6/13 & 6/14/11 - "No One Sees a Flower, Really . . .

"Nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small and it takes time - we haven't time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time."  Georgia O'Keeffe

Here are some of the wild flowers growing in our yard.  Mother Nature is a very quiet landscaper, but she does good work.

Today's pictures are of the guest bedroom and (now) adjoining bathroom.

Guest bedroom before.  It had a window that looked out
to the front stoop.  Go figure that one out.

It now has a window facing the front yard instead.

Guest bath before.

Now there's an entrance from the guest bedroom. 
 Curtain temporarily hides the tub and toilet room.

This is where you will sleep when you come for a visit!

And this is where you'll do whatever it is you have to do in the WC!

There is a special tree in our yard called a Medrone.  Our contractor was very excited to see it growing there.  These are very slow growers but can get up to 75 feet (good thing we don't have hurricanes)!  They have beautiful red bark that peels off in interesting ways (I'm told - there are very few pictures of them on the Internet).

This is the biggest bush of Poison Oak we have.

We also have a huge problem - Poison Oak in great abundance!  We are going to have to get a professional to remove it.

All the darker bushes are Poison Oak and they go
down the hill.

Our "Scotch Broom Fence."

The bees love them but the local folks have no love
for them.

There is another plant on our property that looks like forsythia but turns out to be an invasive pest from "off."  It is called Scotch Broom and is a pernicious weed.  

But it's history is very colorful!  It was used during the gold rush as the "bubble wrap" around the whiskey that was shipped over land; whiskey was the pain reliever of choice used by those who panned for gold in icy-cold streams.  It was cheap and effective.  Bakers also used soaked Scotch Broom branches to sweep out the hot brick ovens between bakes (dry  brooms would burst into flame).  Anyway, we're going to do our best to get it "gone."

Here is a picture of Brian and Margaret's new dinning room table - before (way before).  

What were they thinking when they made that
driveway!!!  It was awful.

It was that tree in the middle of our awful driveway. 

That's a much, much better driveway (it will be
paved soon).

Time to do something else besides fight this Blog!


Shalom,  Heather . . . (soon to be known as Grandma)