Thumbs of Death Attempt Rehabilitation

The truth of the matter is that I've pretty much killed every plant I've ever had, including cacti, succulents and other death resistant plants. Usually death comes by way of unintentional neglect. Like I forget to water the plant. Really, I'm horrible.

Despite my murderous tendencies, a friend of mine believed I could be rehabilitated. Over the years of suggestions, hints, offers to help, assurances that I could keep plants alive and happy, he finally got me to a nursery. Now I have a garden.

It's been about a month since I started. Granted, that's not much time, but if you can believe it, I go out every morning to visit my plants. Even if I'm running late for work, I make sure to go out back. Mostly I talk to them. I tell them how beautiful they are, how in awe of them I am, how amazing it is that they are growing so well.

In the evenings and on the weekends I look out on the garden and think of all the possibilities. I have a big backyard. Though there are three of us in my building, I'm pretty much the only one who ever uses the back. I like BBQs (except when my friends are trying to burn the place down) and having little gatherings outside. So thinking of the possibilities of a beautiful garden is easy. Right now I'm imagining more garden gnomes, Buddha sculptures, a fountain and a bench. How nice it would be to have a garden with a bench.

But it's not all chats with flowers and day dreaming. I've been filling up a lot of composting bins with weeds and ivy and trees that have gone wild. I've been terrified - and have terrified - spiders and beetles. I was pruned by a tree I was pruning - and yes, I was wearing gardening gloves! I've had a lot of hot showers to ease aching parts of my body not used to such labors and I've depleted my Advil stash. It's been worth it.

I know, you're thinking, "Don't get too excited, Beth, it's only been a month."

Yes, that's true. And I am a Sagittarius and therefore I am prone to getting very excited about something only to lose interest when the next exciting thing comes along. So I'll admit, you shouldn't hold your breath. But still. A garden! Flowers! Gnomes!

In the beginning there was chaos... And, frankly, a big mess...

The Corner of Dread

And then we cleared and dumped and clipped and potted and there was something like order...

The Corner of Dread not so dreadful any longer!

Okay, not much order, but it was a start. Things started to grow, I pruned, and I added a few more plants...

Beautiful things made their presence known...

I added more things, pruned more things, and arranged things, and puttered... I hear gardeners putter...

We aren't getting much rain and it is California, so all that green will soon go brown. I'm not sure what the potted plants will do but fog should help and we did try to find drought tolerant plants. I'm sure that if I keep visiting them each morning they'll survive my deadly instincts. That's my hope.

It sure is nice to have a garden.

 

Family Time

Last weekend the extended and diverse Forest-related clan came together to celebrate the life of Lucy Forest who, at 94 years of age, finally slipped peacefully into the unknown beyond. While the coming together was bitter-sweet, getting to spend time with Uncle Jim, Nancy, Tamara, Sam, Joyce and Ed helped get me through the weekend in good spirits. I didn't take as many photos as I should have, but here are a few worth sharing.

Uncle Jim at Joyce and Ed's

Nancy at Joyce and Ed's

Nancy and Jim

Tamara and Me

Jim and Tamara

Tamara and Sam

Us at Dinner

Family, however you come by it - by blood or choice - is vital and precious.

I may not have taken any pictures at Lucy's service, but I picture my extended family clearly, from the oldest members of our crazy clan all the way down to our newest editions.

And three cheers for Lucy!

Lucy at her Queen for a Day Celebration of Life

 

And There Shall Be Lilacs

In the spring of 2014 I had to go up to Spokane for a small conference at Gonzaga University. I was staying downtown at the very elegant Davenport Hotel. I just so happened to check-in just a few hours before the start of the annual Lilac Festival Parade.

I haven't seen a true small-town parade in ages, so this was a real treat. It was a pretty long parade - I think over 200 entrants. I managed to watch about a third of it before deciding I'd seen enough cheerleaders, color guards, military representatives and cowgirls and was ready for a few cocktails in the hotel bar.

I took a ton of photos. A few are here, but all my favorites (don't worry, there are only about 22 of them) are on Flickr in my Spokane Lilac Festival album. Please be sure to check them all out for the full vicarious experience.

OMG No Way! Lilac fluff!

Seriously? Goggles?

Cowgirl!

 

 

 

Fort Point Wandering

This morning I went with Kathleen for coffee. My plan was to try out Wreaking Ball on Union St. because I recommended it as a place for my niece to try out when she's here (my friend had gotten some beans there and gave it a good reference), but we couldn't find a parking spot. Instead, we went over to the Warming Hut (a great cafe location, but not great lattes) on Chrissy Field in the Presidio. Since we were down there, we decided to walk out to the bridge and Fort Point.

My favorite photos of our walk are on Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/snarfff), but here are a few for the bellhops.

Hope you enjoy.

 

SFUSD Tudor

On Saturday mornings, if I wake up early enough, I like to go have a latte and some wheat soda bread with cheese at Andytown Roasters out on Lawton. I noticed driving home one day what seems to be a closed up school on 42nd Ave. At least, I hope it's closed up! Every time I've driven by, I've thought, "I should take some photos of that building. It's kinda cool looking, reminds me of Tudor England." After thinking this numerous times and not stopping because the light never seemed right, I finally said the hell with the light, parked and pulled out Madge.

The shots aren't great, but I hope they are a little interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

Poetry & Strolling

This evening I went over to The Great Overland Book Company - one of the few used bookstores still in my Inner Sunset neighborhood - for a poetry reading organized by a friend of mine. The guest poets were Candy Shue and Micah Ballard. I will confess I'm one of those who has never learned to appreciate poetry, though there are a small few I have magically connected with, most notably Rilke. I'm not one to give up trying, however, and I was pleasantly surprised tonight, especially by some of the poems Ballard read. I will have to check his work out a bit more. He's a USFer so I should be able to pick something up by him at the campus bookstore when I'm on lower campus this week.

If you are a fan of The Great Overland Book Company and/or an Inner Sunset dweller, keep your eye out for future readings, events referred to as "Poets Upstairs", as I am told there will be more such gatherings. You can look for details on Foglights.

Walking home, listening to some Brian Eno/David Byrne, I captured a couple of photos. I like night light.

I'm glad I crawled out into the night this evening.