November in Marin

My Calendar Book for 2015 is almost done!

Here are my November Pages.

Each autumn the residents make some scarecrows for our Organic Garden.

Here are this year's creations.

We have had several King Tides this month. 

Our marsh becomes a lake and the walking path is under water. 

There are plans to raise it 3 feet when 

the Revitalization is finally complete next year.

 A  very special lunch for a dear friend.

Earlier this month, we celebrated our 97 year old friend, Pat Q. who was moving into a retirement center in Santa Rosa. She has driven herself to Larkspur from Novato every Friday morning for 35 years! A pretty amazing, sharp as a tack elder with a lot of wisdom and grace....

I was thrilled to have this photo of 4 dear friends 

that have been actively in my life for over 25 years.

Thanksgiving Day, Kate and I went to Muir Beach to hike and draw in our journals. It was very cold and windy. We made it for about 1/2 hour and then decided to go back to my nest to finish our pages.  

Kate prepared us a delicious plant based Thanksgiving Feast... we had a wonderful day together. Our pages are below. Kate's is the 2 page spread.

Porter treated me to a day at the Kenwood Inn and Spa. 

It was so great to have an entire day to visit, be pampered and totally relaxed. 

On our way home the Autumn colors in the vineyards 

and the Chinese Pistachio trees were spectacular. 

I love painting leaves and thus some of my pages below.

Here I am like a "wet noodle" after my massage at Kenwood Inn & Spa.

Some leaves from Kenwood

This painting became my Thanksgiving Card.

I loved the combination of these colors. 

It is hard to take a walk with out coming home 

with at least one leaf treasure.

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Tomorrow is December. 

This has been a lovely month of sunny days and amazing afternoon light.

September Summer Days

We had a very warm September this year... 

with lots of days being just too hot for me.

 Mill Valley's "natural air conditioning", ie fog was not happening.

My calendar pages feature quite a few hot suns that are showing the heat. 

Construction continues at The Redwoods. 

There are new "pours" and a huge crane 

put some kitchen equipment into place this month.

We all eagerly await the completion of the kitchen so folks can move out eating in the auditorium back into the new dining room.  

These "temporary" trailers, out of which our heroic staff has been cooking, 

will have been in our front lot for 2 years come November!

The new chairs wait patiently in their boxes for this great event.

We celebrated Kate's birthday in Tiburon. 

Five Merriman women together 

created a fun and celebratory event. 

Jan came up from Southern CA to be part of the lunch bunch..

Elizabeth, Jan, Porter, Elsabet and the birthday girl, Kate.

Our watercolor journal group met at Falkirk in San Rafael on two Tuesdays. 

As you can see, I revisited similar subjects 

trying to make sense of challenging architecture to draw. 

I also am taking some online art classes from Craftsy.com. 

They have been on sale so the price is right to play around with new techniques. This one was taught by Steve Reddy. 

You put in the shadows with light, medium and dark washes of India Ink. 

Then, last of all, you add color. 

It was an interesting way to create values. 

One has to really "look" to see the darks and lights.

Ready for the watercolor.

My set up for this class.

My finished page with my chop and punches of bright color.

The chop says, "Elizabeth's Art". At least, I think so?

Speaking of color, I could not resist taking photos of this 

wonderful box of yarn for needlepoint. 

I can just imagine dipping my brushing into these hues!

I was so happy to see my dear Jacksonville friend, Shirley Blaul and Iggy, too.

We spent hours chatting and catching up with one another. 

This Valentine Rose painting was one I did when 

we spent a week together in her unit at Sun River. 

I have so many happy memories of our times there together.

The extreme heat has broken and for that I am very grateful. 

Bring on Fall, the wonderful light and the autumn colors! 

I am ready.

JUNE ... Summer is here.

Summer is here and I love the longer days. Mill Valley summers generally start with a foggy morning and then the sun comes out some time in the afternoon. I love our automatic air conditioning as heat and I don't get along too well.

This is how it looks on a sunnier morning. Just a wisp of fog lingers over Mt. Tamalpais.

HERE are my calendar pages for the month.

Lots of change for my daughter, Porter. She is selling her home in San Rafael and has moved to a wonderful cottage right on the water in Tiburon. It is so peaceful and quiet. If I lived there, I would just look out the window all day. Grace, her au pair, returned to Germany so I was able to buy her MINI Cooper and sell my Honda Fit. So new cars and new homes are the theme for the month.

Elsa finished first grade with flying colors. Not only did she do well academically, but she also received the Principal's award. It is given to one girl in each grade level for best exemplifying the St. Hilary School's values. Porter is doing such a great job with parenting Elsa and it shows!

I reconnected with my Kappa Alpha Theta Alum group in Marin. I had not been to an event since 2000.  They were a very welcoming group.  We enjoyed lunch in a gorgeous garden. Here I am with an old friend, Nancy Coder. And I have to throw in some hydrangeas, too. They were so beautiful.

Last, but not least, here are a few journal pages for you to see.

This is Montgomery Chapel on the campus of the San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo. Our Watercolor Journal Group sat and painted it one Tuesday morning. It was quite a challenge for many of us.

The other Tuesday, we met in a local park. I did some vignettes of the area.

This Joseph's Coat rose is growing on our garden fence. I love the colors.

The Merry Month of May

May was a month of cold, damp foggy mornings and then when the sun came out in the late afternoon, the wind kicked up a notch. Not my favorite weather conditions! May started with my trip to Jacksonville which was wonderful and ended with the end of the school year activities in Marin.

Here are my calendar pages for the month.

Journal Pages

Sketchbook Skool has kept me going in my watercolor journal. It finished up this week so I will have to motivate myself to do a page each day. I really enjoy creating a page. I find it very restful and meditative. I have artist friends all over the world now, thanks to online classes. We keep in touch through our Facebook pages. 

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A highlight of the month was my first Giants' game in the ATT Ball Park. It was a glorious day, so much fun. Kate was a great hostess and tour director. This was my Christmas, Birthday, Mother's Day Gift and it was well worth the wait.

Porter and I are treated to a Birthday Picnic.

I had so much fun... Kate made my day!

Each month our Watercolor Journal Group goes to one of John Muir Law's Nature Journal Workshops. Here he is starting his class on How To  Draw Wildflowers.

The month ended with a Memorial Day Parade down the main drag of Mill Valley.

It is very low key and very small town.

This is a truck full of senior drummers from The Redwoods.