November 11, 2014 by Born To Organize

Autumn Leaves

Mystic Seaport, Connecticut, 2000

Several New England states cash in every year as tourists flock to see the autumn leaves. Colors range from golden-yellow to brilliant red. When seen collectively, the trees are breathtaking. That’s me posing in front of a tree on a visit to friends in Mystic, Seaport.

According to New England Inns and Resorts:

When planning your fall foliage vacation in New England, you’ll want to plan your trip for the time known regionally as peak foliage. Peak foliage is the time of year when the colors of the area’s trees are at their most vibrant. Depending on the species, this is when the highest proportion of the leaves in an area are a fiery-bright yellow to light orange, offering visitors a spectacular panorama unlike anything they’ve ever seen.

I’ve taken my own snapshots in my garden here

Acer turning red

and here

Ana’s Hummingbird resting in the Chinese Pistache

but today I want to direct you to two glorious blogs. If you’re a fan of autumn color, these are not to be missed.

First up, Joseph who blogs at The Visual Chronicles. Joe is publishing a series of stunning photography this month entitled The Wonder of Autumn. His photos are incredible. He’s published a series of seven so far. If you want to start from the beginning, click here. Please let me know if you stop by.

Next up, Laurie. Laurie blogs at Life on the Bike and Other Fab Things and she too is sharing beautiful slices of her travels back east. If you’re looking for a calorie-free treat for your eyes, may I direct you Rojo!?

Although I don’t dare complain about the mild, California weather, I do miss the dramatic leaf change of my Ontario home. We get color in dribs and drabs here, including our own Chinese Pistache (Pistacia chinensis), but nothing rivals New England.

I hope Joe and Laurie’s photos are a welcome respite to your day.

November 6, 2014 by Born To Organize

Happy Mail Times Two

Val over at Nikitiland published a post of a similar name yesterday and included free, downloadable labels that say Happy Mail. She went on to ask:

When was the last time you got something in the mail that wasn’t a bill?

Well. The funniest thing happened when I joined the world of blogging: My Happy Mail started to overflow. Treasures arrived from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other parts of the US. I’ve managed to surround myself with thoughtful, creative, talented people who share their talents with generosity.

I relish the irony of the fact that we’ve all met online, but were quick to broaden and deepen our connections via snail mail. For as long as I can remember, I always loved ‘checking the mail.’ When I traveled to Europe in 1989, I obtained an American Express mailbox in Paris. After traveling for a month I arrived in Paris and took a subway to the AMEX office. Imagine my joy to receive six letters from family and friends back home. I ♥ mail!

She’s Here!

It’s true: one slim white envelope on your doormat can send your heart racing. Squee!

Earlier this week I re-blogged Pauline King’s post A Painting for Alys. Pauline blends paper and paint, and in this case, some of my father’s stamps, and gathers them into beautiful works of mixed media art.

The Wonderland of Alys ©Pauline King

Rich color and texture

Flowers, hearts and postage stamps

I knew she was working on something, but by the time she posted her blog, the beautiful painting was already making its way from New Zealand to California. It arrived yesterday. Thank you, Pauline!

Amber Leaf, Heart of Gold

I received this second precious gift from a regular follower. Mary Elizabeth’s life is full taking care of her disabled son. She faces challenging days, but does so with grace and love and heart. Thank you, ME. You’re an inspiration.

Autumn Gold

To read more about Pauline’s process, check out her blog at The Contented Crafter.

Pauline offers some of her treasures through her Etsy shop at The Contented Crafter: Whimsical Art, Hand-Crafted Cards and Sparkly Things

You can also find her on Facebook

November 5, 2014 by Born To Organize

Birthday Wishes

My sister celebrates another trip around the sun today. We’re only 13 months apart so we always shared a room, many hobbies and lots of laughs. We also share a passion for dress up and especially Halloween.

Sharon prefers scary costumes and has put together some doozies over the years. The bloodier the better. Two years ago we collaborated on a costume together: the Corpse Bride from the Tim Burton movie of the same name. Her friend Kim did her makeup. Doesn’t she look amazing?

Check out Sharon’s costume history, below:

Happy birthday, Sharon. Wishing you a wonderfully ‘scary’, music-filled, purple-enriched day.

September 25, 2014 by Born To Organize

It Rained!

Yes, folks, right here in San Jose, California, in the midst of a protracted drought, it rained. In September.

Real rain too, not that “did I just feel a drop?” kind of rain, but puddle-forming, windshield-wiping, garden-refreshing rain. I lingered in bed this morning with the doors flung open and took in the mesmerizing sounds and smells. Then I got dressed and went outside.

Rain, glorious rain!

Good thing, too, since the sun was out by 10 but I enjoyed the refreshing drops while they lasted.

Acer leaves

Cloudy skies and Salvia reflected on the deck

This is a tremendous gift to the firefighters battling the King Fire in Northern California. We are not in harm’s way, but others are. Many of the state’s late-summer fires are the result of lightning. Sadly this one was arson. Fortunately they’ve made an arrest, but the fire has raged out of control for two weeks.

The good news today is that the fire is 43% contained, but the damage is unbelievable. 95,000 acres burned and a dozen homes lost. Their are over 8,000 fire personnel from across the country battling the flames.

Today I celebrate rain in my little corner of the world, as well as the potential relief for crews on the fire lines and displaced residents in our parched state.

Let it rain, let it rain!

Here’s the latest from the Weather Channel:

Western drought status as of Sept. 16, 2014. Darker shading indicates progressively worse drought status. (NOAA/USDA/NDMC)

Yes, runoff triggered by soaking rain from this September storm in far northwest California will raise a tad.

However, the key to drought relief in California is not rain, but snow.

Critical to water supply in this part of the country is the buildup of winter snow pack in the mountains, whose melt water in the spring replenishes reservoirs.

Snow melt provides up to 75 percent of the West’s freshwater supply. The Sierra and, to a lesser degree, Colorado River snow melt, is crucial for California.

In short, California and the West needs a persistently wet winter, with a combination of significant rain and mountain snow to replenish groundwater and reservoir levels.

September 15, 2014 by Born To Organize

Postage Stamp Giveaway: Stamps on the Move

If you took part in my August postage-stamp giveaway, please keep an eye on your mailbox. Packets of postage are in the mail. Soon they’ll be making their way to different parts of the world.

Our neighborhood post office, though the extra spacing makes it appear to be “United Post, States Office”.

It was incredibly therapeutic going through Daddy’s stamp albums. I really took notice of the small details. He wrapped some stamps in cello paper, others not. In a few places, he added his own section for additional stamps for a particular country, something I hadn’t noticed before. My dad had a meticulous hand so it was easy to overlook. Some countries issued the same stamp in five or six colors. A few were over-stamped with the word “service” in black ink, another new discovery.

It’s fun for me to contemplate the stamp’s trajectory. Dad started his collection in England. He continued to collect while living in Darjeeling, India, then moved with his albums to Seaforth, Ontario Canada. They traveled with him one more time to Millbrae, California before he died.

Of course the original stamp traveled its own path. At some point someone in Egypt affixed a postage stamp to a letter and mailed is somewhere else. That destination remains a mystery.

The stamps are on the move again, though ironically the postage used to mail them is a computer-generated label. Times have changed.

Signed and sealed with custom forms at the ready

I never acquired Daddy’s love for collecting stamps, but I’ve always enjoyed their individual beauty. I rarely buy ordinary ‘flag’ stamps, the utilitarian postage you might receive from a place of business. I choose flowers, writers, movie stars, cartoon characters, whatever might be new and interesting.

International Postage

Packets of postage are on their way to:

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Duncan, BC, Canada

Dunedin, New Zealand

Mt. Brydges, ON, Canada

Santa Clara, California

and a few bookmarks head to:

Tasmania, Australia

Victoria, Australia

I’m happy to share them with you.

Bookmarks

A few notecards

Postage Table

I came up with one more way to honor my dad with the remaining stamps: I’m going to collage a small table top. Stay tuned for details. I have a few things to work out before I get started.

Thanks for your gracious and loving comments on my original post. My heart is full.

September 9, 2014 by Born To Organize

Victoria: City of Gardens

Boomdee poses in the Empress Hotel gardens

After a lovely week on holiday in Victoria, BC, I’m ready to move there. I’m originally from Ontario, Canada, so I felt a bit of a reconnection to my roots, even though I lived on the other side of the country. Victoria is known as The City of Gardens, another good reason to live there. Of course any good vacation is joyous and fun-filled with minimal responsibilities. Toss in a best friend and her cousin and it’s easy to see why I didn’t want to leave.

Back home and settled in, I’m still dreaming of this beautiful place and making mental plans to return.

Floribunda: Even the art is covered in flowers

According to a Wiki article on the island:

Victoria’s equable climate has also added to its reputation as the “City of Gardens”. The city takes pride in the many flowers that bloom during the winter and early spring, including crocuses, daffodils, early-blooming rhododendrons, cherry and plum trees. Every February there is an annual “flower count” in what for the rest of the country and most of the province is still the dead of winter.

Flower perfection

Due to its mild climate, Victoria and its surrounding area (southeastern Vancouver Island, Gulf Islands, and parts of the Lower Mainland and Sunshine Coast) are also home to many rare, native plants found nowhere else in Canada, including Quercus garryana (Garry oak), Arctostaphylos columbiana (Hairy manzanita), and Canada’s only broad-leaf evergreen tree, Arbutus menziesii (Pacific madrone). Many of these species exist here, at the northern end of their range, and are found as far south as southern California and parts of Mexico.

Outside the Victoria Regent Hotel

Non-native plants grown in Victoria include the cold-hardy palm Trachycarpus fortunei, which can be found in gardens and public areas of Victoria. One of these Trachycarpus palms stands in front of City Hall.

I felt right at home.

Classic Victoria: Flowering baskets beneath signature street lamps

Intrigued? Check out Tourism Victoria for a list of activities on the Island

Take a ride on a water taxi. We did, and it was loads of fun.

Butchart Gardens: My own take on this national treasure.

September 8, 2014 by Born To Organize

When Technology Takes a Hike

Slinky lending moral support

Our resident tech support, aka, Mike, spent hours this weekend rebuilding my computer from the ground up. It’s extraordinary my dependence on that technological gem known as a laptop. Though grateful for Mike’s technological prowess, I’m also painfully aware of how little I know. The mechanics of operating systems, platforms, routers and all the other things that make computers go leave me cold. Don’t you hate it when technology takes a hike?

What I do know is that I want my computer to go and I feel like a spoiled child when it stops. [insert stomping of feet, pouting face and colorful language here].

Okay, so it wasn’t that bad, but I can’t tell you how often I headed to the computer, only to encounter the latest system ‘updates.’ They’re not nearly as interesting as the updates I’m after: the blog and Facebook variety. I’ve got a social life to run here. I live with two teenage boys with zero interest in monopolizing my attention. So while they’re dipping into the latest and greatest on their mobile devices and dad is watching fall ball, I like to log on and catch up.

Instead I headed outdoors and pulled a few weeds. I did some pruning till it got too hot. I treated myself to an hour at our local craft store, shopping and chatting about the merits of water-based versus alcohol-based inks. I even read from the miniscule print on my phone, but these old eyes were never meant for teenage technology. Yes, I left some comments here and there, but it wasn’t long before my hand cramped and my battery failed. Then I was back to my panting dog impression: is it ready yet, is it ready yet, is it ready yet?

I started a craft project, but needed my Silhouette to cut some block letters. Nope…the computer wasn’t ready.

I went to address a few envelopes for my blog postage giveaway, only to realize I’d trapped the addresses in email limbo. The individual email was too old to be on the server, but not new enough to be on my phone. Addresses would have to wait for my Outlook rebuild.

At least I had Pauline’s address. I’d asked her for it twice. Alas, it still had not synced to my mobile phone. Tapping in the requisite letters, the phone turned up nothing. It was taunting me. I KNOW I have her address! Nope. Siri is never wrong.

Today, in need of a good Skype with my bestie, all technology-based bets were off. Sigh

These are all first-world problems. I know in my heart the extraordinary privileges of my life. But just for today, I’m reminded of the Judith Viorst classic: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

When’s the last time your technology took a hike?

September 1, 2014 by Born To Organize

In a Vase on Monday: Sunflowers Last Call

My sunflowers are going fast. Staying true to their DNA, sunflowers grow from seed to seed in about 90 days. I planted mine in mid-May so I’m on borrowed time.

The shortest of the sunflowers bloomed the longest, making them the perfect flower for today’s In a Vase on Monday. Cathy at Rambling in the Garden features flowers and a prop in a vase each Monday year round. Impressive! She encourages others to participate as well. Come join Words and Herbs and Creating my own Garden in the Hesperides, and others. It’s fun.

Sunflowers in a vase on Monday

Easy Arranger

Check out my new gadget. It’s called an Easy Arranger™. It’s a wire form in the shape of a flower, made in China, assembled in the United States, sold in Canada and now holding up sunflowers harvested in San Jose. My easy arranger should consider applying for a frequent flyer card. I bought two of them in the beautiful gift shop at Butchart Gardens on holiday last month. The malleable form molds over the top of your vase lending support to cut flowers. Pretty nifty, eh?

Easy arranger in action

Saving Seeds

I’ve been gathering seeds from each of the seed heads so I’ll have plenty to plant next year. I’m going to package a few and give them away at Christmas as well. I wish I could share with my readers around the world, but shipping seeds outside of the US is a no-no.

As an aside, so is shipping millipedes, but apparently a crate marked ‘toys’ arrived in San Francisco this week with foot-long millipedes illegally shipped from Germany. No thanks!

Assorted sunflower seeds and seed heads

Making quick work of delicious sunflower seeds

The Long View

The photo below is the long view, taken from my back door looking out on the space where we read. Although close shots are generally more interesting, I find that I’m often curious about the scenery just out of view.

My Garden: The Long View Dear Reader, I wish you were here! This is the view outside my back door. You take two steps down and you land on this patio. Just beyond is our browning grass, born from necessity in our continued drought. The white flowering plant is an Anemone. They’re usually more prolific, but again, the drought. The lovely window painting is at eye level when you’re seated, painted by the talented Whitney Pintello. I wish you could come join me for a cold drink, a hot tea and a chat. Cheers, Alys

Does this interest you, too?

I’m trying to mix it up a little at Gardening Nirvana, hoping to add some zest to the mix. Does the idea of the long view interest you or are you shrugging your shoulders and wondering “what is she thinking?”

Please leave me a comment, below, or take the quick poll.

August 4, 2014 by Born To Organize

Vintage Postage: A Daughter’s Love Letter and a Blogging Giveaway

Dad’s easel hangs in my crafting area with special photos

Today’s post is a bit of a departure from my gardening antics. It’s a love letter, a giveaway and a way to celebrate my dad. He died in early August, 1969 at the age of 54. I was nine.

This year, things are different. I’ve worked many hours with a caring and knowledgeable therapist, reaching in to the dark corners of my confusing childhood. My willingness to do the hard work finally paid off. I’ve been able to integrate the vulnerable girl I was into a strong, caring adult. Through Fran’s guidance, I’ve arrived at a happier place.

Will you celebrate with me?

Eric Milner

Eric Milner Landscape Design

My father, Eric, had lots of hobbies. Outdoors, he gardened, spending hours working with his hands to shape our beautiful, Ontario garden. He dug a small brook along the garden path to collect water and snow. The garden brimmed with flowers and in the summer, garden vegetables and fruits. I tasted my first cherry tomato from his garden. My sister Sharon and I would race around pinching the snapdragons. Dad taught me why bees are important and why you should never hurt one. Mom gave me a pair of spoons so I could dig in the dirt under the kitchen window while dad played in the garden nearby. There are many cherished memories of our home in Canada.

During the winter months, dad worked on his indoor hobbies. He built a wooden model of the Golden Hind. He painted, collected coins, made home-made movies with his Super 8 and he collected stamps from around the world.

Dad in India

Born in Oldham, England, dad studied horticulture and design. He lived in Darjeeling, India for many years where he worked on a tea plantation. He was a captain in the army, and worked as a translator. After the war, disillusioned with life back in England, he moved to Ontario, Canada. There he met our mother on a blind date. According to Mum, she didn’t want to go. Her friend convinced her that my dad was a good dancer so she went. They married a year later.

Mom and Dad get married

My parents moved to California in the fall of 1966. By Christmas, 1968 dad had lung cancer. He died the following year.

My tall, slender dad loved teasing us. He would exclaim loudly at something outside the window, then when you turned back your dessert was gone. We fell for it every time. He came home from work hiding small gifts behind his back and my sister and I would get to choose which hand. He saved extra postage stamps to encourage our own collections. He loved animals and children, art and photography, and most of all he loved us. And of course, he loved gardening.

Vintage Postage Give-away

My dad collected stamps from his travels and through buy and trade. Packets of stamps arrived in the mail, ready for soaking and mounting in his Burgundy-covered New Age Stamp Album. May years after his death, Mum sold a few of his stamp albums and gave each of us the money toward college. She saved the rest of his albums and they came to me after she died. I’ve leafed through them from time to time, amazed at his vast collection. My oldest son took one of his albums for show and tell in grade school. Recently I sent some of his stamps to a dear and trusted friend and realized the joy in releasing them to someone special. My sister plans to make cards for her friends with the album in her care.

Here is where you come in. My dad would get a kick out of the idea of mailing these stamps around the world again. The album pages have come free of their binding. They’re ready to go. If you look for a ‘sign’ you can find one anywhere, so for me, this is a sign to mail the stamps to you, and quickly before the post office goes broke. I once viewed his albums as a life and a hobby interrupted. Now I see them as a gift to be shared, and as a way to celebrate his kindness, generosity, curiosity and care. Will you please take part?

Sample Pages

The stamp issue dates are mid-1937 to mid-1938.

Please make your requests using the contact form. Click here. This keeps the requests private and allows you to provide your complete name and address for mailing.

On the form, please request your first, second and third country of choice. Include your full name and mailing address. That’s it. Please make your request by August 31, 2014. If I still have pages after that date, I will let you know. Click on the list of postage stamp countries to see what’s available:

List of postage stamp countries

Pages of postage stamps 1937 – 1938

What can you do with a bunch of old postage stamps?

Use them to make mixed-media art
Make a birthday card for someone special
Laminate them in strips and use them for bookmarks
Add them to a scrapbook page
Give them to a child and make up a story to go with them
Celebrate history
Take part in this gardening nirvana blogging adventure.

Pinterest curates some great pieces of art using postage.

Please let me know what you think in the comments, and then send your request via the contact form. I would love it if you joined in the fun?

July 22, 2014 by Born To Organize

To Blog, or Not to Blog?

What a silly question!

Today, however, I’ll be blogging in pictures. I’ll spend the time I save not writing, catching up on your thoughtful comments. I read them, love them, and have the best intentions of replying to all of them. Darn that busy life, eh?

I’ll see you shortly in BlogVille. Meanwhile, here are a few pics from the garden.

It’s the birds…