A Quotation for Saturday

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is a society where none intrudes,
By the deep Sea and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or all I have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot conceal." Lord Byron, George Gordon

(The first photo was taken up here by me, the second was taken by my friend Kathleen's daughter-in-law Cindy on a trip to Oregon in June of 2012).

Faeries Friday - Nerida

This is Nerida, who perches on a shelf outside my studio's largest window. I found Nerida waiting to be adopted by me in a little shop in Coos Bay, Oregon. I spotted her in the shop window and immediately went inside and asked her if she wanted to live in the mountains of California with me. She said "Sure, as long as I can take my book with me!" I assured her she could, and I told her I even had many more books that she could borrow. She lives inside my studio in the winter, as do all my garden faeries. None of them are dressed for winter weather!
If you look closely, you can see the Cape Arago lighthouse in the distance. People in Oregon are supposed to be notoriously hateful of Californians, but we didn't encounter any of that attitude at all.


Anyway, Nerida has been happily reading in my garden for years now. I have several other Faeries that also like to read (they will make their appearance in later posts). I think they've formed a book club! I'm always finding books left in the garden (they seem to be partial to murder mysteries, gardening books and, of course, Faerie tales), and the Faeries never seem to be exactly where I left them...