Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Still happy in CA!!

"Slowing down" is one of those lovely states you dream about when you're working nasty hours and eating noodles on the fly. So, now that I'm jobless and cooking, why can't I turn my brain off?!! Something about feeling productive has been tattooed onto our DNA and, while my left-brain is sub-consciously married to job-searching, my right-brain is surreptitiously re-routing all that energy to things that I actually enjoy doing. Or things I've always wanted to do but haven't had the time/materials/cojones for.

More-or-less in chronological order...

the lone tree
Mt. Diablo?
Hiking in the East Bay foothills. Most of the parks share space with cattle ranchers, and when Suz came face-to-face with a cow for the very first time she nearly burst out of her harness. (Seriously, she flipped herself over and managed to twist it inside out.) Now when we go back she rushes the bulls with about 10 feet of good grace. Aye!


wild orchids!
San Francisco Bay
rusted
eucalyptus light
Hiking the Coastal Trail in Marin County. Until then, I didn't have a proper sense of the fog. It isn't really weather, it's much more physical and present than that - like one of those heavy velvet curtains at the theater. I love it.

...and ready to eat!
Making pizza! Ok, the dough is $1.29 at Trader Joe's. Next time I'm in it for the whole pie, flour to cheese.

P.I.L.F.
Buncombe Buckles' display
The Renegade Craft Fair! I didn't end up taking too many pictures (had to post the first one!), but I did buy a recycled metalcraft belt buckle from Buncombe Buckles (Asheville, NC) and some incredible merino yarn from Spincycle Yarns (Bellingham, WA). Such a great day with a long, hilly walk through a chain of tree-lined West SF neighborhoods to get to Fort Mason!

homemade TOFU!!
Homemade TOFU! This one deserves a second attempt (where's my tidy little cube?), but I grabbed a mish-mash of recipes from the web and made it while watching Kung-Fu Panda - not an intentional combination, but so much fun!!

test swatch: weaving bike tubes
Weaving bike tubes? I'm not sure where this is going, but so far the experiments have involved weaving, sewing, ironing, felted wool and grommets.

Mr. Seahorse is wise.
Collecting more graffiti in SF. Mr. Seahorse is wise indeed.

alachofa
Mulching in the Visitacion Valley Greenway. I've been volunteering with Hands-On Bay Area in a group centered around urban gardening - some of our host organizations focus on increasing access to healthy food, others on ecosystem restoration and environmental justice, while others like VVG focus on neighborhood restoration. I signed up to get a hands-dirty perspective on the City and local non-profits and have found a great group of friends. (More pictures and our group blog HERE.)

the goods
strawberries!
yellow pear tomatoes!
cucumbers!
Gardening with my niece and nephew!!! We don't officially get started until tomorrow, but this is a taste of our line-up : strawberries, 6 kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers and a handful of herbs. I don't quite have the audience for a shout-out, but the folks I bought these from are amazing : they grow all their own plants organically, offer classes in medicinal herbs and don't have a single stone statuette for sale. How many landscape shops can say that? Yay, Sunset Color!!

rising...
my first homemade bread!
Homemade bread!! I was completely inspired by reading a friend's post on facebook, so I quick looked up a recipe and gathered the ingredients before I lost the nerve. Sooo glad I tried it!

Tomorrow marks the beginning of our best family project yet! I'm gathering all our supplies - little trowels and stakes and compost - and cannot wait to see Ryan and Allison up to their elbows in vegetables. Check for updates at our new blog : Clarks in the Garden!.

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