Sisters

Back in the days, as in, last year, when the wrens happily nested in their gourd house, life was good. But this year, it became all too obvious that the birdhouse was becoming a rickety tear-down. Something needed to be done.

A packet of seeds, a pile of compost and a long growing season later, we got some new housing stock. Potentially. All related, and all still connected. (Since then, they have been cut off the vine and moved onto the porch for shelter.)

I'm not yet hopeful, perhaps just wishful, that they will cure properly (or at least some small number of them won't rot out completely) and become new homes for the next generations of wrens. 

Charlotte

I was getting very worried, and even commented on it to a few people who wouldn't think that I was getting (even more) odd. 

But it's been years, literally years, since I have noticed orb weaver spiders hanging out in their (her, actually) large, round webs in the front yard. The last time I remember seeing them was probably in 2018; definitely since before the pandemic. 

Charlotte

But this year, perhaps because of all the rains this past winter, or for other reasons unknown to me, the spiders are back! 

My neighbor named her Charlotte (bless you, E. B. White) because she appeared while we were away on holiday and watched over Luna in our absence. And, no, she did not write, "Some Cat" in her web, but I'm sure she could have...

For a few months we dodged her web each morning, sometimes rearranging it for her in ways that probably didn't make her happy. She finally figured out the problem and positioned the support line from the top on the porch pillar and not at the middle. Brilliant!

I haven't seen Charlotte in a few weeks, so I'm assuming that she has moved on. I'm also hoping that at least a few of her babies will appear here next year. 

A New Fashion?

You can wear it:

Or sleep in it:

Or??? 

Oddly (Ab)Normal

I know that they are tromboncino squash.  I know this, but still my eyes have to blink a few times rather quickly to avoid a freakout. 

Because they are definitely weird-looking. Like the fossilized internal organs from a long-extinct ruminant. Or some giant invertebrates who only appear out of the ground on every third Harvest Moon during prime numbered years. Or even as a friend commented, "I have to say, that photo is strangely anatomical, I'm almost blushing."

Good soup, though, and lots of it.

Better Late Than Never, Right?

 Mid-October, and the San Marzano tomatoes are coming into their own. But since they're all ripening up at once, they're having different futures: some are for roasting now and the rest are for sauce for this winter. And for me - it's back to the kitchen!

Ferry Around the Bay

It's summer once again, that little splash of rain notwithstanding, and the new crop of "summer" visitors should be arriving soon. Now we all know how difficult it can be to find new things for them to do and see. So why not try the ferry?

Our dear friend Helen Doyle recently wrote a comprehensive guide to ferrying around the bay in Bay Nature magazine. It spurred us to take the ferry from Richmond (easy parking) to San Francisco, and then straight back again. 

So why not stay a bit longer in SF? Well, we had to make it back for happy hour at Armistice...

Garden Lanterns

It took forever, absolutely forever to complete these. But finally, finally, finally, I hit upon a way to keep them upright, not sinking away into the ground and stable. Whew!

Daytime

Nighttime

Once More, It's Spring in the Desert

In fact, it's a mini "Super Bloom" for the Echinopsis subdenudata 'Dominos'. Since early spring, it has been blooming, but only one or two blossoms at a time. But today, well today, is a good day.

Even the honeybees seem to agree - 

No Complaints

 Well, it's looking to be a really crappy year in the vegetable patch, but there are compensations: 

LILIES GALORE

No, you can't eat them - poisonous to you, me, cats, dogs, most everyone - but a feast for the eyes!

The Box

It's 9" by 12", wood, probably pine, and became a favorite snoozing spot starting in September, 2021:

It's still is a favorite spot, even though the fit is a bit tight:

Spotless

It sure looked like a ladybug, except it was the wrong color, no spots, and was sitting on this extremely weird bug-esque thing. The sort of thing that you would swat away and then step on, even with our smack-in-your-face insect apocalypse. 

And then it clicked: it's a newly hatching ladybug. Pristine, shiny and still developing.

So I watched it for a bit, got bored and went back to planting stuff. Then I remembered to go and take another look. 

A newly minted Seven-Spotted Ladybug (coccinella septempunctata)!

 

The Sweet Season

Sweet Peas (Lathyrus odoratus) Hi-Scent

Green, Greener, Greenest

Not exactly the super bloom along the Bolinas Ridge Trail on Mt. Tam, but a wonderful hike, regardless.

I have no doubt that in a few short weeks, the lupines will be fully in bloom. Then you will need to stand back and keep your sunglasses on. 

Springtime!

 Maybe? Fingers crossed...

Calendulas

Laundry Day

Who knew that a kitchen cloth that had been rinsed in bleach could be so much fun...

Una Abundanza (An Abundance)

So the tromboncino squash didn't do poo-poo this past summer, but the other guy sharing the turf did just fine: two 10+ pound Marina di Chioggia squashes (Cucurbita maxima). 

Green-gray on the outside, orange on the inside, it's considered one of the premier winter squashes. Sad fact is that I don't really like winter squash very much. Soup is fine, ravioli is tasty, but that's about my limit. 

Now you may wonder why I would grow something that I don't really like. Well, we were given a squash, which was turned into a delicious soup. So I saved some seeds, thinking that it would be my chance to see whether, with one of the best squash varieties in town, grown under ideal conditions (tee-hee), my narrow, judgmental mind could be persuaded. 

And the answer? A big fat "maybe". I looked at a ton of recipes for roasted squash - considered to be the best technique for enhancing the flavor - and (mostly) followed the instructions. Tasted it, and decided that it was simply, wonderfully, just okay. Excellent for your health, pretty on the plate, far superior to anything you could get in the market, easy to grow and very productive, but... just okay. 

Having said that, and having even done the required homework, I can now honestly recommend Marina di Chioggia squash. Especially if you like that kind of thing. 

Housing is for the Birds

Way back in 2017, I got involved in a silly experiment - gourd growing. The vines took over the entire driveway and produced four very large, and, if I may say so, beautiful offspring. These gourds were always in the state of going-to-be: a lidded pot; a decorative bowl; a something that needed time and attention. And an empty space on some table or shelf somewhere. 

Instead, they sat on a very high shelf in the garage, looked down on me with contempt and impatience, and collected dust. Until yesterday, when I noticed that the early wren bird was once again exploring the birdhouse in the backyard. It was an aha moment - those lazy, languishing gourds could be someone's new family home.

A trip to the Oakland Tool Lending Library, a little bit of fiddling (to get the cord through those small holes) and filing (to smooth out the drill holes) and, ta-da!, a new home for a wren, chickadee or titmouse family. 

Now because all of these little birdie types are aggressively territorial, these new gourd-homes had to be located in someone else's yard - one to the neighbors across the street, and the others far, far away in other neighborhoods. Fingers crossed that the new avian residents use them in good health and happiness.