A Favorite Autumn Tree

 

The Chinese Pistache (Pistacia chinensis) is one of my favorite trees due to the brilliant colors of its leaves in autumn. While the Chinese Pistache is not a native tree - it is native to central and western China - it is almost perfect for the rather temperate conditions here in the North Bay. It isn't picky about the soil, is hardy and also very drought tolerant. Deer leave it alone while birds love to flit in it. It is often used as a street tree and many of them are found in my neighborhood.

13 years ago I planted a young Chinese Pistache in my front yard. Since I didn't do the greatest job planting it, it is a bit crooked - and you know, I love crooked trees. Here it is seen from our upstairs bathroom window.

It still needs a lot of time to grow into such a majestic tree like the one in the next photo, probably the most beautiful tree in our street.

It always looks as if there are two Chinese Pistaches in the image, but the thick tree trunk you can see behind the "speed limit 25" sign belongs to an old oak.

I love to stop under the tree and look up. Recently I spotted a Cooper's Hawk in this tree who wanted to catch a squirrel. That squirrel was running up and down the branches and really taunting the hawk, until the bird finally had enough and flew away.

The colors of the leaves are particularly brilliant when backlit.

I am drawn to the shape of this Chinese Pistache. They must have cut off the branch to the right because it was probably hanging too low in the neighbor's driveway.

They are wonderful shade trees. I wish I had a big one in my backyard instead of the Privet that was planted probably when the house was built.

Look at this foliage - isn't it fiery?

Another perfectly shaped tree that I often pass on my after-lunch walks.

I'm not sure that these trees count for Nicole's Friday Face Off. So I better come up with a "real" face. I was digging in my archives because I remembered that Kaefer went as "autumn" at Halloween during her high school sophomore year. She had made her costume herself - lots of gluing those leaves was involved and I had to tie her in (the leaves close in the back crosswise with some strong ribbon). She always loved to make her own Halloween costumes and match her hair to it.

I again apologize for not being around much. The shop is busy and I can hardly catch up. It probably will be like this until about two weeks or so before Christmas.

Faces of Sunflowers

 

Years ago I planted a Swamp Sunflower or Narrowleaf Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius) in my side garden that faces the cross street. The name already says it - it is for damp gardens. As you know, I have a dominantly California natives garden that is also a dry or at least low water garden. So this plant doesn't really fit in. I planted it when I still wasn't quite sure where I was going with my garden.

Despite its name, it started to thrive on total neglect and hardly any summer water.

This particular sunflower blooms very late - here in my corner it displays its gorgeous yellow flowers at the end of September / beginning of October. It is such a happy sight in a fading autumn garden. When I saw how it was glowing in the evening sun, I snapped a few photos just to capture the light.

Happy faces for Nicole's Friday Face Off

The flowers don't keep particularly long, because just like clockwork a late heat wave finds us in October and the bloom is over quickly. Every year. This year the heat wave arrived a bit later, so we were able to enjoy the flowers a little bit longer than usual.

The tiny flowers on long stalks in front of the Swamp Sunflower is Naked Buckwheat (Eriogonum nudum), a California native and a favorite of mine.

A Few Art Journal Pages

As mentioned before, I haven't done anything even faintly related to art. So for Nicole's Sunday in the Art Room I have three older art journal pages to show.

I had covered the two pages with various acrylic inks and then stenciled the flock of birds (Stencil Girl) on top of it . After that I got stuck and left the pages sitting on my worktable for a few days. I had the idea of a "popping flower" in my head, so I penciled a rough flower shape and and covered the rest of the pages with white gesso. The hummingbirds, butterflies and snail were cut from an old Annie's Annuals catalog and glued down. As a finishing touch I added the Drops and Swirls stencil (Stencil Girl). The page turned out quite different from what I had envisioned and of the three shown here it is my least favorite.

This double page started out with leftover paint that I had spread out. It stayed like that for a long time until I added the squares with different leftover paint. Again I didn't know where this would go to until I added some of the dangles of the Swag Borders and Dangles stencil (Stencil Girl). At last I stenciled the Seedhead Silhouettes (Stencil Girl) on top, one of my favorite stencils in my collection. After that I called it done.

This third page spread is my favorite. I had sprayed various Dylusions ink sprays in order to see what they look like. Needless to say, after that the page was sitting for a while until finally inspiration struck again. I had just received a couple of stencils from Stencil Girl (yes, I really like their stencils) - Flock, Queen Anne's Lace and Milk Thistle - and wanted to try them out. I stenciled them on with white acrylic paint. This "try-it-out" page turned out beautifully, at least in my opinion.

Hiking the West Highland Way

 

At the end of August/beginning of September Kaefer took a solo hike along the West Highland Way in the Scottish Highlands. The West Highland Way (WHW) is a 96 miles (154 km) long walking route from Milngavie to Fort William. Milngavie is north of Glasgow and Fort William is in the Scottish Highlands at the foot of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles.

In the morning she had taken the earliest Eurostar from Brussels to London from where she took the train to Glasgow. Last purchases were made there and then she took the bus to Milngavie where she started her hike in the later part of the afternoon. Around 5:45 pm a Scot, walking toward her, looked at his watch and said "the pubs in Fort William are closing soon". Classic...

For the first night she had booked a room because she had expected to arrive late and didn't want to pitch her small tent in the dark. It was a good decision since this was a very long day. 

The next day, along Loch Lomond, was a mixed bag regarding the weather.

But it was lovely when she arrived at her campsite, after having hiked more than 32 km (19.8 miles).

Every morning she got up real early and that morning she was rewarded with a beautiful view of the very still lake.

Loch Lomond is the largest fresh water lake in Great Britain and the WHW follows its eastern shore which extends roughly 24 miles (39 km). She sent us many beautiful photos of this section.

That evening she did some "wild camping" which is allowed on the WHW. It was too far to the nearest established campsites. She had hiked about 23 km (14.3 miles) that day. She had found a beautiful spot right on the shore.

Unfortunately, the weather got worse. She told me that after the second night, which was rainy, her tent never comletely dried - and that, of course, made her backpack even heavier. This reminds me of our camping trip through Alaska more than 20 years ago when our tent seemed to be constantly wet.

But Kaefer kept her smile.

While she didn't meet many other hikers during the day - everybody was more or less hiking in the same direction, South to North - she did meet other living beings.

What would the Scottish Highlands be without highland cows?

Or without heather?

Despite the rain, every now and then the sun peeked through and Kaefer shot some atmospheric photos.

 

One hiker who was passing her was kind enough to take a photo of her at Devil's Staircase.

The view from Devil's Staircase. It sure is a lonely area.

Every now and then there were rocks put in the path in order to cross creeks.

On the last leg - another 24 km - the weather turned to the better...

... only to turn cloudy again near Ben Nevis.

Finally, on the seventh day - the end of the way!

She sure looks happy and can be very proud of this accomplishment. I sure am proud of her.

That evening's dinner was well deserved!

All photos are by Kaefer and her face joins Nicole's Friday Face Off today.