at peace with zoom yoga dashiell and I

Caving in to zoom yoga, an actual class in a studio a distant memory, I setup props and hope for the best. First, that the technology will work, so far so good on that front. And two, Dashiell will not come in, bite my toes, and try to sit on me. Shut doors are no problem for him to open. There is enough heft in that sturdy body to merely push them aside. This morning he came in, toured the room and settled into the rocking chair, peacefully sleeping through the entire class and then some.

anonymous neighbors leave new cats

As I was leaving the house yesterday morning to drive across town for the Sunday bakery treats, feeling less than cheerful between covid fatigue and bad fire air I spied a new creature laying in the garden. This little ceramic cat had been place in a bed of cat mint. 

When I returned home, two more friends had joined the garden party.

I smiled, what a neighborhood I live in. The air might be bad, a pandemic is still going on but someone placed these little creatures to put a smile on my face. Thank you.

the yang of seasons

I think Dashiell is trying to roll some color into his greyness. Perhaps to match his personality which is definitely not yin. But I too seem to need to color in my life and the garden is certainly yang right now.

And my neighbors around the corner, have taken rainbows to a whole new level.

Wow! Well done Judi and Sarah Jo.

six weeks later

I'm ready to reseed the cilantro and I keep tying up the tomato. We've been harvesting the mint for sun tea, arugula for salad and dill to top grilled salmon. I think the trough gardening has been a success.

The front yard trough is growing a crop of sunflowers that I couldn't bring myself to thin. But my lovely gardener friend Scott offered to do it for me and I let him. I'm hoping to raise some monarchs on the milkweed that's hidden below the sunflowers.

Ah, summertime, and the living is easy, at least in the West End of Alameda.

a small pie

When I answered the phone this week a friend said he pictured me with my hands in pie crust. No, in fact my hands had been in dirt, I was gardening. And besides, I told him, it seemed silly to make a pie for just the two of us. "Agnes" he said "make a small pie". So this afternoon staring at the all the white peaches and apricots on the counter I made a small pie. We may have to eat dessert first.

finally a field trip

A short one, but none the less a field trip, complete with sandwiches, cloth napkins, Fritos, and a view.

 

There was even wildlife both furry and feathered. The live stream is off today but our osprey friends are alive and well.

No signs about not feeding the wildlife so we provided cherries to our ground squirrel friend.

Social distancing was practiced, we didn't get within six feet of the squirrel.

new old art

A street banner from the LACMA exhibit of James Turrell a few years back was added to Michael's blank wall that has been needing something. And Gato can now be found hiding out in the backyard.

We've been very busy sheltering in place.