This 'n That

I've been gardening...

Icelandic Poppies, geraniums, pansies, violas, and hydrangeas.

I've been going for walks...

Taking care of my cats, and taking care that they don't eat any of my houseplants!

I've been going for lots of drives, since spring is so beautiful up here.  This was how Lake Gregory looked on a day about a week ago, but when I turned to face the other direction, a fog (Marine Layer from the Pacific ocean) was pouring over the mountains down into the valley.  So I drove up through it and got above it. 

This is what it looked like from above.  High level clouds above the San Gabriel range in the background, and the Marine Layer pouring over, around and through the western end of the San Bernardino range.

And, of course, I've been drinking lots of tea, reading lots of books, and taking lots of photographs.  I'm taking most of my photos now with my iPhone X as it's so much easier for me to handle with my arthritic hands.  You can find me over on Instagram, where I post everyday, as Brushstrokes6400. 


Linking with Saturday's Critters

Sunday Sunlight

This photo is from June of 2007.  There isn't any sunshine around today; last night it snowed, and today the mountains that I live in are wrapped in fog and rain.  After all the rain we've gratefully received I'm looking forward to being able to plant a few pots with some pretty blooms this spring.  I might even replace one or two rose bushes that expired from drought.

This map shows what areas are still being affected by drought.  The white areas are where the drought is over, the yellow areas indicate "abnormally dry," the beige areas indicate "moderate drought," and the two orange areas indicate "severe drought."  The area where I live is still considered abnormally dry...maybe I better rethink replacing those water-hogging rosebushes and just stick with cheerful pots of annuals.

Wednesday's Winding Road

This time, a winding garden path in happier times when it was green...

Interesting Times

This isn't what any place in my garden looks like right now (I took this photo in June of '07), and I'd be ashamed to show you what my poor garden does look like right now!  But...the weather has been so strangely (horribly) nice that while I was outside puttering around today I found myself thinking, "Hmmm...maybe later today I should check the garden center and see what they have in stock."  Then I caught myself and realized they would have nothing in stock in January! 

We've had a couple of little earthquakes in the past week, the nearest centered about 30 miles away.  There is a fire burning to the west of us in the Glendora foothills.  It poses no threat to these mountains at all.  However, a fire that's burned over 1,900 acres and destroyed several homes is unheard of in Southern California in January.  In a normal January in California, there might be flooding in some areas...never wild fires. 

I was watering the trees that my hoses will reach today because the Governor has declared a State of Emergency due to our on-going drought (several years now), rapidly shrinking reservoirs, and only two feet of snow pack in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which is where Southern California gets most of its water.  Normally at this time of year the snow pack is twenty-five feet deep, in a good rain/snow year it's not unusual for it to be fifty feet deep.  So I was watering the trees while I can, because I'm pretty sure the next step the Governor takes will be to implement mandatory water rationing. 

What keeps going through my mind is that old expression/curse: May you live in interesting times.

A Thing of Beauty

"A garden is a thing of beauty and a job forever."  Richard Briers 

I think Mr. Briers is exactly right.  I trimmed back all the ivy in the studio garden just two months ago and it's already swallowing everything up again.  I probably shouldn't water it so much, but there are other things in the ivy that need a lot of water...and the ivy is so green and pretty, plus it's one of the few things that will stand up to the mayhem caused in my garden by the raccoons.  Sometimes, though, I get the feeling that if I stand still too long in my little garden the ivy will swallow me up! 

Faeries Friday - Giardina

A guardian angel, instead of a faerie, on this Friday.

A Mystery

Faeries Friday - Nerida

This is Nerida, who perches on a shelf outside my studio's largest window. I found Nerida waiting to be adopted by me in a little shop in Coos Bay, Oregon. I spotted her in the shop window and immediately went inside and asked her if she wanted to live in the mountains of California with me. She said "Sure, as long as I can take my book with me!" I assured her she could, and I told her I even had many more books that she could borrow. She lives inside my studio in the winter, as do all my garden faeries. None of them are dressed for winter weather!
If you look closely, you can see the Cape Arago lighthouse in the distance. People in Oregon are supposed to be notoriously hateful of Californians, but we didn't encounter any of that attitude at all.


Anyway, Nerida has been happily reading in my garden for years now. I have several other Faeries that also like to read (they will make their appearance in later posts). I think they've formed a book club! I'm always finding books left in the garden (they seem to be partial to murder mysteries, gardening books and, of course, Faerie tales), and the Faeries never seem to be exactly where I left them...

Wordless Wednesday - Earth Star

Oh, How Sweet.....

their little faces are.  The other end...not so much.  I've never been sprayed though, knock on wood.  These little guys are in front of my studio.  I was laying down on the path, trying to get a picture of the path lights without using my strobe.  I heard a little chirping, whirring noise to my left, and when I turned my head there they were!  The two in the foreground are babies and you can see the mother's tail in the upper left of the photo. 

Although people think I'm crazy, I adore skunks.  I vastly prefer them to the raccoons, which trash my garden on a regular basis.  The skunks never trash, they just dig gently around the plants in search of bugs to eat.  They never disturb the roots, they just dig out the nasty things that might be eating the roots.  I sort of think of them as my little garden helpers. 

And there is another bonus to having skunks around.  Put up a few signs that read 'warning: skunks in area' and you never have to worry about unwanted nocturnal human 'visitors' again! 

The Last Rose of Summer

Even though it's horribly hot today (84 F up here, 107 down in the valley where my sister lives) this will be the last rose for this growing season. In a couple of weeks the temperatures will drop drastically...I hope. They've always done so in the past, but the weather is so abnormal this year, who knows? I always take extra time to inhale the delicious scent of the last rose, fixing it firmly in memory. Then, in the depths of winter, all I have to do is close my eyes, inhale deeply and I'm back in the warmth of my summer garden.

My Double-Ruffled Impatiens won't last much longer either. They can't take temperatures much below 45 F.

They've always reminded me of little miniature rose blossoms. Unfortunately, they have no fragrance. They do well in pots and hanging baskets, so I have them all over. I've been after my husband for years to build a greenhouse for me so I can over-winter my Impatiens and Fuchsias, but alas...

I'm always amazed when I go down to visit my sister. She has Fuchsias growing in the ground that are four to five feet high!!! It's like visiting another country when I drive from these mountains down into the flat lands.

Memory...What's That?

This is one of my favorite little nooks in my back garden to sit and dream. (Note to self: Trim the greenery, it's swallowing the Reading Fairy). I had just finished watering; sadly, I have to water the in-ground plants twice weekly and the potted ones every day. The green plastic hanging pot in the upper right did have some wonderful deep pink double-ruffled Impatiens in it, but the baby Steller Jays kept using it as a resting place and finally squished it out of existence. Ah well, all in a good cause. I have some beautiful hanging planters that I kept meaning to transplant the Impatiens into, but I would usually think about that in the middle of doing a million other things and then I would forget. I'm getting just a little too good at this forgetting thing, but I'm not having much success in combating it.

There are not many blooms on the Hydrangeas, but I was surprised that they bloomed at all this year. Normally I mulch them heavily, then put black plastic over the whole thing. It's really too cold in the winter to grow them easily up here, but I have a couple of protected spots where they do okay along as long as I remember to coddle them. I mulched them last winter but forgot the black plastic. I've now made up a list of things that need to be done in the autumn so here's hoping I won't forget where I put the list!

My Mama told me that with age comes wisdom but she didn't tell me that wisdom pushes memory right out. She probably forgot...

Oh How I Wish...

that this gorgeous rose were blooming in my garden! I just don't get enough sun. So I have to be, for the most part, content with shade plants, although I do have some Fairy Roses, a Rugosa, and a tea rose. The tea rose has never bloomed and the others only put out a few blooms. But bless the people who have enough sun and do choose to plant beautiful roses and other sun-loving flowers. I've never seen a rose that is such a perfect shade of apricot. And bless them twice for not picking it, but leaving it for passers-by to enjoy!