shimmering day

beautiful day in point reyes station and at tomales point. we saw about 60 tule elk throughout the hike and drive. 

more from pierce point ranch 

marilyn made a dance video from the footage at pierce point ranch, in the milking barn and around. 

 

red

from sweden (sigtuna to be exact) 
holding on to that summer vacation feeling...

back to Vallejo

it's good to be home after a wonderful trip. even our dwarf peach tree (not pictured) is fruiting in its first year. although currently it's dusted (as is everything) with ash from the fires to the north. 

the cats survived our absence without getting into any scrapes with neighbor cats and without our total spoiling of them. (with us they are on a 10 small meals a day diet, while most people do a 2 times a day thing. :-))  ^^ ^^
 

 

beekeeping cat

1. papi; 2. honey; 3. beeswax 
all amazing.

more spring

we went to mount diablo two weekends in a row because it was so glorious, and neither of us had been in many many years. we didn't realize what we had been missing! it was bursting with spring—birds, bees, butterflies, all manner of insects, wildflowers.

see more butterflies and flowers from mount diablo

back yard beauty

in love with our back yard

delicious scented bloom (rosemary behind)
baby fig tree (cute!)
mint and spring yard spurt
papi rolling in favas

also, check out our rose bush, popping like last year (with a crazy lil kitty rascal on the pole behind the roses)

and lil kitty looking adorable. 

back yard blooms

heavenly lushness right now. swarming bees, scents drifting, flowering flowering flowering. the cats and we have it good. 

lil kitty rascal hung out up high today (like 20+ feet up) on an old trellis, batting the new roses and walking around like a (clumsy) tightrope queen. good thing she's light and flexible and tends to land on her feet!

feeling spring

feeling our back yard. 
everything is blooming, reaching, opening. peach blossoms, lemon blossoms, mint, favas, fig! mystery bush that is aromatherapy to stand under. so fragrant. so is the yesterday-today-tomorrow plant. delicious season of dreams.

portraits

butterflies, a bee, flowers

 flora and fauna at home

in 2018

we are now four, with the addition of our two tuxedos: one calm, pear shaped girl and one petite mischievous lover, names tbd. 

we said fare well to our dear pinky leon. ❤ ❤ ❤



word for the year: fleeting 
so that i remember how each moment is 
in order not to cling 
how life is 
to accept 
to love 
to live 
to let go 
to remember the big picture 
how small we are 
to make it matter 
to make
to revel 
to sink in 
to give 
to risk 
to try
to savor
to connect 
to dance and shout
to tend

each year's word is a variation on this theme, really 

we roar in to 2018!

at home / away

a couple of weekends ago we drove up the sonoma and mendocino coast. what a dream california is. the sweep of nature. rough and rolling and shining. never ceases to bowl me over. 
and moving to see all the handwritten signs thanking the firefighters. 

fall at home

honeycomb 
honey cat (18.5 years and skinny, but still goin')

last days of summer

inside | outside

East Coast adventures

to Philadelphia (hot and humid!), Bryn Mawr, Gladwyn, and NY

whole set

summer vibes at home

mint chip 
green tomato 
striped

chant magick inspired

made some drawings of marilyn singing 
some inspiration

new tricks

for enjoying the vallejo heat. giant kiddie pool!

topanga canyon

canyon airstreams 
canyon flora

we traveled to the much storied topanga canyon this weekend. a friend of m's got hitched in a handfasting ceremony led by a shaman. the loves stood on the edge of the canyon and told each other poems they'd written and sang to each other. we all tied ribbons of different colors around their wrists. all connected. rather lovely.

m and i took a hike. the canyon's flowers are different than the bay's (obviously). somehow that was so refreshing. a new landscape—similar, yet different. blooming and slithering with lizards. hazy with dusk. and then just minutes to the beach, foggy in the morning. grey with bolts of pink shirts and yellow surfboards. sand underfoot and waves eternal. 

the photos to prove it. 

yard views

views of late

 
a blue diamond morning
an eve on the carquinez bridge with the moon and marilyn

spring 5: blooms!

our rose bush is bonkers.

garden beginnings

we visited dog island farm in vallejo to get some heirloom tomato starts. the good folks there sell inexpensive heirloom starts that they've tested in our climate. ran into a neighbor there at dog island.

we hauled soil to our house with the help of a new awesome vallejoan friend's truck. same new friend is bringing us bees she'll keep in our yard (a story for another post).

we built four planter boxes with the help of another new vallejoan friend, with tools from two different neighbors. 

at mid city nursery where we went to get veggie starts, we met an enthusiastic fruit tree expert who is going to come to our house and assess our yard's fruit tree growing potential. 

it takes a village to start a garden! at least when we are doing it. :-)

we've met so many friendly people since moving here. it has taken me by surprise, this friendliness, this eagerness to connect, and it has made me happy and grateful to call vallejo home.





 

spring 4

more spring growth: 
first lemon on our little tree
leaves of our very tall rose

chants by my sweetie. she just started making (almost daily) these beautiful, soothing, short chants she calls sound sketches. 

 

spring 3

spring duet 3

spring is my favorite. posting more below and soon above, too. 

spring 2

spring duet 2 in SF and Port Costa

hello again | spring 1

 spring duet 1

california love

california rising by friends eric and annie at three fish studios. also in multiple papers!

california knows that immigrants feed america

and that we need to protect trans kids

everyone should see this photo by emilio morenatti. refugees are fleeing their beloved countries because their lives are threatened. they are in pain and have faced terrifying journeys. we should be embracing them, not shutting them out.

dusk oaks in martinez

so sad and worrisome that sudden oak death has spread so widely now.

trumpet!

from the yard