Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Spiral Spinoff & A Month of Luna Moths

Spiral #1 - detail

A quick post to announce the winners of the sprial spin-off!
I hope to be back with another post sometime soon...

Spiral #2 - detail


Today I took all the names for the spiral drawing giveaway and put them in 
my crystal singing bowl. I had the grand idea that maybe I could vibrate the 
papers and two would magically turn over to reveal the winners.... well, that 
didn't quite work, so I stirred the stew of names in the crystal cauldron with 
the mallet, deciding that if a bunch of names turned over, I'd just have to close 
my eyes and draw two out. When I looked inside, however, two names were 
visible and a third tucked just underneath. 


Spiral Drawing #1 - will go to Barbara/Stille LindeSpiral Drawing #2 will go to Stephanie/Faerie Finder over at owl in the dark, and because obviously something
had to be done about the third name, a mystery package will be sent to Christina 
from A Mermaid in the Attic. Winners please email me with your mailing addresses,
you'll find my email on my profile page. I like that the spirals will be going over seas 
to Britain and Europe, and the mystery package all the way to Australia... and kinda 
fun that I won a giveaway a few months ago from Christina, nice to be able to 
reciprocate with a surprise! 



Out and about in the garden, the heavy rains of late have made the moss hill
very happy. Having a new window in the living room is wonderful as now I 
look out to this amazing moss view. I was inspired to put in a woodland garden 
out back, and now I have my breakfast in the rocking chair and watch the ferns 
shift in the morning breeze. If I'm lucky, the wood thrushes sing to me while I 
sip coffee and a chipmunk perches on a stump and watches me.   







It has been a magical month of luna moths, I see them almost daily, clinging to
tree trunks or the side of the house. They are favorite food of something in the 
night, maybe bats, as I find their delicate wings on the grass after someone's 
nighttime feast. Today, as I was heading out to do errands,I spotted one on the 
woodshed. See it right on the bottom corner?  


There is something so ethereal about luna moths, the amazing green 
color with spots of purple details - such a great combination! 


And just in case you can't quite get the scale...


My garden just wouldn't be complete without 
tangerine gem marigolds. The delicate, edible flowers 
taste like citrus, I love them in salads. 

26 comments:

Dreaming Woods said...

i wish i could see luna moths in Finland, but no such luck! they are truly such a beautiful creatures. your woodland garden looks beautiful, i just love that chair under the trees.

Donna~Q~ said...

What a gorgeously serene garden ~ looks perfect for breakfasting!

A mermaid in the attic said...

How exciting, a mystery package for me! That looks like such a gorgeous, serene place to sit and have breakfast, Valerianna, and that lunar moth is truly spectacular, I've never seen anything like it! :)

steven said...

i've never seen a live luna moth although north of here i'm told i should be able to see them with a bit of ease. not my fortune - yet! they are so beautifully designed. the colour is so like a praying mantis which i also love. steven

Michala Gyetvai (Kayla coo) said...

Amazing moth!

Mel said...

What a lovely post, and what gorgeous photos. Your art and your garden are so lovely. I am fixated on Luna moths, and all the saturniids - cecropia and polyphemus especially- which I grew up amidst and rarely, if ever, find here in the midwest. Thanks for sharing your lovely photo of the moth. I hope he found a mate so she could lay her eggs and make more!

Velma Bolyard said...

actias luna. i made a book about an encounter with a pair.

stephanie dosen said...

ooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOh!
i never ever ever dreamt i would be one of the ones!!!! ♥
thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!
i cant honestly tell you how much this means to me.
i mean.. i think you may actually know! ♥

your spirals are a portal to real peace
and i feel so special that the universe
chose me to get to play with one!
i know just where its going too.
right above my little work table alter.
in fact, i may have cheated,
because i pictured spiral number 2 there
despite myself on the day you announced the contest!

i already believed in magic..
but days like this make magic sing like a cello ♥

thank you so much.
from the bottom of my heart!
stephanie

ps. im heading off to a faery festival tomorrow morning
eaaarrrrly am... but ill be back on monday!
when i get back, ill private message you on etsy
to exchange emails? :)

i
am
so
excited.
it
feels
like
the
first
snowfall!

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing your lovely garden, and the luna moth is exquisite!

barbara said...

Me??? It will come to me??? Valerianna, THANK you !!! Your spiral is very very welcome, really. I was totally unaware that I had done anything to win something :))) It will be honored !!!

Rowan said...

I* really like your woodland garden, it's very peaceful looking. The luna moth is beautuful, it must be a North American species as I haven't come across the name before.

trish said...

Hello, I have visited your blog for the first time and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your artwork.
Amazing!x

Lynn said...

Your garden is just wonderful, Valerianna. To have a place to sit and listen and observe and be surrounded by nature is an absolute dream of mine.

Congrats. to your lucky winners. Your spirals are pure magic!

Unknown said...

GASP! The moth is absolutely magical! How lucky to live in a part of the Forest where such marvels dwell. love, sus

Sandra said...

I'm here for the first time and I love the way you talk about Mother Earth.

Sandra, the Netherlands

rivergardenstudio said...

Oh, this is a magical butterfly! I have drawn luna moths before, but never seen a real one. And your view from your new window is very lovely. Congratulations to the winners of your Spiral Spinoff. And happy summertime to you as well! roxanne

Reading Tea Leaves said...

So good to be back reading of your wonderful observations Valeriana and yours and Pasha's adventures in the forest.

Your chair and table in the glade looks an idylic place to sit and reflect. I have never seen a luna moth - they are beautiful.

Oh no, I missed your giveaway ... congratulations to the lucky recipients.

Jeanne
x

Sharmon Davidson said...

Thanks for the tour of your gorgeous garden... I really enjoyed all the photos. I love luna moths, but have never seen one, so I'm envious! The marigolds are so cool- I need to plant some of these next year!

Laura said...

While I don't stop by often, when I do I so enjoy visiting, seeing what you create and discover in your forest. Beautiful!

Tammie Lee said...

yea to the lucky winners!
I have never seen a luna moth, not in person, lovely to see it through your eyes.
I love that pile of wood you have there!

layers said...

All your images here are beautiful but I can't forget that moth-- such a deep green color- I have never seen a moth that vibrant and beautiful- the moths we have around here are gray and dull-- like our skies most of the time.

Valerianna said...

Robin and the Sage - The Luna moth is really something to behold. My chair is a lovely place to sit, as long as there is warmth and sunshine, which has been missing in these parts lately!

Donna ~Q~ Its been lovely, at least until all the rains started...

Mermaid - I never saw anything like it until I moved up here. Now I see the most spectacular insects. One day I even saw a metallic gold beetle. I think dense conifer forests are especially good habitat for all kinds of creatures.

steven - I do hope you get to see a Luna - they are definitely worth writing about! I too love praying mantis, though I can't recall seeing one here in a long time.

Kayla coo - yup!

Mel - I also hope he found a mate, I've been having such an abundance of them the last two years, its nice to think that somehow I'm attracting them. I also get polyphemus a little later in the summer, spectacular!

Velma - Seeing a pair must have been wonderful and definitely worthy of a book, I'm sure!

Faerie Finder - Glad you're so excited!

Joan - thank you for visiting and appreciating!

Stille Linde - Just for commenting, you entered the contest! What fun then, two surprises, one for Mermaid, AND you because you didn;t know.

Rowan - Yes, the luna moth is a North American silkworm species.

Trish - thanks for stopping and glad you found some inspiration here!

Lynn - thanks, my garden gives me a lot of pleasure, either sitting in the sunshine in the front garden, or in the dappled sunlight in the woodland garden, lots of inspiration is gleaned from watching the ferns unfurl.

Susan - I wonder if you have Luna moths in the forest where you are, no?

Sandra - Thanks!

Roxanne - I'm so enjoying seeing through the window to the mosses... I wanted the window for years and finally found a used one that my carpenter sold me cheap. Soooo good to see through what once was a dark wall!

Cottage Garden - sorry you missed the giveaway! I like doing it, so maybe again sooner than later....

Sharmon - The marigolds are great to put in water and let them infuse a bit of tangerine flavor. They are really so wonderful, I grow them every year. Great color, amazing fragrance, and delicious in water and salads.

LauraX - Glad you came, thanks!

Tammie Lee - A good pile of wood, eh! Now it just has to stop raining for a week so I can begin loading the wood into the shed and reclaim some ground! I remember also that there's a big pile of leaves under that wood, ugh... maybe its all composted by now?

layers - I had never seen such an amazing array of moths before living here. There are pink and yellow ones, green ones, black and white almost zebra striped, I am astonished by the variety. And then these huge ones, truly, just amazing.

Unknown said...

Dear Valerianna, I found your blog today and I feel compelled to tell you how beautiful RavenWood Forest is, your work is amazing and youe spirit is just wonderful.

Valerianna said...

Juliet - thanks for such a bunch of compliments! Thanks for stopping by...

grace Forrest~Maestas said...

ahh, sigh...luna luna. so perfect a being.
if i leave a light on outside, sometimes the
large moths, but then also, the bats find them more easily. so, they are unseen in their
flight, their doings. it's meaningful that you
have so many~

Teleri said...

Wow.. I've never seem one of those luna moths before! It looks great :)