Goats To The Rescue!

Hubby and I have a second home in the Oakland Hills, a condominium with a terrific view of the Bay Area. We lost that home in the firestorm that blew through in 1991. It took three years to replace our home and needless to say we don't want to go through that experience again! Here's where the goat rescuers come in. The powers that be finally got smart and brought in herds of wonderful goats to mow down the underbrush on our hills! Hubby and I adore these little guys and all their antics. And, we sleep a little bit better at night as well!

Our View Of The Bay

To read more about these hardworking goats visit Jennifer Fulton's wonderful blog, "Goats in the Garden." She has a great post about how Google is now using goats in their business, find it here.

Lives Of The Vines 5

Finally....










Next, berries!

Five Reasons Why I Love The Farmers' Market

1. Eating The Seasons Locally

We are so happy that it’s Farmers’ Market season here in the valley. And, we are so lucky to be here in California to take advantage of all the fabulous produce at our fingertips. In St. Helena, the market season starts on the first Friday in May and runs every Friday through the last week of October. We take advantage of the long season by eating seasonally and locally. All the better for us and the farmers!

2. Capturing the Vibrancy of the Event

I love to take my camera to the farmer’s market to capture the glorious, vibrant colors and textures seen everywhere you look. Piles of peppers, boxes of berries, canisters of cut flowers… it’s almost too much to take in all at once. Our market also has stalls for handmade oil cloth tablecloths and carry bags; gorgeous earrings, necklaces, and bracelets; beautiful stationery and the like.

3. Enjoying the Community of the Marketplace

One cannot go to the market and not run into many friends, neighbors and acquaintances meandering down the long aisle of the marketplace. It is held in a lovely park where there is a fun children’s playground; big round tables with chairs to sit under the trees and enjoy the morning and maybe a pastry and a mocha; bocce ball courts with the attendant teams vying for a win; a performing artist to entertain; and, last but not least, cooking demos by some of the best chefs in the valley.

4. Meeting the Farmers and Learning About Their Products

Okay, so we had never had a fava bean in our lives, but they looked so good in the basket, we finally asked Nancy of Westside Farms what to do with them. She advised that the “latest” is to just throw them on the barbie, cook until they are slightly blistered and then peel away until you get the bean. What a revelation! And so yummy! Every year we look forward to seeing the same folks at our favorite stalls and if, heaven forbid they aren’t there, can’t help wondering why they’re missing. We love to try new products and be able to get the lowdown on how best to use them from those who know best.

5. Taking Advantage of the Incredible Variety of Goods

Naturally, there are abundant varieties of fresh produce at the market. I could try to write a coherent sentence about all the rest, but instead I’m going to just make a long list of what you can find there: fresh seafood; organic local beef; teas specially blended by the proprietor; cheese explained by an expert; honey in every flavor imaginable; homemade jams and jellies in exotic flavors; farm fresh eggs; wonderful homemade Mexican food specialties; expert knife sharpening; orchid purveyor; nursery folk with herbs, tomato plants, flowering plants; locally made olive oils; handmade soaps and cosmetic products; organically and sustainably grown coffee; crafters with clothing, jewelry, knitted goods, artwork.

OMG, it’s a magical wonderland every Friday morning from 7:00 a.m. to noon! And we’ll be there today to enjoy! We are truly blessed.

Credits:

DEB-Altered Art Papers, Blue Christmas; DMI-Black and Tan, Torn; CBA-Antique Charm; MRE-Treasures; TYO-Wine Cellar; KSC-After Glow; available at http://Scrapgirls.com

Lauren Reid-Gridlock Taffies; available at http://scrapartist.com/

F. Seiford-Purple Heart Embellishment; available at http://scrappersguide.com/

L. Hughes-Brown Squares Background Paper

Fonts: Palatino Linotype, Scrap Casual, Stencil Standard, Vivaldi

Lives Of The Vines 4

It's mind-boggling to think about how much the vines have grown in a week's time! The canes are almost up to the second wire already. The flower clusters are getting bigger and will be in full bloom any day now. When bloom occurs the vine's male and female parts will self-pollinate the flowers and voila...grapes! Both blocks of vines in the vineyard have been suckered. This year our vineyard manager brought in women workers to do the suckering. Since suckering is not such a difficult job and the wives and family of the male farmworkers can use the work, this has become more of a commonplace practice in this valley. The men are then freed up to take on the heavier jobs. All in all, the vineyard is looking great. Next sulphuring the vines will begin.

Credits: For background paper: http://scrapartist.com/, Redemption by IOD, Paper #1

Lives Of The Vines 3

In the vineyard, where the combination of rainfall and 80-degree-plus heat is guaranteed to produce growth that one might swear is actually visible to the casual observer, grape flower clusters are poised to enter the critical period of bloom, during which the size of this year’s crop will be determined. Many of our neighbors have told us that both the size and the number of their clusters seem to be on the high side of normal which is the case in our vineyard as well. Let's hope so after last year's damage from frost. This a photo of what the vineyards looked like on Howell Mountain during the frost last year. Thanks to Jon, our neighbor, for the photo. This week workers will be suckering the vines to remove the vegetative canes with no buds on them to promote growth of the canes with buds.

Smackdown On Main Street In St. Helena

For all of you who don’t know, St. Helena is a small, upscale community at the northern end of the Napa Valley. Many people from there believe it is the very heart of the valley. In St. Helena you will find fine restaurants, chi-chi shops, and artsy galleries. All very fashionable.

The local newspaper, the St. Helena Star, is published every Thursday and contains all the usual articles and then there's the police log...

Last week, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this entry:

1650 - Report of a physical fight between two cooks on Main Street. Officers responded and determined the incident had been "mutual combat" and took a report.

What the ????

This could only happen in the Napa Valley!

Can you imagine any scenarios about why these cooks were duking it out on the sidewalks of this lovely little town?

Like…

My chef knife is bigger and sharper than yours!
You put too much damn salt in the damn soup!
My restaurant is bigger and nicer than yours!
My sous chef quit to work for you?!
Each had a little too much of “the sauce”!

I’d love to hear your comments about what you envision these two fools might have been thinking!

Here's what they looked like after they kissed and made up (read sobered up!)

Hope I made you smile this Monday morning...have a great week!

Thanks to the Star http://sthelenastar.com

Birds Of A Feather

I created this digital scrapbook layout last year when our Crown Sparrows left to migrate in early May. I took this photograph of one of the birds sitting on a blackberry branch in our garden just before they were gone. Hubby and I love to feed the birds so we can watch them flitting around. We also have swallows, titmice, nuthatches, towies, hummingbirds, crows, redwinged blackbirds, blue jays, geese, ducks, redtailed hawks, herons, cedar waxwings, finches, blue birds, owls...Whew! One time we even saw a golden eagle fly across the vineyard! And, now the sparrows are gone until October.

Credits: C.Renee-Ultimate Art Collection, Meadow Ledger ppr-Recollections, Stamps Window & Clock; Jomi van Bekkum-Unknown Kit, Paper 1; NRJ-In Vogue, Paper 5; K.Christensen-Recollections, Pink Flower Paper; IOD-Inked Edge-Oogelie Boogelie, Tag 2; W&W-Roughing It, Peach Journal; Gypsy Chick-Gypsy Flower Overlays, #5-Scribbly Flowers, #3- Recollections, Silk Flower; RME-Nature, Lace; Linda GB-Frosty & Fabulous, Bow-Designer's Pick, Ribbon & Rose 5; CAH-Festivus, Crown; A.Briggs, Whimsy & Style, Stitching; All products from http://scrapartist.com/; Font: Harrington

Lives Of The Vines 2

For the most part, the vineyard is still in the bud break stage. We have two "blocks" of vineyard, the front and back blocks. This picture shows part of the front vineyard and the arrow points to the vine we are following. The back block is almost always ahead of the front block since it is higher in elevation and generally hotter. Some vines in the back are already in the "bloom" stage. When this occurs small flowers appear that will then form into the grapes. This stage in the life of the vine is critical. We can't have any type of inclement weather during this cycle since it would easily ruin the grape crop. Our vine should be in bloom very soon.

Credits: Font = CB Wednesday; Background Digital Paper = Noni Kit by Lie Pfung and available through http://ScrappersGuide.com

Lives Of The Vines

With today's post, I am beginning a new series called the "Lives of the Vines." The idea is to document the growing cycle of our vineyard from bud break to dormancy. Once a week, I plan to photograph the same grapevine to illustrate what's happening in the vineyard. Also, I will give a short summary of the progress being made. To bring you up to speed, the following things have already happened in the vineyard:

• Cover crop planted between rows
• Vines Pre-pruned
• Weed abatement
• Vines Pruned
• Cover crop cultivated.

Bud break began around April 15. Now that the tender leaves are sprouting, we hope there will be no more frosty nights. Last year we lost half our crop to frost.

Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day, I hope we can all implement changes that will lessen our impact on our lovely blue planet. Several years ago, there was a challenge on a digital scrapbooking site I frequented to create a layout about Earth Day. The image above is the layout I created in response. Loyal (DH) and I were lucky enough to visit Kona Village on the Big Island several times and just loved it. We enjoyed snorkling in the beautiful bay at the resort and swimming with the sea turtles. At one time, the turtles were disappearing; however, I am happy to report that they are making a great rebound! I took all of the photos of the turtles shown in the layout. The funny looking tracks on the right side were made by a turtle that came up on the beach to rest. I created the Hawaiian looking texture on the top with inks and stamping tools (Clearsnap) on watercolor paper and then scanned it into Photoshop CS3. The map and logos are from memorabilia brought home from our trips and also scanned. Here's hoping the wonderful story of the sea turtles will inspire us all to be kind and gentle when leaving an imprint on our beautiful world.

By the way, did you know that Stampington and Company (Somerset Studio, Take Ten, etc.) has announced that it will release its new magazine, Green Craft Magazine, on August 1, 2009? The theme will be recycled artwork! Also, until April 29th, you can get free shipping and $2.00 off the cover price if you preorder. Happy Earth Day everyone!

Bloomin' Spring!

What a wonderful, beautiful, gorgeous spring day! It’s just about as perfect as you can get. Couldn't wait to get outside and do some spring cleaning in the garden. We have so many flowers blooming now it looks like a big ole florist shop! We have daffodils, tulips, muscari, mock orange, freesias, lilacs, peonies and more right outside our door. It’s a bloomin’ wonderland.

!I love spring!!I love spring!

Build A Better Blog

I have been taking a free course called 31 Days to Build a Better Blog from http://www.problogger.net/. Each day we are given a task to complete which should help to increase traffic to and comments on our blog pages. We are on day 8 and I must admit that it is working so far!

Day 1: Create an “elevator pitch” for your blog
Day 2: Create a “list” post for your blog
Day 3: Promote a specific post rather than your whole blog
Day 4: Analyze a successful blog in your area of interest
Day 5: Email a new reader of your blog
Day 6: Learn from successful bloggers about blogging

(reading list)
Day 7: Write a “link post”
Day 8: Interlink posts within your blog

I am very pleased with the results:

1. Learned a whole lot about blogging

2. Actually found focus by writing down my elevator pitch

3. The list post was fun to write and seems to have

generated more traffic and comments than I anticipated

4. Visited many blogs with similar interests I may never have found

5. Sent and received email from readers

Five Ways to Boost Your Creativity

I've been reading an interesting book The New Creative Artist, a Guide to Developing Your Creative Spirit by Nita Leland. Here are some tips from her...


1. Get To Know Your Creative Self
· What do you love to do most?
· Where are you most creative?
· When are you most productive during the day?
· What most motivates you to undertake a creative
challenge?

2. Prepare Your Environment for Creative Activities
· Create an atmosphere that energizes you
· Music can bring you into a creative mood
· Gather and organize all your supplies for projects
· Schedule time each day to work on a creative project

3. Get Going With What Materials You Already Have
· Don’t worry about completing a finished project
· Scribble, doodle, draw or paint with what’s at hand
· Use pieces of colorful magazine pages to make collages
· You don’t need art materials to get started, just get started

4. Start An Artistic Sketchbook/Journal
· Write notes, lists of ideas and projects
· Doodle and draw
· Never erase to tear out a page
· Date every entry

5. Try New Things On A Regular Basis
· Drive a different route to work
· Change your lip color
· Wear a necklace instead of a scarf
· Change up a recipe with a different spice


(As paraphrased from the New Creative Artist by Nita Leland)

Thanks to All the Lovely Ladies at SITS!

I am sooo new at all this blogging stuff! Didn't think to look at my "dashboard" to see if there were any comments. Needless to say, I was wonderfully surprised to see so many "unmoderated" comments lurking there! Thanks so much for taking the time to make me feel welcome. It's very much appreciated, indeed.

By the way, just wanted to let you know how impressed I am with all your wonderful, funny, touching, beautiful blogs. Kudos to all!

Paper Clay Easter Bunnies

I just love all the wonderful, whimsical characters associated with Easter, especially the Bunnies. So sweet! These sweeties were made with air drying paper clay. The clay covers styrofoam shapes (heads and bodies and stands) and wooden skewers (legs). Each bunnie was handpainted with metallic paints and inks. I used rhinestones for the eyes and to decorate their outfits. The purple crest was made by pushing paper clay into a mold. The backgrounds for the photos were made using a photo of a tulip from our garden. Happy Easter everyone.!

Teton Pony

At the Soroptimists' annual Crab Feed in St. Helena in 2008, we were the lucky winners of an auction item...a house in Ennis, Montana for one week for 4 couples. As it turned out, only 4 of us could make the trip: Beth & Jon and Loyal and myself. The entire adventure was spectacular! We had never been to that part of the world and found it to be extraordinary in every way. On the way home, we loved seeing Yellowstone National Park (yes, the scars from the fires are still visible) and Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. I was happy to have my digital camera along and must have taken 900+ photos along the way. The photo of the pony shown above was taken at the Tetons. Since that time I have attempted to sketch some of the subjects of those photos; and then, being so pleased with myself that the pony sketch turned out as nice as it did, I then scanned it into Photoshop CS3 and created the digital layout.

SheShes Are Here!

Oh, have I been having fun! The SheShes have arrived! I started making these little cuties a few weeks ago and now they number 20. They are made of clothespins which I painted and then dressed in colorful outfits. I used textured papers, ribbons and trims for the clothes and accessorized with glitter, rhinestones and the like. Of course, the name is a take off on ChiChis. I do hope this addiction is not an indication of early senility, since I’ve gone back to playing with dolls! HA! Aren’t they fun?

A Few Friends of Mine

Aw, gee, I know my sketching isn't the greatest... but I just have to keep trying. One has to improve with practice! I took some art classes way back when in Junior College, but never really kept up with the drawing part of it. The lovely ladies above are my first attempts in a long, long time. I decided to make them into "friends" so that I will have some company the next time I delve into that realm again. They will be my muses! LOL!

Hippity Hoppity

In the latter part of the last century, I created some Easter eggs made from natural materials and blown eggs. Recently when I got into the box where the eggs were stored, I was surprised to find they were badly deteriorated and very sad! So I decided to revamp the eggs by collaging over the outer papier mache shell and the smaller eggs inside with arty papers. Then the eggs were ready for all the glitz and glamour! Ta Da!

Snow Dolls

Last year, during the holidays, I began making my "Snow Dolls" with bottles Loyal had dug up years and years ago. He and his friends would excavate the bottles from dump sites at old mining camps throughout Northern California. The bottles sat in boxes in the attic for all these years. Talk about recyling...! I decorated the bottles with all sorts of things like jewelry, beads, rhinestones, ribbons, trims, stickers and just about anything shiny and bright. I made the doll heads from styrofoam balls covered with cotton batting. The eyes and noses are made with beads and I painted on the mouths and blush. The hair was made from trims, cotton batting, etc. The bottles are partially filled with beads, pearls, snowflakes, and the like. I had so much fun making these lovely ladies that I'm now hitting the thrift shops for bottles and old jewelry.