Theodore Payne Foundation for California Wild Flowers and Native Plants

This sign was posted at Descanso Gardens, but I thought it was a wonderful tribute to Theodore Payne, the pioneer of modern California native gardens.

At both Descanso Gardens and Payne Nursery the wild flowers were abundantly featured.  Many of these beauties will be planted in my back hill garden among the poppies that already bloom there.

Sages and grasses are important staples in a California native garden.

Cleveland sage

Point Sal Sage grows low (2 ft) and wide (8 ft). We've already purchased two of these wonderfully fragrant sages.  I plucked a leaf for my neighbor to smell and she kept it, crushing and sniffing its pungent odor throughout the day.

Native grasses help to stabilize slopes.  I think these will add structural interest when they poke up through the sage.

I'm wondering if our interest in California native plants is unusual or if people from other regions of the world encourage the growth of native trees, bushes and flowers.  Where you live, do you focus on native plants from your area?

A Promise Fulfilled--Descanso Gardens

This visit was not our first one to Descanso Gardens.  Four years ago, we spent a day there with Mia to celebrate The Professor's birthday.  You can see the posts I wrote at that time here and here if you care.

This year, we skipped the rose garden and focused most of our time on the California native section.  But the entire garden still drew us in and fascinated us.

near the entrance

japanese gate

oak tree canopies

Everything from the mundane green beans spiraling up an inverted tomato cage

to exotic lilies

to unusual tree blossoms blooming concurrently with little buds and shriveled pods

to tree needles that simply caught my attention.

And that doesn't include the CA natives or Theodore Payne Nursery because I don't want to overload the senses with too many intoxicating photos in one post. 

Payne Nursery coming soon.

Best of The Week Awards

We've been away this past week visiting our daughter and grandson in the eastern half of the US.  Even though I (well, actually The Professor) lugged my laptop through the airports, through security, into and out of the planes, I connected to the internet with it only once while I was gone.  I think that next trip, I won't bother.  However, the lack of easy, constant online access other than via my phone kept me from reading and commenting on many blogs.  I'm working to catch up now that we're home.  And here it is already, Friday, and time for my favorite post of the week:  Friday Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.

A chance comment by my husband got me thinking about awards, specifically the "best of" kind.  My week held several "bests" to share.

1.  The Best Los Angeles Friend of the Year Award goes to our friend Kristie who still picked us up from LAX at 2:30AM after our flight was delayed leaving Minneapolis because of a mechanical problem with the plane.  Then she allowed us to crash in a freshly made bed until morning.  She's definitely No.1 Best LA Friend in our opinion!

2.  Best Grandson of the Year Award was an easy choice.  He's cute, he's three, he's our only one.

3.  Best Harry Potter Movie of the Year Award.  Again, it's the only Harry Potter Movie of 2011, but it was still great fun to see Deathly Hallows 2 with Kiti and her friend.  It was fitting that I was knitting the sleeves of a Weasley Sweater for Our Boy during the movie.

"You want me to sit here on the porch and have my picture taken in my new sweater?"

"Cheese!"



"Are we done yet?  I want to go back inside and play with my trains."

4.  After seven nights away, our own bed was given the Best Place to Sleep Award.  We love to travel and we especially love snuggling with Our Boy on the bed, but you know how it is--it's always wonderful to crawl back in to your own bed when you arrive home again.

5.  Finally, the Best Return to California Beach Walk Award--goes to Pt. Dume (DooMAY) Nature Preserve.  Wanting to put our feet firmly back on Coastal California sand after our truly lovely trip east of the Mississippi River, we stopped on the way home from Los Angeles along Pacific Coast Highway.  The last time I was at Pt. Dume State Beach was 12 hours before I went in to labor with my second child.  I was already a week overdue to birth our little girl and could barely waddle across the sand and certainly could not climb any rise or dune.  But waddle I did along the beach in the wet sand.  Fun memories.  Anyway, we decided to detour to the beach at the 'north' end of Malibu, found an easy place to park and hiked up to the Pt. Dume look out and then down to the beach.  Considering how crowded Zuma State Beach was, we were surprised at how deserted the tide pools at Dume were.  Of course, it's not easy to climb down the stairs to reach the beach and that certainly deters most beach goers.

Killer Stairs--they really are that steep

Pt. Dume Nature Preserve (and beach) is not for wimps. But until I become too old or too wimpish to climb these stairs, we'll be going back to enjoy the relative solitude of this wonderful beach.



This was Willow's Week in the Wild Wild West East.  How was your week?

Thirty-Eight

It's Friday and time to write up my Friday Fave Fives.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any more photos of Descanso Gardens posted, but I will do that soon, soon, soon.  I do have a couple of good excuses though, as you will see.  Without any more preliminaries except to remind you that Susanne at Living To Tell the Story hosts us every week and you are welcome to join us in celebrating what we are grateful for during the week, here is Willow's Week:

1.  So at 10:30pm Friday night, my cell phone rang.  I didn't recognize the number but I answerd it anyway.  I wasn't asleep, and I could just tell the person on the line that it was a wrong number.  But it wasn't a wrong number!  It was my son calling from Jordan, from the Dead Sea.  After saying several times, "Sorry, I can't hear you very well," we switched over to a Skype call. Clear. Quick. Steady.  Skype calls are amazing!  And then on Monday, he called again from his archeological dig site using his newly purchased international phone.  Oh I love hearing his voice and knowing he's OK.

2.  Our kitchen is newly painted.  Notice that I did not write that I am thankful that we painted the kitchen although we did in fact paint it all ourselves. It was major effort of cutting, brushing and rolling, but it's almost finished.  We still have most of the cupboard doors to paint but everything else is done and the paint is hardening.  What color?  White, of course.  And the added little benefit will be that as I replace everything in the drawers, I will have the opportunity to declutter anything that is just not going to make it back into the kitchen.

3.  As I type this, my precious grandson 'The New Boy' is snuggled up next to me on the sofa at his house.  We are visiting him and his mama for a week.  He's getting so big and he's talking and recognizing that the number at the beginning of the last paragraph is 'two'.  Maybe I should change his name to 'Our Boy' because he's really not 'new' anymore.

4.   Yesterday afternoon, we drove to LA for our flight to Ohio.  We always plan our trips to LA carefully to avoid the worst of the traffic.   Since we had several hours to wait near LAX before we needed to be at the airport, we had dinner with our friends.  It was great to just sit on the patio of the Mediterranean restaurant and chat for a couple of hours without rushing off somewhere else.  Then they dropped us off at the airport because our car is parked in their driveway for the week.  Those are friends indeed!

5.   Because we flew on a 'red eye special' overnight, for four hours, we didn't get much sleep last night.  I claim that as the excuse for BOTH of us to forget that today was a special day.  We didn't remember that it was our thirty-eighth wedding anniversary until our daughter in law called us to wish us 'Happy Anniversary'.  I am so very fortunate to be happily married to a wonderful faithful man.  He makes me laugh every day, he fixes me a latte (or two) every morning, and after all these years, he still tells me he loves me.  I'm truly blessed!
 
 No photos tonight because I'm typing on my daughter's computer.  If I get my own laptop up and running here, I'll try to add some pictures.  In the meantime, do let us know what you are thankful for in the comments.

THINGS I did this week

This is Friday and that means Friday Fave Five, an opportunity to focus on what happened during the week that made you pause to be thankful and grateful  Here are mine:

1. The Fourth of July was spent mostly quietly at Willow's Cottage.  Puttering might the the best word to describe the morning.  In the afternoon, we did a few quick choresand tidied up a few things.  The Professor pulled out the grill, and I added a tablecloth to the dining table.  Friends arrived.  We chatted.  We celebrated.  Quietly.

2. One of the things on my Summer Get It Done List is documenting our personal inventory list for our home insurance--what furniture do we own, when and where it was purchased.  You know the drill.  Descriptions, receipts, maybe a photo.  I spent parts of two afternoons writing up a doc. file and reorganizing the notebooks.  Am I finished?  No.  Did I get a good start on it?  Yes.

3. The thing about borrowing books from the library is that when you return them, you find new books to read.  This is not a bad thing. Next up on my reading list:  Bella Tuscany (France Mayes) and I, Claudius (Robert Graves).

4. I have 'this thing' about bunnies.  Where we walk in the evenings, there are bunnies hopping and hiding in almost every garden.  Tall ears; fluffy white tails; brown, tan, grey fur.  I knit furry, wooly and acrylicy bunnies, too.  Here is the latest creation.  This little guy is so new he doesn't have a name yet.  Made of my handspun, hand-dyed wool, he's a very special hopper.  He's on his way to live in San Diego at my daughter Mia's home.

5.  I saved the best thing til last.  Yesterday we drove to the hot, hot interior of Los Angeles County.  Descanso Gardens in La Canada is a delightful place to wander through rose gardens, camellia gardens, Japanese gardens and a large California native garden.  Oak groves are the backbone of many California woodlands and hillsides.

We hiked up the Chaparral Trail past the dry creek beds where in the spring the rain rushes down the hillside and then wandered down through a grove shaded by the high canopy of spreading branches.  I haven't had time yet to finish uploading and sorting the more than one hundred photos I took at Descanso and at Payne's Native Plant Nursery, which was our other destination, but I had to share this unusual sage, Cleveland Sage, with you.  I may be in love...

So that was Willow's Week, the things that occupied my time and interest this week.  You can share your things you did too for Friday Fave Five at Susanne's blog.  Have a great weekend!  Come back during the weekend for more photos of Descano Gardens and Payne's Nursery.

6.  PS:  How could I have forgotten this one??  If you were watching the Mets vs Dodgers game on the Fourth of July, you might have seen some shout outs from deployed servicemen/women shown on the big screen.  One of them was MY BOY!

Fourth of July

I wouldn't say that we are a military family although my father, father-in-law, various uncles, my husband and my son and my son-in-law have all served in the military.  The current count of active duty members in my immediate family is two--my son who is an Army Reserve Chaplain currently deployed and my son-in-law who is a US Marine.

What's it like to be a military family?  My daughter posted this on her blog today:

http://mariamia.blogspot.com/2011/07/fourth-of-july.html

The next time you see a man or woman in uniform, thank them for serving.  And thank their families, too.

Slow Summer Days

Because we were traveling again last week, I missed Friday Fave Five.  I wondered if I would gradually lose focus and not think about those special moments and events of gratitude.  But I think I can recreate two weeks' worth of faves although they may not be in any particular chronological order.  And this week I can link up to Susanne's blog for Friday Fave Five.  If you want to join, click HERE.

1. San Diego Zoo.  What a beautiful place it is.  We spent several hours wandering through only a small portion of this splendid place.  What were my favorites?  Hmmm, that's a hard question.  The meerkats were highly amusing.  ADHD kitties, always busy, always hyper focused.

This little guy was on sentry duty and took his job very seriously.



The sleepy koalas didn't seem nearly as concerned about security.

2.  Wandering around Coronado.  We decided that after a long drive into East San Diego County (very mountainous and much hotter than the city of San Diego itself) that a long walk on the cool, coastal Coronado Island would make a nice contrast.  The weather at the beach was our typical June Gloom overcast.  But in every block and on every street there are unique homes, some small cottages and others gigantic mansions, and all are architecturally interesting.

3.  Sunday was The Professor's birthday.  I think he spent it just the way he wanted which included a lunch with friends, phone calls from all but one child (and he sent greetings the only way he could--via email), 'Happy Birthday' messages from friends and siblings.  We had had a little party in San Diego too, so the celebration lasted more than one day.

4.  We also drove over to Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa State Park this week.  Nestled in the coastal hills, connected to Point Mugu State Beach and part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, it's the perfect place to walk in the hills and observe the California native landscape.  Because we've been researching what California native plants we would like to add to our back garden, seeing many of the plants in their native habitat was helpful in identifying what we'd been reading about in Gardening with a Wild Heart by Judith Larner Lowry.

5.  A wonderful part of being a teacher on an academic schedule is, well, the schedule.  Summer afternoons this week have been spent dropping by the local library to pick up this or that book to read, then taking our books (and my knitting) and sitting somewhere either at home on our front patio or in a local coffee place to relax and read.  Summer doesn't get any better than this!

So that has been Willow's Two Weeks.  Traveling, celebrating (I didn't even mention the TWO graduations we attended in Los Angeles), and relaxing.  How have you been whiling away the summer days?

More Zoo

The Tropical Rain Forest area reminded me of the jungles of Indonesia where we lived.

I've always been fascinated with gorillas.

I wonder if they're fascinated with me.



Birds blend in to their surroundings.

Adult male homo sapiens in their natural habitat.

Young ones play and pretend to be stomped by the elephant statue.

How could anyone be bored at the San Diego Zoo?

Zoo

This time it was San Diego, not San Francisco.

Cuddly koalas

Marine Corps Meerkat sentry, always on hyper alert status

This little primate amused the watchers with his novel method of taking a drink of water.  He only miscalculated one minor detail.

He wasn't the only one using the pond.

More photos another day.

Slower Days of Summer

This has been a quieter week here at Willow's Cottage.  We needed a slow, simple week.  My faves have been small ones, close to home.  And that has been just fine with me.  I've linked this Friday Fave Five to Susanne's blog HERE.

1. Facebook chat with a long time friend who I haven't connected with for several years.  It was great to catch up with her and her family!

2. Crossing several items off my Summer To Do List already.  Of course, the list is very very long and certainly over-ambitious, but nevertheless I love marking the item done when I've finished it.

3. Progress on the photograph organization.  Promising myself that this summer I would truly make it a priority, I have started on the daunting task of finally sorting and organizing the years and years of family photos of which I am custodian.  This week I made a good start on them.  I pulled them out.  I sorted.  I culled.  Things are looking hopeful.

4. Progress on my goal of owning all the Newbery Award books.  At the local library used book store, I found three more books on my list.  The current count of books I still need is FIFTEEN!

5.  I broke a self imposed rule this week, and I'm really excited about it.  The first email came in and stated, "Free alpaca fleeces for guild members".  Although I already own way too many llama fleeces waiting in bags to be spun into beautiful yarn, I decided to just 'go over and check them out'.  Ha!  I knew I'd bring one home and I did.  This alpaca fleece is a creamy white color and absolutely gorgeous.  I haven't photographed it yet as it is still sitting in the back seat of the Honda.  The Professore asked me if I was going to leave it there all summer, but I am just waiting for a day when I have enough uninterrupted hours to lay it out on an old sheet, spread it open and 'skirt' it, cleaning the short clippings and picking the 'junk' out of it.  That process takes a few hours and it's easier to do if I am not stopping and starting the work over a couple of days.  I've been daydreaming about what to knit when I eventually have it all cleaned, carded, and spun.  A sweater?  An afghan?  There's enough poundage in this fleece to make several projects.  It's not like I really needed more fiber, though...

6. And here is a bonus, a photo that has nothing to do with anything but which amuses me.  I caught this king of the chimps sitting on top of a wooden shed in his enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo last week, regally surveying his little kingdom.

Did you mark anything off your to do list this week?  Or break any rules?

Reflections on Traveling

My Friday Fave Fives this week are focused on the short trip we took to San Francisco this week.  It was a week filled with fun experiences and many hours spent sitting in our car.  If you want to know more about Friday Fave Five, check out this link to Susanne's blog.

1.  time spent with my family
          We met up with The New Boy, his mama and the Grad Student, all of us converging at the same time in one spot on this planet although for different reasons.  Spending even a few days with our grandson (and two of our children) gives us great joy!

2.  a random meeting with someone who reads my blog
          We wandered in to a shop and the clerk commented on my felted bag.  One thing led to another and I discovered that wow!  she's a knitter, and she reads my blog!  What fun randomness!

3.  revisiting San Francisco

          When I was a child, my family drove from Oregon to San Francisco every summer.  I have so many memories of that city which I considered the most exciting and exotic place in the world, or at least my little world.  The Golden Gate Bridge

 San Francisco Zoo, Ghirardelli Square

 cable cars, hills and more hills, houses jammed up against each other with NO space between, Presidio of San Francisco, Golden Gate Park.  What fun we had sharing some of those places with The New Boy and his mama.

4.  Half Moon Bay

          Neither of us had ever been to Half Moon Bay even though it is very close to San Francisco and part of the peninsula on the Pacific Coast side of San Francisco.  On a whim, we decided to drive over the hills and visit that famous little seaside town.  We walked along Main Street, wandered in to the absolutely amazing and delightful  Fengari yarn shop and chatted with Ann the owner for a few minutes, stopped for a bowl of soup and a coffee at a local cafe, and ended up at the top of the cliff overlooking the local beach.  In typical Coastal California June Gloom weather, it was windy, gray and misty, so we didn't stay long.

5.  driving along the Central California Coast

          A seven hour drive each way along Hwy 101 allows for extended periods to spend gazing at the wonderful and beautiful California scenery.  We drove along the Pacific Coast beaches, through the coastal hills covered with live oak trees and orange poppies.  Watching the hills, dotted with horses and cows or covered with vineyards, roll past reminded me what an incredible state I live in--one that extends for almost nine hundred miles north to south, encompasses some of the most majestic scenery in the world, and is home to people living on citrus or cattle ranches, in small sleepy towns nestled in the golden foothills, and huge crowded, bustling cities.

How was your week?

Taking a Trip

I am traveling this weekend.  So I am preposting this Fave Five with Willow's Packing Tips.  I haven't heard if Susanne is traveling but you can check in at her blog Living To Tell the Story and find out who else is. 

Willow's Travel Tips--Packing Plans

#1.  Pack your swimsuit first.  Every. Time.  Otherwise, like me, you will arrive at the fancy hotel with the pool and hot tub and sadly realize you forgot it.

#2.  a. Make careful plans for what you are planning to take with you.  Spend about fifteen minutes choosing your clothes and throwing them in your suitcase. 
     b. You'll need a minimum of two hours to decide which knitting projects you wish to work on during your travels and adequate time to gather the yarns, patterns, needles and assorted accessories.  It would be wise to allow extra time for this step.

#3.  Carefully choose your reading material.  Take at least two books.

#4. Pack chocolate(s) and a camera. Remember the camera cables and batteries.


#5.  Before you begin to pack your bag, check the weather forecast for your desination.  If you do not include this step, #2a will take longer since you will need to pull out the short sleeved shirts and capris and repack the bag with cashmere sweaters, long slacks, and a rain slicker.

Old Sarum

Instead of correcting papers and writing thank you notes to those students who sweetly and kindly presented me with end of the year pressies, I've been reading Sarum--The Story of England by Edward Rutherfurd. I mentioned the novel in a recent post because Sara had recommended the author.  I'm captivated by history in general, and I love British history in particular.  Add in the fact that The Professor and I visited Old Sarum and Salisbury a few years ago, and I have a perfect match of interests.

View of the Old Sarum church ruins from the top of the hill

Willow pretending to be Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (Did you ever watch Katharine Hepburn as Queen Eleanor in The Lion In Winter?) imprisoned in the castle by her husband King Henry II

Stonehenge is mentioned in one of the early chapters of Sarum.

I love the memories of our trips to England that Sarum is invoking!