Of Gardening ideas~~~~~

Hello Darklings!

Just a few Gardening ideas that you can do during the winter months,  The top picture is from the poison Garden in England, it is so dangerous that they have to keep it locked, and only a limited number of tours of it.

I'll try to find out more about it.  I'm not sure how they did the cement skulls, possibly a reusable mold like latex or something but it would make a wonderful border, don't you think Darklings?

Later!

Of Doing Jury Duty, speicality sodas and the drought~~~

Hello My Darklings,

Yes I know I haven't post for a while, BUT.....

Well what is more Elder Gothic than being on a Murder trial?   Being On a Murder Trial.

Oh I know Darklings bad pun.   But I am stuck doing Jury Duty and it is a murder trial.   I cannot talk about the case itself, but I can tell you it was 3 of the most excruciating days of jury selection I have ever gone through, and because I'm semi-retired I cannot claim hardship.

Well to be honest, this may be interesting to see unfold.  You know see how the lawyers do things, I mean Darklings it's totally different from "Perry Mason", "Boston Legal" or even "The Good Wife". 

One thing I'm grateful for is the chairs in the jury box are comfortable if they weren't I'd be screaming.  

And I'm glad we got off early today, the Judge had something to attend to, there is no trail tomorrow and the courtroom is air conditioned, yes Darklings we are now having a bit of a heat wave.

So Dinner is going to be light a spinach salad with shrimp (grilled),  lime sherbert for dessert, no wine, but a delightful specialty soda called "Portuguese Blend"  it's green in color, but lighter in flavor than 7-Up and it's made with cane sugar not corn sugar,  we had it after dinner last week, so Sis went and bought 6 bottles of it.  Doyle prefers the Root Beer called "Rat Bastard"  I told him we cannot serve a root beer with that name to the children when they come over to visit.  So we'll stick with "Dad's"

I know---- What??  The Elder Gothests is off of wine??  No Darklings I'm not, but once in a while in a playful mood we do like to try specialty soda's, and just see what they come up with.  And really with the heat, it's best to drink water with a hint of lemon in it for a sense of freshness. 

We did have about a week ago a very nice rain storm which did wonders for my water cisterns, so I'll be able to water the plants for a while without having to use the districts water system.  But because of this drought I've decided to not plant any new exotic plants in my garden, however to make up  for any sparseness, I've decided to increase the plantings of Lavender, Sage and Rosemary, these plants encourage the honey bees and humming birds and I've made sure that the moveable bird baths are in area's of shade for the birds, bees and humming bird feeders are in the shade for them as well.  

I've been happy to see a few Monarch Butterflies as well, which cheers me up a lot, at least the flowers on those plants are lavender and purple, may be not too dark but enough to keep things interesting.   And at least they can tolerate the weather conditions much better.  Towards the back in the Pet Cemetery area nasturtiums have sprouted, I did not plant any seeds so either the birds brought them over or something, I think they are rather pretty in their own wild way so I will leave them to grow, something as natural as that is fine.

Poor Belladonna and Wiener Dog are just to tuckered from the heat and have chosen to lay down on the kitchen floor near their water bowls, I have a fan rotating in here  to help cool them down.  But I'm going to ask Doyle when he comes home if he could up the fans from the storage room, we may not need them all the time but at least they will be available. 

I've advised my Sister in Law to buy fans as well and she has mostly for the bed rooms, she wants something more Victorian for down in the main rooms so I suggested she check out the Victorian Trading Company that is where I got mine.

I have no idea how long this murder trial is going to run, but my Boss is not exactly happy, because already several of the staff have summer vacations planned, I said ..."It is what it is..." and left it at that. 

And now I'm going to take a nap my Darklings, the heat is getting to me.

Later Darklings

Of Having voted and now taking a bit of quiet time~~~~

Hello My Darklings,

To those of you who are of voting age here in the United States---Have you voted?

I did, and no I won't tell you how I voted, except that I voted with my conscious on what I felt was right and what I felt was wrong.  Voting is a very serious business in my family, we take it very seriously to the point where we would have discussions on the pro's and con's of the candidates and the propositions.

But only after they have been in office or the proposition has been put to the test do we really know how well it will work.

And I will leave it at that.

I've been, with a little help, taking down the outside decorations, bit by bit and checking them over, making notes for repairs or replacement.   The garden in the front and the back looks sad, cold and bear.  My gardener will be putting stuff down to protect the roots of some of the plants in case of a severe cold snap.

Doyle just got back from an early morning conference and announced he needs new pajama's, so in the next few minutes, we will go shopping for PJ's.  How mundane!  But necessary.  There are a few high end men's shops in the city so we will drive there, have an early dinner and then come home, Doyle wants to wait until after the heavy commute has passed when we return home. 

Frankly I think he wants to use it as an excuse for a quiet evening out.  I don't mind, I enjoy time with him.

But until the flurry of Thanksgiving, I think we will button down the house for winter, and go into our quiet time.

Must go Darklings

Later Darklings

Of Rain, Rain and hopefully more Rain~~~~

Hello Darklings,

I LOVE the Rain, its so moody, gothic and noir, even the wet streets at night reflecting the neon adds to the "Gotham" feeling, the dark corners, and slithery sounds of tires squashing though puddles.

Ahhh yes I had to work late last night, rain and rain, fortunately Doyle came to pick me up so I would not have to depend upon public transportation, not that I'd mind but of late Doyle is becoming more protective, if the traffic of San Francisco wasn't so congested and people driving like idiots I would enjoy going though this city, but stupid drivers and pedestrians make it difficult to seek the simple pleasures of just enjoying the city at night, in the rain, in the dark.

Driving back over the Bay Bridge (I'm sorry Darklings but I refuse to call it the Willy Brown Bridge it is the Bay Bridge and that is that), but driving over the Bridge I love the grittyness of the older part of the span, I keep hearing that song so often associated with a Mickey Spillane movie, I think it's called "Harlem Nocturn",  as we drive over it,  and then we go through the Tunnel at Treasure Island and bam we are on a bridge that is something out of a Star Trek Movie----Oh Darklings the aspects and designs of the 21st Century hold no charm for me.  I find them boring, a sterile sameness that just kills the soul.

Oh for the designs of the old Chrysler and Empire State buildings of New York, or the Gothicness of old New Orleans,  it's like that song "little houses, made of ticky-tacky, little houses all the same", then it becomes such a relief to walk into my own home, away from all the 21st century "stuff".

Oh well if people are blind to such early 20th century beauty then they are truely blind. 

My Gardener was able to take care of the trees that needed to be trimmed and he is soaking the severly damaged rose bushes in buckets of water with lots of plant vitamin B to help with the transplanting into the cemetery area, hopefully they will take and come back.   I'm going to the nursery Saturday, rain or no rain to select some new bushes to put into that area along with seeing if there are some annuals that can be planted to take care of the squashed plantings, until I can put in something more "permanet".  Louise my cousin will be coming with me, she has in front of her cottage apartment two cement planters so she needs soil and some plantings for it to help cheer up her entrance way.  I know how plebian, how mundane, but not everyone can live a totally gothic/noir life although I'd like to try. 

It sort of makes me wonder about evil characters like the evil queen in Snow White or Malifacent in Sleeping Beauty, who does their laundry?  Do they have to put on makeup each morning?  Do they suffer from headaches?  They can't always be scheming on doing evil deeds all the time, I would think it would be tiring.

Oh well,  and my contractor came by while there was a break in the weather, to look over the damage to the fence and give me an estimate, not as bad as I feared and I'll see if my home owners insurance can cover it, I know my neighbor can't, poor thing,  she still is in a state over it but I've been reassuring her to not worry,  as a matter of fact I'm inviting her over for dinner again tonight,  I am concerned about her health and I want to do everything to relax her,  Belladonna and Weiner Dog have been amusing her which is good, but still since her family lives so far away Sacramento I think, I want her to be in a "good place and frame of mind".

The arborist will be coming next week to see about her tree, I do hope we don't have to have it cut down, it is still a magnficent tree.

And the weather man is saying more rain is coming, more and more---oh that means people will be in the rain during the opening of the Oakland Museum's White Elephant Sale this weekend, and I do so want to go,  well I guess it will be rain coats and umbrella's or something.  I love the white elephant sale, you never know what one will find.  The only problem is parking, such a bear, completely horrible, but we'll see.

One of my co-workers said the only way we can break the drought is if it rains at least every other day for March, April and May,  we can hope.   I'd hate to think of manditory water rationing,  at least my cisterns are catching as much of the rain water as possible so that should help the garden and greenhouse, I have to thank my late Great-Aunt for thinking so far ahead on that.

Ahh but now I think I'll go ahead and prepare the salad,  and bake the pie for dessert, it's all put together apples and cranberries, I came across the receipe in one of those little cook books, the pie crust is pre-made but I did have to peel and cut the apples.  I think it will be a good warm yet refreshing thing to have.

Later Darklings 

Of coffee, a little dog and squirrels~~~~

Hello Darklings,

I'm waiting for my sister, she has to phone some clients to confirm their appointments for next week, so I have a few minutes before we go shopping.

Last night we went through the pantry to check what we need and those things we need to get for emergency supplies.   I'm good about those things, but Sis is very through,  she is also getting things for her own house for Brian, her tennant/house guest----but I guess it would be better to refer to him as her tennant.

Poor Brian has been putting in 12 and 14 hour days of late, so much to be done before the Labor Day weekend, I'm not totally sure what it is but it seems that where he's now at they are going to be shifting things over right after Labor Day and will need that week to tweak things.  He is earning his money.

This morning again I was up early, enjoying my coffee, there is something about fresh brewed coffee that has a waking up feeling to it, just the smell is enough at times to give a lift to one's mind and senses, and on chilly mornings like this one with that tang of Fall in the air it seems even extra special.

I think I could not survive without at least one cup of morning coffee, of course periodically I have to go to my dentist to gently whiten my teeth as coffee does stain, but not overly white, white-white teeth is sort of off putting to me, very unnatural.

No I don't think I could survive without coffee, tea, chocolate and a good bottle of wine----of course we also have to have the staples of life as well.  But those are the speical flavors and scents to keep us going.

This morning as I was sitting out on the back porch enjoying the garden and the nip in the air, Belladonna was with me, I put her light sweater on as it was chilly and had her out-door bed next to me, when I saw it.

A very, very fat squirrel come into the garden, grubbing around for food,  I knew that it loved to induge in the walnuts on my neighbors tree, for more than once I've found the reminants of shells here and there, and I could see that this squirrel had indeed fatten up for the winter, as he (or she) carefully picked and hunted its way across my garden,  I think that is why I love it so (the Garden), I get so much animal life here, the various birds, the squirrels and occasional possum (fortunatly not often), humming birds, bees, butterflies, and the scent of the flowers, I love to choose those that have a wonderful strong scent that travels on the air to attact pollenators.

In the mornings hearing the birds calling out, marking territory,  the other day I was surprised to hear the call of a Hawk, and what sounded like the reply by a much younger hawk, I looked up and spotted the pair high up in the sky.  How rare to hear something like that in the residental part of the city or in the city at all, but how wonderful as well.

But there was that squirrel, and I saw Belladonna slowly stand up, trembling not with fear but with excitement, here was her intruder that frequently teased and scolded her totally unaware of the Mighty Belladonna's presence.  Then quickly she flew down the stairs without making a growl towards her nemisis, the squirrel was completely unaware of the 4 legged danger swiftly approaching until the last second.   I thought that the little creature had met its doom, it scampered as fast as it could with Belladonna close on its tail, I knew that Belladonna would catch it, but at the last moment it made a desperate leap to a tree just out of Belladonna's reach and scampered up the branch.

I watched as Belladonna stood under the tree not with trembling frustration but with satisfaction, the squirrel in the tree was trembling, not even scolding the little dog, it knew in its over confidence that today would have been its last, if not for fate.  But Belladonna a tiny dog with the fierceness of a Rottwiller knew she had won the day and taught that sassy squirrel a lesson.   She did one self-satisfied bark and came trotting back to me in all her smug glory as if she were saying "That'll learn him, come around here like he owns the place, not while I"m on duty, no sir!"  

And for that I simply had to give her a bit of my buttered toast as a reward for a job well-done.

Later Darklings