Who's There?

Song - Step Inside This House by Lyle Lovett



 Still knocking......

This is a pair of beautiful gate grill ornaments from Paris, France

And a fire breathing door latch on Josephine Bakers home in the Dordogne.

 An elegant door knocker from Umbria, Italy on a beautiful wooden door.



"Personality can open doors,
 but only character can keep them open."

--Elmer G. Letterman

Sixty and Counting

Video - The Squirrel, the Physicist and the Bird Feeder by Claude Lyneis

Zipper the squirrel just chillin'

So Friday is day number 60 of shelter in place!

And I am wondering how you and your families are doing?

If you are anything like me, there are good days and not so good days.

Some days I get a lot done around the house and in the garden.

Other days I want to sit and read.

Some days I find an interesting recipe, order the ingredients and cook to my hearts delight while listening to fun music.

Other days nothing sounds appealing....

But I do think I am adjusting and each day gets better and better.  I also feel like the warmer weather has helped. And seeing my garden bloom!

Hang in there and chill.....like Zipper!



**I hope you watch the video at the top of my post. A woman I have painted with for many years - Joanne Taeuffer has a neighbor in Berkeley and he is the one who filmed this hilarious video! Just see who has the last laugh Shirley the squirrel or Claude the physicist?

"Take life one SIP at a time"

-- Jeanette

I Hear Bells

Song -  Mission Bell by Donnie Brooks

In 2017 Mr. B and I traveled to England and while there we visited Wells Cathedral and The Bishops Palace.  I was looking forward to seeing the amazing clock in the cathedral and the ringing swans in the garden at the palace.  The swans have been trained since 1850 to ring a bell on the gatehouse when they want to be fed.  Unfortunately for us the the couple who had been working there for the last 25 years had just returned to the United States so the swans were not ringing........

In 2018 the male swan died and the female left with her cygnets so that left the pond empty.  But not for long as the trust received two breeding swans from a rescue in 2019 and they are ringing again!

You can now view Grace & Gabriel on their "swan-cam"

Blackbirds

Song - Blackbird by Paul McCartney

Blackbirds social distancing 

in 

 Bodega, California (where else?)

where they filmed "The Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock



"Mrs. Bundy: I hardly think a few birds 
are going to bring about the end of the world. 

Melanie Daniels: These weren't a few birds."

-- The Birds 

How Old???

Song - The Memory Of The Trees by Enya

The Old Olive Tree - Pont du Gard, France

A plaque has been set in the ground near this tree and it reads: 

“I was born in 908 AD in Spain and was planted by the Pont du Gard in 1988 – 1080 years later.”

How would you like to be the gardener responsible for replanting this tree???

Pont du Gard - A Roman Aquaduct

Built 1st Century AD

"Learn character from trees, 

values from roots and change from leaves."

-- Tasneem Hameed

A Bee and Her Basket

Song - Queen Bee by Freakwater

Two bees and their pollen baskets

Enjoying my Camellias earlier this spring



"The hum of the bees is the voice of the garden."

-- Elizabeth Lawrence