Kaaren Poole

Most of my life I worked on my art as family and my career allowed.  Now that I am retired from a rewarding career in IT I am blessed to be able to work on my art, and now also my writing, for three or so hours every day.

I live on ten beautiful acres in the northern California foothills with my sister who is also my best friend.  We are surrounded by the beauty and drama of nature and wildlife.  We also enjoy our numerous animal family members – two rats, two guinea pigs, one chicken, four ducks, six cats, two dogs, and a horse.  They are a constant source of love and learning, and sometimes amusement.

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I also enjoy gardening.  I have a large garden with raised beds that’s fenced from the deer.  The ducks and chicken each have their own houses in the garden.  I’ve grown roses in most of the garden for several years now.  A few years ago we had a large arbor installed and two rambling kiwi vines grow over it creating a shady oasis.  With that addition, the garden became a destination for conversation and relaxation, and not just a place to work.

Maisie knows the

cure - -

Big Dreams!

Dreary Days?

I'm eagerly perusing the seed catalogs and websites dreaming and deciding what to grow from seed this year. I'm giving up on cosmos, but paying more attention to snapdragons and carnations. Zinnias are always good - not glamorous, but plentiful and colorful. After last year's fiasco, no more ranunculus! Yes, some unknown critters enjoyed them, but it wasn't really much of a meal for them and that wasn't why I was growing them. 

but meanwhile...

The chrysanthemums were really spectacular this year after giving the soil a big boost last winter. Half of them are cuttings that were new this year and I was surprised at how well they did. (From kingsmums.com, by the way)

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A few weeks after I took these photos, the blooms were spent and sad-looking so I started to cut them back. As I looked around the garden the roses were looking pretty sad too. The rain had ruined the blossoms although the foliage still looked good.

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I decided to see if I could find one good blossom. I found only one - a tight pink bud. I clipped it and brought it inside. Within a few short hours it opened to this perfect, and perfectly beautiful, bloom - the color of spring!