively
it can only be expressed intuitively. 
Engage a loose, alert, and aware
body, mind, and sound
then look into the formless
and perceive no thing.
See yourself as a sphere
small at first
growing to encompass
the vastness of infinite space. 
Sit quietly
focus and forget then
in a state of ease and rest
secure the truth of the great achievement.
Employing the truth will not exhaust its power
when it seems exhausted it is really abundant
and while human art will die at the hands of utility
the great achievement is beyond being useful.
Great straightness is curved and crooked
great intelligence is raw and silly
great words are simple and naturally awkward. 
Engaged movement drives out the frozen cold
mindful stillness subdues the frenzied heart.
Sit quietly
focusing
forgetting
summon order from the void
that guides the ordering of the universe."
-  Tao Te Ching, Chapter 45, Translated by John Bright-Fey, 2006

"There are many matters and many circumstances in which consciousness is undesirable and silence is golden, so that secrecy can be used as a marker to tell us that we are approaching the holy."
-  Gregory Bateson, Angels Fear


"You are sitting on the earth and you realize that this earth deserves you and you deserve this earth.  You are there - fully, personally, genuinely."
-  Chogyam Trungpa

"Teach us to care and not to care.
Teach us to sit still."
-  T.S. Eliot

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices
Standing Meditation


Quiet in the Garden


Sitting in the Garden 


HOWEVER, 

"If you cannot find stillness while sitting still, then find stillness while gardening."
-  Mike Garofalo, Pulling Onions
... or walking, doing Taijiquan, or reading ... 

 

Family Visit

This post covers the time period from Friday June 26th until Monday, July 13th, 2015, in Red Bluff, California.

Our two children, Alicia and Mick, their spouses, and our two grandchildren have visited Karen and I in Red Bluff during the period of time described above.

Alicia, Katelyn, and Makenna visited us from 6/27 to 7/1.  Then, they headed off as tourists and visiting with old friends in Southern California, including some at Palm Springs, Orange County, and some at Ventura and Santa Clara along the coast. 

Mick and April visited us from 7/3-7/9.  April and Mick attended numerous wedding events in Corning on the 4th of July weekend. 

Alicia, Sean, Katelyn, and Makenna visited us from 7/10 to 7/13.  Katelyn turns 9 in July, and we celebrated her birthday twice.   

We have enjoyed ourselves and kept ourselves very busy.  Yesterday, 6/12, for example we all went up to Brandy Creek Beach on the south side of Whiskeytown Lake.  It was an overcast day with temperatures in the 80's.  Lovely green forested mountains on all sides. 

I've watched some of the Tour de France nearly every day on DVD delay. 

Resting my shoulder.  No back porch work.  Sleeping soundly. 

Sacred Circle Gardens

"Myths serve four purposes: 
To awaken wonder by bringing us back in touch with the child within. 
To fill all corners or niches of an image with the Mystery.
To validate social order.
To teach us how to conduct ourselves during the stages of our lives."
-  Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God: Creative Mythology   

Sacred Circles: Bibliography, Links, Quotations, Resources

Valley Spirit Sacred Circle Garden in Red Bluff, California


Divine Incantations to the Protective Gods of the Five Directions
From Wushang Biyao (Secret Essentials of the Most High)
Translated by Livia Kohn, "The Taoist Experience: An Anthology," 1993, pp.112-115
The Wushang Biyao is a Taoist encyclopedia commissioned by Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou in 574 CE.  

Oh, Great God of the East!
Bright Star of the Ninefold Energy of Azure Heaven!
You brilliantly illuminate the Eastern Regions,
Penetratingly shine through the Nine Gates,
In your revolutions, glittering with the brightness of Pure Yang! 
Oh, come and cleanse out all filth, do away with all evil vapors!
Open the light for your divine lads
To come and protect me and my house!
Restrain the demons and tie up all nasty specters! 
As I rise to face the imperial lords above. 
May I reverently follow the rightful Tao,
As set forth in the Red Writings and Jade Scriptures,
The talismans and instructions of the Nine High Heavens! 
May I hitch up the dragons and get ready to rise,
Rise up to the peaceful abode of Heaven,
And soon be a flying immortal! 

Oh, Fiery Star of the South! 
Floating Brilliance of the Threefold Energy of Cinnabar Heaven!
In your revolutions, you shine forth and illumine all with Highest Yang! 
Above you are the power of Red Essence! 
Oh, open the light for your divine lads,
Marshall your host of fiery soldiers,
To come and protect my three palaces within! 
Behead all obnoxious powers and tie up all nasty specters,
Cut the King of Illusion into little pieces
And all that obeys the Dark Lord of the North. 
May all the winds and fires in the eight directions
Blow and shine together, blending in a blaze!
How dare anyone not obey
The rightful Tao in its progression? 
May I enjoy the highest merit,
Be preserved by Heaven forever and ever,
Through a million kalpas without end! 

Oh, Great Whiteness of the West!
Floating Essence of the Sevenfold Energy of the Heavens!
Your radiance shines forth through the Golden Gateway,
Penetrates with brightness even the deepest dark -
The Pure Star in your midst,
Known as the Emperor of all Numen.
Oh, guard my spirits and secure my house,
Protect my body from all harm!
Oh, destroy the source of all obnoxious powers!
Let the Way of the King be upright and enlightened,
And all the halls and residences clear and dignified.
May the Three Luminaries join their radiance.
And the Tao harmonize with the spontaneous flow of all!
With the talismans and instructions of Numinous Treasure!
May my goodwill spread over the myriad living beings!
May my merit aid them all -
And Heaven and Earth be greatly now at peace!

Oh, Thunderous Star of the North!
Active Power of the Fivefold Energy of Dark Heaven!
You splendid brilliance reaches even into Great Abstrusity!
Oh, Venerable God of Black Numen!
Flying darkness in feathery garb!
Oh, come and protect all my five gateways,
Assemble the good essence and apprehend the bad!
Humbly, I dare put forward this request:
Expel and scatter, destroy and behead all evils,
As the jade talismans command!

Oh, Spiritual Perfected of Eightfold Majesty!
Seal off my gates of viciousness and all hindering obstructions,
Let me be open to the brightness of the Tao!
Shine and sparkle through my body
Like the Three Luminaries shining forth together!
May I steer the empty air and stride upon the winds,
Lift up my body into the flight of the immortals!
Oh, Protector Star of the Center!
Mysterious Perfected and Powerful Ruler
 
Of the Unified Energy of the Yellow Middle!
You spread brilliance and flowing brightness. 
Oh, open the light for your divine lads,
Twelve in number,
For your primordial energy, clear essence of yang.
And let it float aloft in wafts of vermillion mist.

Oh, let your light pervade my residence,
Reach as far as into my very own body!
Drive out and destroy the hundred obnoxious forces,
Kill all the demons, however many millions!
May this divine incantation to the Mountain of the Center
Penetrate to Heaven and give me protection!
May the five sacred animals be securely on guard
To let me fly up and ascend to the immortals!"  
-   Translated by Livia Kohn, "The Taoist Experience: An Anthology," 1993, pp.112-115  


Sacred Circles: Bibliography, Links, Quotations, Resources

Valley Spirit Sacred Circle Garden in Red Bluff, California

 

 Our Sacred Circle Garden in 2010 in Red Bluff, California