So many things to catch up on, I hardly know where to begin. Hm. Guess we'll spin the ol' Blog Wheel to decide. Here goes--tickticktickticktickticktickticktickticktick tick tick tick tick tick tick..tick..Bonsai show..tick..tick..Garden..tick...tick...Concert season...tick....Trip to Fresno.....tick......tick.....local wildflower "show".........tick........Phet..........more art stuff............tick..........tick...........Bonsai show..............tick.................Garden.
Garden, it is. Appropriate, too. It's raining today. Thundering, too. While I've gotten all the irrigation tuned up by now, the timers haven't all been set, yet, so this rare (for late June around here) rainstorm is a lovely gift. After a wild and crazy winter, with precip totals at about 90 inches for the year (average is around 55), summer arrived a couple of weeks ago with a sudden THUD--like those cartoons of the old days that show "nightfall" as a stage curtain with stars and moon crashing down from the rafters. One day, it was sweatshirts and long pants; the next, shorts and flipflops.
The garden. I'll make this quick (stream of consciousness- no particular order).
Started everything in peat pots from seed in early April. Most of us up here planted late because we had the late hard frost last year (end of May) that killed everything. Finally got it all in the ground by early June. I worked in a new wing (photo above): in addition to my two half-barrels of strawberries, I added a large metal tub for another bunch. Behind them, I terraced off a couple of new sections for corn and zucchini (What's wrong with me?--I still have five bags I grated from my neighbor's plants last year.).
I planted three kinds of podded peas--only to discover they are favorite fare for our new garden guest: Mr (or Ms?) Vole. Tom and I actually observed our little friend from the deck. Lots of little holes, too. I am crafting a (humane) plan of elimination. No dynamite. Yet. So we have less than half the pea plants I'd hoped. Asparagus is looking great and will be ready for harvest next year, I believe. Pulled the artichokes. Too much space for too little reward. There are five or six leeks left from last year.
I might have a tomato problem. I'm growing 26 plants. Most of them are unique varieties, though I've doubled up on a few of the cherries. I just can't resist. I'll do better next year--only faves. The vole is also the likeliest culprit responsible for the sheered-off broccoli (1/4-inch stems!) and the loss of the entire row of chard. And my beans! Only half of what I planted is left and none of the yard-long kind. But I'll try again--plenty of time still.
The lettuce has also been decimated, but there's still a nice selection of cos, freckles, red-leaf, and gourmet mix to harvest. I was going to thin them, anyway (photo at right shows lettuce with empty chard row in middle). We'll just have to see how the peppers, eggplants and tomatillos do. In past years, they have floundered. Might not be hot enough? Poor soil? Well.
New this year are two grape vines (at left in photo to right--tomatoes everywhere else). They seem happy now. A red and a black (real names later). Again with the three-year wait for fruit. Already we've had quite a nice crop of strawberries, but we've had to share them with others--voles? birds? I'm not sure, but I have my suspicions. Most of the half-eaten berries have deep grooves. That says "bird" to me.
We have a long row of berry plants (black, boysen, rasp) that looks very good this year (photo). Jury's still out on the blueberries. Another front in the bird battle looms, I fear. It is said that whatever method one chooses as a deterrent, it only works for a week or so before the little gluttons get wise-so timing is everything. I'm planning my strategy. I'm not as generous about sharing berries as I am broccoli.
Then there are the trees. The peach (four varieties in one) still has two years before we should let it produce anything. Next year, for the cherries and apples. I'm cheating a little with the apples--I'm letting a few stay on the trees--just for fun.
All this in one little fenced-in area. It's getting quite crowded, really. Once I get the compost bin built, I think that might be all we can cram in there.
We're just getting to the time of year where tending the veggie garden is more fun. Less hard labor, more puttering this 'n' that. I'm anxious to see if the soil has improved at all. I've still got a compost pile to sift and add, as well.
Yes, this is almost the fun part...
So, turning 90 gets attention, for very good reason. But, besides that, if one is also a wonderful, accomplished and funny woman, there is even more cause to celebrate.
This is exactly the case with my mother-in-law, Ruth Gold, who, though it's still a couple of weeks until the actual day, was honored with a birthday party at Diana and Dick's home in Montecito last Sunday.
Gorgeous setting: Diana and Dick's beautiful home and yard. Plus Diana is Queen of Entertaining. She has special gifts in the area of hospitality and event-making. And she's trained lots of family assistants. Good thing, because we weren't much help.
As for the involvement of our immediate family, on Saturday Tom and I drove two thirds the way from Grass Valley through the Central Valley to Kettleman City (home of, um, something good, probably, but also where there's a major pollution investigation of the local waste management system--eesh!), then finished the final three-or-so hours to Santa Barbara on Sunday morning. Dylan and Emi stayed at the home of friends in Santa Barbara Saturday evening. Rachel had previous plans in Tennessee for the weekend, unfortunately.
Guests of note were Ruth's brother, Harold (88) and sister, Eileen (87). Dick's mom (95) lives nearby and sat at the "head" table, as well. Lots of great genes represented there, I have to say!
I won't go into all the friends and relations present, but I'll just say that it was a fun group.
Here are a few representative photos: First, there's Ruth and Diana, then Ruth and her siblings sitting at the table. After that, Dylan and Emi are getting some food in the kitchen. Tom is chatting with his cousin, Bob and Bob's wife, Roxanne. Lastly, well, mercifully, each candle represented 10 years.
Seriously, a perfect party with wonderful folks in a lovely setting in honor of a remarkable woman.
Can't do better than that, right?
This entry is all about showing off Dylan's newest furniture.
First is a shot of his new office. He moved across the hall to have more space.
His two new pieces are console or hall tables. Each of the tables is solid walnut on a steel stand. He bought a vase from a potter and a bowl from a wood-turner and worked the rest of the design around those pieces.
We love them and he's gotten great feedback from the people who've seen them already.
There was a small show a couple of weeks ago at which he unveiled them. He has other variations along the same theme that he plans to offer, as well.
Currently, he's working on a bed for a client. It's still in pieces, but coming along. Also solid walnut.
We sat around in his office talking business strategy for the next few months. It's still difficult to get a smooth stream of income, but he's gradually honing in on a viable combination of marketing and design/fabrication.
We headed for home late afternoon. Dinner at Rubio's in Fairfield was a big treat. Their fish tacos rule. The other notable event was reaching the 200,000-mile mark on the Camry's odometer. Good ol' Toyota. We're still fans, no matter what. We don't drive so much. Working at home and living in a small-town environment, we only put on real mileage when we take the infrequent longer journey. So, it took 13 years to make the 200k. Nearly trouble-free, too, all this time.
This next weekend, we'll be driving down to Santa Barbara to celebrate Tom's mom's 90th birthday. Exciting party images to follow...
The country mice were off to see the city mice again, this weekend. We dust ourselves off and leave the chewing straw behind so as not to embarrass them too much...
We collected Dylan from the shop Saturday evening, eventually ending up at Rachel and Mike's place for dinner, where Emi joined us a bit later. We had given R & M a raclette set for Christmas and we were all going to test it as a way for a small group to have a nice slow meal together. Verdict: all thumbs up!
Here's the gist, in case this is a new cooking word for you, as it was for us. There's a two-level rectangular electric appliance--grill or griddle on the top (it's reversible)--while underneath, there are places for up to 8 little square pans to sit (four on each side). 
The element is situated under the grill, , on which people can cook meats, veggies, or whatever. The same element broils the contents of the little pans below which contain, traditionally, cheese. We cooked some veggies down there, as well.
The idea is to cook the stuff on top (veggies and shrimp for us), put it on the plate, and slide the melted cheese on top. Each pan comes with a little spatula for the purpose of helping the cheese out onto the other food. It's fondue meets teppanyaki. It worked great for the six of us--eight might be crowded.
It would be fun for breakfast, too. And lunch, as well, maybe--open faced sandwiches?
I made a lemon meringue pie for dessert--a nod to Dylan's birthday which had occurred the Monday before. He and Emi had been visiting her folks in Boulder over Memorial Day weekend, where they also squeezed in a 10k race.
We spent the night at Rachel and Mike's. I got up in the morning for a walk up the hill to Bernal Heights Park, which covers the entire top of the hill. The edge of the park is only a block up from their place. 
The views are amazing from everywhere up there--a 360 degree panorama of the city. One can see the Golden Gate and the Bay Bridges simultaneously. Also, AT&T Park and Candlestick. The storm system hadn't yet moved on, so there was some restriction as to the visibility--still, not bad, eh? By the by, these pics are taken with my new, ahem, Android.
Dylan rejoined us again next morning. There was eating and tennis-watching.
...After which we gleefully skipped out on the mess we left for Mike and Rachel to clean up in order that we could spend a bit of time over at the shop gaping at Dylan's new creations and doing a little business-strategizing.
The photos of his new pieces follow in the next entry--
The photos: Mike and Rachel (that red thing in the center of the table is the raclette), then, the next four photos are of the city from the Golden Gate (click to mag), to downtown, to the Bay Bridge, to the Bay (due east).
Why now? Who knows? The several sets of unused (even unopened) pastels lurking in my studio drawers just began to whisper my name the other day. A month ago. Or six weeks, I don't know. Right in the middle of a plan for a large piece of calligraphy (which I still plan to do). ADD-related, no doubt. Bouncy interests.
Pastels are not colored chalk. Blackboard or sidewalk chalk is mostly gypsum with more or less pigment added. They are usually quite inexpensive, though, some more high-quality (and, therefore, costlier) types can be used for amazing sidewalk art for festivals and such.
Pastels are pure pigment--exactly the sort used in high-grade oils or watercolors--but are held together with more or less gum binder. There are quite a few kinds, including oil pastels, where the differences depend on what kind of binder and how much. The good ones can run into real money.
I've dabbled once or twice, but never really tried to work with them in any serious way. I have accumulated, however, over the years, a very nice array of pastel sets, large and small, inexpensive and not-so-much. They just sit there. Waiting.
Until now. 
I started with a snow scene--a version of which I had done smaller in colored pencil and given to our neighbors in whose front yard I had snapped the photo. Did I post that one? I don't remember, but I'll check later and show the two together.
Next, I found a shot I had taken of the aspens in the higher country a few years ago during an autumn day trip. It was fun to play with the contrasts--I like the dark-silhouetted pines against the backdrop of brilliant yellows. Loose and impressionistic.
Then I wanted to test some more precision techniques. We have a planter in front with Dutch iris (just finishing up with their blooming season now). Behind the flowers is a layer of little river stones I've found around the yard. It turns out, I was more interested in the subtle colors of the stones than in the flower. Good to know. I consider this (as all of these, really) an exercise piece. Light/dark, again, but soft/hard, vegetable/mineral. Cheesy composition.
Trolling for landscape photographs I've taken, I landed on this one of a mountain scene I snapped during a backpacking trip a few years ago. Early morning, mostly in shadow. I'm also influenced by the poster art of the thirties done to advertise railroads and national parks. Lovely stuff. I will keep working on my own version of that style, I think.
Lastly, I went back to the scene from my neighbors' front property. The reason I love it is the picket-fence-type arrangement of trees in the foreground. Over the last four years, as I've gone past on my daily morning walks, I've taken 25 or 30 shots of this same scene at different times of year. I took this photo a week ago-looking east into the rising sun. [by the by, click once to see the pieces better--the pastels look more, um, pastel-y that way]
Yesterday, I started a piece from a photo taken in our front yard of the tangled limbs of manzanita trees (20' tall= trees). It's complex--I don't know how long it will take. Especially since I'll be squeezing it in between yard work, and any number of random distractions. But I'll post it when it's done, if I can wrestle it into submission.
All of these are just stops along the way to somewhere. Who knows what will become of this little rabbit trail, but it's fun for now.
Started everything in peat pots from seed in early April. Most of us up here planted late because we had the late hard frost last year (end of May) that killed everything. Finally got it all in the ground by early June. I worked in a new wing (photo above): in addition to my two half-barrels of strawberries, I added a large metal tub for another bunch. Behind them, I terraced off a couple of new sections for corn and zucchini (What's wrong with me?--I still have five bags I grated from my neighbor's plants last year.).
