Monday, August 31, 2009

its official!

 



Neighbor Jan took one of the boards from the dismantled old shed pile and painted a sign for my front garden! I love it.
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Monday, August 24, 2009

the deer herd

 


My nephew's Asian Pear tree drops an enormous amount of fruit so I brought several home today and tossed them on the driveway. Doereen and (in order) Post Script, Pixel, and Gizmo devoured them post haste. Kept them from pruning the pomegranate tree. ... for about 10 minutes.
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odd pot

 

 


I just couldn't resist this Agave at HD today as it was only $4.99, had two pups and was in a gallon can. Besides, the old attic fan thingie hadn't had any plants in it for a long time. It was lonely. I think its a perfect match.
Agave agustifolia variegata. aka Striped Caribbean Agave.
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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Bunya-bunya cones

 

 

 


One would not want to sit under this tree in August. It has dropped 20 cones in the past 4 days. Araucaria bidwellii.
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Wednesday, August 05, 2009

my alma mater

 

 

 

 


This grade school opened in the fall of 1953 when I was in the third grade. I remember those years as mostly good, though I did have some issues in 4th grade,5th and 6th were fine. Our Brownie troop (#278)began there and at some point, we "flew up" to become Girl Scouts. (Great troop with wonderful leaders. We managed to go down to Carmel for a few days and we even trekked all the way down to Catalina Island. We camped out often, sold lots of cookies, and generally had a great time.) But I digress. Fast track to now...the school looks so inviting I almost wish I could go back. The plantings are of mostly native plants, the art, done by students, is fabulous, and... well, its a school that parents really try to get their kids into. We had lots of music and art "way back then" but no major art installations like there are now. These tiles were all done by students. I think the Starry Starry Night painting on the back of the multipurpose room was too. (need to find out)The large painting on the newer buildings is huge and fun but again, I don't know who is doing the actual painting. Still, doesn't this look like a fun place to get one's education? They score high in academics too. And, they even have grass now! We had dirt. We were happy. We didn't know any different! The playground is home to a large flock of western Bluebirds. I don't remember seeing Bluebirds when I was a kid. Scrub Jays, Yellow-Billed Magpies, Crows, Robins, Killdeer, but Bluebirds? nope.
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