Called On Account of Rain

Song - All We Do - Oh Wonder - Cover by Sierra Eagleson


It's raining again here in California, so Mr. B and I decided to head to the art museum in San Francisco to see the Monet exhibit.  We timed it perfectly so we wouldn't get stuck in commuter traffic or the Giant's home opener traffic.  Off to the Legion of Honor! 

I showed the lady our online tickets, picked up our audio guides and went to walk in and saw.......

 ....this....

....and this.....oops.....that does not look like Monet!  It was a Rubens exhibit......did we miss it?
Nope.  I had the wrong museum!  So while we did take a quick peek at the Rubens show (not really our cup of tea) we quickly headed over to the deYoung to see Monet.

 Now that's better.......

 Just look at all the colors he used in this close-up........

The exhibit was titled - Monet: The Late Years and included about 50 pieces of art that he did from 1913-1926, where he spent most of his time at home in Giverny, his home near Paris France.

 He loved his garden and was passionate about his Lily Pond. He would often paint the same view at different times of the day to see how the colors changed.

 Once again, amazing color on top of color.

 In his later years he developed cataracts and eventually had surgery to correct his vision.  His palate changed from blues and greens to orange and yellows.

 But still powerful color....

 Also at the deYoung was a Gauguin exhibit that was interesting and is the first one at the Fine Arts Museum dedicated to the work of Paul Gauguin.

 He met and married his wife, a Danish women, Mette-Sophie Gad and they had five children.  After 11 years their marriage fell apart when Paul Gauguin decided to paint full time. 

This is a tiny portrait of his wife - about 3 x 4".

 Paul Gauguin - 1848-1904

 Similar to Monet, Gauguin had layer upon layer of color.

Amazing color in the water..... 

While Mr. B and I did get to see three amazing exhibits, we did miss our first home opener with the Giants in 19 years.  While returning home we saw the fireworks from the freeway and I had my camera ready for the fly-over (my favorite!) but alas we either missed it or they did not do it this year.

The only fly-over I saw was a big black crow flying over our car!

"I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers." 

--Claude Monet

Ah, Spring....

Song - The Four Seasons -Spring - Allegro by Antonio Vivaldi

"The first blooms of Spring always make my heart sing."

--S. Brown

Nesting Instinct

Song - You've Got a Friend in Me by 4-year old Claire Ryann and Dad

Suddenly Spring is here!  After months of rain my bulbs are flowering, the trees all have baby shoots on them and the birds are so happy right now......as love is in the air!

 These are Band-Tailed Pigeons and while daddy watches out for hawks......

....mama takes a little rest and looks around to see if it's a nice neighborhood to raise a brood in.

 Meanwhile a couple of Oak Titmouse are building a nest in Mr. B's wedding ranch bird house for the third year in a row! They sing to each other in the sweetest way and both are working on building the nest.

 Luckily I wired the house onto the Japanese Maple tree several weeks ago so now it's pretty stable.

 Mama bird didn't like a piece of moss that daddy bird brought in.......

.....so it's outta here!

And just beneath their house are a bunch of twigs that were too big to fit through the hole!

A work in progress......

I'll let you know when I hear the pitter-patter of little birdie feet!

"Sometimes, simply by sitting, 

the soul collects wisdom."

~Zen proverb

Constantly Evolving

Song - Changes by David Bowie

Back in 1996 we purchased our home and this is what the garden looked like at the time.  But Mr. B and I could see the "bones" of the property and fell in love. So the guy working in the yard then is the same gardener working in our yard today.  Every time I ask him to move something that he put in twenty years ago, he just shakes his head and laughs.

Once the yard was cleared of ivy & pyracantha we began to plan.  And gardens are constantly evolving because hey trees grow and a once sunny patch becomes shady so the plants that used to thrive in the sunshine, now need to be changed out.

This week we are tearing out the plants in our "island" (it's not really an island, more of a peninsula). It became a beautiful rose garden but it has seen better days and is a little too busy for my taste now.  As I searched through photos to show you the before and after, I realized that I rarely took photos of the island because it was not a beautiful focal point.  Yes I enjoyed the individual roses, most of which were David Austin fragrant English roses but I failed to enjoy them in a mass.

I kept eight of my favorite ones to replant elsewhere and closed my eyes and tossed the rest.  As we pulled the plants away from the stone wall we realized that the wall has begun to lean over time and needs to be restacked.

This is the corner where the island meets the vegetable patch and was fairly straight three years ago.

Two more Japanese Maples will be planted in the back, the stone wall rebuilt and raised higher at the bottom, a fountain will be placed where that stake is and the rest of the area will be filled in with white Iceberg roses so it will feel cleaner and less chaotic.

I'll keep you posted as long as my gardener isn't laughing too hard at my changes!

"Nothing happens unless something is moved."  

--Albert Einstein

Dueling Ladles

Song - Animal Crackers in My Soup by Shirley Temple

A winter tradition is held by our neighbors and friends, Bob & Chris. They bring together about 10 - 12 couples for an annual soup party where each couple brings a pot of their favorite soup to compete for the "Silver Ladle".  In 2017 Mr. B won with his Award Winning Tomato Soup (click the link to see his win and his recipe).

And on Saturday night......guess who won?

I came home with the Silver Ladle for my Award Winning Broccoli Soup!

If you would like the recipe, just click on the Recipes tab on right side of my site. 

It's a perfect meal on a cold winter night!

"Good manners: 

The noise you don't make when you're eating soup."

-- Bennett Cerf

Ninety Years Loved

Song - Happy Birthday Swing by the Lucky Seven

Two weeks ago I was at home and knee deep in flowers and loving every minute of it!

Even though today is my mom's true birthday, 

we had a little party for her two weeks ago to celebrate.

We celebrated at Il Fornaio in downtown Walnut Creek

 and the space turned out to work perfectly for us.  

It was a cold and rainy day but we had a room full of windows and happy guests.

Fifty-two of them to be exact because as you can see Betty is well loved!

Children were cuddled....

 ......flowers brightened the room......

....and cake was devoured!

A Very Happy 90th to you Mom!

Love is In The Air

Song - When The Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin' Along by Bing Crosby


California is finally getting some rain and the creek in our backyard roared all night long.  It's a good sound to hear as we have had too many years of drought.  When I woke up on Valentines day and looked out at our empty vegetable garden, I spotted these two love birds trying to decide if they should go out on a date.........

......or not.

And just yesterday I spotted a Robin in our Privet berries.......but look who is beneath him......a Cedar Waxwing.

Before I knew it the trees were full of Waxwings and Robins.

They were very good about taking turns eating as some of them 

would wait in this Oak tree on the other side of our yard and then when it was their turn, 

they would dive right into that clump of berries. It kinda felt like I was in that Hitchcock movie with birds multiplying by the second!

Their break consisted in getting a drink of water to wash down all the berries 

and then wait in a nearby tree.

"No winter lasts forever; 

no spring skips its turn."

--Hal Borland