When we first moved here to Vallejo our friend Manny who lives on Mare Island and who used to live in Glen Cove, gave Shando some clippings that we planted in our front yard. Most memorably Manny said, “No matter what you do, these CANNOT die.”
That was very helpful in my decision to start getting serious about gardening. We replaced the small patch of grass that I was not very thrilled to have to mow with this area where we planted a young palm tree surrounded by succulents with mulch.
I’ve since killed LOTS of things in our gardens, but these have survived, just like Manny said. Indeed, THIS year they have grown with leaps and bounds, and look how beautiful they’ve bloomed this week!
Through a circuitous, tortuous, and even serpentine route, I was gifted a certain serpentine cactus of a type unique to my eyes. I think it fits in with my cactus area nicely. Thanks to James, Jason, Greg, and Steve for thinking of my garden and me!
I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with this repurposed metal art globe I bought at the Benicia Peddler’s Fair recently. I tried putting a plant in it, but I didn’t like having the bottom of the pot showing all that much. I’ll probably end up putting some spherical decoration in it, but I like it empty as well.
With a different vendor at that same event, I bought this Vallejo sign which is comprised of repurposed license plates. It includes Ohio (where my husband is from) and Massachusetts (where he also lived). At the end of this video, you will see that I put an optical illusion item at the end of the globe, but I decided that one will warrant its own remote-controlled spinner, which I’m ordering. I think the visual is more dramatic with the Vallejo sign, even though I might ultimately move it to another part of the garden.
In our garden, I like having kinetic activities to go with nature. We have bird feeders, de facto bird baths, our pack of little dogs wandering around the various tiers, swings (gravity egg chairs), and many comfortable places to nap. Most importantly toward this end, we have four water features that turn on with our smart home at sunrise and turn off at sunset daily, when our solar lights kick in. Some creative, festive lighting also turns on indoors and outdoors at sunset (as it changes throughout the year). Many of those are controlled by smart plugs, so when we say “good night” they do not remain on until sunrise.
From all points of the backyard, including in the hot tub, one smart device or another will pick up commands to change the music or turn something or other on or off.
This new movement of the globe and other forthcoming decor will add a new element of motion for those to rest in what I hope is a pastoral sanctuary when they visit our home and garden.
For those who have been following, the morning dove chicks in the welcome sign on our front porch are growing beautifully. Below you can see two chicks with one of their parents. The other parent is usually fluttering nearby on our roof, which hangs pretty close to the nest. They trust the chicks enough to stay safe when they both leave the nest now. We put out some birdseed nearby.
Seeing them healthy and thriving when we returned from vacation was inspiring, especially after we had observed another kind of chick that was extremely young and which had fallen from its nest outside of our hotel room.
In a previous posting of the doves at our home, I only saw one chick that had very scrawny feathers, so it’s good to see them this mature and well-fed.
This family home is hanging up with one nail! When they leave for the year, I’m going to make sure it’s reinforced. I’m told they will probably come back to nest there annually, which is thrilling.
And for the skeptics who think these aren’t real, here is some updated video:
So I’m hanging a piece of recycled art on our front patio, and I turn around and look at this welcome sign that has hung there for a few years, which was a gift from our former roommate in Hayward. I called Shando because I did not know where he got the bird figurine which was sitting there staring at me in the welcome sign. Well, there’s a good reason for that….BECAUSE IT’S NOT A figurine. It’s a real dove nesting on her eggs! I’ve seen these doves flit around our front patio in the past few weeks, but always thought they were building a nest on the roof at a “safe” distance from our front door slamming. Now I see they have been inches away from us. Even the hammering I just did today had not caused her to flinch. I love that they feel safe there and hope they come back every year now.
Some may remember the story of how I found the morning dove on our front porch. Well, now the couple’s chick has arrived! I only see one so far. If you look carefully at this video below, you’ll see its heart beating and it moves its wing just a tad. Mother actually blinks too, which is rare.
