Touching the Autumn Air

"As each day comes to us refreshed

and anew,

so does my gratitude renew itself daily.

The breaking of the sun over the horizon

is my grateful heart

dawning upon a blessed world."  ~Terri Guillemets

This morning we felt the changes that come this time of the year. A window closed, a  door shut against the coolness of the early break of day. A sweater not worn since April grabbed before going outside with the dogs.
I went to water the garden. A pastime of everyday importance in our dry, hot summers here in the California Foothills. I found all the plants and containers still damp from yesterday morning's watering. Nothing needed watering. I grabbed the camera and took some photos here and there. 
When I sat down on the chaise lounge I could feel the  dampness of the night on the quilt that covered the pad. I decided that it wasn't enough to cause any permanent sogginess to my clothing. 
I laid there, feeling the coolness against my body, and thought about the changes that were coming. 
I wait for these changes with each hot breath of summer and with the smell of smokey earth that doesn't let us forget the fire that almost made this journey of ours wither into a summer memory. I love the coming of Fall and the cold heart of Winter. I have always had glacial drift within my California dreamin' soul.
Then Carl jumped up on the chaise with me. Cutter wanted to come up too. He watched Carl waiting for some wordless dog sanction... permission to jump up. He always defers to Carl unless food is involved.

 Then, as if given permission, Cutter hopped up to rest by my feet.

 He was still watching Carl but he finally put his head down and relaxed.

This was the way the morning started. 
The three of us...
sitting there together feeling Fall coming...
Feeling gratitude for this life.
It was a good way  to begin the day.

Marauders and Tricksters

OK! I'm trying to find reasons to love a couple of wild things that are visiting our backyard these warm and wonderful, summer evenings.
Maybe it's that they are so beautiful.
Maybe it's because they're so darn cute when they're babies.

And they kind of remind me of Carl and Cutter... only with tails.

I'm trying to be objective about this.
The other night I saw them through the sliding window again.
This time they just walked across the yard and under the grape arbor like they owned the place...
and disappeared behind the new potting shed.
I grabbed my camera and went out the back door and around the house.
Thought I could catch them unaware.
A few candid shots of a cute fox eating bird seed.  I wanted to get closer to them so I walked around the side of the house trying not to make any noise.
I quietly got my camera ready.
I looked behind the new shed and it appeared that they were gone.
I was looking down toward the burned area below the goat run when I noticed that something was moving down in the vegetable garden.
MY FIG TREE WAS MOVING and you'll never guess who was in the fig tree helping itself to my figs.

Can you see this?
The photo was taken about 25 to 30 feet away and them I cropped the photo for the post.
That Fox was up in the Fig tree, balancing like a tight rope walker on my already endangered fruit tree.
The goats leaned on the fence in the Spring, bending as far as they could  to eat the tasty new leaves.
Then Brownie broke into the garden and pruned the tree for me.
Then the fire we had a month ago left the poor tree with fire retardant all over it.
And to top it all off the tree has been struggling  with some kind of bark problem that we have been trying to resolve.
And now a fox decided to do a balancing act in the tree so it can reach some figs.
Look what it did.

Another branch has been broken. This fox didn't know it's own strength.
It was up there dancing around, doing a balancing act in the branches like this was some kind of amusement park ride.

"I see you... you handsome, little marauder." I said , as I walked around the other side of the shed to get a better view of him/her... it.

"You had better leave my poor Fig tree alone."
The fox jumped down and slid through the fence into the burned area below... and then he turned and looked at me.

He watched me for a few minutes and then.....

I swear.... HE LAUGHED.

****************************
The last photo is courtesy of Google Images by someone named Curlyson.
Both Baby Fox photos are courtesy of Google Images too.

Wordless Wednesday: The Monarch

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."  

~Hans Christian Anderson~

What to do when overwhelmed by life's circumstances.

First you have to plant some Basil in the spring. So that by September you can go out into the garden and pick enough to make some delicious PESTO.
You shake off the beetles, wormy things, spiders and such. Come inside and pinch off the leaves until you have  about 4 cups of them. Then you rinse them well and drain them in a colander with paper towels in it.
Then you take a DEEP breath. Breath in the wonderful fragrance. Oh, that aroma...
Then put them in the refrigerator for a few hours... or overnight. You want them fairly dry...not full of water.

Now you get out the old blender,or a food processor, which I don't have.
A processor would probably be easier.
Collect some olive oil, Parmesan cheese and a lot'a garlic...

Some Pine Nuts, from Costco, with the recipe on the back...

A cup of parsley that I use with the basil. Cut with scissors. Use only the leaves. This adds good flavor and fills in if you're a little short on the basil.

Then mix it all together according to the recipe. Add a little more olive oil if you need to.
And take another DEEP breath. Oh, doesn't that smell divine.

Don't add any salt or pepper. I do that when I use the Pesto, later on, for pasta or chicken, or ...yum... sliced pieces of toasted sourdough french bread. I also add about a half teaspoon of lemon juice to the batch. This keeps the color light and lovely.

Find some cute jars ... These were kind of pricey. There were four glass bottles with lids for about $7.00 at Raleys, but I give these as gifts so I like them and they are ITALIAN... what else can I say.
Any pretty jar will do if it has a good tight lid.

Wash and dry the containers and lids. This should be done ahead of time.
Take one last DEEP breath...
Load the jars with the Pesto mixture, leaving about an inch for expansion in the freezer and seal them up.
They don't have to be processed if you are freezing them.

Very easy and beautiful...
I doubled the recipe and got three full bottles and a forth one about 3/4 filled.
Now they are in the freezer and ready for winter gifts ....or winter dinners.
If they are gifts, you can cut 4 1/2" by 4 1/2" squares of fabric from your shelf of "What will I do with all this fabric I bought because it was so pretty and never use." stash and use pinking shears to cut them out. Cover the lids and tie them with a pretty ribbon or twine.
Just remember that a gift you make means more than anything you could buy.
A bottle of wine, a loaf of bread and you, PESTO, beside me... in a basket. Oh yes!
I could make a meal of just this... No wonder I never lose weight.
Oh, wait a minute. This is suppose to be a gift isn't it?
So.. let's put it all in a basket and give it to someone.

It does a person good to plant their own food, even if it's only tomatoes and basil...
ONLY TOMATOES AND BASIL?
Why would I say "only"? They are the mainstay of our summer diet. Our passion in the Winter.
My Italian grandmother always said "Pomodori e basilico...Ciò è così buona "(This is so good.). It's true! My grandmother would do all this in very small batches with a mortar and pestle but I think she would have loved a processor.
Remember... anyone can plant a small garden... in pots.  You do need a sunny place.
Uncle Sam thinks so...

I live on 42 acres and the basil, parsley and tomatoes all grow in pots near the house.
It's just easier that way.

Now, take a DEEP breath and continue on....

Buon Apetite

How could we possibly forget?

Please...

No more conspiracy theories.

No "Where were you when ...?"

No  "The ---------- must have been involved."

No photo videos with sad music,

No armchair quarterbacking,

No more "heros",

No body parts in the air,

No  media .

Please...

Just a moment of silence

A moment of silence

A

Moment

Of

silence.

c.c

 

Reflection

It's been a long week of reflection and fighting off the complications of  severe mortality issues.
I thank everyone who commented on my last post, the emails from friend and the phone call from my sister. Bless your hearts.
It's going to take a while to get past the volume of mixed feelings I have about someone who was in my life for a very long time.

Death is a final destination There is no return. It's like a river that finally reaches the ocean.
There is no reversal, no turning back... only the blending of one thing  into another... becoming a part of the enormous unknown.
Maybe we do return to something. Maybe we change... like the landscape, like the sky...

But with death, there are no higher mountains... no further distances to travel.
The echos of childhood disappear. Arguments fall away and as the Zen master Gizan said.
"Coming and going, life and death:
A thousand hamlets, a million houses.
Don't you get the point?
Moon in the water, blossom in the sky."
**********************************

I wish you peace, Karen. I wish you rest without pain.
I wish you joy and happiness beyond measure. 
You always said that I would know when you were "lifted up". I didn't! I'm sorry.
I know that you are safe now....
I truly hope that it is all that you hoped for... that what you imagined is really there.

 It's been a long road. Now you are free...
Goodbye, my friend.
*************************************

When Thoreau was asked about the hereafter he said,
"One world at a time."
I think I will be here a while longer.
*************************************
A few years ago Karen and I watched a Blue Heron land on a pond behind her house. We stood there in awe of this beautiful bird... together without words, without theology, without a difference of opinion, without any discussion or hurt feelings.... and we watched in wonder, like two little girls.
This is what I will remember.

Regrets

A friend has died.
I feel so... sad
regretful.

We had not seen each other for a few years.

I let the friendship go at some point,,,
for many reasons that don't seem very noble right now.

I thought at some point we would talk..
Again.
I thought we would forgive each other..
Again.

But we didn't.
I thought, with childish ignorance
That there was time
That SHE would call.

A friend died.
Her needs greater than I could give.
and I'm left with an empty feeling of remorse,
regret,
and confusion.

Knitting, Gourding and Felting... Oh, My.

 This morning I took my coffee outside...

and sat down to enjoy a few moments of  late summer  peace and quiet.

 and then the gunfire started.
Dove season is in full swing. The weekend will be even noisier.
What sport is it in shooting these little birds? I don't get it.

When I finished my coffee and oh, it was good...
I watered the garden.
It was going to be a really hot day.
The Prospector asked for some help and by the time I returned to the house, I realized that whatever I did today would be done INSIDE. At 8:00 a.m. it was already hot.

A member of the gourd group and I are giving a demonstration at the Art Association meeting next Wednesday so I have been working on what I want to demonstrate. One of the projects is this bowl.

It's a cleaned out gourd that has been cut, stained and waxed with shoe polish.The inside of the gourd has been layered with torn paper from a magazine.  I decoupaged the paper with Mod Podge.
The edges were notched with a Dremel tool and have a hole under each indentation. Then I looped leather strapping into the holes and wrapped the leather around the lip of the bowl. The loose ends are where I will attach some twigs and feathers before I glue them down. Then I will add a few small rocks.
Do you think I should use chicken feathers?...

or Turkey feathers?.

The chicken feathers are more subtle, but the turkey feathers are more decorative and the colors are brighter.
What do you think? I need to get this finished by Wednesday so I've got to get going on it. More twigs and small rocks.. or moss. I haven't tried a lot of other things yet, except the feathers. Maybe I could wrap the bottoms of the feathers with the leather ties. Too many ideas.... to little time.

Another project is a baby blanket.

This is for a Mom that doesn't like traditional baby colors. She's kind of a gypsy woman and she's having a tiny, gypsy baby girl very shortly. She loves purple, magenta, bright greens and anything that is not just  "pink and blue" so I hope that this will fit into her gypsy bedroom.  This is really nice yarn to work with. It's RED HEART Acrylic yarn. You can machine wash and dry anything made with it and it is rather inexpensive. It has a nice feel to it. I will add a ruffled edge of green to it when I finish .

I'm also making a scarf out of some gray Paton's classic Wool Roving and a mystery yarn that I've had for a long time. I love the combination of the two yarns. I wish you could feel it.

I felted a test piece and the beige-gray yarn didn't shrink very much when I felted it. I will have to be careful not to felt this scarf too much because I don't want the gray roving to shrink up and pull the other yard in strange ways. But... sometimes, how different yarns shrink can be very interesting and it can form some rather unique patterns.

I love the way this off white yarn knits together.
 I really love the openness of the sections that are only knitted with the lighter yarn.
Can't wait to finish the scarf and felt it.
Felting is the fun part... the magic process part of all this.
It's really the only reason I learned to knit.


So I've got a few things to do next week.

Our oldest son will be here for the weekend so all of this will be on hold for a few days....
I have a blackberry pie to bake for "M". I promised him.
He's our son who always wanted pie, and not cake, on his birthdays when he was growing up.
So if I say...
"I will bake a pie for you when you come up."
I better darned will mean it.
Lucky, his cat, will be coming too... I think.
We won't tell Carl and Cutter.
No point in causing chaos before it happens... or not.

Will you look at this.

Cutter Butter.... hiding under the bed... where the overhead fan won't blow down on him and he can see Carl coming. Cute nose...

Oh, and Happy Birthday Uncle Earl.

Visit With a Friend

I had to go down to the valley yesterday for an appointment with the foot doctor, so my friend "C" and I made a plan to have lunch after my appointment.
Another check up for my poor, old feet. The doctor gave me some more little sticky pads, told me to soak my feet every night in Epsom salts and hot water (like that's going to happen) and DIDN'T give me another pain relieving shot between the toes... Maybe in November. He said that I can only have three shots a years and we need to spread them out. OK! The first one, about six weeks ago, worked amazingly well so I'm good to go for a while.
I use to jog, play tennis and run an exercise course at the local Junior College when I was a bit younger.
My feet were "happy feet" then. That was almost 30 years ago.
Now, I do nothing quite like that. But, I hike around our property, garden and hold ladders for my husband.
I pull weeds on the hillside and trip over farm animals.
So far, I'm not a complete invalid. Not yet. The miracle of modern medicine is keeping my feet from giving up on me.  Cortisone and pain killers are good for now.
In a few years I will have to have another operation to have these Neuromas removed.
(So all you youngsters out there... Exercise but don't over do it.
Take care of your feet. Wear really good tennis shoes, running shoes, work boots and hope for some good foot DNA.)

Well, didn't mean to go off on a tangent. Sometimes it feels good to complain a bit. I contend that it's OK to complain once in a while. It releases endorphins (my theory) and lets go of pent up aggravations.

So, after my appointment, I drove over to my friend's house.
We just sat and talked. She showed me some old photos of relatives that she has found on Ancestry.com.
She is researching her family history. She's finding some amazing things.
We went to lunch and then returned to her place. I took some photos of her patio and her cat Max, ruler of his domain and alpha cat of the creatures that live in and around the lake.
These are shells that "C" has had ever since she lived in Mendocino, CA.

They are old and bleached from the sea.

They have memories.... from a little house in the Pygmy forest on Little River Rd....

Good memories of a old friend's beautiful home, a little red headed daughter and Queenie, their dog. I was her lucky friend that she shared her life with on many Autumn weekends.
Once with the Prospector, once with my youngest son, many times just by myself.
Across Black Point cutoff to Petaluma... Up highway 101 to Cloverdale and then West to Boonville and through the Navarro River Redwoods.
From highway 101 to Boonville the heat would be so intense and then, as I drove toward the ocean, I could feel the air change. Oh, the coolness, the fog and the fragrance of Eucalyptus. Then, the river would flow into the ocean and, turning north, I would drive the back road from Albion to the Little River Airport, east down Little River Rd. and into the forest of  dwarfed trees called The Pigmy.
A right, a left and straight on through a gate.
Oueenie would greet me and "C' would be waving me into a small parking space.

Do you know how I carry those memories with me, my friend?
It was the sanctuary that I needed  and a friend who always welcomed me with open arms.
No matter what was happening in your life... work, protesting a building in town, a failed septic system, a birthday party for your daughter, Victor's death, all the mad, love affairs of your life.
You always said yes... come.
I thank you for those wonderful long weekends.

We spent two years in high school together wanting to be Vogue models and trying to understand BOYS.  You were my bridesmaid at my wedding. You finished college.
We both married and went our separate ways, finding each other at a class reunion 30 years later.
Sometimes I think it was all meant to be.

Now, we sit and talk.
Two ladies who have grown older and, hopefully, wiser.
Talking about our gray hair and about the vanity of coloring over the gray or letting it show.
Talking about our mom and dads... and that confusing  place called childhood.
Now, we are comfortable with our lives.
Well, kind of.

I know that Max, your amazing and handsome cat...now, the most comfortable "man" in your life, was probably bored to tears with our talking, but he tolerated us until...

 At some point, he slowly shut his eyes.

It was a fine day.
Thank you for being my friend.
We are not, either of us, easy people.
Thank you for what we share.
We have a wonderful understanding.
It's a good friendship.
Max, you take good care of my friend.

 Max?

Max?

Wake up, Max....

Awesome, Fleeting Life

Before I write this post I want to send some good wishes and strength to all the folks on the east coast that just went through that horrible hurricane.
The flooding, the swollen rivers, the damage that was done... What we are seeing on TV is awful.
Mother Nature sure went on a rampage for a few days.
I wish all of you well and hope the electricity comes on soon.
******************************


Do you ever get up early just so you can be up when the sun rises? I did this morning.

It's been so hot everyday here and I wanted to clean out some planters and put bedding plants in for Fall.
So I had planned on getting up early. We let the dogs out of their crates and they played on the bed with us for a while.
You've got to love retirement.
The Prospector got up and made coffee.
Gotta have that coffee.
It's one of my guilty pleasures.
It was a beautiful California Foothill morning....

Earlier, I heard the coyote yipping and howling across the canyon and, because we sleep under a low window toward the east.
I could still see stars and the little dipper in the southeastern sky.
I've always wondered about the stars.
When I was a kid, I use to look up into that vast endless space and wonder if it wasn't really a ceiling...some kind of  huge dome and we were really on the inside. As a child, this made me feel more secure to think that we were surrounded by a beautiful protective dome.
This morning the stars slowly disappeared and the world took on a glow. Oh how I love to see this happen. It's like the day is beginning again and all things are possible.

The first cup of coffee is ritually drunk on the couch with a dog on each side of me.
The second cup usually moves out to the front yard.
The dogs look ( and smell) for anything that might have trespassed during the night. They do their business and them they want to be fed, so we all come back in for breakfast.
The Prospector had plans to help our neighbor pick something up in town at his aunt's house, so we ate a quick breakfast and I returned to the yard to plant flowers. The dogs followed me.
Carl went berserk at the fence and I realized that a young buck was standing outside the fence looking at Carl.
The buck looked at me as if to say, "That little dog needs to chill out or I'm going to kick his A$$."
The buck just stood there, watched us for a while and then moved on down the road. Carl settled down.

A wild turkey mom and two of her babies were drinking at the water bucket.

We always keep water out for the wild animals in the summer. It's so dry and hot. We fill it every day.
The turkey don't seem to elicit the same reaction from Carl as the deer. I think Carl and Cutter are  intimidated by the size of the deer so they act tough to compensate.
The turkey are like our chickens... they even hang around together.  The dogs will bark at them if they come too close to the fence.
Crazy dogs.... they want to herd and control everything.
So, the rest of the morning was spent planting, pulling some weeds and watering. It was delightful.

The Prospector came back and went to work on the the potting shed.
He's putting the roof on this week.

How many of you know what roof sheeting clips are? "What?"..... Yep! That's what the guy said when I tried to buy some at Lowe's yesterday. It took three people to finally tell me that they only had 1/2 in. roof sheeting clips and that was not the size that I needed.

When I was wet behind the ears (as my Dad used to say) and just married. I worked for a hardware store. It was called Kelleway Hardware in Walnut Creek, CA. I managed the housewares dept. and worked the cash register. It was really fun.
Oh, what a long time ago that was. I wore mini shirts and pantyhose.... and an apron.... and I knew what  roof sheeting clips were and where they were in the store. I knew the size of nails and how to cut glass.
I loved that store and the guys that worked there.
We would party on Saturday nights, get up and go to work on Sunday... hungover or not.
Seems like a million years ago.
How life moves... like a river. Yes it does...

So the little shed is getting a roof.

and then we will start the finishing work.

My early morning planting made the wine barrels look nice, I think.

and the color is ready for Fall...

for pumpkins on the porch...
and leaves falling...
For cold weather... and Halloween.
I'm waiting...
The last of the butterfly bush blooms are in a vase .

The fragrance is so wonderful, so Summer, but I'm ready to say goodbye to the heat and the dryness.
I'm waiting for the stillness and cold of Winter.