Rancho la Puerta

When I booked our trip to Rancho la Puerta, a spa/retreat in Baja California, Mexico a few months back, it was under the assumption that it would be the most vacation-like vacation of my life. I pictured it in my mind as a soft, full-page ad in a magazine, full of promises that I have

Meet My New Assistant

Today’s post was slotted to be one detailing our wonderful, recuperative trip to the desert, but then we met Molly. Our desire to adopt a rescue dog was solidified over the Holidays and during the trip so on return, we started looking seriously with the intention of finding the right dog for us. I told

Stitched Panoramas: Baja California, Mexico

These photos were taken on our recent trip to Baja California, Mexico. I’ve posted them in the order I took them over the course of a week. In my next post I will go into further detail about the location, but for now I wanted to show you the larger panoramas that I took with

Stitched Panoramas: San Diego, California

Torrey Pines State Reserve (Beach) I am writing this from a rocking chair in the San Diego airport, where I am winding down from just over a day in the city. We rented a car here in San Diego, a transportation method I would have preferred not to have made, as we are new drivers

My Year in Gardening: 2011

I wrote a reflections post for 2010, and thought it would be good to end this year in the same way, especially since it gives me the opportunity to revisit some experiences that I did not cover very thoroughly. [This photo and at top of page] My garden in September 2011. Year Start I started

Please Allow Me to Get This Small Awkwardness Out of the Way

I know that I haven’t posted much about gardening lately. Frankly, I haven’t posted here in over a week now, period. I have started and stopped many times. I starting working on the follow up to the series on garden writing. And then I backtracked and started a second follow-up post that I have since

Crackling Open: On Fermenting Things

I want to tell you about my new-found obsession with fermenting. I have been unsuccessfully trying to tell it here for months now. Where to begin is daunting and the words are always lost before I can find them. I have played at fermenting things in the past, but it was always an after-thought. No

White Rain Lily

The forecast is calling for the year’s first snowfall today followed by a wet and rainy weekend. In order to beat the weather I spent two hours before dark yesterday hustling to get the remaining bulbs and transplants into the ground. Today the anticipation of spring flowers reminded me of the clusters of white rain

Chickens! at the Royal Winter Fair

Last Wednesday I spent the afternoon with a roomful of poultry at the Royal Winter Fair where I was treated to an exhibition of fascinating chicken, turkey, and duck breeds. There were so many beautiful breeds on display. It was truly eye-opening and great research for the day I am finally able to keep my

Looks Like Fall

I need some colour today and came upon this image when randomly perusing my photo archives. Doesn’t it look like fallen Autumn leaves? I took this photo in Thailand, at the Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhon Herbal Garden in Rayong. Tropical trees are not my strong suit; however, I am pretty sure that what you are

Hope Into Action

This morning I took advantage of the mild weather to get some chores done in the garden. As I kneeled on the ground planting garlic I thought about my recent trip to Georgia. I arrived in Atlanta the day before the State was set to execute Troy Davis. I’d been following the case through online