We had our first storm of the season about two weeks ago. The garden loved it! As did I. So the time has come to start my planting and let mother nature take it’s course. I started with this beautiful fuschia the monk gave us years ago that’s been living in a clay pot rather unenthusiastically. I’m guessing this spot is way more exciting especially with all the australian violet I planted surrounding it. The lady at the nursery said it was blue star creeper but when I got it home and out of the flat the marker fell out and confirmed that it is indeed australian violet and that it does prefer shade which it will get plenty of.

I will have to start planting the hill side soon as well when the rains start in earnest. It’s an El Nino year so we should get nice and soaked.
It’s bulb planting time also and I bought two huge bags of tulips and one of daffodils and I’m sticking them in the ground this weekend.

It’s currently 85 degrees!

My shoulder is giving me fits. I’ve tried resting it and then not resting it and then applying heat, ibuprofen, massage, downward dog. None of these seems to be working and it’s been a week today. So this morning I’m organizing our photos. An insanely huge undertaking but I’m taking it in baby steps starting with pictures of our nest and garden. One thing I’m seeing here is how much we love to play with this house. We paint more than we probably should. The Dishwasher likes painting. We move things around regularly. This includes entire rooms. We’ve made our dining room our office and back again a couple of times. Bedrooms get switched at the drop of a hat. As a matter of fact, they will most likely be switched this weekend. See if that doesn’t fix my shoulder!

The original kitchen in black and white

Note the enormous bread machine!
We ate bread, we drank wine and we kept cookies in a mechanical police cookie jar that said “STOP! move away from the cookie jar” when you opened it.

Still in black and white but we got a little “cleaner”. Gone are the lace curtains with the little pineapples on them and the bread machine was retired but the policeman cookie jar was still working and we got a juicer. I still had some of my toys out. The little policeman Tim gave me who peed when you pressed down on his head and the little yellow dump truck I used as a salt cellar.

Then came

The orange kitchen. You might wonder what I was thinking with this color choice but I really loved it. It was just too dark. Gone are the toys now.

Today we have the blue kithen. My favorite so far. It fits the era of the house perfectly it’s light and clean looking and makes me happy every morning.

My shoulder is giving me fits. I’ve tried resting it and then not resting it and then applying heat, ibuprofen, massage, downward dog. None of these seems to be working and it’s been a week today. So this morning I’m organizing our photos. An insanely huge undertaking but I’m taking it in baby steps starting with pictures of our nest and garden. One thing I’m seeing here is how much we love to play with this house. We paint more than we probably should. The Dishwasher likes painting. We move things around regularly. This includes entire rooms. We’ve made our dining room our office and back again a couple of times. Bedrooms get switched at the drop of a hat. As a matter of fact, they will most likely be switched this weekend. See if that doesn’t fix my shoulder!

The original kitchen in black and white

Note the enormous bread machine!
We ate bread, we drank wine and we kept cookies in a mechanical police cookie jar that said “STOP! move away from the cookie jar” when you opened it.

Still in black and white but we got a little “cleaner”. Gone are the lace curtains with the little pineapples on them and the bread machine was retired but the policeman cookie jar was still working and we got a juicer. I still had some of my toys out. The little policeman Tim gave me who peed when you pressed down on his head and the little yellow dump truck I used as a salt cellar.

Then came

The orange kitchen. You might wonder what I was thinking with this color choice but I really loved it. It was just too dark. Gone are the toys now.

Today we have the blue kithen. My favorite so far. It fits the era of the house perfectly it’s light and clean looking and makes me happy every morning.

From one of Em’s old drawings.

Bowl of Skulls

One of my old book assemblages

Thank you Herr Dishwasher for another beautiful Sunday.

From one of Em’s old drawings.

Bowl of Skulls

One of my old book assemblages

Thank you Herr Dishwasher for another beautiful Sunday.

What a man needs in gardening is a cast iron back, with a hinge in it.

Charles Dudley Warner 1870

Before

After

In keeping with our scorched earth policy we didn’t stop until our green waste container was about to bust. We got most everything even the Mutabalis rose which is one of the scariest roses in our garden. It will grab you with it’s hooked thorns and not let go.
We planted one blue hydrangea under the center window and hopefully there will still be a few left next time I go to Trader Joe’s for the other side of the walkway and I think we’ve settled on vinca as a ground cover to be planted just before the rains come.

Next week. Or the week after.

The back gardens.

the dishwasher is away for a few days and my plans were modest.

eat well
read
walk
sew
bathe the stinky dog

i’ve  done almost all those things.
the eating well part…
does a bag of potato chips for dinner count?

here’s what i’ve been sewing

i was sewing neat little circles on my other quilt finished it actually, all that’s left is the binding.  it made me crazy though and i was suddenly in the mood for raggedy edges and hanging threads.  so that’s what happened.  though it didn’t happen quickly or easily. it went through many permutations and may go through some more before i call it done.

it’s done for now.

the dishwasher is away for a few days and my plans were modest.

eat well
read
walk
sew
bathe the stinky dog

i’ve  done almost all those things.
the eating well part…
does a bag of potato chips for dinner count?

here’s what i’ve been sewing

i was sewing neat little circles on my other quilt finished it actually, all that’s left is the binding.  it made me crazy though and i was suddenly in the mood for raggedy edges and hanging threads.  so that’s what happened.  though it didn’t happen quickly or easily. it went through many permutations and may go through some more before i call it done.

it’s done for now.

this is where i escaped to this week in sf. the hotel tomo.
six things i love about this hotel.

1. it’s relatively quiet as it’s in japantown and most of the shops close early and open late and there are no bars or clubs in the neighborhood.

2. all the rooms have these anime murals in them. like this one…

it wraps around the wall to this…

3. the curtains…

4. the bean bag chairs.

5. the fact that english is the least heard language in the lobby or restaurant.

6. the room is big enough to accommodate a  yoga mat.

i did my usual rounds in town. first stop SCRAP where i found enough fabric to keep me busy for about a year. ok maybe a couple of months if i hit an obsessive streak which i tend to do when there is cool fabric on the shelf. i hit the thrift store where i found an alabama chanin jacket for $7. i missed tanpopo for a bowl of noodles because i went and had a thai massage here instead! felt like they took my body apart scraped and cleaned off all the gunk polished it and put it back together so it fits nicer and moves smoothly. thank you baby jesus! i did manage to have my bowl of cha-ya delight on my way out of town.

an excellent trip
the homecoming was even better.

this is where i escaped to this week in sf. the hotel tomo.
six things i love about this hotel.

1. it’s relatively quiet as it’s in japantown and most of the shops close early and open late and there are no bars or clubs in the neighborhood.

2. all the rooms have these anime murals in them. like this one…

it wraps around the wall to this…

3. the curtains…

4. the bean bag chairs.

5. the fact that english is the least heard language in the lobby or restaurant.

6. the room is big enough to accommodate a  yoga mat.

i did my usual rounds in town. first stop SCRAP where i found enough fabric to keep me busy for about a year. ok maybe a couple of months if i hit an obsessive streak which i tend to do when there is cool fabric on the shelf. i hit the thrift store where i found an alabama chanin jacket for $7. i missed tanpopo for a bowl of noodles because i went and had a thai massage here instead! felt like they took my body apart scraped and cleaned off all the gunk polished it and put it back together so it fits nicer and moves smoothly. thank you baby jesus! i did manage to have my bowl of cha-ya delight on my way out of town.

an excellent trip
the homecoming was even better.

it’s now 105 degrees in Cambria. i know this isn’t anything unusual in lots of places. places 20 minutes away from here frequently reach these temperatures but here on the coast this is… not usual. i spied some furry movement in the central garden and went out to investigate after checking the whereabouts of all our furry creatures. easily done since both outside beasts are laying in the shade. stunned and queen lu is in her scaredy spot. where she lays when she knows the dishwasher will soon be after her for a bath.

it was the phantom cat that lives in our yard. she/he is very skittish and won’t ever let me near. a pretty little thing white with a striped tail. she took off towards the hill and when i turned to run back into the house before i burst into flames i found…

the first little tomatoes from the tomato tree! they aren’t even fully ripe yet but i’ve had my eye on these two watching as the first blush of orange appeared near their stems so when i turned the red literally screamed out to me amongst all that green. i wonder how i’ll know when the green zebras are ready? maybe i’ll just wait for the cat to show up again.