Big Event

“When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, 

and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. 

I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day blind stars

waiting with their light. 

For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, 

and I am free.”

                                       WENDELL BERRY

The 30th Annual Cotati Accordion Festival is a two day, multicultural, multi-generational accordion extravaganza held in La Plaza Park in downtown Cotati. Famous is this event. Several years ago when we were spending time in Santa Barbara and eating at Julia Child's favorite Mexican restaurant, a woman standing in line with us asked where we were from.  When we said "Sonoma County", she said "the home of the Accordion Festival". I was blown away. Of course we had heard of the event but had never been nor did we know anyone who has actually attended the event.

This year the event is on September 25 and 26. We can hear the music right here as we work in our front yard. All the streets are lined with parked cars including the street on which we live. One woman got out of her car and said, "I parked here but have not blocked your driveway." She was so excited to be walking over to the Plaza to hear accordion music and then planned to visit some artists participating in Sonoma County Art Trails. I assured her that she was more than welcome to park where she did since she was so respectful of our ability to back Stella, our Prius, out of the garage and onto Page Street.

Saturday we also went to visit our all time very favorite functional potter here in Sonoma County, and friend, who always participates in Art Trails in spite of the fact he is approaching his 80th birthday. John Chambers has created almost all of the pottery dishes from which we enjoy serving and eating our food.  

The calligraphy was done by
John's late Japanese wife.
I treasure these because no more
are available for purchase
unless of course one can find
one at a yard sale or such.

left to right: fruit bowl, serving bowl,
soup bowl and pudding bowl 
above a large dinner plate
and a lunch plate

We had a lovely visit with John as well as meandered through his home and studio viewing his beautiful work on display. Of course, I could not restrain myself from purchasing 3 bowls, featured below, in the celadon glazed I love so much.

Like Annette Goodheart, my late laughing coach, I partake of and I invite you along for a emotionally releasing

The Drought is Here

"We join together as many and diverse expressions

of one loving mystery: for the healing of the

earth and the renewal of all life."

                           U.N. ENVIRONMENTAL SABBATH PROGRAM

A goldfinch landed
on the nyger seed feeder
just to my left as I was watering
the recently planted flower seeds.

 Don't Spray It Sweep It

Break out that broom

anytime you need an

outdoor cleanup rather 

than spraying with water.

Santa Rosa Water

"To ensure adequate water supplies 

are available for current 

and future water demands 

under varying water supply conditions, 

Santa Rosa Water has an 

aggressive water conservation program

and provides recycled water for urban 

and agricultural irrigation 

to reduce demands on 

our precious drinking water.”

The view of the mulching from our
sliding back door onto the slate patio.
Please note the heart rock that
Dwight gleaned from the banks
of the Santa Fe River as a
birthday present to me while we
lived in Santa Fe.

Water is a precious commodity not only here in the West but throughout the world. The population continues to grow well beyond Mother's Earth capacity to safely harbor all of her inhabitants. Wildlife, forests, expansive plains are all struggling to survive amidst the burgeoning number of humans.

"The Drought is Here" signs have popped up in many yards throughout our small burg. One has a sign in her front yard while her neighbor to her left and two across the street water their lawns every day . . . every day???? What are those humans thinking? In my opinion they are "not thinking" nor taking action to conserve water. I ask, "what is the purpose of a green lawn?"

Fortunately the City of Cotati is still giving "lawn rebates" which we are in the process of receiving. The yard will be fully sheet mulched first, plants chosen and purchased then in early November all the plants will be planted into the ground. A full list of plants as well as cost of the mulch will be considered in the amount of the rebate. Of course, we will not submit any cost for the latter since we are using "wood chips".

The completely mulched backyard:
8" to 10" in woodchips were
laid over natural fiber clothing
and/or cardboard.

I was quite amazed that the city's recommendation is for 2" of mulch. From my experience that minimal amount really does not provide any benefit of either weed suppression nor feeding the soil so microbes thrive making for more vibrant, healthy soil. While removing all of the vegetation here, I found the soil dead ... it feels dead, it looks dead and for sure it is dead. The state of the soil was masked with huge amounts of redwood fluffy shavings. Oh my gosh, I am so glad all of that was taken away by Cookie earlier this Summer just passed.

I can barely wait until the planting can begin.
Bare root apples (x3) and 1 Blenheim apricot tree 
have just been ordered from Trees of Antiquity. 

The present idea is to plant the apple trees to the left of the Santa Rosa plum, the trunk of which is in the middle of the picture above. The write up on Trees of Antiquity's website says that the Cox Orange Pippen is on of the best fruit trees to espalier. Since we have limited space which is the primary reason fruit trees are espaliered, I am going to try my hand at this technique. Right now I am undecided whether to do this along the fence pictured above or the fence along the West side of the house. Stay tuned.

It is a mystery to me why the pictures above look "cloudy" in appearance. That is not how they appear in iPhoto???? To let this go I'll have a hardy belly

Autumnal/Fall Equinox, 2021

O sacred season of Autumn, be my teacher,

for I wish to learn the virtue of contentment.

            As I gaze upon your full colored beauty, 

                    I sense all about you

an at homeness with your amber riches.

You are the season of retirement, 

of full barns and harvested fields.

The cycle of growth has ceased,

and the busy work of giving life

is now completed.

I sense in you no regrets:

you've lived a full life.

I live in a society that is ever restless,

always eager for more mountains to climb,

seeking happiness through more and more possessions.

As a child of my culture,

I am seldom truly at peace with what I have.

Teach me to take stock of what I have given and received,

may I know that it's enough,

that my striving can cease

in the abundance of God's grace.

May I know the contentment

that allows the totality of my energies

to come to full flower.

May I know that like you I am rich beyond measure.

As you, O Autumn, take pleasure in your great bounty,

let me also take delight

in the abundance of the simple things in life

which are the true source of joy.

With the golden glow of peaceful contentment

may I truly appreciate this autumn day.

                                      EDWARD HAYS                                  

My friend DeAnne just a few
days ago shared this picture 
of newly purchased ristras
hanging in her back patio.
She says they are exordinarily heavy
this year given the abundance
of rain during the recent monsoon season
with the most monsoon rainfall since 2014.

Oh my gosh, where have these first nine months of 2021 gone? I have a fleeting remembrance of Christmas. Was that really almost 10 months ago? Really? It seems to me we were just making the decision to sell our 1950's Stamm home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, yet here we are settled into our 1950's cottage in Cotati, California. All this has taken place amidst the pandemic. 

And now the Autumnal Equinox is just around the corner. September 22 at 12:21 pm PDT is the official arrival of Autumn. This is a time of equal balance of light and dark on planet Earth. Based on the astronomical definition of seasons, the Autumnal Equinox marks the first day of Fall in the Northern Hemisphere.   However, according to the meteorological definition of the season which is based on temperature cycles and the Gregorian calendar, the first day of Fall is actually September first.

Dwight donated his Mu sculpture that he
created to sit in front of our Sebastopol MuRefuge home
to the Upaya Zen Center before we moved from Santa Fe.
It now sits atop the mountain
of the Prajna Mountain Forest Refuge
which was been created for deep longterm retreat.
In the above picture Joan Halifax
and her 4 legged companion, Jaya (Victory).

The two above pictures are more chili ristras hangings at DeAnne's home in Santa Fe. Everyone in Santa Fe seem to hang these lovely traditional, and so Santa Fe, decorations on their porches, door and gates as DeAnne has done. Thank you!!! DeAnne for sharing these pictures with me.

I fondly remember our wonderful but brief time in stunningly beautiful New Mexico and the exceptionally welcoming neighbors upon our moving into our Stamm home. One neighbor who lives in the home in which she was raised says this particular neighborhood is "the BEST in Santa Fe". To discharge the incredible sadness of no longer living in Santa Fe, I have a good belly

Welcome

Welcome to the college town in which we now live. Rohnert Park, the official home of Sonoma State University, is a very short drive from our house in Cotati. The above banner stretches across one of the many streets here in Cotati.

The college students are often seen eating in the eateries of downtown Cotati. Others are found working in them as well as in Olivers, the local grocery store.

And while the college students flood back to the area, I have just finished up with the Summer canning. On a recent foray to see Shasta's Auntie T a very large bucket of the Pink Pearl apples were picked from her tree. While several other buckets could have been filled one bucket seemed like what I could handle with the peeling and coring before the cooking and ladling into pint jars for sealing. We will so enjoy eating this beautiful apple sauce this Winter. And Tanis says "they make great holiday gifts".

Whole ripe Pink Pearl apples

Pink Pearl apples cut in half
which is such a stunning beautiful apple
especially for making sauce!

20 pints of totally natural pink applesauce
was reaped from one large bucket of whole apples

Yeah! the seasonal canning has been completed. My focus now is on completing sheet mulching. Today another load of woodchips arrived which will probably be enough to complete the entire yard. Stay tuned for the next post identifying all the native plants purchased for probably November planting. I am so excited looking forward to the fun of planting and creating another native habitat.

Another shout out for the birds . . . we have Goldfinches and Lesser Goldfinches coming to eat the nyger seed provided in one of the cylinder feeders. Both are in  daily quantities I have not seen at either MuRefuge or Santa Fe, New Mexico. However, in Santa Fe quite a few goldfinches did come to ravenously eat the Rocky Mountain penstemon seeds in the Fall. It was so fun watching them go up and down the dried flower stock eating the tiny black seeds. 

When plants are transplanted in a month or so, at least three of these stunningly beautiful plants will call PageRefuge home. I know . . . I know . . . I know I just said I was creating a native habitat! I just cannot resist planting a few of these for the finches. And a Desert Willow has already been planted on the West side of our house for its beautiful flowers and lovely foliage. Since the '80's when I first saw this blooming tree, it has held a special place for me. In Santa Fe I planted two and both flourished, blooming the season after they were put in the soil at San Felipe Circle.

While sheet mulching I thoroughly enjoy many a