Summer to Fall

Fall color on October 26, 2017
in Bishop, California 
which is along the Highway 395 corridor

For me the seasons seem to be zipping by more quickly all of the time*. It seems to me I was just starting seeds in my mini greenhouse. Now I am pulling out spent plants and depositing them in the green bin for pick up.

*Early in my nursing career 

                                                      when I would visit my parents 

                      on their farm South of Shenandoah, Iowa 

Stephen B. Howard

my dear, dear, dear stepfather 

warned me of this. 

  

Hopeful fall will arrive soon
Also the maple tree's colorful leaves

The 2023 autumn equinox here in the northern hemisphere occurs on September 23 "officially" at 06:50. Many of my local friends are commenting that day light is arriving later in mornings. Since I am an early riser I for sure notice this shift.

Fall color along the Santa Fe River Trail
featuring the Sangre de Cristo Mountains
in the background

Frenchy's Field was a short walk from Santa Fe 1950's Stamm home. Then another brief walk through the park to the Santa Fe River Trail. Shasta and I did this almost every morning then frequently repeated it with Dwight when he was up and ready to begin his day. On many occasions we walked in the dry river bed rather than on the concrete sidewalk where Shasta could run off leash. Of course if a coyote was spotted we'd keep her on lease, otherwise she would be off chasing the interesting looking BEing.

The Japanese maple tree on the West side of my front yard still remains clothed in bright green leaves. The breath taking vibrant color of the turning leaves has yet to occur. I notice other local maple tree leaves are still green as well. On a recent weekend PBS Newshour I heard a clear explanation of why leaves on trees change color. As usual I found the scientist's clear explanation helpful in understanding why all the local tree's leaves mostly remain green.

Hopefully fall with cooler temperatures will arrive 
so the maple tree in my front yard
will display colorful leaves like in this picture.

Cathie and Rose
November 18, 2009
in Bridgeport, California

Dwight and I along with our dog or dogs often spent a month over Thanksgiving in the Mono Lake area. We usually stayed at the Walker River Lodge in the ground floor "apartment" where the view out the kitchen window is the Walker River. The surrounding scenery is spectacular in the fall with the air both crisp and clean. We noticed the air since we were living south of Sebastopol where the air quality was often compromised ie full of smog.

Dwight and Rose with 
the Sawtooth Mountains in the background.
We were on a few mile walk along 
the road up to Twin Lakes.

Snow always remains on the highest tops of the Sawtooth Mountains. And fisher people were often seen along the shores of Twin Lakes  reeling in trout when we would drive up there to walk. On Bridgeport's Main Street we would see the trout frozen in Ken's Sporting Goods cases that sit out in front of their establishment.

I feel so fortunate to have been able to spend so much time in the most beautiful area in the world. Also grateful to be able share the time with my husband, such an exceptional BEing, Dwight J. Sims. 

"As we attune to rhythm and flow of the seasons" (Jo Poore) may we all celebrate with a hardy

SAD

Dwight brought me
this heart shaped rock from
the Santa Fe River bed for one
of my birthdays we celebrated in New Mexico.
Ripe Silvery Fir Tree tomato on right
and Stupice along the top.

Dwight Sims

"There is a great comfort in growing your own food. You are close to the soil. You use the basic elements -- water, sunlight, earth, air, and plants -- for your work, your sustenance, and your pleasure. You nurture your garden from feedings to nature plants, tending, pruning, weeding. Year after year, you see cycles come and go, from sprouting to harvest to withering, to seeding again. You eat your plats to live. You don't mind and they don't mind. Some day, you will fall back to this earth, back into the sun-baked dirt, and you will become food for the plants. It's the way of all life, and all very agreeable."

                                Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao

Sad but what is happening is climate change in action.
Here in Cotati there has hardly been a summer with coolish temperatures abounding as in 2023. All of the tomato plants fruits are slow, very slow, to ripen no matter the variety nor location. The Silvery Fir Tree, touted to be early in ripening . . . not this year. In my humble opinion this is the tastiest ripe tomato. Next year I plan to plant more than the 4 planted this year. I was introduced to this variety in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life a book written by Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver and Steven L. Hopp. This book takes place in Virginia where the family dramatically change their lives by growing and/or eating only local food. 

I am wondering if the fruit on the tomato plants growing in the West most raised bed will ripen. I decided to plant them in this bed since it typically gets the most sunshine. So far I have not had very many ripe tomatoes to pick and eat. So as I plan my garden this winter I may decide to grow different varieties of tomatoes. Perhaps I will return to what I planted in 2022.

The tomatoes now growing, at PageRefuge are

    Cherry tomatoes:

 1. Amethyst Jewel

  2. Black Cherry      

 3. Blue “Boar” Berries

        4. Tim’s Taste of Paradise, a yellow cherry tomato 

     Earliest ripening tomato

         5. Stupice

      Early ripening

   6. Silvery Fir Tree

Don't you just love the leaves?

            Remaining 

        7. Blue Gold  

While these are "pretty" and tasty
this is the last season they will be
planted in one of the raised beds.

While this post was in process, my stepdaughter and her husband were immersed in Seattle's Bumbershoot 2023.

This year's Bumbershoot
was spear headed by Steven
who many did not recognize
with his long hair.

Leigh Sims
who owns her own business in Seattle
 and Steven Severin, 
"a mover and shaker" in Seattle

Meanwhile here in Cotati daily chores were tended to. However I frequently during the Labor Day weekend had many a frequent belly

 

    

 

Ecstatic

Many years ago I saw my very first Desert Willow tree growing out of a large crack in an old swimming pool. I immediately fell in love with the gracefulness of the branches and the stunning flowers. Luckily living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I could purchase one which I did from Plants of the Southwest.

Desert willow (Chilopsis linearis)

And now I have one planted on the West side of my house near the steps coming into the back addition. I purchased it from California Flora Nursery in a gallon plastic pot in early November, 2021. It has grown to well over 6' tall with an abundance of buds and slowly opening to gorgeous flowers. I am so ecstatic to have this beautiful tree where I can watch the buds open into flowers.

Scarlet Runners beans

Along the left side of the swing a wire has
been fastened for the vines to climb.

I primarily grow this plant for the flowers. When I grew them in my garden at MuRefuge they would died back to the ground in the winter. Once the weather warmed they would send up green foliage then beautiful flowers and eventually the pods with seeds would appear. As I read more on line about this vine I see that it is labeled as an annual vine. So replanting seeds each early spring will happen here at PageRefuge.

Infrequently dragonflies visit PageRefuge.
This one was perched atop the 
stake for a Silvery Fir Tree tomato plant.

 Chocolate flower (Berlandiera lyrata)

While living in Santa Fe, New Mexico I was introduced to the Chocolate flower. The flower actually does have a slight chocolate smell. It also lasts for quite a long while before fading away. Unfortunately my success rate of growing an abundance of this plant is very, very, very low. I am ecstatic it is a perennial even here where the winter temperatures were way below freezing. The two I have been successful at starting from seed thrive near the north end of the patio.

This was Shasta's very first 
trip to Santa Barbara with us. We are on the
beach walking south towards Butterfly Beach.

Santa Barbara was a frequent destination for Dwight and I + whatever dog or dogs were living with us. We loved this city and considering buying a house there when we moved from MuRefuge. Prices were pretty steep, and remain so. Santa Fe, NM, was where we purchased our home, a Stamm home built in the early 1950’s, for an incredibly reasonable price.

 

Thank you for participating in this mini garden tour. Today the air is filled with smoke from wildfires burning in the northern part of California. Rather than BEing in my garden I am sharing pictures I have previously taken and ecstatic to share with you.

Hopefully we all can share a belly

 

Plethora, Part 2

"We should not fritter our efforts away . . . we should concentrate on endeavor most important to us."

                                          Deng Ming-Dao

Dwight, once he "retired" as president of
Protected Investors of America, did indeed
"concentrate on endeavor most important to" him.

Once the previous post of Plethora was complete I walked about the inside of the house. What I observed was more . . . many more of Dwight's creations. Some of the most treasured are those he pit fired the beach with a gaggle of others. Some camped for two nights but Dwight always came home to sleep in our bed. Whatever dog or dogs we had at the time and I would drive down to see the pit opened. WOW the pieces were always breathe taking.

 

This is the cabinet in which the TV and other
devices call home. The top is a perfect
AND safe place to display
these priceless pit fired creations of Dwight's.

"Pit firing is a primitive, low-tech method of firing pots. Traditionally a pit was dug into the earth, and pots were fired in this pit with wood and other organic materials, such as dried dung, used as fuel."  Below are a series of pictures taken at Dillon Beach when Dwight participated in a pit firing. 

When we moved from MuRefuge,
this piece was shipped to Dwight's daughter in Seattle.
It sits on her deck she and husband walk out onto.

I loved this arrangement in the front yard of MuRefuge:
the 4 directions were depicted
by a different nationality.

This has been used at Halloween.

Some of Dwight's work he used Raku firing as opposed to pit firing. Looking at all these I have a difficult time knowing if they were pit fired or a Raku firing was used?? Can you?

Some pieces are just displayed for their beauty . . .

Other pieces fill an utilitarian purpose . . .

                                                                                

I love using this "sign" for the dishwasher. Dwight's clever double sided clay piece reminds whether the dishes are clean or dirty.

The piece in the back is filled
with salt we use in a neti pot
to clear the nose during allergy season.

After the previous
post where I featured
Dwight's pots for 
houseplants,
I realized this one was not included.

This is my all time very favorite
creation of Dwight's.

                                                                                       

Well, I discovered, when dining out recently with friends,  my posts are actually read. So in response to her inquiry about clay pots I shared that I always found them rather boring . . . useful but unattractive.

One of my favorite pictures of Dwight
taken during a morning walk in Bridgeport, California.
The Sawtooth mountains are in the background.

As I write this post and see pictures of the many impressive, creations in clay that Dwight has left me with, I