Flower Friday : : Grevillea

We planted this grevillea under the kitchen window a couple of years ago and it has thrived. Every year I try to take a picture of the flowers with limited success, but this one, taken from the front porch so that I didn't have to go out in the downpour again, turned out nicely posed as it is against the wall of the house.

We have another grevillea, also thriving on our hill, despite being planted in rocks and clay. There are 350 species of grevillea which range enormously in size and color, but I was surprised to learn, when I attempted to find out which species this one is, that they are proteas. They are native to open habitats in Australia and Indonesia, but have adjusted nicely to Northern California. Oh, and this one is called 'Peaches and Cream'.  

I think the term 'atmospheric river' has been a bit overused, but the one part of the day when it might have applied was when I was driving across town to pick up my friend Fran, and over Sonoma Mountain and down to Sonoma State for our penultimate class with Bruce Elliott on 'The Great Divide' between Catholicism and Protestantism as it emerged during the Reformation.
 
It was well worth the stormy drive since it was an art appreciation class. Dr.Elliott compared Catholic and Protestant art during the Reformation which can, with few exceptions be divided into religious (Catholic-Caravaggio, Reubens) and secular (Protestant-Rembrandt, Vermeer, ). 

The Protestants felt that images of God, saints and angels, so popular as inspirational altar pieces  in Catholic churches, broke the Second Commandment: 'Thou shalt not make into thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth'. This left the Protestants rather short of inspiration save for landscapes, still lives and ordinary people, and gave rise to the belief that the sacred could be found even amongst the profane.