I was born and raised in a tiny Northern California coastal town and moved to Austria, Europe, in 2001 to be with the man I love. This country, with it's four beautiful seasons and luscious fairytale-like nature, is what inspires me most. I take daily walks through the woods and fields, looking for toadstools, fallen nests, and acorns, or trudging through snowdrifts, along with my two canine companions, Kiki and Boston, and my three year old son Rafael.
I'm a mother, homemaker, and artist, and the author of a little children's book.
I also publish my nature photographs and observations on a blog called The Phenologist.
Among other things, I share recipes, wild herbs and plants I've found, contemplations and musings, watercolor paintings, hopes, seasonal nature tables, inspirational quotes, and memories.
This blog's title is borrowed from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem 'Frost at Midnight,' whose final lines read:
Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee,
Whether summer clothe the general earth
With greeness, or the redbreast sit and sing
Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch
Of mossy apple-tree, while the nigh thatch
Smokes in the sun-thaw; whether the eave-drops fall
Heard only in the trances of the blast,
Or if the secret ministry of frost
Shall hang them up in silent icicles,
Quietly shining to the quiet Moon.
I chose this title not only because I find it is a beautiful thing to wish for someone, but because it is what I strive every day to instill within myself: a wonder and curiosity for the magic and beauty of nature; an appreciation for every kind of weather, and every season.
Thank you so much for visiting...I hope you find something here which speaks to your heart.
