The Sparks Experience: August 2009

Friday, August 28, 2009

The Patio

I have this patio that I have been ignoring, but last week I decided it was time to clean it up and start using it. Except for the stuff on the table which I had moved from the floor, this is how it looked when I started. It was about 7am, and the sun was not fully shining in there yet, so it was not too hot.

By about 11am, I had made a vast improvement.

Carole brought me two bougainvillea plants she did not want.

I planted one on a pot that was left here on the edge of the bricks.

I planted the other one in one of my favorite pots. This pot used to hold the Morning Glory at Avon Way, and I had been wondering what I would do with it, till the bougainvillea showed up. I am hoping it survives the winter and grows along the fence, which is right outside my kitchen window.

By noon it was quite hot and I was done for the day, but I am re-inspired to work in the yard more, enjoy sitting outside on the patio more and just loving life more.

Have a great day!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Garden Marinara

I love the crock pot. You just spend a few minutes chopping up yummy fresh vegetables, cover them with water and something wonderful brews up.

I took tomatoes and zucchini from Bill's garden, added a leek, some garlic, one potato, some yellow onion, topped off with fresh basil that grows on the side of the house under my kitchen window. Marika planted it before she left.

A couple of hours later....

Oh yeah, this was some mighty good sauce.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Bill's Garden

Bill is out of town and I am watering the garden, which I do not mind one bit. I love playing with the hose. I enjoy watching the evolution of the garden. Bill has been giving me ripe tomatoes and encouraging me to harvest anything I would like to eat. I figured I would make a marinara sauce. I went to get some zucchini and I could not believe how big this one was. It is the size of my shoe. I couldn't pick that one till Bill comes back.

This shot has the smaller one, which was a normal size like you would see in the market.

The zucchini flowers are awfully pretty, at least for the ten seconds they are perfect!

There are a ton of these little tiny strawberries on the way. The ones I have tasted were rather sour. I am wondering if they are better later in the season, we shall see.

There are tomatoes of several varieties. This is the best cherry size plant.

These are growing in a big trash can and yield nice medium sized tomatoes. I picked the two ripe ones for the sauce, they were just lovely.

I took a bunch of the tiny ones, kind of like a champagne grape size, or a pea. None of the photos came out very good, but I include this one as my favorite of the blunders.

I did not realize sunflowers had so many flowers on one plant. I thought one stalk, one flower, I am not sure why, but this sunflower has been such a source of wonder and delight for me. I want to plant some next year, and I will not let the flowers die on the plant, they will fill the vases in my rooms!

In one of the pots surrounding the main garden area, I found another type of squash. I have seen this before, but I don't know the name of it, a job for Google very soon.

I am not sure when Bill is coming back. Ironically, he is down in Venice visiting a friend. He will water my side of the yard while I am in LA very soon. Marinara details in a blog to follow.

Have a great day!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

I Love Google

Google is the consummate deliverer when one desires instant gratification.

While watching a program on TV about interesting buildings in the country, a man who owned a pharmacy in the shape of a mortar and pestle in Tennessee, which had a drive thru system where the drop off window was on one side and pick up was on the other. He boasted a ten minute wait, which although I do not frequent any pharmacy service very often, that seems pretty darn fast to me. Then he said that they were pioneers in the drive thru business, they had it in 1974, before Mc Donalds.

I heartily disagreed with them being first with drive thru business in 1974 and had to Google the history. I knew we went to In-n-Out in the sixties.

Wasn't I just pleased as punch when wikipedia confirmed my suspicion that the first drive thru is none other than In-n-Out in 1948, in Baldwin Park, CA. The guy on the show was telling the truth about McDonald's, they did not have drive thru service until 1975 in Sierra Vista, AZ.

I love Google.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

New Eye Doctor

I have a new eye doctor. Dr. M. Amber hooked me up and as fate has it, he is very liberal in his views(unusual for this neck of the woods, I am finding), and we had a very nice connection. Plus, my niece works there, so I qualify for the family discount, bonus!

The office is less than five minutes from my house.

Amber was there to process my paperwork, and she even performed all the preliminary tests, which was kinda fun. As usual, she was impressively knowledgeable about everything.

This is the rest of the office, and where they sit you down and fit your glasses.

At my request for blogging purposes, Amber snapped a few pics of my new glasses and Dr. M, said "Be careful, someone might put those on the Internet." I told him, yeah, me.

I can't wait to get them!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Photography by Parker

Parker spent about an hour taking pictures with my camera on Friday. He asked for help a couple of times when he wanted to turn the flash off, but other than that, the following photos are things in his house he found interesting enough to photograph.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

A Quick Oakland Overview

Oh, I know it's been a week since I blogged, and I haven't posted pictures in awhile, so here's a brief highlight of my days off:

First, Jump it Up in the morning with Parker while the girls were at school. Rachel dropped us off while she went to pick up the foster kitten she had agreed to take. She picked us up later. Sorry, no picture taking was possible due to the climbing, running, jumping and sliding.

Then in the afternoon, Parker and I built a righteous train track, employing the maximum use of his newly acquired turntable accessory. Let's just be glad there are no pictures of me riding my train around that track, it was not pretty...but it was fun and Parker was so happy.

When the girls woke up, the foster kitten came out to play, sort of. He was really little and still mastering walking, I doubt he could see very well either. But he sure was cute.

Elizabeth wanted to take my picture too. Miranda was all about the kitty.

At some point Elizabeth started dressing up, the shoes just cracked me up.

Friday morning Parker had this very delicate track set up in the living room directly in the walkway, of course. Needless to say, it fell down alot with the traffic. The two of us became very adept at getting it put back up fairly quickly, but it took concentrated teamwork. Elizabeth was nice enough to catch the action for me. Oh, yes, she took this picture without assistance.

Later Miranda wanted to take some pictures, and I was teaching her how to hold out the camera to take her own picture. This was her first try, not bad....way better than my first tries at this skill. Plus, she's so cute.

Friday we went to Rachel's friend Sherry's house to swim in her pool. We had a great time, Sherry is the perfect hostess, the kids were great, the lunch was lovely. However, no naps were had, and a couple of those Long girls could not quite make it till dinner without a quick snooze

I have more stuff to come, but I worked two hours overtime tonight and my dinner is ready, so I leave you now, wanting more.

Have a great day, I love you all for making my life so rich and full of joy.