Dispatch From LA

feedly + tomatoes

for the first time in over a decade i planted a wee kitchen garden.  cilantro, basil, thyme, and 2 kinds of tomatoes - bonnie original & celebrity.   

i go out in the morning to inspect.  every leaf.  each new yellow future tomato flower.  i sit staring at them while i drink my morning coffee.  my tail thumps madly on the ground.  so shines a bright moment in an ordinary day.

and now i'm changing the channel.  let's discuss FEEDLY.  i like it v.v. much.  better than BLOGLOVIN'.  it has a clean & polished appearance.  there's an app for my ipad.  it makes everything look spiffy.  like a shiny new magazine.  i also love how the little icon appears on my chrome & safari and makes it so simple to add new content to my feedly page.  makes it feel like having FLIPBOARD on my desktop & laptop.   i think i will end up liking it more than google reader.  which frankly, i loved.  but since they're going out of business in july i wanted to switch over well ahead of time and give myself time to adjust.  here's a little video i found that has a good intro/tutorial.  it's not current, but i found it useful nevertheless.  HERE is a good tech article about FEEDLY.

I started with Bloglovin' and Feedly so I could try them both and it didn't take more than a couple of days for me to figure out which one worked best for me.  What sort of RSS reader are you using these days?  

 

an orchard in my yard

i have a brand spanking new orange tree in my front yard!  this brings the number of my fruit trees to 3.  that's practically a front yard orchard.  isn't it? of course all 3 are just pups, but the orange does have an orange on it and plenty of flowers that will hopefully turn into big juicy oranges.  

and the fruit cocktail tree has peach blossoms on it.  and last year it gave me 8 tasty peaches.  my sad little meyer lemon tree is the runt of the litter.  but he does look slightly less sad since he was taken out of his pot and put in the yard.  i have high hopes for him too.

I came across THIS article about growing fruit in your yard.  really good!  so now i'm thinking i need a lime, plum or apricot, and another peach tree.  maybe an apricot.  i have plenty of room.  and plenty of time to ponder.

in the back patio i've been repotting succulents and moving more aeoniums against this dusky wall.  these guys grow in the full sun, but seem to prefer more filtered light.  

this is another that looks better out of the direct sun.  that's a little flower stalk in the middle that will be shooting up soon.

these giant rosette type of succulents are my favorite kind.

i've always loved the combination of this violet-blue-pink rosette next to the fuzzy bluish clusters.

i just repotted all of these guys.  they were overgrowing their other containers.  and all the succulents that were in this orange pot had gotten HUGE so i did some major pruning and repotting of them too.

i started this new bowl of babies.  it's fun to watch them grow.  how i love coming outside every morning and admiring my growing succulent collection while i slurp my coffee.

also got 3 or 4 new lavender plants in the ground.

here's the little orange tree.  semi-dwarf washington navel - super sweet and seedless.  at least that's what the tag says!

and finally...HERE is a little public fruit orchard right in south LA. 

if you have an apricot or plum tree i'd love to hear how you like them.  do you can or preserve all the extra fruit?

Norway Travel Journal + Peaches

sewed in the signatures last night while sitting in perfect silence in front of the open windows at my art table.  listening to street sounds and bird calls.  feeling cool air drifting inside.  i felt an overwhelming sense of pure contentment.  making something with my hands.  my mind a still uncluttered surface.

pulling the orange threaded needle in and out.  securing the pages to the spine.  good medicine.

~

somehow the little peach tree i planted last year gave forth 8 succulent juicy sugary sweet peaches.  i ate one the other evening while i was watering in the front yard.  plucked that peach right off the branch and took a big bite.  DELICIOUS!

i'm going to dedicate myself to taking better care of this young tree in the months to come.  more regular watering, manure, mulch.  it's a fruit cocktail tree, but only the peach branch put out any fruit.  no nectarines yet..  maybe next year.

i am planning to eat every peach by friday.  which is when i leave for norway.

if you're going with, pack a raincoat and one warm sweater.   you might catch a chill when we're out exploring.  i'd hate it if you got sick and i had to leave you behind in the little wooden house on the hill all by your lonesome.

more travel journal pics tomorrow.

xo

the blossoming

they open.   one by one.  night after night.

this particular epi only stays open for 24 hours.  then those many serrated petals close in on themselves.

collapse.

you have to wonder about the utility of such a plant.  the scientific hemisphere of my brain wants to know WHY.

but the poetic hemisphere just wants to watch the opening and closing of every petal.

at night, this white one has the sweetest freshest scent.  in the day the scent is barely noticeable.  WHY?  

and who, besides me, are they trying to attract with their sprawling lush blooms?  a particular kind of pollinator?  maybe a super bat?  winged racoons?  WHO?

{clicking on any photo will transport you to a world of detail}

morning

dawn light this morning.   everything washed clean by last night's soft showers.

i almost never take photos this early.

and maybe never from the bathroom window.

but i wanted to collect this small moment.  a little time capsule of a sleep-filled morning.  when i'm just coming awake.

i was not the only one who was watching the story of morning unfold.

the epiphylums that bloomed overnight were also on alert.

and looking so FRESH.  so radiant.

i will never ever ever ever in a bazillion years get tired of watching these giant petals open.

3 blooms opened last night while i slept!  

also while i slept... a band of racoons frolicked under my window.  they got so loud with their screechy calls back and forth and growling I woke up in the middle of the night, leaned out the window and scolded them.  they ignored me.  but i drifted back to sleep anyway.

i like being surrounded by wild furry creatures who have parties under my window at night.  so charmed!  i think they come onto the back patio and drink from the fountain at night.  maybe they paused last night to sit and stare up at the flowers.  maybe they reached up and licked a petal or two.  

it's a nice thought.

ha ha ha

today in the classroom there was an earth shattering thunderclap and all the kiddos shrieked and  dove under their desks.  they thought it was an earthquake!  i hope that my booming laughter did not convey a devil-may-care attitude towards natural disasters.  but actually.  it WAS.  really.  funny.

wyatt earp was filled with melancholy.  i told him not to keep watching the video of henri.  but he didn't listen.  now he's gone and locked himself in the bathroom.

oh dear.

i ignored him and went outside to bow to the magnificent smoke tree in the garden.  this is the first year she has produced this many "puffs of smoke".

as much as i enjoy a good LA thunderstorm, i hope you aren't one of the 5 million people who are under tornado warnings tonight.  looks like a series of superstorms is brewing in the midwest.

take good care.

i saw the easter bunny looking in my window!

This morning as dawn was breaking over the hills i happened to turn towards the window and saw... the outline of the EASTER BUNNY silhouetted in the glass!

2 long ears sticking up, whiskers, and a quivering nose.  Velvety pink & white fur.  Walking upright.  Outside my window of course.  With an easter basket of course.  For me of course.

I definitely think I saw that.  I'm almost positive I did.  I might have.

And while I was thinking.  I was drawing.

And staring at pink things.  They all seem to be opening at once and waving to me.  I am certainly not imagining that!

Wyatt Earp was manning his guard station.  He figured out a few weeks back that he can beat other cats up, like his brother Buck used to do.  So instead of running inside like a cry baby..he's gone all gangster!  He purposefully tries to pick fights.  He can't help it..being the new sheriff in town is exciting.

I've only had to spray him once with the garden hose.

Also he hates it when I draw birds.  Hmmmm...

I finished ROOM (in the sidebar).  I have a 2 word review:  Loved it!  

Now I've started this:

An apocalyptic vampire thriller.  There I said it.  Don't judge.  

It's EXTREMELY long.  So it will get a 4 word review.  

Possibly in August.

Happy Easter!!!

hello there

saturday is a beautiful word.  don't you think?  i enjoyed my morning coming in and out of the sunshine.  seeing what's bloomed.

no matter how many show-offs bloom in the garden, my pink geraniums make me happiest.

in the rental flat in san francisco i discovered a new way to brew coffee.  i ordered a drip cup that fits over the mug.  fantastic!  fresh!  delicious!

i put mr. coffee in the garage.

i sat at the kitchen table and stared at my new ranunculus.

my sister & i got on the phone and booked our tickets to alesund norway (from bergen)

we got a hotel room where we can fish out the window.  fishing poles provided.  this is not a lie.

the high summertime temperature is 58 crisp degrees.

yesterday evening i pored over my new crochet book!

i'm going to become a crochet motif maker full time.  that will be my new job.

i hope the company that hires me understands that i can only put out 1 per day.

i think they will.

saturday you are good.  

you are so good.

hello praying mantis

click, then click again to see him up close and personal.  so cool!

a new friend has come to moss cottage.  he was perched on a chair on the back patio this morning.

  i keep going outside to look for him.  he stays in the same place for a loooong time so he is easy to find.    i've been talking to him in a cat voice.  i can't help it!   he is very personable and swivels his head when i come around.  his hearing and vision are supposed to be keen.  he climbed onto the honeysuckle vine shortly after I spotted him.

he is a lovely charming creature don't you think?  and so good for the garden, eating all the ne-er-do-well insects.

i read that in french culture he leads lost children home.  isn't that sweet?

reflecting

After spending the day with 29 (the number grows bigger each day) basic trainees it's really a relief to come home and sit quietly out back.  Reflecting on what worked & what didn't.  Thinking of how to do better tomorrow.  Having a much larger class creates a buzzing humming beehive of a class.  Fueled by junk food, video games, constant stimulation, noise and not enough sleep they present problems.  Riddles for my higher self to solve.  A monkey whisperer spends many hours of contemplation in the beginning of the year.  Especially the beginning.  Working out ways to use stillness, slowness, calmness and repetition.  You'd be wrong if you think I have it mastered.  I do not.  

Coming home to my brand spanking new fence calms me.  I walk through the yard admiring each picket.  so happy!

A gate will go across the walkway between the 2 posts.  You know more fence updates are coming.   You just know they are.  And in the meantime how about a couple more Budapest photos.  Both involving water.

Szechenyi Baths, where art thou when I need you?

picket fence

In memory of dearly departed Buck Moss a fence is being built around the perimeter of Moss Cottage.  Will be finished in a few days.  I strongly regret not doing it a long time ago.  A big dog or coyote can scale it if they really want to, but it affords some sense of protection and security from roving dangerous dogs.  There are too many off the leash in my neighborhood.

A privacy fence will also go up on the hill behind my house which will prevent dogs or humans from wandering around back there.  I'd like some more  bougainvillea, maybe a trumpet vine rambling along the fence.  The ground is solid and rocky up front - extremely difficult to dig.  Whatever I plant has to be hardy enough to grow in adverse conditions.

Went to see a beautiful movie this afternoon.  The book, The Elegance of the Hedgehog was a favorite.  So so good!  

Click off the ads so you can read the subtitles.

 

If you're a big crybaby like me you'll need kleenex.  The friend I went with didn't shed a tear so your mileage may vary (!)

happy saturday! {on friday}

This is the former home of a shaggy geranium.  He got moved into the garden and whaddayaknow in moved a succulent jewel box! 

I keep walking over and staring down at all that glittering voluptuousness.  X-rated isn't it?  Cover the kittens eyes!

A friend popped over to Moss Cottage this week and among the treasure she deposited in my arms was this old handmade box from her pop's workshop.   

I do love myself a nice grungy old box with a story.  Also.  Um.  In theory a lot of washi tape could fit in here.

But, I'm using it on my art table to hold paper scraps.  I lined it with some heavy duty wallpaper and glued on various other paper provisions.

Before I actually use it though I think I'll keep staring at it for awhile.  

When I'm not staring at my kindle screen wholly absorbed in this page turner:

Just curious...what are you reading at this exact moment in time?  

happy {sunday}

Unexpected blooms in the patio garden.  I like making my morning inspections.  There are new webs to admire, new blossoms, everything glows in the early light.

The Path is going to make her summer debut any day now.  

It's Sunday.  The air has cooled which means no daytime a/c needed.  I love having my windows open to the outside.

Makes my kitchen vantage place seem practically outside.  I am RIGHT here cutting & humming.  

Wyatt had a dirt massage earlier.

Roll roll roll then UP on the clean tablecloth he goes.  I let him.  sigh.

One of the mamas from one of my classes sent me this dear photo of her 2 girlies working intently in their little  journals.   There is something very right about that.  Something that makes me feel all smiley inside.  Arty dining room table memories in progress.

A 72 year old someone from FTB sent me this journal page.  

I am interested in knowing what 72 year olds think.  There needs to be more of them telling us.  72 is a foreign country I haven't visited yet, but I'm so curious.   If I'm going there someday, I need to get my maps and guidebooks in order now.   Maybe we speak the same language.  Think the same thoughts.

Parrot Games!

Oh um, I'm still here!  Making books on video and watching the flowers bloom.

I was videotaping in my art room late this afternoon and one of the big flocks of parrots zoomed by.  Squawking and screaming.  Their winged shadows literally moving across these sunlit walls.  I ran outside, but missed their flight maneuvers.  This happened a few more times.  Parrot games!

And the epis presented me with a double bloom this morning.  

And last week a band of racoons were cavorting under my bedroom window at 3 a.m.  I sat up in bed and leaned into the window sill to talk to them.  I feel lucky to be surrounded by city wildlife.  At times I feel like I'm in a Beatrix Potter movie.

The Yearly Show

And in the garden the epiphylums began to bloom.

One after another.  I watched hour by hour as they opened slowly to the night air.

They bloom every year, but you forget how jaw-dropping they really are.  Until they bloom again.

Working away on Full Tilt Boogie, but still making time to enjoy the pinkness out back.  

Happy Mother's Day!

Stuffed, fried, squash blossoms.  Slap-your-mama good.  Cacao Mexicatessan.  If you live in the vicinity...JUST.  GO.

~

I'm swimming in a sea of rose petals.  I'm going to be sad when this wild flush of blooming is over.  

Eden is COVERED with roses.  They aren't fragrant, but they are pure pink buttercream deliciousness.  I think Willy Wonka would be proud.

Fragrant Yves Piaget opens up to reveal frilly scalloped petals. 

I'm a rose dunce.  Luck is the only reason I have this many this year.  I'm going to attempt to fertilize regularly and see if that will keep me in roses this summer.  I won't hold my breath, but I will enjoy these while they last!

I've been held captive for the last week while a ferocius art storm has been raging inside my mind.  Whirling dervishes have been spinning inside my art room.  In other words someone has been making one big mess after another and it isn't the cat posse.  I work really well when I'm given a deadline so I'm going to say that within a week's time all of the prototypes will be completed and you will be flooded with one big MOTHER of a post about the June class.  Including the name so I can stop calling it "The June Class."  However, I'm not ruling that out as a name.  

In the meantime go amuse yourself over at my SISTER'S blog.  She's been making pies and drinking again.  Who knows what you'll find there.

hello summer

balmy days.  cool nights.  sleeping with the window open.  my bed is dressed in flannel sheets.

hello garden.

hello pink.

hello sweet intoxication.  you're my favorite petal color.

and everyone knows it.
 

~

 

The Easter Bunny and I are going on a date today.  We'll be putting up our paws out back and enjoying the fine day.  My SISTER is making Easter cocktails!

They're Growing!

 

Apparently it's almost lemon season in sunny California.  My baby tree has 3 giant lemons hanging from its delicate branches.  It's so wonderous that those little bitty branches can carry a great big old lemon.  It's sort of awesome and lovely and amazing all rolled into one giant lemony exclamation mark

!

And, what's more...there are even more blossoms.  In 9 months I could have even more lemons growing.  Wow.  um wow.  21 years in LA and I finally have my very own lemon tree.  With lemons!  Just in time for Christmas.  True story.

Yellow & grey wallpaper.  Mmmmmmm.  The pale grey in the paper is about the color I want my walls.  A friend suggested I just start in one room and see how I like it.  That's so sensible.

I'm Packing

In the late spring I repotted all of my epis into 3 big pots.  Their new location suits them, they have lots of new growth.  Several leaves have buds on them.  I've never seen them bloom at this time of year before.  Must be our mild summer.

 

Last night I went outside at around 1:30 am to sit out back and look up at the stars.  Up here in northeast Los Angeles the skies are a little darker at night, but there is still too much light pollution to see much.  I wish city life could include an inky black sky and a blanket of stars.  If it did I would get a telescope.  The Perseid meteor showers were putting on a show last night.  I wanted badly to see at least 1 shimmering tail streaking through the night sky.  In the space of an hour I saw only 6, the sky just doesn't get dark enough.  But, I was drunk with glee to see those 6.  Brilliant white flashes in the northeastern sky.  More little moments of being alive.  Of being HERE.

And while I reclined in a patio chair with my eyes mirroring the starry sky,  my friend Miss Spider was sitting in her gossamer web under the veil of night.  She's been here all summer.  I have never paid so much attention to one spider before.  I know her schedule by heart.  What time she starts spinning, what time she stops and climbs back to the rafters.  Besotted by a spider.  That's me.

Today was the last day of school for 48 days.  I'm on a year round schedule.  {excuse me for not explaining, it too complicated!} 

I'm packing for my flight to Kansas tomorrow.  Heading off to see Mama Moss & my sister - the one I'm going to Istanbul with at the end of August.

 

Talk amongst yourselves until I get back on Thursday.

Summer Deepens

Playing with print and pattern in my journal.  Enough can't be said about the bliss of starting out on a snowy white page.  Anything is possible.  The world is new again.  Something I haven't seen before is getting ready to bloom on the page.

With my ITunes shuffle on, the pleasure is doubled.

music + paint + paper scraps + no plan = heaven

 

Summer deepens.  Ravishing green things are living in the garden.  The brand spanking new epi leaves are so glossy.   Eventually a big frilly flower will bloom from a bud that will eventually sprout on this leaf.  I like thinking about eventual things.

 

My foreign film streak continues.  This time I've moved to Sweden.  The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo.  Netflix instant watch.   Now I want to read the other 2 in the trilogy.  Except that I'm reading a novel set in Istanbul.  Pretty Dead Things. 

I am SO not a murder mystery person, but I've taken the plunge.  My interest in solving neighborhood crimes intensifies.  This does not bode well for my neighbors.  In order to solve a crime one must be committed.  While I wait, maybe I'll get a dragon tatoo on my back.

~

Hello Friday

One of my succulents has bloomed like she does every year at this time.  Screaming bright blossoms that rise on stems above  dusty little propellers.  I've been watching it every morning this week.  Walking past it.  Admiring.

I like a plant that rests quietly for 11 months out of the year, not saying much, just blending into the background of the garden.  Then in late July a soundless fireworks display.  Perfect.  That's the propeller plant.

 

I took a little stroll through the garden when I got home from school.  Puttering around, squatting, bending over, acting as my own tripod. 

 

On Monday evening I watched hypnotized as a spider built her web in a high corner of the pergola out back.  It took her over an hour to weave all the complex parts together.  During the day she hunkers down near the web, then at night she comes out onto the web and begins her repairs.  She's out there tonight under the light of the moon.  Fascinating.  Better than my best Turkish movie.

This week I started Season 1 of In Treatment  and Mad Men.  Win, win.  All the way around.  Almost better than Miss Spider out back.  Almost.

Sunday 75 Degrees Under Totally Sunny Skies

Morning in the garden.  The light so rich and golden.  The camera and I went for a stroll.  Cats trailed behind.

Being outside most of the day is putting me into a state of deep enchantment.

A stack of books, my journal, a glass of ice tea, some old maps.  

The occasional neighborhood crime to solve.

Navigating my way through early summer.

One minute at a time.

I like strange poems.  I can't help it.  Just the facts.

 

But I feel no sense of duty to deliver the entire poem.  Just the part I liked.  By that I mean the part that made me go ha-ha-ha.

 

Compulsively Allergic to the Truth
by Jeffrey McDaniel

I'm sorry I was late.
I was pulled over by a cop
for driving blindfolded
with a raspberry-scented candle
flickering in my mouth.
I'm sorry I was late.
I was on my way
when I felt a plot
thickening in my arm.
I have a fear of heights.
Luckily the Earth
is on the second floor
of the universe.

The Path

Yesterday morning I opened my back patio gate and stepped outside to THIS.  The Path had bloomed.  This bush has the largest flower of all the tropical hibiscus I own.   About the size of your hand stretched wide open.   She is also the only one still in a pot. I like being able to move her around.  Tropical hibiscus like pots.  They can't go in the ground in cold climates.

no photoshop or retouching of any kind here, just pure flower

 When she first blooms her petals bend backwards and puff out.  Gradually over the next 24 hours they cup back inward.  These flowers don't need water to live inside your house, but I almost never pick mine.  I like to see them adorning the plant.  I rolled The Path inside the gate and left her under the pergola today so I could keep my eye on her.  The bloom will last a tiny bit longer in the filtered light.

 

Gator Pride also bloomed yesterday.  Several times!  Each tropical hibiscus has very different growth patterns.  I don't know why I never gave you the link for Hidden Valley Hibiscus.  I think they ship their lovely hibiscus everywhere.  Varieties change constantly so mine may not be available any longer.  They're having an Open House at the end of the month.  It's a field trip I can wholeheartedly endorse.

 

Years ago I made the Open House trip.  It was about 90 minutes south down interesting 2 lane roads to their nursery out in the boondocks.  People.  If you live in non-urban areas outside of Southern California you know what real boondocks are.  These are not them.  But these felt very boondocky to me on that late spring day.  I even got lost which made the outing more special.  

 

I started reading Istanbul by Orhan Pamuk.  He lives in the neighborhood of Cihangir where our rental apartment is located.  In between making doe eyes at the hibiscus I read outside most of the afternoon.

 

The writing is beautiful and there are pictures.  Pictures!  

Happy Sunday evening.  From my outpost here in LA to wherever in the world you happen to be.

 

 

Thursday Night 64 Degrees

Here, let me open my journal back up for you.  I print all of my photos at home on my Canon MP620 printer.  I prefer the premium matte photo paper that HP makes, but I also have glossy.  I like tucking some of the photos into wacky pockets I make using sheet protectors.  Wacky is the way I roll.  Too many straight lines and neat edges make me nervous.  

A pergola is growing behind Moss Cottage.  It will allow for some filtered shade in the hottest part of the day.  Pretty soon the only thing missing out here will be my bed.

Hot pink Pegasus (epiphyllum) is in full bloom.  This was taken around 3 pm, but as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon, 2 of the blossoms opened wide. 

A nice harbinger of a weekend gettting ready to unfold.  I'm so ready.