We Miss You

This is a beautiful student film. It really makes you stop and think doesn't it?


WE MISS YOU from fireapple films on Vimeo.

Snail and slug hunting

We came back from our weekend vacation and found the lettuce we had just planted was gone. Not all of it. About a third of the little starts we had so optimistically planted. The remainders were forlorn and stripped of most leaves.  And of course we could see the telltale silvery trails around the beds.

oh no. we have had a snail and slug attack. We decided against using Sluggo. Yes, I have used it around two of our flower beds and it really works. But I just don't like putting it into our vegetable beds. Even though it is ok for organic gardens. Just overly cautious I guess.

So we decided to try the manual method. The photo above may resonate with a few of you. Have you gone out for an evening of snail hunting?  We did it for 3 nights in a row. I won't tell you how many we had to catch. It was distressing since I basically think that snails are cute. Slugs, not so much. But each night there were much fewer.  We only did it for 3 nights and now our lettuce is growing again. That really wasn't so bad.

So we have won one battle. I know, not the war. But it feels good anyway.

I think that I shall never see....

Marcel Duchamps is generally credited with creating the first kinetic sculpture, Bicycle Wheel, which is pretty cool. He said that watching the bicycle wheel turning calmed him.

I found the most beautiful analog in nature. The Populus tremuloides. AKA Quaking Aspen, Trembling Aspen, or a cute nickname, Quakie. I consider this tree a kinetic sculpture. It's my favorite tree. Ever.

The leaves shimmer and shake in the gentlest breeze due to a long flattened stem. It is truly remarkable to come upon a stand of aspen, or even one, standing alone, as I did visiting Tallac park in Lake Tahoe. A photo wouldn't do it justice, so check out the 30 second video above to see it move.

The range map from Wiki shows its range is North America, but we are lucky that it also grows in the Sierras near Tahoe. According to Wikipedia, a grove of aspens is connected underground through a system of roots. Wow, a hidden life force connecting them all.

Watching this tree is more calming than Duchamps' wheel.

It's also awe inspiring.

Drama in the fool's garden

I never photographed flowers in black and white before. Seemed a pity since flowers have gorgeous color to attract bees and butterflies and moths and people.

But this does emphasize all the shades of grey. And the textures. And the shapes. And the evening light.

I like finding drama in the garden.

Fooling around in the fool's garden

I Taught Myself To Live Simply 

I taught myself to live simply and wisely, to look at the sky and pray to God, and to wander long before evening to tire my superfluous worries. When the burdocks rustle in the ravine and the yellow-red rowanberry cluster droops I compose happy verses about life's decay, decay and beauty. I come back. The fluffy cat licks my palm, purrs so sweetly and the fire flares bright on the saw-mill turret by the lake. Only the cry of a stork landing on the roof occasionally breaks the silence. If you knock on my door I may not even hear.

--Anna Akhmatova

Happy summer solstice

Giuseppi Arcimboldo "Summer" 1573

Happy summer everyone.

Last year summer slipped by way too quickly. So I decide that, on this very first day, I would make a list of 10 activities that I want to do over the next 3 months. You know, essential summer things.

1. eat corn on the cob
2. camp by the lake
3. pop warmed by the sun cherry tomatoes into my mouth
4. scream at the fireworks
5. get sand in my sandwich while picnicing at the beach
6. notice how everything tastes so much better when eaten outside breakfast, lunch and dinner - as often as possible
7. dine outside with friends and with as many candlelight lanterns as possible, also as often as possible
8. leave my sweater at home
9. steal at least one juicy ripe apricot off our tree before the squirrels get them
10. check out all the summer music, yes, all the summer music

Dark Lollo Rosso

This is what I had for lunch. Lest you think this post the equivalent of the standard cheese sandwich blog post, I hasten to add vital information for your edification.

Dark Lollo Rosso in Fool's Garden

This lettuce is the best variety I've grown yet.  It tastes wonderful. It lasts forever without bolting. And it looks beautiful. What more could you ask for?

It is Dark Lollo Rosso and is an Italian variety of looseleaf lettuce. It grows as a compact, wonderfully frilly, crispy mound. You can have fun letting the name roll off your tongue too.

The salad is mixed with shredded carrot, a few raisons, a little feta cheese, some butter lettuce  (also from the fool's garden), and olive oil and lemon juice.  I know you are desperate for some yourself so I grant permission for you to rush out and plant some as soon as possible.

Mourning Dove in the Fool's Garden

The Other Kingdoms

Consider the other kingdoms. The
trees, for example, with their mellow-sounding
titles: oak, aspen, willow.
Or the snow, for which the peoples of the north
have dozens of words to describe its
different arrivals.  Or the creatures, with their
thick fur, their shy and wordless gaze. Their
infallible sense of what their lives
are meant to be.  Thus the world
grows rich, grows wild, and you too,
grow rich, grow sweetly wild, as you too
were born to be.
                  
--Mary Oliver
from The Truro Bear and Other Adventures

twelve trees and a trowel

Twelve trees from my yard. This is my way of keeping their names straight. Some I planted. One from an acorn.

A Bug's Life

Sometimes I forget how much I love taking photographs. Not just for the end result, but because the process insists that you become more observant. And what good is a garden if you don't really take the time to just sit and observe once in a while.

SquirrelBuster birdfeeder

As I mentioned last month, I purchased a new birdfeeder in an attempt to foil the squirrels.

So far here are the results:



Squirrelbuster 1
Squirrel           0

At about 8 seconds in, you can see the feeder descend over the food ports so even though he tries with only two feet it still closes.  Don't worry, I have the old feeder in the front yard - with the cheap birdseed in it.

But you know, it's early still.  I'll keep you posted....

Hang ten in Newport Beach

Roger's Gardens in Newport Beach, CA

Hang ten, er twelve actually

This was a display in the entrance to Roger's Gardens, a well known nursery in Newport Beach. It's only a power walk (or dog walk) away from my sister's house so when we visit we trip on over there - usually with 2 or 3 dogs in tow. (they don't seem to mind - the nursery and the dogs.)  Roger's has a whole lot more than plants to buy, but still, it's got nice visual displays everywhere.

These hanging plants adorn a wall beautifully don't you think? Or they can create a little privacy on the edge of a porch. Or in a narrow side yard.

I love the repetition - these plants have more impact because they are clustered together and there are lots of them. And just the perfect size too.

Those hanging pots were expensive ( I don't remember how much now), but you could do the same with common terracotta pots and a porcelain drill bit for drilling your own holes.

And succulents are perfect for hanging pots (you know, the pots that don't ever have drip irrigation) because they put up with folks like me who forget to water them.

Memorial Day - for my uncle

Foxgloves in the Fool's Garden

I Erect My Drum

I erect my drum, I assemble my friends. Aya 

Here they find recreation, I make them sing. 

Thus we must go over There. Remember this. Be happy. Aya! 

Oh my friends! Ohuaya ohuaya!

Perhaps now with calm, and thus it must be over There? Aya!

Perhaps there is also calm 

There in the Bodyless Place? Aye! Ohuaya ohuaya! 

Let us go. 

But here the law of the flowers governs,

here the law of the song governs,

here on earth. Ehuaya!

Be happy, dress in finery, oh friends. Ohuaya ohuaya.

                                                        -- Hungry Coyote  from The Flower Songs of Hungry Coyote
                                                                                                translated by John Curl

New Birdfeeder

 Evening snack on the new SquirrelBuster

After a couple years of watching the squirrels sucking the seed, my expensive premium blend seed that is, I decided to try one of those "squirrel proof" feeders. This one is called the SquirrelBuster and it works by pulling the cage over the seed ports if a heavy animal like a big bird or squirrel gets on it. I'll let you know how it works out over the next couple of months.

I put it out yesterday and last evening a few adventurous birds checked it out.

The squirrel did too. He decided it looked too different from the previous feeder and so didn't even venture to get on it, although I could see him considering it from all angles - above, below and from the snap pea trellis just inches away.

I wonder how long it will take him to decide that the seeds on the ground just aren't enough.

Etsy find : Aloha Auto Lake Cushion from Ragadoos

It's almost Memorial Day and that means more time working or relaxing in the yard. Over the years we've indulged my chair addiction ( I always seem to need different chairs than I already have!) and we have lots of places all over the yard to engage our summer fancies - maybe eat a meal at the big table, lounge in various chaises, or read in the Adirondacks scattered about. And that means I need lots of outdoor cushions and pillows. Of course I already have lots of pillows - mostly the striped variety from Pottery Barn.

Have you noticed how outdoor fabrics have blossomed lately? Now you can get beautiful prints in many styles and colors - country, formal, modern etc.

But I just love these retro slipcovers from Ragadoos.

I realize this is hawaiian style, what with the surfboards and palm trees, but I grew nostalgic for the days when we kids would gather, a whole tribe of cousins, and enjoy Lake Antoine in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Somehow these outdoor cushions brought those memories sailing back.

These would look darling on the porch or patio, garden bench or anywhere you want a colorful and fun accessory. The slipcovers fit a 16 inch pillow.

Brush Rabbit

mmmm. I just love those cranesbill flowers.

This cute creature is currently living in our backyard kitchen garden. yes, what a great place to live if you are a rabbit. He is very small - you could hold him in one hand.

We were delighted to see him for the first time on Easter. (I'm not kidding... it really was on easter!)

That was before he ate all the flowers off the cranesbill groundcover.

We still love him. But then he hasn't found the lettuce yet.

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, 

One clover, and a bee, 

And revery. 

The revery alone will do, 

If bees are few.

–– Emily Dickinson

cecile brunner in bloom

They mix well with the white potato vine don't you think?