Beginning a new portfolio...

Beginning work on a new portfolio entitled "Home and Garden".  Mini photos to be presented in a small box.

And it is the "preserving season" around here.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Marmalade

Tonight we made marmalade.  Well, I did anyway. v kept me company sitting in the rocker in the corner of the kitchen. He and the cats listened to music and watched me stir, fill, and process.  It's so satisfying, you know?  Two years ago my "sewing day" friend and I took a marmalade workshop at Happy Girl Kitchen in Pacific Grove.  It was a fun class and we've been making marmalade, jam, jellies, and pickles ever since.  I love that little independent shop. It's very close to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Everything but our house is close to the aquarium!

The radiation is moving forward.  They informed us that they are radiating not only the tumor that is "eating" a piece of his spine, but that there is another, low down in his right lung that is "eating" (this is their word) into his chest wall. Well, gee, that didn't sound so good. They assured us that they are attacking the tumor in the lung also. A bone scan was done Thursday. You know, sometimes you just feel like you've been strapped to the healthcare conveyer belt.  We looked at each other when we got home and we both said "I don't want to know!"  Well, it was all right, because it came out negative. Ah! But still, it's almost a case of "so, anyway, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?"

And, I thank you, our friends who offer their kindnesses and support.  You all brighten our days and keep us above despair.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

A Summer's Afternoon

A lazy Sunday afternoon in August after a couple of days of canning jellies, jams, and pickles and a late "girls' night" evening with a Call the Midwife marathon with m-e (so much for a mystery, eh?). If you haven't discovered this show you really must.

I am so happy to be able to write that v is regaining some of his strength and energy and has been out working in the garden several days over the past couple of weeks.  We've so neglected it since his illness began.  I was afraid it was lost, but he has been painstakingly resurrecting it for us.  He has even been coaxing the tomatoes to fruit. No corn or beans this year, no pumpkins.  One sunflower came up from seed from our stand of last year.  However, one success that has nothing to do with us is the apricot harvest this year.  After last year's complete absence of that fruit due to a late frost we have an abundance of beautiful rosy yellow fruit to harvest. 

We've even been having a good share of sunny days, so far, this summer.  Not necessarily warm days, but the sun has been showing itself more often than in recent summers past.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

To Read in the Summer

More summer windows.  I'm just drawn to windows right now. We have been so busy here and will continue to be, a window like this makes me think about the slow times with a good book. My favorite reads are mystery novels, and not the gory or graphic ones.  I sometimes go through phases of reading the early detective novels from England. I also love the Dasheille Hammett stories; The Thin Man and The Maltese Falcon.  I've read all of the Raymond Chandler novels and especially love the ones written of places I knew growing up in Southern California. And yes! I'll admit it: I was (am) a huge fan of Nancy Drew. On my book table I have Annalee Newitz' book Scatter, Adapt, Remember  How Humans will survive mass extinction and Alan Bradley's latest Flavia de Luce novel Speaking From Among the Bones.

v started his latest round of chemo today.  He's been at this for ten months now.  He is stronger, has more energy, but less hair, and a very good appetite.  The doctor saw him today and is very pleased (almost giddy) with v's continued progress and good cheer. The nurses have called him their "healthiest sick patient", but I'm beginning to disagree.  He's not sick.

We continue to work on our latest project (soon!) and the garden and the aquarium.  We have such a busy and tight schedule this week that I was afraid we might not be able to take advantage of our impending apricot harvest, but I was able to get up early the other morning and can some apricot/cherry jam before breakfast!  I keep forgetting that jam and jelly making is so much easier than pie!

So, here is a window with a cushion just inviting anyone who wants to just curl up with that book and a cup of whatever...

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

Cannery Row

Yesterday afternoon we went down to Cannery Row for a coffee. We found a corner in the shop where we could sit by an open window overlooking the main drag, sip our coffee, and watch the world go by.  It was just one of those perfect late afternoons.

We've been having a small "heat wave" which for us is anything over 80℉.  

I'm venturing into black and white photography, along with the previously announced "project" that v and I are embarking on. I hope to have more on that in the near future.

This seagull was sharing his pole with the little Brewers Blackbirds that hang out on the row when someone with a loud rumbling engine gunned it, sending the little blackbirds off in a flurry.  

Nearby is the Cannery Row Brewing Co.  I always find their sign of hanging barrels intriguing.  

The day before we had driven up the coast to Swanton Farm to pick the ollalieberries that are now in season.  Jams, jellies, syrups, and cobblers will be on the menu.  We freeze them so we can have ollalieberry cobbler on a cold, damp winter's day.

We try to go berry picking every summer to mark the season.  This year the farmers have cleared the original fields and berry picking required a bit of a hike to the new ground.  I used to take my father up there to pick berries.  Even with his dementia he thoroughly enjoyed the outing and adventure.  He wasn't as discerning in his choice of berry, but the under-ripe ones help with the thickening of the jam and jelly.  

Quick update on v:  he is putting on weight and his energy is high.  He has five more infusions left before the next CT scan and we remain as hopeful as ever that he will continue to show improvement.  He feels he is winning this battle.  To watch him and to listen to him, it is hard to believe he is ill at all.  Only the loss of his eyebrows and lashes gives evidence.  It has been nine months of chemo.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v 

Marmalade and Mendocino

A marmalade morning here at our house.  While we were in Mendocino we walked through the old wooden framed screen door of the Mendocino Jams and Preserves Shop and found ourselves in what felt like a corner of a well stocked pantry and kitchen.  The shop is at the end of the walk so she has sunlight from sunrise to nearly setting and sea breezes from two directions.  Like many of the shops along Main Street, this was once a small house.  I asked the owner how long she's been in business here. 38 years. The house was converted to one large display and sales room in front and a smaller room in back for the canning.

Along our drive up the coast we saw much evidence of how badly these remote, secluded communities of this Northern California coast have fared in this depression we've been in since '08. We haven't ventured further north than San Francisco since before the crash, having our own economic downturn.  Although the news is full of recovery announcements, we didn't see much evidence of that in towns like Gualala and Point Arena, or even Bodega Bay.  They've changed and many of the businesses and places we'd patronized and stayed at have shuttered windows and doors. In some places it appears the entire population has recycled. Gone are the old hippies that used to hang out on the sidewalks and doorways looking colorful and slightly menacing. Small places like Olema and Point Arena don't seem quite as arrogant in their insularity.

Mendocino seems to be holding itself together.  The community has a history of banding together for the protection and preservation of the village.  Through their efforts back in the sixties and seventies the town, or village, of Mendocino was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.  In 1972 Proposition 20, the Coastal Zone Conservation Act was passed.  This act protected the coastal zone environment and maximized public access to the coast.  At the same time the State Department of Parks and Recreation acquired the land for the Mendocino Headlands State Park.  The town is also designated as a Historic Preservation District of Mendocino County.  The folks living in Mendocino have strict preservation rules, but they have a community that is sustaining. We talked with one resident who told us of some members of the community who wanted to put even tougher restrictions on life in town: they wanted to ban cell phones from within the town limits.  They're not banned, but we had a "no service" message on our phones the entire time we were there.  It was land lines if a call needed to be made.

I'm thinking of giving the Jam & Preserve shop a call to inquire on whether she's taking on apprentices.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

Pickled Beets

Pickled beets today.

Utensils at the ready.

Thirty minutes in the canning kettle.

Sitting pretty until packed in a basket for a picnic or a Christmas gift.

V has a show tonight and I'll be there.  In bocca al lupo.  m