Cherry tree bursting from the top!
Apple tree, bursting from the side!
While we were gone, everything exploded!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Oh, and the trees!
Cherry tree bursting from the top!
Apple tree, bursting from the side!
While we were gone, everything exploded!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
And the travels begin...
...although hopefully not quite like last year. First real trip this year? To Scottsdale, Arizona, to watch the 2010 World Series Champions San Francisco Giants at their spring training camp.
Took a morning flight on Friday to Phoenix along with a planeful of other spring training fans (the Phoenix area is home to, oh, I don't know, something like six or seven baseball teams' spring training camps). Got to the car rental building (along with multiple planes-ful of spring training fans) and waited about 45 minutes to get our car. Because they were so busy and, apparently, over-rented, we got an upgrade from an economy car to a compact car, so we drove to the hotel in our Ford Focus. (Let me be nice and just say it's no BMW.)
Checked in, threw the bags in the room, then walked the 2 blocks to Scottsdale Stadium, arriving in the middle of the 4th inning, where the Giants were losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers (who suck, by the way) 2-0. The stadium has really been upgraded since we were there last in 2007. New seats, new paint, new training facilities, new Dugout store - the whole place has been refurbished and looks great. First stop before we even made it to our seats - the kettle-corn man. Best kettle-corn in all the places I've had it. He has the perfect blend of sweet and salty.
Because we booked our trip through the SFGiants Vacations, our seats were fabulous, almost directly behind home plate and - almost better - in the shade for all three games. Lovely. They even installed misters, so when it gets too hot (like it did Friday afternoon), they cool you down.
Best find of the trip? Le Cordon Bleu's student-run Technique restaurant. Normally, they are booked 2 or 3 weeks in advance, but we stumbled in around 8:00 on a Friday evening, and the manager (who's one of the school's teachers) said they could accommodate us at the bar. So we had fabulous food and a floor show - watching the students cook the food while being coached by the chef-teacher. And the food was fabulous. I had a saffron seafood soup with crab, lobster, and mussels, followed by a duck confit with crab, then a spinach salad (with a perfectly poached egg), and for the main course, a lovely salmon that was cooked to medium-rare perfection. Dessert was a poached pear with dollop of caramel ice cream.
Saturday we had the worst breakfast in a long time. Now, I know Denny's isn't gourmet food, but they usually don't screw up breakfast too bad. This one did. Ugh. Just ugh. We left there after only eating half our food and walked again to the stadium, where we watched the Giants beat the Kansas City Royals. We got to see Buster Posey, Cody Ross, and um... someone else hit a home run, and got to see the hotshot Brandon Belt play at first and give the bat a couple of good swings.
After the game, those of us traveling on the Giants Vacation package were treated to a buffet dinner, and were allowed to walk on the field and through the batting cages to one of the practice fields, where we ate at big tables. The cool thing about being on one of these packages, though, is that they get players to come and talk to the crowd. Last time we were on a package, we got to see Bruce Bochy, Dave Roberts, and Brian Wilson. This time, we were right up front to see and hear Cody Ross, Pat Burrell, Pablo Sandoval (Panda!), and Andres Torres. What a trip. They're all gorgeous, and oh boy are they built! Afterwards, they signed autographs; Kelly's cap is full of signatures now! We walked to Trader Vic's where we had some nice Mai Tais, then walked all around downtown Scottsdale (which is a great little town for art and walking).
Cody Ross and Pat Burrell, looking mighty fine.
Pablo Sandoval at the autograph table, blushing because since he's lost almost 40 pounds, everyone keeps calling him "hottie."
(And I did take a picture of Andres Torres, but it didn't come out good at all. It had to be operator error because he's really good looking.)
Sunday we opted for U.S.Egg, a local chain right across the street. Much better choice than Denny's; they had a really good protein waffle, very tasty. We walked to the stadium again, this time to watch the Giants play the Oakland A's. We knew we'd be leaving early because we wanted to take a drive around the area; it was just as well because the Giants were getting a heavy beating (although we learned they had a little come-back towards the end of the game).
We drove to Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural school/enclave/gorgeous location overlooking the Arizona desert. His structures (I've heard) can be hard to live in (poor choice of materials, leaks, drafts) and yet beautiful (using the land to its best advantage, lots of windows, lots of fireplaces). It's a lovely setting, but an odd thing... it's not really a 'house' as we mostly know it, it's more like a compound. Some bedrooms over here, the living room over there, the kitchen and dining area back there.
After the Taliesin tour, we took the loooooooong way around the city just to use up some of the pre-paid gasoline we purchased, and ended up at one of the casinos that ring the 101Loop. I forgot how bad the odds are at these casinos and quickly donated my $40 gambling money to the local economy. We ended the night with dinner at Don and Charlie's, a Scottsdale sports-legend landmark. Incredible collection of sports memorabilia all over the place. A sight to behold.
Monday morning we did the protein waffle again then headed to the airport for a leisurely trip home via San Diego.
I really like going to spring training. :-)
Took a morning flight on Friday to Phoenix along with a planeful of other spring training fans (the Phoenix area is home to, oh, I don't know, something like six or seven baseball teams' spring training camps). Got to the car rental building (along with multiple planes-ful of spring training fans) and waited about 45 minutes to get our car. Because they were so busy and, apparently, over-rented, we got an upgrade from an economy car to a compact car, so we drove to the hotel in our Ford Focus. (Let me be nice and just say it's no BMW.)
Checked in, threw the bags in the room, then walked the 2 blocks to Scottsdale Stadium, arriving in the middle of the 4th inning, where the Giants were losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers (who suck, by the way) 2-0. The stadium has really been upgraded since we were there last in 2007. New seats, new paint, new training facilities, new Dugout store - the whole place has been refurbished and looks great. First stop before we even made it to our seats - the kettle-corn man. Best kettle-corn in all the places I've had it. He has the perfect blend of sweet and salty.
Because we booked our trip through the SFGiants Vacations, our seats were fabulous, almost directly behind home plate and - almost better - in the shade for all three games. Lovely. They even installed misters, so when it gets too hot (like it did Friday afternoon), they cool you down.
Best find of the trip? Le Cordon Bleu's student-run Technique restaurant. Normally, they are booked 2 or 3 weeks in advance, but we stumbled in around 8:00 on a Friday evening, and the manager (who's one of the school's teachers) said they could accommodate us at the bar. So we had fabulous food and a floor show - watching the students cook the food while being coached by the chef-teacher. And the food was fabulous. I had a saffron seafood soup with crab, lobster, and mussels, followed by a duck confit with crab, then a spinach salad (with a perfectly poached egg), and for the main course, a lovely salmon that was cooked to medium-rare perfection. Dessert was a poached pear with dollop of caramel ice cream.
Saturday we had the worst breakfast in a long time. Now, I know Denny's isn't gourmet food, but they usually don't screw up breakfast too bad. This one did. Ugh. Just ugh. We left there after only eating half our food and walked again to the stadium, where we watched the Giants beat the Kansas City Royals. We got to see Buster Posey, Cody Ross, and um... someone else hit a home run, and got to see the hotshot Brandon Belt play at first and give the bat a couple of good swings.
After the game, those of us traveling on the Giants Vacation package were treated to a buffet dinner, and were allowed to walk on the field and through the batting cages to one of the practice fields, where we ate at big tables. The cool thing about being on one of these packages, though, is that they get players to come and talk to the crowd. Last time we were on a package, we got to see Bruce Bochy, Dave Roberts, and Brian Wilson. This time, we were right up front to see and hear Cody Ross, Pat Burrell, Pablo Sandoval (Panda!), and Andres Torres. What a trip. They're all gorgeous, and oh boy are they built! Afterwards, they signed autographs; Kelly's cap is full of signatures now! We walked to Trader Vic's where we had some nice Mai Tais, then walked all around downtown Scottsdale (which is a great little town for art and walking).
Cody Ross and Pat Burrell, looking mighty fine.
Pablo Sandoval at the autograph table, blushing because since he's lost almost 40 pounds, everyone keeps calling him "hottie."
(And I did take a picture of Andres Torres, but it didn't come out good at all. It had to be operator error because he's really good looking.)
Sunday we opted for U.S.Egg, a local chain right across the street. Much better choice than Denny's; they had a really good protein waffle, very tasty. We walked to the stadium again, this time to watch the Giants play the Oakland A's. We knew we'd be leaving early because we wanted to take a drive around the area; it was just as well because the Giants were getting a heavy beating (although we learned they had a little come-back towards the end of the game).
We drove to Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural school/enclave/gorgeous location overlooking the Arizona desert. His structures (I've heard) can be hard to live in (poor choice of materials, leaks, drafts) and yet beautiful (using the land to its best advantage, lots of windows, lots of fireplaces). It's a lovely setting, but an odd thing... it's not really a 'house' as we mostly know it, it's more like a compound. Some bedrooms over here, the living room over there, the kitchen and dining area back there.
After the Taliesin tour, we took the loooooooong way around the city just to use up some of the pre-paid gasoline we purchased, and ended up at one of the casinos that ring the 101Loop. I forgot how bad the odds are at these casinos and quickly donated my $40 gambling money to the local economy. We ended the night with dinner at Don and Charlie's, a Scottsdale sports-legend landmark. Incredible collection of sports memorabilia all over the place. A sight to behold.
Monday morning we did the protein waffle again then headed to the airport for a leisurely trip home via San Diego.
I really like going to spring training. :-)
Monday, February 21, 2011
Yarn Fumes
Had to leave the apple buds to do their thing while I was at Stitches West in the Santa Clara Convention Center. Oh dear. I did more damage to my budget this year than I did last year and the year before - combined. Two-and-a-half of the purchases were intended (I'll explain the 'half' later), the rest just jumped into my arms.
Off the top of my head, here's what followed me home:
- 3 skeins Blue Moon Fiber Arts Woobu, in "In the Navy." (Intended.)
- 6 skeins madelinetosh DK, in "Tart." (Intended.)
- 2 skeins Brooks Farm Riata, in a red. (Oops.) (But this one is almost excusable, since I've been coveting this yarn since my first Stitches in 2005.)
- 10 skeins Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, in a copper/beige color. (Oops.)
- 10 skeins Elsebeth Lavold Silk Flamme, in a deep chocolate color. (Oops.)
- 1 skein Dream in Color Experimental Stardust, in "Western Sunset." (Oops.)
- 2 square needle circulars from Kollage. (Intended.)
- 2 glass needles from Michael and Sheila Ernst. (Oops - sort of.)
The glass needles were the 'half.' I had wanted to try the newest Signature Needle Arts circulars and get a pair of those, but SNA wasn't at Stitches this year. So I happened upon Sheila's booth and promptly started to drool over a set of U.S. #7 designer needles. Well, I don't do 7s very often, so I asked about some U.S. #8s with a 16" cord. It turns out, they don't bring very many needles with 16" cords to shows, and she didn't think she had any. Lo and behold, when she looked through her stock, she found a pair, so I got them. It must have been fate.
Later, as I was remembering the yarns I had purchased, I realized that I sure as hell DID knit with size 7 needles, and went back on Sunday to get those. They have a gold-tone spiral down the center of the needle; incredibly beautiful. Yes, I'll post pictures, but it may take a while, and I'm not sure how well that spiral will come out.
There were a few odds and ends - some mini-Stitch Dots, a shawl pin, other small things - but I think that's it for the big yarn purchases. I'll take and post pictures through the week.
The classes were great, too. If my classwork photograph well, I'll post those, too.
Off the top of my head, here's what followed me home:
- 3 skeins Blue Moon Fiber Arts Woobu, in "In the Navy." (Intended.)
- 6 skeins madelinetosh DK, in "Tart." (Intended.)
- 2 skeins Brooks Farm Riata, in a red. (Oops.) (But this one is almost excusable, since I've been coveting this yarn since my first Stitches in 2005.)
- 10 skeins Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, in a copper/beige color. (Oops.)
- 10 skeins Elsebeth Lavold Silk Flamme, in a deep chocolate color. (Oops.)
- 1 skein Dream in Color Experimental Stardust, in "Western Sunset." (Oops.)
- 2 square needle circulars from Kollage. (Intended.)
- 2 glass needles from Michael and Sheila Ernst. (Oops - sort of.)
The glass needles were the 'half.' I had wanted to try the newest Signature Needle Arts circulars and get a pair of those, but SNA wasn't at Stitches this year. So I happened upon Sheila's booth and promptly started to drool over a set of U.S. #7 designer needles. Well, I don't do 7s very often, so I asked about some U.S. #8s with a 16" cord. It turns out, they don't bring very many needles with 16" cords to shows, and she didn't think she had any. Lo and behold, when she looked through her stock, she found a pair, so I got them. It must have been fate.
Later, as I was remembering the yarns I had purchased, I realized that I sure as hell DID knit with size 7 needles, and went back on Sunday to get those. They have a gold-tone spiral down the center of the needle; incredibly beautiful. Yes, I'll post pictures, but it may take a while, and I'm not sure how well that spiral will come out.
There were a few odds and ends - some mini-Stitch Dots, a shawl pin, other small things - but I think that's it for the big yarn purchases. I'll take and post pictures through the week.
The classes were great, too. If my classwork photograph well, I'll post those, too.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Proof!
Here's a teeny bit of documentation to prove that we haven't killed the apple tree (yet).
It's a bit fuzzy, but this is a picture of - gasp! - a bud on one of the branches!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
I'm Supposed to be Working...
...but I'm obviously not.
This year's trees have been planted, and the vineyard has been caned. After digging 6 new holes, DH's poor back can rest a bit.
KW digging the last of the 6 holes (the deepest and widest of the 6, too).
While we don't have acres and acres, we do have a bit more space than a lot of our neighbors do. At first, we thought that was a good thing, and had all sorts of plans for hot tubs and lush landscaping and patios and lounge chairs...
And then we lived here for a year. Fuggedaboutit...
If the blistering summers don't get you, the afternoon sirocco will. 'way too windy to do any relaxing outside. Forget about reading or knitting. In order to truly wind-proof the backyard enough to make it even vaguely comfortable, we'd probably have to sink $10,000 to $15,000 into it. Wind-breaks, arbors, sturdy-enough trellises, mostly-grown trees... you name it.
So, we did what we tend to do - we ignored it for the first 3 or 4 years.
Then last year, we got a wild hare up our butts (and a few extra dollars in our bank account) and decided to put some landscaping in along the right-hand side of our fence. That looks really nice, and so far, we haven't killed any of the plants or trees. We were going to have the same lady do some other landscaping, but DH and I couldn't quite decide on what we wanted, and the next thing you knew, we were into all the busy travel of late last year, and landscaping ideas were (mostly) forgotten.
But now, a new year came (along with some trees that I totally forgot I had ordered back in May or June of last year), and the growing thing started up again. DM was able to get us some heirloom variety trees (2 Coral Champagne cherries, 1 Black Tartarian cherry, 1 Baby Crawford peach), so when we were plotting out those, we thought "Hm... maybe an orange tree, too?" Suddenly, we found ourselves at Westside Nursery in Gilroy with a Valencia orange tree in our cart! As we were heading to check out, we passed a bunch of apple trees that had been espaliered. When I looked closer, I saw that each limb was a different apple - I had to have that! Then we started talking about getting some wisteria or bougainvillea to bring in the bees for pollination.
At the end of today, DH dug 6 holes (3 cherries, 1 orange, 1 peach, 1 apple), and got all of the trees planted, the grapes have been caned (hopefully we didn't kill them), and his wheelbarrow tire has been replaced. (We opted to wait on the bee-bringing bushes.) It all looks pretty scrawny right now (I mean, come on, the 'cherry trees' are just sticks!), but I'm going to try to remember to take progress photos as the weather starts to warm up. Hopefully it will be documentation of trees taking root, not of the slow destruction of some lovely heirloom trees.
Looking over the orange grove towards the vineyard and the cherry orchard. (The grapes are Cabernet, Merlot, zinfandel, and 2 seedless table grapes.)
The peach sticks.
The cherry sticks (2 Coral, 1 Black Tartarian).
The espaliered semi-dwarf apple (Braeburn, Gravenstein, Fuji, Red and Yellow Delicious, and Gala).
The mobile Christmas tree farm (we don't know where they'll go yet).
This year's trees have been planted, and the vineyard has been caned. After digging 6 new holes, DH's poor back can rest a bit.
KW digging the last of the 6 holes (the deepest and widest of the 6, too).
While we don't have acres and acres, we do have a bit more space than a lot of our neighbors do. At first, we thought that was a good thing, and had all sorts of plans for hot tubs and lush landscaping and patios and lounge chairs...
And then we lived here for a year. Fuggedaboutit...
If the blistering summers don't get you, the afternoon sirocco will. 'way too windy to do any relaxing outside. Forget about reading or knitting. In order to truly wind-proof the backyard enough to make it even vaguely comfortable, we'd probably have to sink $10,000 to $15,000 into it. Wind-breaks, arbors, sturdy-enough trellises, mostly-grown trees... you name it.
So, we did what we tend to do - we ignored it for the first 3 or 4 years.
Then last year, we got a wild hare up our butts (and a few extra dollars in our bank account) and decided to put some landscaping in along the right-hand side of our fence. That looks really nice, and so far, we haven't killed any of the plants or trees. We were going to have the same lady do some other landscaping, but DH and I couldn't quite decide on what we wanted, and the next thing you knew, we were into all the busy travel of late last year, and landscaping ideas were (mostly) forgotten.
But now, a new year came (along with some trees that I totally forgot I had ordered back in May or June of last year), and the growing thing started up again. DM was able to get us some heirloom variety trees (2 Coral Champagne cherries, 1 Black Tartarian cherry, 1 Baby Crawford peach), so when we were plotting out those, we thought "Hm... maybe an orange tree, too?" Suddenly, we found ourselves at Westside Nursery in Gilroy with a Valencia orange tree in our cart! As we were heading to check out, we passed a bunch of apple trees that had been espaliered. When I looked closer, I saw that each limb was a different apple - I had to have that! Then we started talking about getting some wisteria or bougainvillea to bring in the bees for pollination.
At the end of today, DH dug 6 holes (3 cherries, 1 orange, 1 peach, 1 apple), and got all of the trees planted, the grapes have been caned (hopefully we didn't kill them), and his wheelbarrow tire has been replaced. (We opted to wait on the bee-bringing bushes.) It all looks pretty scrawny right now (I mean, come on, the 'cherry trees' are just sticks!), but I'm going to try to remember to take progress photos as the weather starts to warm up. Hopefully it will be documentation of trees taking root, not of the slow destruction of some lovely heirloom trees.
Looking over the orange grove towards the vineyard and the cherry orchard. (The grapes are Cabernet, Merlot, zinfandel, and 2 seedless table grapes.)
The peach sticks.
The cherry sticks (2 Coral, 1 Black Tartarian).
The espaliered semi-dwarf apple (Braeburn, Gravenstein, Fuji, Red and Yellow Delicious, and Gala).
The mobile Christmas tree farm (we don't know where they'll go yet).
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
A Favorite Thing from My Childhood
Yes, it's a little baby girl, sleeping, with her butt hanging out of her onesie. Somewhere out in the universe, there's a matching one in blue, a baby boy and my brother's birth info. (I don't know if he still has his.)
I don't know if she was some sort of hospital parting gift or a gift from a friend of relative, but I have always treasured her and have carried her with me for all these years. Once I moved out of my parents' house (when I got married at 18), she's been with me. The only time I didn't have her was about 4 months in late 1981 / early 1982, after I moved to California and had to get myself settled. My mom held her for me until I had a place for her, and she had strict instructions to pack her properly so she would survive the journey.
When we packed up the condo in Sunnyvale to move here, she got put away for safe keeping until we had settled in here... and then I couldn't find her. And I was worried that the movers had lost her and other important stuff in one box.
Lo and behold, DH was doing his new year cleaning and pulled out a plastic bin. "It's got albums and pictures and stuff," he said rather casually, so I didn't rush to go through it. I finally did while I was in the thick of the last cold, and - oh joy! oh rapture! - there she was!
She's a little ragged around the edges (yes, I'm referring to me, too) with some chips and obvious places where either the original glue or replacement glue has discolored. But she's mine - actually, I tend to think of her as 'me.'
Weird, isn't it? You know when people ask questions like "if there was a fire, what would you grab as you ran out"? Besides grabbing DH and some yarn (okay, a lot of yarn), I'd take her. I mean, me.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Glad we're not there anymore
Have been seeing pictures and hearing news reports about the protests in Egypt, and we are both very happy we visited Alexandria and Cairo when we did (as in, before the protests started).
I checked the Royal Caribbean website to see how they may have altered the itinerary to avoid docking (and visiting) Alexandria, but then remembered that after our cruise, they had a repositioning cruise, and the ship (Brilliance of the Seas) was going to start sailing from Dubai. Which would be cool, but I think we'll wait a bit before we do another overseas trip.
In the meantime, DH has been digging holes - four so far, with at least two more to go. (Three if we get the wisteria to bring in the bees.) He's doing it by hand for two reasons... One, the soil (such as it is) really sucks. It's clay and rocks; probably more rocks than anything else. Power tools quake at the sight of our yard. Two, he likes the exercise, swinging that axe. Sure he's sore for a bit, but in his mind, "no pain, no gain." However he makes the holes is fine by me, as long as he doesn't hurt himself.
So here's what's going in this week: 2 Coral cherries, 1 Black Tartarian cherry, 1 Baby Crawford peach, 1 Valencia orange. We also got grape vine pruning instructions from Jessie at Castillo Winery, so DH will be out there working on those this week, too. We may actually get some fruit this year.
This last (not so good) picture is one Maude Estelle Gorman Potts, my paternal grandfather's sister. Even in this shot (which my cousin Ginger got from Ancestry.com), I can easily see my father and my brother's features. I about fell over; it looks like one of them in drag!
I checked the Royal Caribbean website to see how they may have altered the itinerary to avoid docking (and visiting) Alexandria, but then remembered that after our cruise, they had a repositioning cruise, and the ship (Brilliance of the Seas) was going to start sailing from Dubai. Which would be cool, but I think we'll wait a bit before we do another overseas trip.
In the meantime, DH has been digging holes - four so far, with at least two more to go. (Three if we get the wisteria to bring in the bees.) He's doing it by hand for two reasons... One, the soil (such as it is) really sucks. It's clay and rocks; probably more rocks than anything else. Power tools quake at the sight of our yard. Two, he likes the exercise, swinging that axe. Sure he's sore for a bit, but in his mind, "no pain, no gain." However he makes the holes is fine by me, as long as he doesn't hurt himself.
So here's what's going in this week: 2 Coral cherries, 1 Black Tartarian cherry, 1 Baby Crawford peach, 1 Valencia orange. We also got grape vine pruning instructions from Jessie at Castillo Winery, so DH will be out there working on those this week, too. We may actually get some fruit this year.
This last (not so good) picture is one Maude Estelle Gorman Potts, my paternal grandfather's sister. Even in this shot (which my cousin Ginger got from Ancestry.com), I can easily see my father and my brother's features. I about fell over; it looks like one of them in drag!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)