As hobbies go, crafting greeting cards is an easy and creative outlet. Cards can be simple or complex, depending on the mood and available supplies. I’ve been a letter-writer my whole life, so there is a practical side to making cards. I’m increasing my output by trying different styles or techniques to avoid bogging down with the same thing. I’ve watched hours of videos over time, and through them, I’ve learned techniques, but my aesthetic doesn’t quite fit the mold.
In truth, I don’t fit the mold either, and I never have. I embrace my uniqueness and carry on.
To inspire myself, I’ve been creating cards featuring a circle. Focusing on the shape allowed me to limit my choices, which I found freeing.
Here’s an interesting data point:
“The circle has been known since before the beginning of recorded history. Natural circles are common, such as the full moon or a slice of round fruit. The circle is the basis for the wheel, which, with related inventions such as gears, makes much of modern machinery possible. In mathematics, the study of the circle has helped inspire the development of geometry, astronomy, and calculus.” – source Wikipedia
Today, the circle is the basis for the following cards:
Card features two layers of vellum circles, a rub-on transfer, a repurposed folder and paper.I cut the center circle from extra-wide Washi tape, adding a sentiment and a simple background.This card features one-and-a-half circles. I love this pack of paper. I embossed the background. Technique: use a sanding block on the embossing to reveal the white paper backing.Three circles using scraps. I lined up strips on a sticky label, then cut it to shape. The larger ring is cut from the same scraps. A hummingbird rub-on transfer flies over the top.This card features three circles cut from a paper pack of botantical prints. The pale green paper is cut with a die, and the botanical print repeats behind that. Technique: inking edges for depth.
Another nice thing about this hobby: you can pass the time when it’s 105F outside. Our current heatwave has continued for twelve days with average temps 90F or above. Some of the plants are wilting and a few are showing signs of stress with burnt leaves. On the plus side, the tomatoes seem to be thriving and most of the succulents are getting by. It’s going to be a long summer.
Earlier this year, a then-anonymous reader commented on a post written over ten years ago. She found the piece about my formative years in Millbrae by searching: “Millbrae behind the tracks 1970’s.” She added the name Cindy.
I didn’t remember Cindy by name at first. We had been friends for a year before heading to different high schools. Shortly after, our family moved to Santa Clara County. After she got in touch, we wrote back and forth by email before connecting on Facebook.
Cindy shared:
“You will not believe how I came across you! I was reading a biography of Mary Martin, and I recalled watching Peter Pan on TV when I spent the night with you and your sister at your apartment in Jr. High. The neighborhood struck me. I didn’t know the area “behind the tracks.” It’s not that I was living in the high end of Millbrae by any means, but I was surprised by what I saw. So, while reading the book and remembering that evening, I thought of you.”
“While reading your article, I got chills when you mentioned a shy, freckle-faced girl at the end. I knew it! I’m so happy to find you well and happy!”
We’ve been trading memories of our brief friendship, each of us remembering small details. I remembered that she had an old cat and a new puppy. I’ve always loved animals but we weren’t allowed to have pets in our rented apartment. Visiting them at her house would have been a treat.
We attended a party on New Year’s Eve at Cindy’s house, perhaps the first of its kind my protective mother let us attend. Cindy shared a memory of a sleepover at her place when we heard a noise and she called the police. It amounted to nothing, but those sorts of memories live on. My sister Sharon, who is just a year younger, can’t remember anything from this time. I wish I could remember more.
Cindy also shared parts of her early life that I never knew, including the trauma of unfit parents, time in an orphanage, and eventually, in foster care. She had a positive experience in the orphanage, including hot meals, warm pajamas, kids to play with, and toys, none of which she had with her birth parents. By the time we met, she was living in a warm and caring environment with her foster mother, though her foster dad died when she was a young girl. That may have been what brought us together all those years ago, though any chance of capturing that memory seems elusive.
I wish the plethora of pleasant memories could bury the old ones, but they don’t. We are the product of our experiences and how we use them to maneuver through a complex world. Publishing Train Tracks of My Youth rekindled a long-forgotten friendship with a friend who survived her own trauma, and thrived.
And so it goes.
You can read the full post Train Tracks of My Youth here.
Alas, spring has given way to summer. In my youth, summer meant a break from school, sleeping in, and sometimes a chance to swim in a neighborhood pool. Those are bygone days, not just the loss of youth but the unrelenting heat, smog, and wildfires that are all too common in California in this age of climate change.
I raced to finish planting the curb garden this week, then dressed it with three inches of garden mulch to retain water. I’ll miss the cooler days of spring and the chance of a rain shower. The next four months will be hot and dry.
Following is a gallery of photos taken on or near the summer solstice.
Garden succulents (they don’t mind the heat):
Flowers in bloom include wild Iris, abutilon, hydrangea, and nasturtiums.
It’s time to shift my interests to indoor activities, like card-making, reading, and puttering around the house between client appointments. The garden is such a draw, though. I’ll step out to do something small and realize an hour or two has passed. Life among the greenery and dirt is soothing and joyous.
My youngest son flew home for the weekend to celebrate Father’s Day and his 24th birthday. As a young adult living away from home, I cherish each visit.
This weekend also coincided with the opening of the latest Pixar movie, Inside Out 2.
At Pixar Studios
My husband’s company provides Pixar with technical services. They hosted a vendor appreciation weekend, inviting vendors and family to a premiere showing at the Pixar Studios in Emeryville. We attended many movies there over the years, but once COVID hit, it ended. Four years later, we’re thrilled to be invited back.
The entire movie industry is struggling to find its legs, so I’m encouraged by the success of the opening weekend. Inside Out 2 received an audience rating of 96%
Here is the synopsis from Rotten Tomato: “Spicing things up with the wrinkle of teenage angst, Inside Out 2 clears the head and warms the heart by living up to its predecessor’s emotional intelligence.”
Also, this past weekend, I attended a free seminar at our local library about growing culinary herbs with my friends Cami and Mary. We picked up various growing tips, and now I know the difference between herbs and spices: herbs are leaves and spices are from other parts of the plant or tree including bark, roots, rhizomes, and the like.
“From Middle English herbe, erbe, from Old French erbe (French herbe), from Latin herba. Initial h was restored to the spelling in the 15th century on the basis on Latin, but it remained mute until the 19th century and still is for many speakers.”
Saturday night, we attended a celebration of our friend’s daughter from pharmaceutical school. We’ve lived next door to their family for almost thirty years. Watching her grow up next door has been terrific, and we’re equally joyful about her success.
Suffice it to say I kept dozing off on the couch Sunday night, but it was worth it. It’s been one of the best weekends in recent memory.
Lucky me! After another wet winter, the gardenias put out plentiful, magical, scented blooms, just waiting to be cut for a vase.
I’m joining “the Cathys” for a weekly meme encouraging bloggers to share something “In A Vase On Monday” or IAVOM. It’s a mouthful, and it’s fun.
I’ve arranged five gardenias in a glass jar, some asparagus fern, and a few swigs of purple salvia. Gardenias don’t last long in a vase, but it’s still worth bringing a few indoors. They turn brown and droop, but the intoxicating scent remains. With greenery to keep the flowers company, I can overlook the droop for that scent.
Instead of a vase, I’ve arranged my cut flowers in one of my favorite glass jars. The Quattro Stagionioma sauce is long gone, but the beautiful embossing lives on. It’s challenging to take pictures of glass, but I’m hoping you can see a bit of the pretty pattern.
For some beautiful inspiration, check out some of this week’s vases.
Cathy, the gardener who started IAVOM, shares her gorgeous roses and a history lesson from her English garden today at Rambling in the Garden.
From Cathy’s Bavarian garden, a stunning purple arrangement at Words and Herbs.
Eliza Waters shares the last of her stunning peonies, which were grown in her garden in Massachusetts, US, creating a breathtaking arrangement.
On the 15th of each month, Kate invites bloggers to join in the fun of creating something from scraps. Participants create with fabric, metal, paper, and sometimes all three. If you have something to share made from scraps, please join us. You can contact Kate, linked above, for details.
I’m sharing three cards this month: two made from a reflective folder once used for school papers and a collage card.
My friend Mary Ann, also a cardmaker, gave me the folder and challenged me to create with it. Her scrap became my scrap; now it’s a pair of cards.
I love this sort of challenge, though I’ll admit that the intense shine and reflection of the folder gave me pause. It worked out in the end, though, and I had fun.
The pink card is my beginner’s attempt at collage. I follow a fabulous collage artist in Canada, and she inspired me to give it a go. You can take a look at Wilma’s gorgeous work here.
For the background, I used scrapbooking paper passed on from my sister featuring dress-maker patterns. I inked similar paper before die-cutting it into flowers. The pink sewing machine comes from a leftover piece of gift wrap. I used a few odds and ends of rub-on decals to add a bit of green and light pink. I want to study this medium in more detail to continue making this card style. It’s fun.
The following bloggers enjoy taking part in ScrapHappy. Click on any of the links below to see what they’re creating.
Our summer solstice is still three weeks away, but all the signs of the season have arrived. When we left for Vancouver in mid-May, the California poppies in the front garden were ending the season as the nigella bloomed.
I had hoped the poppies might linger, as the orange and purple look pretty together. Flowers have their own time and place, so, of course, nature took its course. It’s one of the joys of gardening.
Nigella
I laughed when one of the seed pods split open as I worked along the path, spewing tiny seeds in my direction, which bounced off my cheek. The seeds could almost be mistaken for course black pepper. I swept them into the garden and will enjoy what takes hold next season.
With the first San Jose heat wave, the sweet peas cry uncle and begin to set seed. I leave the plants for a few weeks to allow the seeds to drop. This past week, I removed the plants, gathering seeds to offer to friends while leaving an equal amount to self-seed in the fall.
As I removed the sweet peas from the curb garden, I uncovered sturdy gladioli. The sweet peas created a dense cover, but the gladiolus thrived and were none the worse for it. Today, we planted two tomato plants, four sunflowers, and some strawberry starters. The existing ground cover has room to spread its delicate leaves, with lovely purple flowers to contrast the yellows, pinks, and, of course, green.
Over the long weekend, Mike put up the shade sails in the front and back while I uncovered the garden swing, tables, and the like. With virtually no rain until October, we can leave things out.
Nasturtiums spread throughout the back garden, traveling up, over, and around various obstacles, spreading stunning shades of orange, yellow, and, occasionally, red. They took over one of the garden paths while we were away, and how I wish I had a photo of our cat’s expression when he couldn’t pass.
My garden has found its rhythm these past few years as natives are more established, and annual seeds, bulbs, and rhizomes reliably return, filling the garden with spring’s abundant gifts. Back-to-back seasons of welcome rain certainly helped create healthy roots.
We’re expecting temperatures around 90F (32C) this week, so my time in the garden is limited. I’m glad to have accomplished so much in the last two weeks with Mike’s help, and every day, I celebrate this lovely patch of earth.
We’re spending a week in beautiful Vancouver, Canada, celebrating Mike’s birthday and enjoying unscheduled time. It’s been terrific.
Mike’s never been to Vancouver, and I was last here in the early eighties with my friend, Stephanie. The city is as vibrant as I remember, but instead of staying in a youth hostel, we’re in a hotel. Walking to most places has been easy, and we’ve otherwise taken the local bus or train. I have loved being away from car culture for a while.
Walking around Gastown, Mike posing with a steam-powered clock
We lucked out with the weather and only needed a sweater or light jacket most days.
Mike’s birthday coincided with warm, clear skies and a fun adventure: time at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park in North Vancouver. We boarded the free shuttle at Canada Place, and within 15 minutes, we entered the lush green park. Storyboards and artifacts from the early days describe the evolution of the bridge. Here’s a blurb from the website:
“The park has a rich history, getting its name, Capilano, from the Squamish Nation’s Kia’palano, which means beautiful river. The park’s story is one of engineering feats, appreciation for the land, and an eagerness to share its wondrous beauty with the world. It’s a testament to respect for cultural traditions and commitment to environmental conservation.”
Crossing the bridge proved challenging in an unexpected way. The suspension bridge never stops swaying, making it impossible to cross without lurching toward one cable, getting your footing, and then inching forward before hanging on again. We could stop and look down below, but it wasn’t possible to linger with so many people traveling to the other side.
Once across the bridge, we were under a beautiful rainforest canopy with wooden walkways and gorgeous lush forest views. There are educational stations for children and adults, a chance to learn about raptors, and unlike the bridge, we could move at our own pace in an unhurried manner. We were there for a few hours.
We timed our return across the bridge so we could have a bite to eat before our next adventure: walking on a single-file walkway above the canyon, again offering magnificent views.
We’ve filled the rest of the week with a variety of activities, including an afternoon at VanDusen Botanical Gardens, where we spotted turtles, goslings, and the occasional fish. The collection of rhododendrons is extraordinary.
We laughed our way to the center of the VanDusen maze and back out. The maze walls feature 3,000 pyramidal cedars. Once in the maze, you can’t see the outer surroundings—such fun.
We attended Vancouver Writer’s Fest: An Evening with David Sedaris on Tuesday. I’ve long admired his writing and sense of humor, and we both enjoyed laughing out loud with a packed house at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
Today we took a bus to Stanley Park where we walked along the shore, through wooded areas, pretty gardens and an outdoor cafe where we enjoyed salads and the view. Shortly after photographing the Great Blue Heron, the bird dipped its head in the water and plucked out a fish.
Our cozy hotel is home to a pair of labs, who lounge near the concierge desk for part of each day. I sent my postcards down a mail chute, a vintage relic embedded in the wall. One night, I indulged in room service, ordering chocolate cake to share, and a hot peppermint tea. We splurged on a dinner at the Top of Vancouver Revolving Restaurant.
All told, it’s been the perfect time away, with hours of sunshine and fresh air, delicious food, and a slower pace.
I finally spotted a squirrel enjoying the long-awaited sunflower seeds. Squirrel-watching is quite entertaining.
Sunflower seeds are like chocolate for squirrels. To my amazement, ‘Mammoth Sunflowers’ self-seeded in January. That’s never happened before, or if a seedling should arrive out of season, it perishes post haste.
By March, the sweet peas took off, quickly surrounding the lower half of the remaining sunflower stalks, so I left them in place to dry. The thick stems of the sunflowers made excellent stakes for the climbing sweet peas.
I wondered aloud to Mike if the sweet peas’ soft scent overwhelmed the subtler smell of the sunflower seeds since they don’t generally get this far along without a squirrel or two snapping off the seed heads.
This week, they figured it out.
I happened upon a squirrel at the top of the eight-foot stalk, and then I ran inside to get my camera phone. I tiptoed down the path and tried to hide behind a tree, but the squirrel was on to me. I got a couple of snaps as the squirrel climbed down.
At the same time, another squirrel rustled in the Magnolia tree overhead. I looked up expecting a bird, but a squirrel appeared, carefully camouflaged against the trunk, hanging upside down while munching away.
I managed four photos in all before they moved on.
Not for the first time, I have renewed appreciation for nature photographers who capture clear, crisp, gorgeous images of wildlife. It’s fun to capture snapshots, though, and its nice to know they can find food, water, and sanctuary in my garden.
My garden is a magical place where fairies roam, and flowers grow.
Daily visitors include marauding squirrels, delicate hummingbirds, mourning doves, and songbirds with handsome yellow chests singing their hearts out in search of a mate.
It provides a refuge for spiders and mantis, which in turn keep the less beneficial bugs at bay. Fence lizards also have a place.
When I gather a spade of dirt and unearth a worm, I apologize and return it to the soil. Some of the hardest workers are unseen and unheard but equally deserving of our respect.
Baby Carrots Fresh from the Earth
Bees are welcome and encouraged with plentiful pollen to gather for their queen. Paper wasps live under the eaves, an equally beneficial guest in the garden’s echo system. They’re not aggressive like yellow jackets, but they are easily mistaken for them. I was pleased to learn the difference.
Paper wasps
Over the years, small packets of seeds have morphed into returning gems. Sweat peas are the garden darlings, with soft, fragrant petals ranging from pale pinks to rich purples and reds. They elicit comments from passersby, generating a feeling of nostalgia.
Nasturtium, purchased as a few bedding plants years ago, cast about the garden with brilliant, showy orange flowers and broad, flat leaves that remind me of paper fans.
California poppies spread across the walkway this year, with several taking up residence around the curb garden and along the drive. They, too, were first scattered from a packet of seeds.
Two seasons of welcome rain have filled reservoirs and water tanks while affording gardeners a reprieve from regular watering.
The garden continues to evolve, moving from the manicured lawn and roses we inherited when we bought this house to a garden filled with native and drought-tolerant plants, three mature trees, and a deck lined with succulents instead of thirsty annuals. The slider featur below shows the back garden in 1996 and 2024.
I’m grateful for the sun and the wind, the rain when it falls, and this lovely patch of earth outside my door.
Gardening Nirvana 