Foggy Days...

Coffee in hand...a foggy morning and a quiet house! Winter has come to the valley and with it is my time to go inward. Not only do I love the coziness of being wrapped in quilts by a fire with a book but this is my time to enjoy the coziness of my thoughts. I am a Pisces ya know...and as one, daydreams are a large part of what makes up my life. So with the winter months set in, along with the fog...comes my time to sit and drift...This is also the time these days when the ocean calls. Ocean, rocks and the color green...these are a few of my favorite things! I have rocks everywhere throughout my home and gardens, as many of you know. There is this connection I have with them and water. Add the color green and presto! One of my favorite past times when I am at the ocean is to walk the beach collecting green rocks. Once while walking...trying to hold on to my coffee in one hand and all my green treasures in the other I was stopped by this gentleman who realized we were both collecting green rocks! We spoke for a few minutes and he told me of some of his favorite spots to find them then we both turned and went our seperate ways...both in our own little worlds enjoying the ocean, our coffee and our green rocks. So you see I have this large bowl on my table filled with just those finds! They help take me back to the ocean and the fog and the hours of walking the beach filled with daydreams and rocks. Ahhhh...life is good!

I have had plenty of time to sit and enjoy...with the family being back together all is well. The boy is home and with him has come the giggles of his sister as they try to not get caught while being mischievous. I had called for them several times last night to help with dishes after we had sat around catching up at the table and of course noticed how quickly they disappeared when it was time to clean up. I went to find them and noticed one of our cats sitting outside the laundry closet mewing to nobody...or was she? Getting closer...there were the telltale signs of giggles coming from behind the doors. Upon flinging them open and finding them both perched up on what are a very tall washer and dryer, there was crazy laughter and the begging of not being made to do dishes! Really, how can you argue with that and so I closed the door and walked away with a smile as they laughed and laughed.

We have had fun catching up and sharing time together over the last week. They have had time to see friends and both the children and Wayne all shared in the service at church Christmas Eve. So as I am cuddled in with yet another cup of coffee I will share with you the goings on in our home since last I had the time to chat...

We spent a wonderful weekend in Berkeley in October with Bry. It was Homecoming and the game was so close...but did not end well. We had fun going out with friends for dinner and spent much time walking the city and enjoying being back in the city once again.

Bry has moved into an apartment with a couple of friends and there are always a few extras there as well so we are happy when meal time rolls around to see how many of his friends will join us for dinner out. Always fun to sit and listen to their stories! We also had time to see some of the projects he has spent hours on this semester.

There are times when he lives at the studio for days on end... catching an hour of sleep on the futon or under his desk if he has a chance.

They are all one big family there and make sure you wake up after not too long. A deadline is a deadline after all!

Then there was the upkeep of the gardens...

One of my favorite pastimes. Now that I have lived here a bit I am finally learning the plants that grow here and what they need. It was amazing to find just how different everything here is compared to what we grew before. With time and the killing of many beautiful plants...we have learned enough to make our gardens much more enjoyable. Something that is a must for me as being outside with barefeet (much to the horror of the Kristina, my pedicure technician) walking the gardens is where I have some of my best daydreams!

We had a wonderful visit with my parents in November! They have always come at busy times in the past and we have yet to have a chance to explore with them, showing them some of our favorite spots...This time was different.

Mother laughed when I told her I had the whole visit planned out! What is with that...I don't over organize things that much, right?

Anyway, we hit the road running and off to Berkeley I took them to see Bry and his life...

Once back home, we spent some time around town checking out the Farmers Market and getting a bit of Holiday shopping done.

On Sunday, we packed food and headed to Yosemite.

My parents had never been and I was excited to show them as well as anxious to see it in the Fall since it is one of the times I had yet to explore there...

Once again I was in awe and humbled beyond belief!!! How can there be so much beauty in one space? Oh yeah...maybe it is my love of rocks...no it is more! It is a magical space and a place where no words can do it justice!!!

Bry came home the following week for Thanksgiving and with him came old friends from school. Jacob was also home from college and the house was full of teens and fun...

We went searching for just the perfect Christmas Tree...

Our search became a day long adventure and there was much more than just tree searching going on...

But alas...we found the perfect tree.

Stockings were hung, UC applications completed, Finals taken and cookies baked...

All that was left were our houses to make...

Looking at these creations there is not a huge surprise that Bry is studying achitecture...Jacob is a Red Sox fan and Brit...well she is our girl who loves traditions...

Christmas Eve was filled with dinner with friends then off to the church to enjoy a night filled with music and laughter...

We woke on Christmas later in the morning than years ago when the children were young and up at 5AM...and spent the day with each other, eating and reading and laughing over stories. Chatting with friends and family throughout the day, we nestled in and enjoyed a perfect Holiday...

So, for each of you, down the block or across the many miles, I wish for you this Holiday Season... a quiet time to cuddle in and daydream of oceans and coffee and green rocks...or whatever it is that makes your heart sing...

Blessings-

On Hundred and Ninety Plants Later

Fall has come to the valley and with it comes the time to plant for Winter! We are fortunate here as I was recently reminded to have a year round growing season. I was waiting at one of my favorite farmers markets as my order was being filled (spicy greens, red lettuce and a nice head of curly green lettuce) to be later turned to a beautiful salad for dinner with friends as a customer asked about the produce and the growing season. She was amazed with the produce and in a bit of shock as the farmer and I both explained to her that it is a year round market. The shock on her face was quite evident and so I asked where she was from. She was here visiting from New York and was happy to say she was here for the next three weeks and would be back each following Saturday. OK...so this is exactly what I was NOT going to do! I had sworn I would not take this place and all it had to offer for granted and yet I find myself at times (just 3 years in) doing just that! Of course year round markets are amazing and of course it does not happen everywhere!!! I must remember this so that I can be grateful and appreciative of the bounty we are offered each week. I have been reading a lot this year about food production, etc. and have been working at supporting our local farmers. I make an effort at eating as a "locavore" as much as a vegetarian these days. This means I try and eat and drink things that are produced within 100 miles of our home. Now this does not always work as there are things that I love that are not grown in our beautiful valley such as coffee which I must have and then there is always the chocolate that I cannot live without but I have found that I can buy those from fair trade sources and am at least helping those families even if I am making a bigger carbon footprint by having them travel all those miles to our valley. Having gone way off course now...the thing I spent my weekend planting was not food, a bit of herbs but not really anything more that we would consume but something that brings a smile to my face each time I walk the gardens which has been multiple times since yesterday... is my Fall planting of winter annuals! Saturday was an early rise day this weekend as Brit had SAT testing and so we set our alarms and rose to make coffee, a high protein breakfast for our daughter so that the brain was awake and functioning and then waved good-bye as she and a friend headed off to sit and test for the next five hours! We were up and energized and it was a beautiful Fall day and so I headed out to beat the crowds. I did not beat them all as other gardeners had the same idea...get there early and get out in good time to beat the crowds and get back to the gardens to plant before the heat of the day hit. October is our time to plant winter annuals and it is one of my favorite times to garden! I have to say I love the plants we are able to grow here and we have worked hard at learning the plants that thrive in our zone and have transformed our space in the last three years! But if truth be told, I love the winter gardens!!! They are bright! Bright to take our minds off the gloom once the fog sets in and bright to make us forget the rainy season once it begins! Bright for me I imagine so I will not complain quite so much about the cold...ok, so not even the beauty of the gardens helps me to stop complaining about the cold. Who was I trying to fool. So it was, as I filled my flatbed cart with flats of poppies, pansies, snapdragons, cyclamens, and primrose flowers! All bright and varied in color. No matching for these gardens!!! The more colors, the better is how I see it for Winter. One hundred and ninety plants and two trips later, I had successfully planted a myriad of color throughout our space! Poppies were chosen for me and Wayne as they are one of our favorites!!! They are the Iceland variety and different from the ones we grew in IL but bright and fragile and breathtaking in just the right light! Snapdragons for my mother as I have never known her not to plant them and this was one of our favorites as children in that we would carefully pluck the blossoms and place them on the tips of our fingers...these sweet flowers were ones I had begun mixing in just last year when anticipating her visit in November. Dad and her had to cancel that trip because of health issues and so my snapdragons, planted just for her thrived but without her having a chance to see them and so this year, once again they are planted, waiting for their arrival in November. Pansies for one of my best friends...Uncle John, who is an amazing man who helped me through the teens years and has been a constant friend throughout my adult years, a good listener and just a constant support! I first planted these for him last year as he was struggling with cancer and continue to plant them with their sweet smiles as a constant reminder of how far he has come over this last year! He will always be one of my most cherished role models. The cyclamen is planted for a dear friend, Petra who would each spring during our homeschool years deliver a potted one to me for my birthday. The Primrose is just because and slightly because it reminds me of all the beautiful African Violets my maternal grandmother had growing...a woman I hope to be as strong as some day and one I will always feel connected to when in the gardens or in the kitchen...the reason I still insist my daughter snap beans with me as I did with her grandmother and mine all perched together in the summer heat of Illinois. And so it is that after one hundred and ninety plants...flowers, basil, and rosemary I can sit back and smile as winter creeps closer and the warmth of our summer falls away. These are the plants and with them the memories that will warm my heart and hopefully shed on me a bit of physical warmth as Fall fades and Winter encompasses us over the next few months!

-Blessed Be