They're Everywhere! They're Everywhere!

          After writing a bit on Friday about jacaranda trees, I have been noticing them everywhere.  They're in the Trader Joe's parking lot.  They are growing along the freeway.  Obviously they have been planted in the dead spaces at the on and off ramps on The 101.  I've noticed those gorgeous towering blooming branches in the neighborhoods next to mine, along the avenues, and at the doctor's office.

          We moved to Southern California in February 2002.  That first spring I saw purple trees.   In that grey cement and black asphalt wasteland which is called Los Angeles, all of a sudden, there was purple.  Purple everywhere.  Magnificent purple trees lined the streets.  Then the blossoms dropped all over the grey and black and transformed it into a fairyland of lavender pathways.  As suddenly as the purple appeared, it disappeared.  I forgot about them.
          The next spring, those invisible trees bloomed again and everyone exclaimed about the 'jacaranda trees blooming'.  It seems that when the jacarandas bloom, it's a rite of passage from winter to true spring.  I assumed that 'jacaranda' was a Spanish word for a Spanish or Mexican tree and was pronounced 'haw-ca-rawnda'.  But, no.  The name originated from the Guarani language (in South America) and is pronounced 'jack-a-randa'.

          Evidently, people either love them or hate them.  They're big.  They're bossy and like to take over.  See those huge pods hanging down in bunches?  It turns out that they're messy, too.

Since I don't have to clean up after their messy throw-everything-on-the-ground-when-they're-done-with-it ways and I don't have to hack-saw them down, I love them.

May!

I was truly tempted to title this post May Day!  May Day!  I think everyone in the Northern Hemisphere is happy that May has arrived bringing spring and flowers and showers and sun.  I know I am happy that's it's May.  It's also Friday and that means celebrating Friday Fave Fives with Susanne.

1.  These trees!  Every year I look forward to finding the first blooming jacaranda tree of the season.  Usually jacarandas bloom in May.  They burst into brilliant purple after standing in nondescript anonymity all year long on streets and in parking lots.  

2.  May Gray.  Normally I'm not a fan of gloomy gray days.  But in May and June our climate is highlighted lowlighted by 'early morning coastal fog and low cloudiness'.  The clouds help keep the late spring/early summer temperatures down.

3.  Because of visitors coming, I put extra effort into having my whole house clean and uncluttered at the same time.  Usually I will focus on one part of the house and then the rest is ignored and gets cluttered up.  But visitors prompted a whole house pick up.  The cleaning isn't the fave--the tidy house is.

4.  Quiet mornings when I can sit and relax while sipping my coffee.

5.  Birds.  They chatter.  They chirp.  They sing.  I love listening to them.

Closing Out April

Happy Friday!  And Happy Friday Fave Fives.  Here is Willow's Week in five short bits of thankfulness.  And so we finish April.

1.  Trying to work on my macro photography.  Jasmine in my garden.  I am thankful for a good camera.

2.  After finishing six hats, I decided to pull out a new project.  Several years ago, I spun some fiber I bought on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.  I knitted a sweater -- nearly finished it.  But it just wasn't right.  It didn't fit.  So I abandoned it.  My niece lives now just north of where I bought the wool.  So this week I began knitting her a shawl to wear during those cold, damp months when this wool fiber will be warm and welcome.  I love a new project!

3.  Watching the 1965 production of The Agony and the Ecstasy.  Having been to Rome and the Sistine Chapel, I am enjoying this story of the painting of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo.

4.  Again this year, I planted milkweed plants in the garden.  The ones I put in last spring didn't survive the hungry caterpillars, the larvae of the monarch butterflies.  So I'm trying again.  This week I planted three more.  Here's hoping these thrive.

5.  This spring I have been studying The Lord's Prayer in my Friday morning Bible Study.  Do you know the Lord's Prayer?  Do you identify with praying it?  I've been reminded that my allegiance is for God and I recognize my dependence on Him.

“Pray, then, in this way:‘Our Father who is in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

‘Your kingdom come.

Your will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven. 

‘Give us this day [a]our daily bread.

‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from [b]evil. 

[c][For Yours is the kingdom

and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]

     

Little Things

This week my focus has been on little things.  Sometimes that is a good thing.  Not every week has to be 'amazing'.  But I'm still thankful.  Here are Willow's Week's Fave Fives, linked to Susanne's Friday Fave Fives.

1.  Garden.  An offer for free broccoli starts.  Planted five in my garden for another experiment.

2.  Garden.  The sweet potatoes are growing.  Some better than others.

3.  Garden.  This seems to be a theme...  We ate our first snap peas and I had a salad today with spinach and kale, all from the garden.

4.  Garden.  Do you know what this plant is?  It's cotton.  Brown cotton, to be specific. Yes, I have another experiment.  Will they grow?

5.  OK.  Changing focus.  Knitting.  I do love my hats!  I've finished four and am nearly done with the fifth.  How many will I make before I am bored with this pattern?  I found it interesting that when I was working on the green hat, two people commented on how they like the color--and it is my least favorite.

Bonus:  The fruit man at the farmers market gives me the apples which he can't sell because they are bruised or have small rotten spots.  Magically, they turn into dried apple slices in my dehydrator.  Over the past two weeks, I've cut and dried A LOT of batches of apples!

Being Thankful About Thankfulness

How do you keep track of your blessings?  Your wonderful weekly favorites?  Do you have a gratitude journal in which you nightly note the three (or four or five) best things from your day?  I am not so good at keeping any kind of a diary or journal, but I always think that I will be able to remember what has blessed me during the week so I can write my Friday Fave Fives.  Well.  Evidently, I have a terrible memory.  In my defense, I have two rather full days on Wednesday and Thursday, so my brain doesn't function optimally on Thursday evening or even Friday morning.

Like this week.  I was tired Thursday night and felt like "I just don't care" when it came to writing up my Fave Fives.  It's not really true that I don't care, but my brain wasn't working real well.  So I figured I would write my Friday Fave Fives first thing in the morning before I left at 9:00.  Huh.  That didn't happen.  So I am rather late to the game as they say.  Fortified with chocolate and coffee, I will attempt to force my brain to remember the best of the best from this past week.

Willow's Friday Fave Fives with encouragement each week from Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

1.  That chocolate I mentioned.  I have a policy that if a student (or former student) is doing a fund raiser, I will help the first person who asks me.  So, I agreed to purchase some See's Candy last month.  It was delivered on Thursday morning.  I may have already eaten several pieces...

2. Sometimes a Fave isn't about what you get but what you give.  This is actually a win-win.  We are doing some changes on the side of our driveway, removing red volcanic rock and white decorative rock that's been there since before we moved here nine years ago.  Two neighbors are thrilled to be the recipients of that rock.  We have been pulling it out and delivering by the bucket load and they are happily placing it where they need to do some fill in.

3.  A couple of days ago, I posted about all the purple in my garden.  Well, there's been purple on my needles, too.  I know this photo makes the hat look blue, but it's really closer to the shade of the flowers. (I know not why colors are off.)

4.  That hat pattern is a Fave.  It was a free pattern from Pickles in Norway.  I've been in a bit of a knitting slump--just bored and trying to focus on being enthusiastic again about it.   I decided that I like this pattern enough to make it in several colors.  Purple.  Check.  Green.  On the needles.  Light Lavender.  My next project.  We'll see how many Close Cables Hats I make before I am bored with this easy and cute pattern.

5.  Few things make me happier than seeing my garden grow!  We have kale and spinach ready for harvesting!

So.  What has bubbled up to the top of your consciousness this week that you recognize as a blessing, a Fave from your week?

Purple Season

It's purple time in Willow's Garden.  Usually, February is pink season when all the camellia bushes bloom in every shade of pink.  March tends to be yellow because that's when the correopsis blooms on all the hillsides in Southern California.

But April is purple time.  Sage and lavender begin to blossom and the osteospermum opens up its purple flowers.

What color is it in your garden?

Quietness on the Home Front

Short and Sweet this week.  No photos.  It was that kind of week.  However, it does not change the need to focus on thankfulness.  Here are Friday Fave Fives of Willow's Week.

1.  I am of a certain age.  Last week I received my first Social Security check.

2.  My artist friends group is meeting again on Fridays.  As we read through AWE, Why it Matters for Everything We Think, Say and Do (David Tripp), I am amazed at two things--I am reminded constantly of my need for AWE of God, and I am thankful that these talented, wonderful women consider me a friend.

3.  A little rain.  Last night's rain could be termed 'slight drizzle' but it's still RAIN and it watered our garden.  Every drop matters.

4.  Decision made.  Why I obsess over what books to use for a book review for fourth graders, I don't know.  But I finally decided on the books to use to model how to write a book review.

5.  Texting with my cousin.  I never had a sister, and she was my 'almost sister'.  We live 1,000 miles apart now, but it's like we are in the same room.  We dream of living in the same city or even the same state or region some day.

Hopefully next week will be a bright photo taking week!

Out Like a Lion

This darn cold/flu!  It has had me down for almost two weeks.  For me, March ended with me fighting this bear lion of a virus.  I've been able to function on a daily basis, barely, but coughing, etc., has made this week a very low activity one.  I didn't even take a single photograph.  Maybe it's what I needed.  While I've been 'resting', I've done a few organizing projects which I could do while sitting in my favorite chair.  And this is a definitely a Fave for me.  So, in spite of my 'slow week', here are my Fave Fives for this Friday.  (See? You can find blessings everywhere and anywhere.)

1.  My knitting patterns were in a mess.  Normally, I store them in a couple of three ring binders, but the binders were over full and showing their ages, so I replaced them with new binders and reorganized the tabs.

2.  I also reorganized the binders of warranties/instructions/receipts for things we own.  For the fronts of all the binders (see #1), I printed up sheets to identify categories of what is in each one.

3.  Then, I went through a few other files and either consolidated or cleared out excess to make it easier to find what I need.   I do love me some organized files.

4.  Every day I have made a point of being outside for awhile in the morning and the afternoon in the sunshine.  Mostly I've puttered around in the garden and done things like repot some plants or moved containers to sunnier (or shadier) spots.  I'm pleased to report that all of the sweet potatoes plants are still alive.

5.  Something in a conversation with one of my girls triggered a memory and so I pulled out my files of ancestors' records.  I've been reading through them and am simply amazed at the history of my family.  In more than one family tree, I (and The Professor, too) can claim the right to belong to the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution.  One of my great(times N) grandfathers crossed the Atlantic Ocean from England and landed in the New World in 1636.  One of my dad's cousins was an enthusiastic (and excellent) researcher and shared all her information with me.  I loved just sitting and reading about my family.

I hope you've had a week where you've noticed your favorite blessings!

Spring Break!

Last week of March.  Beginning of Spring.  Holy Week.  Easter.  So much to celebrate!  Here are my Friday Fave Fives for this week.

1.  Our little one PAL came with all her mommy's family to visit in Los Angeles.  While everyone else toured The Museum of Tolerance, we took PAL and her daddy to The Getty Center which is one of my favorite museums in the world.

2.  Saturday was spent with our PAL at Disneyland.  It was her first visit to The Magic Kingdom.  This face---she's watching the parade.

3.  I love when events and timing come together.  Dr. Mike was at a university near Disneyland for a conference and we were able to see him for a bit on Saturday evening and then again on Sunday for breakfast and lunch.  And the brothers (PAL's dad and Dr. Mike) had a couple of hours to hang out together.

4.  I'm thankful for Spring Break!  I guess my body really needed the rest since I've spend this entire week in the house sick with something. I seldom run a fever so when I do, I know I'm sick.  Fortunately, I've had the week off so I haven't missed any classes.

5.  Spring! The sun is shining.  The garden is growing. Everything is blooming.  Today I feel well enough to spend some time in the garden.  How long will it be before I can harvest some kale and spinach?

This was Willow's Week in Five short segments.  Happy Easter to everyone!  HE IS RISEN!

The Happiest Place

Disneyland.

The Happiest Place on Earth.

Tea Cups

Dumbo

Pirates of the Caribbean

The best part was the parade!

It's a Small World

Party Green

This week is St. Patrick's Week.  It's also my birthday week.  In fact, my birthday is on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th.  It's fun for me to have my birthday on a 'holiday'.  This has been a week filled with little blessings which I'm sharing as part of Friday Fave Fives.

1.  On Wednesday, a former student walked up to me and handed me a plate of cookies.  I was a bit surprised although I know we have talked this year about baking vegan cookies.  When I asked her if she knew that this week is my birthday, she replied, "No."  But it was serendipitous, don't you think?

2.  Two brothers ran bounding up (as only boys can do) with handmade birthday cards and a small pot of succulent plants and yelled, "Happy Birthday, Mrs. Willow!"  How did they know/remember?  It turns out that their mom has my birthday saved on her phone.  Every teacher loves a mom like that!  It also turns out that their grandma is a succulent plant enthusiast, and I am definitely benefiting from her expertise.

3.  Have you ever received a gift of flowers delivered to your home?  I never had.  But This, Year. my sweet friend sent me a beautiful bouquet.

4.  When your hubby asks, "What would you like for your birthday?" it's always a good idea to have an answer ready.  My desire was not an expensive thing.  I wanted a tea ball spoon.  Evidently, he visited my favorite tea shop and found exactly the right one.

5.  For obvious reasons, St. Patrick is my favorite church father (followed closely by St. Francis of Assisi).  Everyone is familiar with various Irish prayers.  Here is part of one of my favorites:

In the name of the King of life

In the name of the Christ of Love

In the name of the Holy Spirit

The Triune of my strength.

May God shield me,

May God fill me,

May God keep me,

May God watch me,

May God bring me this night,

To the nearness of his love.

The peace of the Father of joy,

The peace of the Christ of hope,

The peace of the Spirit of grace.

May you all have a Happy (St. Patrick's) Weekend!  We'll be off celebrating with my PAL and her parents.

Rain, Garden and Work

I didn't expect this week to be as busy as it was.   My boss is gone on an emergency family matter, so the rest of us have been picking up some extra classes.   My extra duties aren't that much but it has made a difference in my week's schedule.  I had intended to write more about our hike from last week, but I just didn't have the time to do it.  Nevertheless, I tried hard to slow down when I could and relax and focus on the blessings of the week.  This is an important part of my week--Friday Fave Fives.

1.  Rainstorms.  Complete with lightning and thunder.  In most of the US, that wouldn't be a big deal, but here rain is scarce and thunderstorms are even scarcer.

2.  I happened on a gardening web series which I've been watching this week.  It's been amazing!  I've watched presentations about bee keeping, composting, seed saving, modern victory gardens, fruit tree grafting, and herbal medicines.  I love gardening and I've learned so much.

3.  The details:  growing your own food has a long and noble history.  Americans grew Liberty Gardens in World War I and Victory Gardens in World War II.  Now we can grow our own food and save money and energy AND have excellent nutrition and flavor right in our back garden.

4.  I loved this comment:  Bring the store to your home.

5.  A sobering quote and thought from Wendell Berry (Pleasures of Eating):

We still (sometimes) remember that we cannot be free if our minds and voices and controlled by someone else.  But we have neglected to understand that we cannot be free if our food and its sources are controlled by someone else.

The only photo I took was of this funny quail booking it across the road in front of my house.  I had to zoom in and then crop it a bit.  Doesn't it look like a postage stamp image?

In Like a Lamb

March has arrived, gently and softly, like a lamb.  Willow's Week has been mostly uneventful with just 'the usual' activities of work, church, small groups, Bible study class, farmers market, and spinners/weavers guild monthly meeting.  These are the best and brightest spots--my Five Fave which like always I share as Friday Fave Five with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.  Here's the link.

My Fave Five from Willow's Week:

1.  A bit more gardening was done.  Mucking around in my garden is at least as much fun for me as harvesting the produce.  I planted kale and spinach next to the snap peas.

2.  I also planted six sweet potato starts.  This is a first for me, so I've made a little experiment to determine how best to grow sweet potatoes in my garden and planted three different ways. After watching several youtube videos, I still couldn't decide on how to plant them.  So I thought, "I'll just try all three."  It'll be fun to check out the results in about four months.

3.  Saturday was a beautiful day!  We hiked in the Satwiwa area of the Santa Monica Mountains.  It's very mountainous (hence the Santa Monica MOUNTAINS) and so after we left the valley, it was all up and down.  (I'm planning a more detailed post on the area since I've hiked it several times since the May 2013 Springs Fire which roared past my home and on into this area, burning all the vegetation to the ground.)

Satwiwa Meadow

4.  The poppies are blooming everywhere now.  I love these cheery, cheeky flowers--our state flower.

5.  I love our nightly walks.  We decided that if we are going to walk every day, it would have to be in the evenings since our schedules are dissimilar and every day of the week is different.  We often meet the same people out walking which is always pleasant.  And best of all, for the first time ever, I'm taking some interest in astronomy.  Finally, I (sort of) understand how the moon works, how it changes moon rise through the month.

It may still be winter, but it's March.  Soon, soon, it will be spring with more garden and more hikes and more poppies.

Last One in February

Fourth and Last February Friday Fave Fives list.

How is it possible that we are one-sixth of the way through 2016?

Friday Fave Fives is a way to remember the best blessings.

Remember--it's always a good day when no one has shot at you, and you were able to get out of bed and drink your coffee.

1.  Spring is really and truly here.

At the farmers market last weekend, we found the first asparagus of the season.

We ate it at dinner that evening and as we were savoring each bite, The Professor stated, "You need to make this one of your Fave Fives for next Friday!'

2.  On Sunday The Professor and I attended a healthy living conference.  I've gone before, but this year he elected to join me.  It's an all day affair and includes a super healthy breakfast and lunch. Excellent speakers and excellent information.

3.  I love my garden. It's spring!  It's a perfect combination.

My garden has begun sprouting!

So far, I've planted snap peas and carrots.

I think my garden could make my Five Faves list every week.

4.  I love the small beasts which are around greeting me as I water or weed.  Mr. Lizard has a very long tail.

I don't know much about birds, but I do recognize the tiny hummingbirds.  Here is one perched on the aloe vera spike.  He sat there and scolded me the whole time I was outside photographing him.

5.  Remember this yarn?

I handspun it last summer and didn't have a plan for it.

But my friend who has conscripted me to be her indentured knitting worker loves it, so I made a shawl for her.  It's done and delivered to her, but of course I forgot to take a photo.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Enjoy the outdoors.

Take time to rest and relax.

Declutter something and simplify your life.