Homework

First it was the new heat pump. Now it's the hardwood floors. What to do when there are strange people working in your home, making a racket and causing the furniture to be rearranged?

You hide. No more, no less, you hide and hope it all ends soon.

Thank you, Rancho Gordo

I occasionally buy beans from Rancho Gordo, even though I grow plenty of beans here. I buy them because I want to first try them, to see how we like them. Then, if we do like them, I plant some to grow here. So buy a pound, save out a few ounces, just in case, and enjoy the rest!

So far, the two that have made it into the garden are heirloom runner beans from Oaxaca - Ayocote blanco and Ayocote morado (the Ayocote negro was just too "beany" for me). Both varieties are pole type beans, producing masses of flowers, and requiring (and attracting) pollinators to produce beans. 

Ayocote blanco beans have white flowers and white beans (like, duh!); morados have scarlet flowers and reddish-purple beans. I prefer the flavor of the blancos, although they are very sloo-ow to produce. Even here in mild Oakland you almost run out of season before they are ready to harvest.  

The morados get on with life in a more timely fashion. And they are so, so pretty. They also need to cook, and then cook some more, before settling into soft goodness. 

Ayocote Morado Beans

Autumn Colors

We went to the San Francisco Botanical Garden on Tuesday, expecting to see some fall colors. And there was one predominant color - green. Nonetheless, it was an engaging afternoon.

However, the Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park in Oakland had a few spectacular examples of trees changing color. No, no, not the redwoods, but the Chinese pistachio trees were in their full glory.

No Kings

Laura Andrillon/AFP via Getty Images

We, along with our friend Elizabeth, helped complete the "S" of "YES". We picked that spot because of the ocean views. Obviously, we weren't alone; an estimated 5,500 other friendly people were there, too.

I doubt that it will make much of a so-called real difference - yet - but it was a very fun morning. Highly recommended!

Really? That Can't Be True...

Yup, the Big Guy is turning one of those red-letter birthdays, and boy oh boy, is it a big one. Funny how the party napkins match the cat's Bird-Be-Safe collar. May we all be safe and happy these days!

One Plus One Equals Peperonata

 Finally, finally, finally. The San Marzanos are finally ripening, right along side of the peppers. 

San Marzano Tomatoes

Mountaineer Peppers

So it's peperonata (I don't exactly use the recipe from Joyce Goldstein's Enoteca, but I do look at it) almost every night. And I haven't heard any complaining. 

Buon Appetito!

Short, Wide, Proud

And keeping the bees quite happy (note honeybee at twelve o'clock on the flower). Standing at the lofty height of 34 inches, the seed head measures a grand 13 inches in diameter. We (me and the wee birdies, that is) have high hopes for collecting lots of seeds for the winter. Just need to come up with a plan for those pesky squirrels!

Oh look - there's two!

Trusty, Reliable and Functional

But completely out of date.

Waay, waay, waay back when, when scientific calculators were a necessary tool for graduate school (nope, I never really used much of that year-long study of statistics), I purchased the Sharp EL-509A. If I remember correctly, it wasn't cheap. Or maybe I was just really poor. 

Over the years I continued to use it when I needed to balance the checkbook (as if!) or do the taxes. It always worked. Until the other day, when it just wouldn't turn on. Not being one to give up too very easily, I raided the kitchen drawer (yes, that kitchen drawer. You know the one. Here we're only allowed to have one of those in the kitchen. But in the rest of the house - whew!) and came out with two different batteries for long-dead wristwatches - also on the verge of extinction, according to some. 

At any rate, the real hard work was discovering exactly how to remove the back cover to insert those batteries. Once that was accomplished, it, and I were back in business. That little bugger may be well superseded in this real world - "vintage" according to EBay - but with any luck, it'll just keep computing pi and add up utility bills and receipts for another I'm-not-going-to-tell-you-just-how-many years. 

The Golden Boy

He's big. He's bold. But he doesn't have a stinger. 

He's the Valley Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa varipuncta) and he came to visit the front garden last week.  He was especially partial to the purple veronica plants in bloom. He's quite a lot of insect to manage at first glance, but he does dress to impress.

Oh yeah, and he has green(ish) eyes. What a guy!

Birds, Birds and More Birds

A few weeks ago, I led a ceramics workshop: how to sculpt birds in clay. Birds that don't have to be "real" birds, but ones that still look like they could be real.

As you can see,  the students exceeded at the task: 

Can't wait to see them finished and glazed!