-
Fledgling, a tragedy
I was at my desk late this afternoon working when I heard the cat door thunk, followed by loud, distressed squeaks. I ran downstairs to find Beryl skulking back outside with a bird in her mouth. It looked limp and lifeless. I tried to encourage her to drop it but she kept running away. When…
-
Post-GW Garden Report
Two weeks off weeding to enjoy time with guests has put me far behind the curve of growth. We had a big rain that kept me indoors yesterday so I ventured out this morning to have a look at the situation around the property. Mist was rising out of the valley and it was beautifully…
-
Week two, what did we do?
Jeanie and Tim are returning home today and I have a week’s worth of memories to journal. I tried to take more photos this time, but I still failed to capture all the moments. Tuesday, April 30: A slow morning. Laundry. It was rainy so we spent a day at home. There might have been…
-
Happy 55th
Tod’s mom baked his favorite birthday cake and we invited friends over to enjoy it with us. We spent the day preparing. Tim & I hung lights in the garden while Jeanie baked. Evening came and so did the guests. Our first party on the patio was a success. Happy birthday, Tod!
-
How an Artist Builds a Fence
Engineers, please do not read. In my imagination and vision, the patio still has some tasks to accomplish. One of them is putting up a fence to wall off the garden compost pile (formerly Gomi-yama #2) from the sitting area. A fence would make a visible end to the space and also provide a background…
-
Stripey Tiles
The Tiles Mines have finally yielded a finished product at 555! For the last two weeks, in between rainy days, Sakaguchi-san has been coming over to lay the tiles I laid out in stripes in November. Yes, they sat there for six months before anything happened to them. My plan was creative and complicated. The…
-
Hammer Knife Rotor
Feeling overwhelmed by the long grass today, I asked Kawasaki-san if I could use the hammer knife rotor. He gave me and Tod a quick tutorial and off we went. It’s been a dream for two years to try this beast! It is a powerful and complicated machine with a lot of controls. A pull-start…
-
Teaching the Birds a Song
This morning I opened the window and heard loud and eager songbirds. A trio of brownish birds held a concert in a tangle of vines and trees. I listened. The cats listened. It was glorious. I tried to capture a video, but the sound quality on my phone doesn’t do it justice. Here it is…
-
Feather protocol
It’s very clear to me that I am not a squeamish person. Last night one of the cats brought a bird into the house. It was consumed except for the wings and the feathers, which were spread all along the triangle where floor meets roof next to my desk. It was too much after a…
-
Patio touches
I wanted to call these “final touches” but let’s face it, nothing is ever final. But for now, the patio is ready to go. I planted two dozen moss flox (shiba-zakura, an old-fashioned favorite in Japan), plus another 2 dozen assorted low growing herbs and plants like wooly thyme, veronica, and Coriscan mint in the…
Archives