Well, this is different — 7 a.m. at the Cypress Gallery! Alice Laufer is our featured artist for November, and pays tribute to the neighborhood with her lovely oils, flower fields and cool, green meadows — my favorite is “Field and Hills’’ — and she acknowledges the season with a collection of various fall leaves rendered in colored pencil.

I love her little painting of a farmer’s American flag planted proudly in his field, lifting the hearts of all who pass by! A scene that needed to be painted. And her photography also blows me away. Her “Eiffel Detail” is a unique close-up of a portion of the tower, a great piece of design and I gotta say — I’ve been there and I never saw that angle — what an eye she has! I also find her Swiss hillside vineyard very appealing, and she’s topped the whole display off with a live bouquet of stunning roses.

Continuing with photography, here’s my old friend Richard Axline again. He always has such interesting new twists — from a distance I thought his beautiful red flowers were a shot of some wild needlepoint piece, but up close, I see he shot the scene through a window screen, and I love the texture.

And look here, folks, right next to that is his stunning “Night of the Iguana.” Now, just between us,- creepy-crawly things give me the creeps. I can’t touch any of them, but his iguana of variegated lime-greens and turquoise blues, the opal’scent eye rimmed in yellow, pink, cerulean blue and black, the peach nose and spots of orange, purple and crimson trailing in a rubbery fringe down his back — Rich, you’ve done it again, taken a normally ordinary thing, (in this case, not particularly “ordinary,” more like downright ugly) and transformed it into an object of elegant beauty. I can’t stop looking at him. All by himself, he’s worth the trip down here.

Next to Richard are Nancy Hall’s gorgeous big cats — two wise cheetahs and the likewise spotted leopard, both framed in black mattings and rich brown wood, thoughtfully hung over our two black leather and walnut chairs — an impressive suggestion of how they could look in one’s smart little den. The wall is deftly finished off by Debby Fuller’s colorful “Spanish Village” and Dee Frasher’s ceramic lizard, altogether a very chic grouping.

More photography across from the desk, a wonderful “Early Morning Sunrise” by Sharon Foster. What a lovely dream-like image, soft, pink sun rays creeping over a blurred field and what might be an ancient orchard, splashing a streak of subtle orange on the middle ground — haunting.

Next, a strong, lovely “Angel of the Garden” sculpture showered in ivy — shot by Nancy Hall — in England? And Lynda Schiff, never failing, gifting us with a leafy view, soaring right straight up the bole of a huge tree.

And, so help me, I didn’t even have to look at the name, Halloween is so her game! She waits for it all year long — square pumpkins, a toothy, bug-eyed Jack in a three-cornered hat next to a crazy leering cat! Why are they still here? Well, no mind — you can still snatch them up and hang ’em on your chandelier for a special Thanksgiving effect, they are so cute, Linda Gooch, you rascal!

Onward! On the west side we have three walls of gift items under $45, small whimsy photos, water colors of a wide variety of subjects, blooms’ fields, birds, creeks, mission “stuff,” abstracts, by Phyllis Daniels, Rosalea Greenwood, Julie Rogers — check out her piglets and cats.

Gooch autumn things. You know, it’s not at all too early to start collecting Christmas surprises for your favorite people and your hard-to-buy-fors. Why is it they often fall into the same category?

We are now in the back room — I’m so pleased to see that you’ve brought the article with you for reference — a number of guests have mentioned to me that it helps them track down certain items. We see here that Bobbie Kusulas has hung several of her alluring Hawaiian scenes (many of our artists find that our travels inspire the subjects for our next show). Shirley Schiff, her charming collection of historic European arches and doorways, Chris Kraus a crystal-clear creek to die for, as well as her striking Central Park against a backdrop of the New York skyline. And please take note of Lisa Toth’s tiny but daring abstracts so great for dropping small dashes of boid color into little ho-hum spots for a clever pick-me-up! And she has more at home! Karen Davis MacDonald intro-duces one of her wonderful sultry women done in her bold, unabashed style that always takes my breath and makes me smile — and our list goes on. If you’re on a budget — and who isn’t? — buy some cards or prints, matt and frame them — pick up some of our “sit-arounds” — the droll black bear, pottery, tiles, candle holders, baskets, each one an original, unique piece of art created by your locals, yet — some of the best on this coast, and that’s not an exaggeration. Whatever you do, do it with a light heart, a smile on your lips and a holiday mood — it doesn’t have to be big or expensive to light up a loved one’s face.

Come in and explore our answers. We’re all in this together, and we are a strong, resilient people — this can be good for us — bring us back to the basics, to our roots — they like to call us a young nation — but they

forget we are a mingling of ancient bloods from all over the planet — America, rejoice!