The month of December has always brought back memories of my mother cajoling me into the car and then driving to the mountains to collect samples of the month's display of nature's production of greenery, pinecones and red berries. Scavengering amongst the pines, holly and mistletoe didn't mean the same to me as it did to my mother.

To me it was a time of getting carsick on the winding, mountain roads. To her it was an opportunity to decorate the house for the upcoming Xmas season. I would be hanging my head out of the car window trying to follow her inadequate remedies for my motion sickness while she would be excitedly pointing out all the potential pineboughs for her wreaths, table settings and doorway decorations.

When the car finally stopped moving I would gratefully lunge out into the midst of her decorative materials and watch her snip and clip her imagined creations and then help her load them into the station wagon. At times like that I never thought what she was doing was sinking into my psyche for me to use at a much later time, but it all came back to me last semester during a planning meeting for the AGS banquet. Someone was needed to decorate the tables on a nonexistent budget. Being the month of December, I knew how to decorate in this situation! Those windy roads and my mother had ingrained this talent. I volunteered.

Days later I found myself (both literally and figuratively) in the cone bearing evergreen trees, holly bushes and pyracantha of Santa Cruz County. Winding roads no longer bother me when I drive.

My eyes have been trained to find the fullest and most bountiful that nature can contribute to a person's creative needs. Sniping and clipping filled my Camaro and placed on the banquet tables of my fellow AGS members, fragrant and colorful creations. For me it provided a bringing forth of a hidden resource and memories.

...Nancy Nieblas