April 17, 2014 by Born To Organize

Setting the Date: Little Free Library Dedication

Today I set the date for our Little Free Library dedication. The library, or LFL, went up in January. I shared the news by Facebook and email but didn’t do anything ‘official’. In February, the LFL listed on the global map, another fun milestone. March was our ‘rainy’ month and then we had the sprucing up of the curb garden. So, here it is mid-April, with our dedication ceremony set for May 17th. I’m excited.

If you’re new to the idea of a Little Free Library, here’s the scoop:

It’s a “take a book, return a book” gathering place where neighbors share their favorite literature and stories. In its most basic form, a Little Free Library is a box full of books where anyone may stop by and pick up a book (or two) and bring back another book to share.

The Mission of the non-profit Little Free Library movement is to promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide, and to build a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations.

I’ve dedicated the LFL to Debbie Hughes Judge and Carolyn Sullivan, life-long readers and teachers. They offered support and guidance as we piloted a Books-at-Home program at our grade school, a program created to serve disadvantaged readers. They will be guests of honor at our ceremony.

We’ll serve light refreshments and give out free bookmarks to all the attendees.

What’s New in the Library:

I found tiny Beatrix Potter books at our local Target in the dollar bins. When I tried paying for them, they said the books weren’t available for sale yet, and they returned them to the stock room. Have you every heard of such a thing? I was just sure I would miss out, but through a fortunate stroke of serendipity, I found them again a month later and quickly snapped them up.

I loved these little books as a child. The originals came out between 1902 and 1922. Beatrix Potter was a woman ahead of her time, an early environmentalist responsible for preserving the beautiful Lake District in Northern England.

Beatrix Potter

Also new in the library, and all the way from Canada, a copy of P.D. Eastman’s Are You My Mother? Thank you, Boomdee! This book was also a favorite growing up, published in 1960, though I’m pretty sure she picked it out for the aqua cover. :-)

A gift to the Little Free Library

She inscribed the book with the following:

The more you read,
the more you will know
The more you learn
The more places you’ll grow.
-Dr. Seuss
For Alys and her LFL
from Boomdee

Through another stroke of serendipity, my mother gave me a copy of the Dr. Seuss book she quotes from when I graduated from college. If you’ve never read Oh, the Places You’ll Go head to your nearest library, STAT.

Beautiful inscription

Please join us Saturday, May 17th at 3:00 pm for a brief dedication ceremony in front of the El Codo Way Little Free Library
Honored Guests:
Debra Hughes Judge and Carolyn Sullivan
Bring a book, take a book.
Light refreshments and a free bookmark for all attendees

The Little Free Library is constructed from reclaimed materials. Design and build by Nick Timmermann of Timmermann Natural Landscapes

April 16, 2014 by Born To Organize

Three Garden Projects, All in a Row

Hurray for Nick Timmermann! Nick completed all three garden projects for me over the past two days.

You may remember that I managed to get most of the dead hardenbergia vine pulled, but had to stop at the roots. The same went for my attempt at removing the grass in the sidewalk strip. My back and neck can no longer handle that kind of heavy digging.

The third project on the list was to remove the depleted lavender (thanks to an early frost) and replace it with Mexican Bush Sage. I went to four nurseries and garden centers over the past two weeks looking for the plants without success. Central Wholesale Nursery said they were seeing a shortage of plants. At the start of the recession, growers reduced production. Now that people are buying again, they’re having trouble keeping up with the demand. Nick went back this week and they just got them in!

I’ve been waiting to get the front garden rehabbed before our Little Free Library dedication. Now I can move ahead.

Here’s Nick’s handy work, starting with my attempt at digging up the grass, left, and the completed garden strip, upper right:

Colorful pebbles, stepping-stones and thyme replace the 18-year-old, water-guzzling lawn

I’m trying to reduce my water use and getting rid of the lawn in the sidewalk strip was a first step. We replaced it with tiny pebbles and drought tolerant thyme, capping off several sprinkler heads in the process.

Out with the old, in with the new

Wooly thyme planted between the rocks

Colored pebbles and slate stepping-stones

I loved the lavender and was sorry to see it go. That said, here was another opportunity to reduce water usage. The Mexican Bush Sage prefers dry conditions and needs almost no water once established. These plants will fill the space within a season. Meanwhile, I’ll put in some sunflower seeds and mulch and see if I can outsmart the squirrels.

As the daffodils slowly fade, the perennials are taking over. I’m loving all that color. Here are a few closeups:

Red Buckwheat

Snapdragons and daffodils

Scabiosa (it’s prettier than it sounds)

I ♥ flowers. Don’t you?

April 15, 2014 by Born To Organize

Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse

Last night we got to experience a total lunar eclipse from our back yard. Good thing, too, since it happened after midnight. We all went to bed around ten and set an alarm for 12:00. My youngest son asked me this morning if he got up to see it or if he had just imagined it. So much for laying down memories!

Mike took some photos, which I’ve included below. They’ll make great memories for us, but if you want to see the true majesty of this eclipse, you can check it out at Bad Astronomy.

View from the backyard: 9:09 pm

Full moon, 9:09 pm

Full Blood Moon: 12:50 am

According to Phil Plait of Slate:

there will be three more total lunar eclipses visible to the United States over the next year and half: in October this year, and in April and September of 2015. While their won’t be any bright stars near the Moon for the eclipse in October, the planet Uranus will be only a degree away! There’s also a partial solar eclipse two weeks later, on Oct. 23, 2014! That’ll be a treat. And if you live in Australia there’s a nice annular solar eclipse on April 29; this is when the Moon is slightly smaller than the Sun and leaves a ring of Sun around the dark Moon.

Do you enjoy watching a lunar or solar eclipse? If so, please share your memories in the comments below.

April 14, 2014 by Born To Organize

Vision Literacy and a Modern Home Tour

My friend Candace Levers is a board member of Vision Literacy, a local non-profit in Silicon Valley. Vision Literacy provides adults with basic literacy and technology skills.

Through its operations in Gilroy, San Jose, Sunnyvale and other Silicon Valley communities, Vision Literacy has provided adults with basic literacy and technology skills for over 25 years. Its students acquire vital reading, writing, speaking and listening tools, allowing them to become better parents, employees, business owners and citizens.Many of us take for granted our ability to interact with each other and our communities at large on a daily basis, despite it being so essential. Whether speaking with our child’s teachers, applying for a job or simply asking for directions, our success and happiness is, to a large extent, determined by our ability to effectively communicate with others. – See more at: http://www.visionliteracy.org/#sthash.CSKs6wDM.dpuf

Its students acquire vital reading, writing, speaking and listening tools, allowing them to become better parents, employees, business owners and citizens.

This past weekend, Vision Literacy was the sole beneficiary of the Silicon Valley Modern Home Tour. I volunteered at one of the show homes in Menlo Park, greeting tour patrons, selling tickets and imaging what it would be like to actually live in the Spiegel home.

Home Exterior

Spiegel Home: Porch, pool and water wise grass

Our local paper featured the Menlo Park home with the headline: Just call it stunning. I couldn’t agree more. Vast walls of glass and large windows brought the outdoors in. Walls covered in cedar, simple lines, open ceilings and slate floors felt breezy and comfortable. Native grasses, trees, shrubs and flowers surround the entire house, blurring the lines between inside and out.

Entryway

Walls of books and glass

Did I mention the windows?

More windows

In affluent Menlo Park, property is at a premium. They build houses close together. Yet the entire time I was there it felt like an oasis. The use of trees, a ‘wall’ of bamboo, and the home’s placement on the lot, all contributed to a sense of privacy while retaining the open plan.

Master Suite: Simple interiors invite the eye outdoors.

Landscape: This patio is outside the dining area, Dogwood tree at entrance

One of the super-cool features of the Spiegel house is the four-story tower. Each floor has a landing with glass walls, a small bedroom and a corresponding bathroom. The bottom floor is a seating area and the top floor is an exterior, roof-top balcony. The rest of the house is all on one floor.

Tower rooms: Clean lines, warm woods, glass walls and extra-large windows.

Rooftop Patio: The perfect spot to watch the sun set. Cozy when seated, with expansive views

Architect Dan Spiegel, grew up in the home originally on the lot. He designed the home for his parents, who moved in a year ago. Dan was on site to answer questions during the tour, along with his wife and business partner, landscape designer Megumi Aihara. It was a pleasure meeting these talented, down-to-earth people.

Megumi Aihara and Dan Spiegel

You can learn more about the house and gardens by taking a virtual tour at Low/Rise House/Spiegel. Pictures include floor plans and elevations.

Vision Literacy: “Reading skills are essential to improving one’s life.” Steve Wozniak, Honorary Board Chair
Modern Home Tours
Spiegel Aihara Workshop: Architect Dan Spiegel and landscape designer, Megumi Aihara

April 11, 2014 by Born To Organize

Screen Saver, Garden Style

If you’re looking for a screen saver for your tablet or PC, I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong post. If you’re a bit of a klutz like me, however, this post is for you.

I’ve walked into our screen door on more than one occasion, with the full force of my being. I’m always completely stunned each time, as if it’s never happened before. Last summer my son’s friend hit the screen with such force that it tore out of its frame. I felt ever so slightly vindicated. His friend wasn’t hurt of course, and they both laughed it off, but our screen has taken a real beating. We’ve had to replace it at least twice in the past several years, and didn’t even bother to repair the current one when the lower corner came loose. The cats immediately claimed it as their own.

After the most recent screen crash, my husband applied a strip of black electrical tape at eye level and called it a day. Though lacking in aesthetics, it was a brilliant idea. It worked.

I’ve tried attaching clever little pins in the past or stickers from my stash, but they never stay put. Then I found these:

Magnetic Screen Savers

They’re mirrored magnets. You place one on the inside of the screen and attach the mirrored magnet to the outside. I think they’re fun in a kitschy sort of way and they get the job done.

Problem solved: screen saver, garden style.**

**Disclaimer: they don’t work when you have a cat snoozing across the door’s threshold. =^..^=

Have you every walked through a screen door? You can tell me. I promise not to share it with anyone other than the internet.

April 10, 2014 by Born To Organize

It’s all in the Timing

Great cooks make it look easy. They pull together a variety of dishes and manage to have everything on the table at the same time. It’s all in the timing.

For three years now, I’ve tried to plant the tomatoes and basil so that they’re ready to go at the same time as well. I love caprese salad, and the novelty of growing two of the three main ingredients is fun.

Here’s one of our salads from last summer.

Caprese Salad

In prior years, the basil took off, and the tomatoes took a long time to catch up. This year all the tomatoes self seeded in late winter, sending me scrambling for basil. I purchased a small plant from the nursery, and planted it near the volunteer potato. It was about the same size as the tomatoes when it went into the ground, so I patted myself on the back and figured a job well done.

Ha!

Scene of the crime

Something devoured my plant! I’m not naming names or anything, but their initials are ‘S’ and ‘S’. Those slippery, slimy garden pests noshed my lovely plant down to the nubs. Boo!

Now here we are three weeks into spring, the tomatoes are taking off and the basil is…well…gone.

Once upon a time I was a Basil plant

I was chatting with my friend Kirra today and she mentioned planting her basil by mistake too close to the tomatoes. Then it hit me. Last year I planted the basil and the tomato side by side without any problems. Since tomato leaves are poisonous, I wonder if the proximity kept the S’s away? It’s worth a try.

Just before hitting the publish key, I searched the term ‘tomato companion planting’ and you’ll never guess what came up: basil! Last summer was a happy accident. So I’ll be headed to the nursery for another small plant, and now I know exactly where it should go.

Hearty Tomatoes

Do you have a favorite summer salad?

Simple Caprese Salad

Companion Planting Tomatoes

April 9, 2014 by Born To Organize

The Fruits of My Labor

Developing Plums

Gardens, like children, need nurturing to grow. Genetics certainly plays a role. Environment is significant too. A little TLC, however, goes a long way to ensure a happy, healthy garden. Today, I’m enjoying the fruits of my labor, literally and metaphorically.

This is the break-out year for our four-in-one fruit tree. We bought the grafted, stone-fruit tree as a gift for my son’s 10th birthday. I researched the guidelines for pruning the tree, and received additional tips from my nurseryman friend, Doug. Following that advice, I pruned the branches by 40-50% every year for the first three years. It seemed drastic to my young son who was pretty upset with me even though I was able to show him the research. One of the four grafts died, and I’ve never heard the end of it.

Where was I…oh yes, the fruits of my labor. Well guess what? This is year four and the tree is now covered in fruit. There is more fruit than we’ve had in the first three years combined.

Blushing fruit in the dappled sun

Branches laden with fruit

Last year’s small bounty disappeared overnight. This year we have so much fruit that the rats and squirrels have only made a small foraging dent. We might actually be eating peaches, plums and nectarines this summer. Oh happy days!

Do you have a favorite fruit?

April 8, 2014 by Born To Organize

Blogging Nirvana

A few months ago, I updated my ‘About’ page to read:

I came for the writing and stayed for the friends. Who knew the blogging community was so rich and diverse?

On WordPress alone, bloggers produce over 44 million posts a month. My blog is a tiny minnow in a vast sea. Yet somewhere along the way, I’ve connected with a handful of remarkable people scattered across the globe. In many ways, blogging is the start of a conversation. Great things reside in the comments that follow. Like the oft-compared pen pals of our youth, we form relationships through the written word.

Without face-to-face exchanges, bloggers rely on words and pictures. When you’re first starting out, you hunger for comments. It’s a way to validate why you’re here and what you write about. In a short time, however, relationships are born. They grow and strengthen and before you know it, you’re logging on every day to connect with like-minded and interesting people.

For me, it all started with ‘Boomdee’. I can still remember the first blog that caught my eye, a beautiful transformation of her front porch. I love before-and-after pictures and I liked her style. A little exploration told me she had two rescue cats, and that she lived in Canada, my country of origin.

The connection could have ended there, but before long, we were exchanging multiple comments back and forth every day. Unbelievably, someone I didn’t know just a few years ago, became one of my closest, dearest friends.

Through that connection, I found other bloggers.

Dani, at Teddy and Tottie. She writes a slice-of-life blog from a small town in Australia.
Julia, at Defeat Despair, writes inspirational posts from her homes in Washington D.C. and Virginia
Laurie, at Life on the Bike, also lives in Virginia. She’s a fabulous photographer and a serious biker and she shares her experiences with both.
Pauline, at The Contented Crafter, blogs from New Zealand. Pauline blogs about her process of creating mixed-media art and crafts.

…and we all include our wonderful animals in our posts.

Yesterday, an amazing thing happened. Ms. Boomdee organized a global Skype Tea.She put together a schedule that accommodated five different time zones, then placed the call. We had a series of technical issues, but it added to the fun. Each of us read a pre-selected poem, wearing a hat and gloves of course. We enjoyed the novelty of hearing each other for the first time, and our diverse accents on the call. I can’t remember the last time I experienced something so unique and fun.

Special thanks, dear Boomdee, for making this all possible. Fellow bloggers, thank you for reading, writing, photo-sharing and commenting. My hat (and gloves) are off to you.

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Skype Tea Selfies

Skype cast of characters

April 7, 2014 by Born To Organize

In a Vase on Monday

Cathy at Rambling in the Garden posts a photo of a vase of flowers each Monday. She includes flowers from her garden, a prop of some sort, and a variety of vessels. Fun, right?

I think it’s a lovely tradition. I found her blog via another Cathy at Words and Herbs. If you love flowers and the art of arranging, these blogs are a treat.

Gathering flowers in to posies or bouquets is a time-honored tradition. Nothing brightens a home like fresh flowers. The first year I grew cosmos, I had elegant blooms for months. I enjoyed arranging them in a variety of ways, finding it creative and relaxing.

Today’s flowers in a vase includes Daffodils and Mexican Bush Sage with a few fronds of fern. Starting with four empty Tamarind jars, I arranged them in a square. I held the jars together with a piece of lace, a gift from my dear friend and fellow blogger, Boomdee. A strip of washi tape over the lace added texture.

Here is the result.

Flowers in a vase on Monday

Daffodils

Mexican Bush Sage (soft as velvet)

Tamarind jars gathered together with lace and washi tape

You’re welcome to join in, with a link back to the original blogger.

Cathy Lyon-Green writes: “I had not intended to write a blog, but was talking to a friend about how, now I had more time, I wanted amongst other things to keep a better record of the garden and nurture its spiritual aspects, as well as writing poetry more often. She suggested I do it online as a blog, and Rambling in the Garden was born.”

Cathy of Words and Herbs writes: “I’m an English trainer originally from the UK, but now living (and gardening!) in Bavaria. Two of my greatest passions are plants and books, which is what I write about here. I also love cooking delicious vegetarian food, a feature here too, and like to live in tune with the seasons.”

I hope you’ll join in one Monday, too.

April 4, 2014 by Born To Organize

Hummingbirds: Taking Turns

Our hummingbird feeders are draining quickly this week, with several birds taking turns at the feeder. I hope this means one of the female hummingbirds is nesting nearby. The adults need to eat every twenty minutes. Once the female lays her eggs, she is in constant search of food.

Many birds work in pairs to ready the nest, but not in this case. The male of the species doesn’t stay around to help. A flyby exchange of fluids lasting seconds is all it takes to fertilize the eggs. Then the promiscuous male hummingbird is off.

The female hummingbird lays a pair of eggs at a time. She nests five or six times a season. Tiny eggs are the size of tic tacs®, laid in a golf-ball-sized nest. She uses soft grasses and twigs, then wraps the nest with silk from a spider’s web to keep it together.

In addition to eating nectar, hummingbirds consume soft-bodied insects for protein.

While I consider putting my feet up over the weekend, she’ll be hunting and gathering, building and nesting and finally rearing a pair of infants till they fledge.

Head slap: so *that* is how she maintains that svelte figure.

What are your plans this weekend?