It occurred to me the other day that in the past three years I have lived in several places. From the fall of 2010 until now, a period of less than three years, I have had six "homes." I lived in the cottage in Inverness for more than ten years and left there at the end of October 2010. That's habitat #1. Then I stayed in Daly City with Gabe and Annie for six months, #2. For a couple of weeks I was in Healdsburg, in a lovely house next to my friend Margaret, doing a little innkeeping while she took a little time off. I don't count that as #3, but it was someplace different. From there I drove to #3, Grand Prairie, Texas, where I stayed, as a couple of you might remember, for a couple of months in the hottest climate I had ever encountered. After that I drove around for a couple of weeks, through Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Oregon and then California, and I lived in a trailer for two months. #4. (Yes, that counts because I paid rent.) Gratefully, after that I lived in the tiny place in Santa Rosa with the awesome garden, #5. And now, #6, a much larger house, still in Santa Rosa.
Six places in less than three years. Remarkable. It's no wonder I have a such a small amount of possessions. Move that stuff around enough and it all can go into the landfill.
Here to stay for a while, I hope. Below is a teeny pic of where I live now, it's the house on the left side. You can go to maps.google.com and put in the address, 2219 Meyers Drive, Santa Rosa, and see a bigger photo if you want, which I am sure you don't. The house was built in the 1950's and is fine. I am working on the backyard, slowly and cheaply. It's nice to come home and water the possible seedlings.
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Ok, I must apologize right up front, there is nothing in this post about Hells Angels or motorcycles or killing or death or nasty stuff. The reason I put that title up there is because I am doing a little market research. When you do a blog, a stupid one like mine, which has no content and little relevance, you can still look at your chart and see how many people supposedly read that blog or at least looked at it. Normally there are from 2 - 5 viewings, probably my two loyal readers and two others who thought I was going to give them travel tips. But twenty people looked at the blog that was titled "Sonny Barger." And come on, while it was sort of a cool posting, it wasn't special. So I am putting "Hells Angels" in the title here to see if that makes more people click on it because they find it on some kind of search. Or something.
Yes, it is silly but I'm just trying it out. Investigating, if you will. Perhaps, if 20 more people open this blog, I will know that putting catchy phrases in the title will draw more people to the blog. Do I care if more people read this? Well, sort of but not really. Who cares what I write about? The system says that 84 (!) people looked at the blog a couple of days ago that was titled "TV." Really? There's something fishy about that count. If it had been titled "Best TV Show of Your Entire Life" or "Watch this TV show to Learn How to Make Dollars While Petting Your Dog" or something, then maybe a few people might have accidentally stumbled upon it. But "TV?" No. So there is something crazy about the way those views are counted. Who in their right mind would find a random blog about TV and read it? Who would care?
Therefore, if you are one of two or three folks who read this, count yourselves lucky...... if the tally comes up more than 5, I will know strange things are afoot at the Circle J and will let you know what transpires. To be continued.....
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So far, nothing has died! Well, some of the mint that I ripped out of my previous garden might not make it but a lot of it is still alive. The basil and the arugula are still growing, the cilantro looks great, rosemary is fine (but it's hard to kill a rosemary plant) and even my tomatoes don't look too bad. Bush beans are OK, not dead but not really thriving either but I still have hopes for them. Today I planted a zucchini plant (gotta have at least one of those) and unless the dogs step on it I will have great hope for a bounty of zukes this summer.
This has given me great excitement! I think the combo of sun and water has done what it is supposed to do: make things grow. I am hoping it's a trend. Maybe my black thumb is greening up a little bit after all. Maybe I should try some more things...... I got several packs of seeds in the mail today from a friend who wanted to grow a garden but realized that she lives on a rocky hill and the work to haul soil in and get planters was just too much. So I got the seeds. I might just broadcast them over part of the mulchy yard, water, and see what comes up! A science experiment of sorts. Carrots mingling with cucumbers interspersed with radishes along side pepper plants and round summer squash. What's the downside of that? Nothing! So it's onward: seeds, work your little seed magic and grow me a bean-stalk, metaphorically speaking. Updates to come.
Just finished "The Interestings" by Meg Wolitzer. It's a big, sprawling novel that spans about 40 years, follows the lives of some often pretentious kids/adults on the east coast. These kids met at a summer camp which sort of defined who they were then and that definition carried over into their adult years as well. It was a good read but the characters, while clearly drawn, were not always likable. But then, that's how life is as well: not everyone is likable all the time. It's an engaging book if you overlook the self-absorbed nature of their actions now and then. Love, hate, death, birth, success, failure, it's all there and people react differently to all of it. It is entertaining but not nearly as good as a big sprawling novel from someone like John Irving or Richard Ford. But still, worth checking out of the library.
A good friend (thanks, Tom) recommended a British TV series to me and it is quite good. "Call the Midwife" it's called and it takes place in East London in the 1950's. Young nurses are living in a convent and are, no surprise, midwives to mostly the poorer class, but not always. (Convoluted sentence, that was.) You can download the first season free from Netflix if you have a download device like the english-muffin sized Roku player or stream it from your computer to your TV. Tom says the second season is out but not yet available via Roku, but that shouldn't stop you from watching the first season. It is narrated by Vanessa Redgrave, whose gravely honeyed voice is always a treat to hear.
Really good characters, good situations, heartbreak and .... whatever the opposite of heartbreak is. Well done, there are poignant moments that will make you cry and scenes that will make you laugh out loud. Highly recommended, check it out.
If it stays this hot until the end of summer, over 90 degrees today in my little part of the hot world, I might need to take drastic action and ..... I don't know what, but this is too hot for April. Honestly. Wilting hot. This house, if you close it up at noon, stays below 80 (just) while it is much hotter outside, and it does cool down at night unlike some states I know but really.... it's so boring. So, so boring. Oh, sun! Oh, sunshine! Oh, more of the same! Again, again, again.
No clouds, no fog, nothing. There was a little wind last week, which was fun, but that lasted a day, then more sun, sun, sun. One would think that since I grew up in Southern California, where it is sunny 300 days a year (it is, honestly) that I wouldn't mind sun and heat and all the cheeriness it brings. One would be wrong. I like weather. I like what the changing weather patterns bring. I lived in Foggy Daly City for ten years and grew to love it. This weather brings nothing that interests me. It is boring. It's like eating the same yogurt and granola every day, over and over. Sure, it's OK but it's stupid. Stupid weather. And yes, that does sound like a ten year old. I don't care.
On another note (thankfully) the tiny seedlings I planted last week are still alive! This is remarkable. A few of them even look like they might be growing! Zut Alors! Friends told me to make sure I watered them, well, duh. I am not that dumb, but gosh, water does make a huge difference, so I am planning on continuing with the watering program. Another friend today came by and gave me two tomato plants and some cheap, tall containers to plant them in, so I will be getting dirt tomorrow on the way home from work. If anyone out there has tomato hints, now is the time to tell me. Do I plant them, as the sticker says, so only about half the top shows? That deep? Well, I will just wing it, so no worries. But I am excited to have them and I hope they don't die.
Nothing else going on. I am reading a good book, "The Interestings" by Meg Wolitzer. Have read her books before. This one is a tome with interesting (!) characters but half way through I want it to speed up a bit. We'll see if it does. I watched an excellent documentary: "How To Survive a Plague" which you can instantly download via Netflix. It's about the Act Up group that was formed in the mid 1980's to try and find out what was going on about AIDS and the epidemic, but it is as much about people organizing to make change happen. It is worth watching. Check it out.
OK, time for another glass of cheap white wine. Too hot for red.
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Clarification: I am not now, nor have I ever been, a gardener. I have a black thumb, small plants wither when I get close. Small, delicate roots perish at my touch. The only thing I have ever grown successfully was a cheap yellow daisy plant and that only lasted for one season. At least it didn't have the audacity to waste away in the first week of its existence.
Having said that, you will wonder why today I went to the local nursery (a beautiful spot, by the way) and bought some small, innocent plants and some soil and a small shovel and planted them in my backyard. The reason is simple: because I could. And because this weather calls for at least trying to grow something. I am hoping against hope that my basil, arugula, cilantro and rosemary thrive, that my sweet peas come up and my cosmos bloom. I am giving them a week. If they look even vaguely like they are surviving, I am moving on to green beans, maybe two (!) tomato plants, a zucchini plant and a six pack of lettuce starts. Who knows, maybe this will be my lucky year and I will get one serving of everything I plant, which would be a 100% gain over every other garden I have attempted.
The yard at this house is too big and my bank account is too small to do much more than some cheap container gardening. Raised beds would be perfect but those will have to wait until next year. There is mulch on the ground and I may make a mound in one corner and try some more vegetables (if those planted today manage to live) and probably just sow random flower seeds around and live with flowers this summer. That wouldn't be a bad thing, although even flowers have been known to turn brown when I look at them.
We'll see..... will keep you posted.
This is not my garden. Wish it was. Not my dog either, glad it's not.
