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)

How Can I Help?

How does ocean acidification effect shellfish?  As the pH of the oceans decreases with the huge amounts of CO2 that are dumped into them daily carbonates are less available.  Carbonates are what shellfish rely on to develop their shells, without it the shells become thinner, growth slows, and the animals die.

How can we help??? Stop blaming and start changing...just a little at a time.

Turn off the lights
Buy less plastic, period.

Consider quality over quantity--more is definitely not better.

Have a weekly evening of reading or conversation instead of TV or video games

Encourage your children to put on their own theater productions for you and your friends
Gather together for potluck evenings
Support Farmers' Markets and buy produce grown locally and in season
Make do and mend--that's an old saying from the days of rationing, but why not be creative?
Go to the library
Play in the park
Use reusable (and washable) bags for shopping
Walk to our destinations whenever we can, or
Ride a bike to school, the market, work (if possible).
Share rides.
Demand better public transportation! Two hour commutes of only a few miles is not encouraging people to "ride the bus"!
Support Light and High Speed Rail development.

Just a few thoughts, please add your own.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Diversion

Back to the farmers market.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Meet ups at the Farmers' Markets

I haven't posted a Farmers' Market shot in a while.  I do love the local FMs.  Aside from the food v and I enjoy watching people and listening to the music. We meet friends at the markets and head to side street coffee houses for long conversations.  Well, and then, of course there is the food!  On Tuesdays there are several stalls featuring exotic looking vegetables that are used in Asian cooking.  It's fun just pointing out something unknown to us and have the stall keeper give us tips on how to cook it.

San Luis Obispo to the south of us has a huge Thursday Market on Thursday evenings. Once a year my childhood friend comes up from Southern California for a workshop held at Cal Poly SLO and we meet up with her for the Thursday market.

So, we've had our FM fix for this month...at least the first one.

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

Musings on Time and Energy

This is one of those years that just flies by without giving one the chance to catch a breath! Here we are in July already!  v has endured ten months of weekly, at times daily, chemotherapy and despite being mightily beat up in the process he has only shown improvement in his condition.  He is gaining weight and has ever-increasing energy.  He rarely lets his enthusiasm and happy experience of life wane.  I have never known anyone who has gone through this experience without frequent bouts of depression and fear. He is fearless.  Again, I doubt we'd come through all of this without such loving and devoted friends.  Our energies are focused on his well-being.  Sometimes trying to focus outside of that takes more energy than we can spare.  Our garden is an example of what has been neglected during this process.  We are relying on our local farmers' markets to supply us with the sweet, fresh vegetables that we normally have coming from just outside the kitchen door.  I'm sad about that, but just can't push myself out there to dig and pull...as much as those activities have been such a joyful escape in the past for me.

It isn't all v's cancer that is pulling at our energies.  I've returned to school, albeit part time.  We also have a design project that we spend many hours on and are hoping to soon have in production.  Until that time, we aren't leaking any more info on that subject.

July! Summer!  How did that happen so soon?

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

Color

I love to use these colorful baskets to store fabric and yarn.  I use small ones for knitting projects and large ones at the farmers' markets.  I love to see the collection of them side by side adding color.

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

Farmers' Market!

I've had a bad cold and cough.  V has started the next round of chemo and I had an assignment due, so I am just going to share what I loved about today's market...

Flowers

Oysters

Cookie samples

Strawberries

...and more flowers

In bocca al lupo.  m & v