House Tales: In which the writer fights with the refrigerator and loses
This is completely off-topic so if you were expecting an illuminating post about writing for children, you can skip this right now. This is about the new house. Or specifically about the old...
View ArticleHouse Tales: In which the author discovers that the dog is smarter than she...
Let me just begin by saying that I have a dog who is mostly Border Collie. You’ve seen her around the blog. This is the part where you all go “ahhh………………….” Because she is mostly Border Collie this...
View ArticleBlog Action Day – native plants
Today is Blog Action Day, a single day in which bloggers all over the world post on the same topic. This year the topic is the environment. I can’t write unless I am comfortable in my environment....
View ArticleThe windows – take 2
So last night the window guy called up and said that instead of putting individual shutters on each window he believes we should put one giant shutter over each half of the windows. Which pleases me...
View ArticleIt was a garden kind of day
The writing will come later tonight, when the house is quiet. Earlier today I did some repotting of plants in the front courtyard. When we moved out of our rental house a year ago, it was hard to leave...
View ArticleWhat I did on my summer vacation
Last week with the shut-down from the day off and my normal Fridays off I ended up off work from 6/27 thru 7/7. I love love loved being away from work. I did not have to get up at 5am every day. I did,...
View ArticleFive things on Friday – The home edition
1. Even though it is my day off I was up at 6:30 to await the delivery of mountains of topsoil and compost and drain rock and path fines and 4 tons of Blue Stone for the path on the sideyard. It is now...
View ArticleFriday Five – The I made an expensive mistake edition
1. I have 3 tons of expensive blue stone in my backyard. 2. I hate the color. 3. It is not returnable. 4. I screwed up when picking it out. All my fault. 5. I am now investigating ways to try and stain...
View ArticleMy favorite flower for Jen's birthday bouqet
jenlibrarian is gathering flowers for a virtual birthday bouquet. She asked for our favorite flowers. Well heck, here I am in the middle of planning my native garden, no flowers at all at the moment,...
View ArticleThe yard in progress
I’m way behind on posting the variety of things we’ve done around the yard but as we are coming up on the end of the hardscaping, here are a few pictures. First thing we did was the sideyard. This goes...
View ArticleThis post is not about writing
This post is not about writing. It’s about gardening. About MY garden in the middle of the city of San Jose and the work we are doing to make it into a California Native Plant garden and native...
View ArticleAn update of sorts
It seems like all I have managed lately has been the Tuesday memory challenges. The more overwhelmed I get, the harder it is to post. I’ve never mastered the short little updates but maybe things will...
View ArticleCraigslist score!
It is ridiculous to be so happy about this….about paying money for rocks….but I am. One we bought all (most) of the plants for the front and the back yard and 8.5 yards of mulch and 3 tons of rock for...
View ArticleSaturday thoughts
A productive day. Up early (not by choice, thank you Cassie) and I sorting through a stack of poems for a novel in verse that I had started two years ago. I have 32 poems but probably 1/3 of them don’t...
View ArticleHouse tales – The creekbed
Okay, I thought I’d post the evolution of the creekbed, though it is not yet 100% it is closer to being done. You can click through any photos to the larger pics or the full album. This is what we...
View ArticleSaturday Six – The Backyward Wildlife Edition
1. We have a possum visiting our yard every night. This does not make Cassie happy. The possum pokes his (her?) head up over the fence and Cassie is ringing the bells like crazy for me to let her...
View ArticleIn my garden today
We recently put a pondless water feature in our backyard. I got the idea from . Originally I had a different fountain head on it and the water was just burbling up the top and down the side. The birds...
View ArticleIn my garden today
I spent all day working in the garden and kept the camera nearby to catch any visitors. I’m used to the bumblebees and the big fat carpenter bees but this was a new one feasting on the Clarkias today....
View ArticleHappy Birthday to Me – It's a Garden Party
Today is my birthday. I plan to spend the day doing pretty much whatever I want. I think that will be working on the photos to get my garden blog launched and online. So to get me in the mood, and in...
View ArticleFrom city lot to wildlife habitat with California Native plants.
I finally got the first album together on the transformation of our yard from a boring city lot into a California native plant wildlife habitat. If for some reason the pictures don’t load, you can go...
View ArticleWhen gardens and words collide
I was thinking about my new garden and how it all came to be and how much creating it is like writing a book. I didn’t know anything about California Native Plants when started it so I went and got a...
View ArticleDicentra formosa, Bleeding Heart
Dicentra formosa, originally uploaded by susanwrites. New photos added to the Flickr album of native plants in the backyard. This is Dicentra formosa, Bleeding Heart
View ArticleCeanothus 'Ray Hartman'
Ceanothus ‘Ray Hartman’, originally uploaded by susanwrites. New photos added to the Flickr album of native plants in the backyard. This is Ceanothus ‘Ray Hartman’
View ArticleSmilacina stellata – False Solomons Seal
Smilacina stellata, originally uploaded by susanwrites. New photos added to the Flickr album of California native plants.This is Smilacina stellata False Solomons Seal
View ArticleFriday Five – The Electricial Home Edition
I have been MIA from the online world for a while while we have had so many workers taking care of things around the house. While it’s nice to get things done, it’s very hard for this introvert to deal...
View ArticleIn which I return to blogging and explain what I've been up to lately
So it looks like I unintentionally took the month of August off from blogging. I think I needed the break. But now, in a rambling order that will likely repeat some things some of you might have read...
View ArticleNew library bookcases!
aaDSC04267, originally uploaded by susanwrites. I’m so excited. The new shelves for the library were just delivered and they are even more beautiful that I had imagined. I can’t wait for our carpenter...
View ArticleThe new floor – before and after
We are coming to the end of the house makeover. The floors were finished today, except for some painting of the baseboards. A few more little things to finish and I hope we can start moving the...
View ArticleHow many birds can fit on a bubbling rock?
I heard a lot of bird chatter out back late this afternoon and went to the window to see if any birds were playing in the water. I took these pictures through the window (gonna have to wash them soon...
View ArticleHome is …
Home is not where I am right now. Four months ago we sold our home, our house, in San Jose and moved into these apartments, also in the city, while we continue to look for our dream home, the home of...
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