Filoli on Friday

 I've always wanted to go to Filoli Gardens down on the Peninsula about 30 minutes or so from SF. It is a huge, lush estate and yesterday I finally got to really enjoy it thanks to Shelley and Heidi. The name?

FI = fight for a just cause. LO = love your fellow man. LI = live a good life. 

What a glorious day and the weather was perfect. We walked and walked, had lunch and visited the gift store. Tried to identify flowers and birds (we were pretty good) and of course talked a lot as women do.

how does my garden grow?

 So many weeds for such a small space. All thanks to a good rainy season and my neglect. Top photo is before Handy Jan came over to weed and chop this week. She then piled everything into her truck and I still have lemons and a bit of garden pride once again. And gratitude, always...

back to talking trash

 There is a community garden stuffed with flowers and veggies on our trash walk and we were lucky to gain admittance yesterday. Those amazing poppies. Emma and Heidi and I had a lovely talk-and-walk on a grey morning. Yes, the sun emerged eventually. I'm still smiling after Emma's and Natalie's visit. Very special young women.

my easy Thursday

 Yesterday my goal was to fill the bird feeders at Doug and Barb's and having accomplished that colorful task in their lovely garden, I went to Target for some smart shopping and a latte with a cute cookie. Yes, I love Target.

waiting for sunrise

 I was eager to check out my minimal gardening skills from yesterday and also pleased to see blue sky this morning. I'm still a morning person and love this time of day but after being part of a couple for so long I do miss the mindless marital chatter. Annabelle tries...then naps.

garden pride

 About 8 or so months ago my friend Pat gave me two of her pathetic half-dead balcony plants and I have been giving them shower bucket water and Miracle Gro and will you look at them now? I have never grown mums before, but from now on they will be important to my garden. Sweet success!

in the pink (and yellow)

 Ginger came over to help me garden yesterday ~ she loves getting her hands in the dirt and I love serving her coffee and chocolate. First we stopped by Doug and Barb's for these exquisite pink blossoms that he buys at the Farmers' Market. Then a light lunch and and heavy work for my friend. A very good day.

to the garden!

Today Ginger is coming over to help me weed and clean-up down in
our cold, dank garden. It has been a great year for lemons and I picked
these just yesterday. There are many more out there ~ plus spiders
and bugs and icicles.

garden delights

Barb

Doug

Annabelle

Good timing, Stein. Yesterday I texted Doug and Barb that maybe I could
come over and retrieve my dishes from the post Passover dinner. It was
lunch time, how nice. They fed me and then we toured their garden which
is so lush and glorious after all our rain. Barb cut me some flowers and
we can see that my girl cat was delighted when I returned home.

three strong women

before

after

Another little splurge to make sure that my surroundings are the best they
can be. SF Garden Design descended on my tiny weed-covered backyard
yesterday and filled five giant bags with branches, weeds, and god knows
whatelse. I decided to leave the moss on the cement down there even
though Bill would scrape it off every spring. Sami the head gardener
said it would come off naturally in summer. A good day for me.

flowers and art in Bolinas

A Sally Robertson print to enhance and enchant

Yesterday Marsha (who is so good about driving) and I and the two dogs
went to an Open Studio Art and Garden event in Bolinas. Many memories
there too, but I was okay and we had a delightful day. Sally Robertson is
a well known water color artist who specializes in flowers and she has
a huge and varied garden including a small Monet-like pool with fish
and water lilies. I purchased a gift for my new kitchen and then we had
an early dinner at the Coast Cafe and all in all, a fine day. I sprinkled
some of Bill's ashes up there in a salute to our many visits over the years.

Fair's my brother

A secret language develops when people live together for eons. We
picked up an expression (from someone we disliked) that went like this:
Spouse #1 ~ "That is not Fair"
Spouse #2 ~ "Fair's my Brother"
I know it makes no sense.
Anyway, for years Bill worked to get our lemon tree to produce. He
would even take a leaf to the garden store where they would say
either too much water or not enough water. He added vitamins
and proteins to the soil There was a celebration when a lemon appeared.
Now look at this year and the beauties I just picked.
This is simply NOT Fair, brother or no.

back to Monday

I accepted a spontaneous dinner invitation to The Great Plotnik's on
Monday night ~ was that not generous of me? Check out their garden
after all the rain. Those are daffodils. I have weeds in my little back
yard and moss on the concrete. Roast pork carnitas with all the trimmings
including just right warm, soft tortillas and even pomegranate seeds.
But always the best part is being with loving friends and catching up on our
sometimes less than perfect lives. A wonderful evening, apu.

meanwhile, out on the deck

I derive great pleasure from the little potted plants surrounding our
bunny and gazing ball. The tomatoes this year didn't work so I am
sticking to pretty. The back yard always needs weeding work, but
the back deck is easy even for a non-gardner such as myself.

the Saturday non-news

AM work

PM walk ~ Bryant and 24th Streets

Yesterday I FINALLY got out to the garden and collected this huge bag
of weeds and other clean-up crap. The last time I did this (April?)
Husbando applauded me from our back deck above. I miss that.
After a shower and cat nap (hahahaha) I walked up Bryant for an
elegant dinner at Starbucks. It was a warm and delightful evening
and I slept nicely last night with only a hint of cannabis to help me.

Frank loved all trees

Frank at work for FUF

81 new trees with this sticker

 Friends of the Urban Forest gathered yesterday out on 25h Avenue to honor
our Frank who gave so much time and money to the trees of SF. When we
would mention an address (say of a friend or maybe a restaurant) Frank
knew exactly which trees were out in front. Many he had planted and taken
care of over the years. Frank was an arborist and an all-around fine man.
FUF had a huge volunteer force yesterday morning and they were going
to plant 81 trees out in the Avenues. All with the lovely Frank sticker.
It was a special morning for Frank's huge fan club ~ and sunshine too!

just walk down to the garden

For the 40 years plus that we have lived here in our tiny home in Bernal
I have wanted to just pick flowers for the dining room table. Last year
the gardener (Amelia) planted toward that goal and now we reap the bounty.
I am beyond delighted.

Early Girls (not yet Women)

We used to plant the SF Fog Tomato thinking that would work. Early
Girls usually do, not exactly like the above photo, but yummy. Ginger
said that in Missouri her father would plant Early Girls every March 15
without fail.

bountiful blooms

Faithful readers will clearly remember that we had a new garden
installed last June. New surprises keep appearing and I am now
able to snip a few beauties for the dining room table. This inspires
me to go down and weed, weed, weed. Today I will listen to baseball
and basketball and take lots of breaks. I hate to weed. Knees get ready...

a sign of hope for 2018

We have never really had Meyer lemons from this little tree which is in
the perfect and only sunny spot in our garden. But look at us now...