just a time from now

While the weather is still reasonable, work commenced on: Project_BACKYARD_29 through 31.

And I have photos to prove it :)
Up until last week, our backyard lay, if not in ruin, then in sadness as can be seen by the below photo with Aaron in the foreground and Orlando and Alfredo, our contractors, in the background. So, David made a plan as can also be seen below wherein, the fence that can be sen in the first photo is onthe left-hand side of the plan.

Next photo is our indecision about how to do the walkway curve. Alfredo was so patient with us as Aaron and I, obviously, kept moving that one truly important line this way and that until we finally got it right and the bender board was installed. Next, we picked out and had delivered the stone, the tan bark, the concrete sand (for under the stone) and the pea gravel.


Next is all the bender board installed so the outline finally shows. The black paper-ish stuff is weed blocker we had installed several years ago and which did its job in that this backyard was once full of weeds and now isn't. Unlike the rest of the yards, front, court, curb, and side, which, after last year's rains rains rains, all grow weeds profusely. We reinstalled new paper-ish stuff so its good work will continue on into the future. Below left, Orlando and Alfredo have installed the sand. Then the rocks. Then the pea gravel and tan bark.

And now, at least, a good foundation has been installed. Next PLANTS!!! And pretty POTS!!! And trellises!! And! And! And!

YAY!! Except, seriously, we have only just begun :)

Update-wise, I've got nothing for March. I completed a single task, one about finding a mantra which I have. Memorizing it which I have. And using it which I have been sort of, kind of. Still and all, I'm counting #35 as done.

So mainly this is a photo post, a sad one for me, about the dying of a tree, my beautiful courtyard flowering plum. It's demise began with the dying of a branch a couple of years ago which led to the dying of several branches last year which lead in this sadness this year.

First photo is what it should have looked like a couple of weeks ago.
           Second is what it looked like the day we had it removed.

The third photo is what we should have, a lovely leafed-out plum.
          The fourth photo is what we do have, emptiness. BTW the plant in the first photo is now taller than me! It was the stress of the drought, that brought some kind of boring bug, which did it in. Problem is, the bug attacks all trees, except some citrus, so time was of the essence before the problem spread. I'll update this later when something new, and smaller, has been planted :)

On a happier note, Aaron delighted because we are cooking up his Grandma Lucy's fat little corn fritters which we eat with chili :)


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Journey to my original post where not much Uncompleted Black at all has turned Completed Blue but progress is made of a sort.

53_SET-UP 4 Drawings w/ paper
     I know what my next four drawings, my yearly goal, are going to be. I have a series I'd like to do and have the paper and media all ready to go and can clearly see the images in my mind, a combining of contrasting realities. The thing is to actually start, the hard part really.
          Instead, I've been working in my sketch journal, doing my version of fairly complete doodles, one per page, that are adding to my repertoire of how to draw. I finished one of these last year and hope to do the same this year.

65_Caught in the Light of His Eyes
66_Everyone Who Mattered to Them Was There
     These two are a part of my embracing of nostalgia, a longing for a simpler time, re-reading and re-editing some of my old stories. I miss, so much miss, writing but am uninclined at the moment to start anything new so, doing this will have to suffice. And so far it has :)

Otherwise, I fairly well stayed on track with my weekly and monthly Ongoing Red tasks so, February was okay. Not great but okay.

I do have a couple of random photos to offer up about cooking/ baking since that is a main task for this year, the task being to actually get myself to like cooking since doing so is something I pretty much consistently have to do and have never cared for.

Above was for Seafood Wednesday. The shrimp could have been a bit more golden but otherwise, this meal was very good and the only one I remembered to take a photo of all month :)
Below for the goal: Bake twice per month_my father's recipe for brownies which were a hit.

And finally, a photo Aaron asked me to take from, obviously, the TV which he claims, sadly and rightly so, is indicative of our American times.


Le sigh

I haven't done one of these in quite a long time! Hope you enjoy :)

From those lovely folks at NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive who bring you
the poeticvally named Old Moon in the New Moon's Arms

Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Carnegie Las Campanas Observatory, TWAN)

Explanation: Also known as the Moon's "ashen glow" or the "Old Moon in the New Moon's arms", earthshine is earthlight reflected from the Moon's night side. This stunning image of earthshine from a young crescent moon was taken from Las Campanas Observatory, Atacama Desert, Chile, planet Earth near moonset on January 18. Dramatic atmospheric inversion layers appear above the Pacific Ocean, colored by the sunset at the planet's western horizon. But the view from the Moon would have been stunning, too. When the Moon appears in Earth's sky as a slender crescent, a dazzlingly bright, nearly full Earth would be seen from the lunar surface. A description of earthshine, in terms of sunlight reflected by Earth's oceans in turn illuminating the Moon's dark surface, was written 500 years ago by Leonardo da Vinci.

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For more beautiful, and poignant, photographs, please go here :)



          -enjoy

From: I Can Has Cheeseburgers ANIMALS
They are short on information but large on cool photos so, click on the link above to get 13 photos more like the two below.



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A few days ago, our Arizona friends, from left to right --Jason, Joanna skip skip skip, Regina, Todd, and James-- came for their yearly bay area visit with us. Also pictured are our San Jose friends, Jimmy and Cindy, plus my son, Aaron in the middle. Jason, being from Utah, hadn't seen Redwoods so, instead of our usual trek over the Santa Cruz Mountains to the coast, this year we delved into the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Redwoods, hike, hike, hiking up wooded paths and down, lunching along the way.
          The first pic is of Opal Creek which really is opalesque in color. The second is Traditional, the third just strange, the fourth twisted.



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