look carefully

 

In the middle of the photo is a very tiny hummingbird's nest. We have year round hummers, I try to keep enough blooming to provide them with food. And this seems to working. Let's hope for success with a brood.

Will keep you posted.

spring

To me, March 1 is the beginning of Spring here in the bay area. But this year the seasons seem to have a mind of their own. The buckeyes have leafed out, we're planning holidays and the sun is shining. The anticipation of rain later this week let's me enjoy the weather and ease some the worries for water this summer for the garden and the trout.

describe yourself with one picture

This would be my picture. The refrigerator. Well not only the frig, but the adornment. Or the capability for adornment. Those stainless steel sub zeros don't hold magnets. The Rettie refrigerator came to us used from Mike's mother. It's been humming along for years, serves a necessary function, reflects the Scot in both of us. It was free, and it works. There are photos of small children who are now getting doctorate degrees. There are magnets that were gifts from family and friends: a paella, a hand painted fish, surfing in Hawaii. Being held up are cartoons, photos of late cats, postcards, our sewer cleanout man, and my prized ticket stub from a 1997 Giant's game (Rod Beck pitched himself out of bases loaded with no outs in the 10th inning). Occasionally I re-arrange and discard some of most battered objects. But the ticket stub will stay.

valentines day cookie bakeoff

I decided I would stick to basic chocolate chip for my entry in the Building 14 cookie bakeoff. For many reasons this was a good choice. After all apple pie won the pie contest. And these are easy and predictable cookies. So this morning when Liz arrived with her poppy seed hearts I knew I had made a bad decision.

But little did I know what Douglas's almond paste around some special cherry cookies would taste like. He was crowned the winner.

And since he had to go out to the store last night when he discovered the almond paste he thought he could use had gone off and he had to buy a new batch at the cost of $18 (and this isn't the most expensive) I was glad he was rewarded. Now I do use pecans in my chocolate chip cookies, but it's probably only about $3 worth. Liz came in second, she was the silver medalist in the pie contest. We are wondering what she can do to win the gold. And my dear sweet husband, who got to taste the winning cookie said he likes my chocolate chip. I must add that the coconut bars we allowed in under committee rules were quite tasty too.

groundhog's day

Gris-gris announced the rain this morning, with great excitement, either because he knew we needed it or because he couldn't remember what rain was. He flew up the stairs, not soaking, but definitely wet. Well, perhaps six more weeks of winter is not a bad thing for our dry gardens, and low reservoirs. I am taking some of the credit for these showers by having re-installed my table and chairs on the back porch yesterday. They were retired to the basement for the winter, but the balmy Saturday conditions made me bring them back up. Why didn't I do this a month ago? I'm leaving them up.
There was a great relief in turning over the calendars to February, I've made it through November, December, and January, my least favorite months of the year. And opening the Saturday morning sporting green to baseball news put a smile on my face.