Of Gothic Moonlit Gardens~~~~

Dear Darklings,

What is it with the weather???   Yesterday it was overcast and chilly cold that even the dogs decided to snuggle in their doggie beds together, which is something they rarely do.   And I had to wear a sweater (black of course), it was so nippy.

Now it’s overcast in the morning and sunny in the afternoon but barely above 70.  And this is supposed to be the Dog Days of Summer, you know like Hot August Nights and all that stuff. 

Not that I want to get overheated, there is a limit. 

I’ve been talking to my gardener and I said I’d like to do a Gothic moon garden considering that the overabundance of rain rotted out my blubs and other plants so I’ve been letting things sort of even out and rest. 

He suggested that I plant white plants that is blubs and flowers that are white, and soft grey foliage and replace those roses that have died with roses that produce white blooms, as well as night blooming jasmine, and moonflowers, evening primrose, night phlox,  and 4 o’clock.

I found out that other night blooming plants (depending upon what zone you live in) include  Queen of the Night which is a type of catus with  exotic white flowers with undulating petals that open only at night, it looks a little like a water lily set upon upright green fronds.

Now there are some that are dangerous even toxic if eaten by pets and children such as  Night Blooming Jessamine (Cestrum nocturnum), Angel’s Trumpet (Brugmansia) the scent is intoxicating on warm summer evenings

 Flowering Tobacco (Nicotiana)  it smells like jasmine but you need to use Caution because all parts of flowering tobacco are toxic if ingested so if you have children and pets that like to nibble plants you might want to avoid this one.

There’s also  Evening Stock (Matthiola longipetala)  A wildflower originating in Portugal and Spain, they release their heady perfume, described as a mix of vanilla, rose, spice, and cloves.

 Ever-Flowering Gladiolus (Gladiolus tristis) this has buttery cream petalled flowers perched atop a twisty stalk. They release a strong almond fragrance after dusk.  Of course one has to have  Lilac (Syringa vulgaris), even if it’s blooming period is short.

Summer Snapdragon (Angelonia angustifolia), because its long-blooming upright 8-inch spikes resemble those of the popular dragon flower it’s available in several hues, the “serena white” variety is the best choice for a moonlight garden.  It has apple-scented foliage, this will stay in bloom from June to September.

Matilija Poppy (Romneya coulteri) is lovely but you need to prune frequently but great for ground cover.

And you’ll need plants that have a silvery sheen to them to pick up the rays of the moon like  Silvermound (Artemisia schmidtiana), Japanese Painted Fern (Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’), Jack Frost (Brunnera macrophylla) White Trillium,  and Lamb’s Ear.

And we also have Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris)and  Alba Plena Camellia (Camellia japonica ‘Alba Plena’) it has exquisite overlapping petals in snowy white, the alba plena camellia is commonly referred to as the rose of winter since it blooms from late fall until early spring.

It is recommended that along with night-blooming and night-fragrant flowers, adding plants that will shine under the stars is the crowning touch of the moonlight garden. You’ll want to select showy flowers in white or other cool colors like light blue, soft yellow, and lavender and be sure to include reflective non-flowering plants to create a diverse range of textures, shapes, and sizes.

Of course this is helpful if you have a garden even a tiny patio if you have a ground floor apartment, but if you don’t find out from your nurseryman which plants will grow well it pots to have on your apartment balcony to enjoy on those warm summer evenings to engage in your Gothic moon viewing as you read “Dracula” or one of the “Twilight” novels by candle light.

My artist friends directed me to someone who can do small concrete skulls for me with slightly different “grins” on their faces, and with metal armature do skeletal hands breaking out of the ground.  He recommended not too many, it would be better that they are a sudden surprise but not where anyone could trip over them,  and with my outdoor pond I’ve been stocking it with mosquito fish and having the water circulating to prevent mosquito's from hatching, and floating white waterlilies, at least with those fish if they get eaten by the cats I can replace them for free.   

My gardener suggested that maybe the evening stock and the poppy be used where I have my pet cemetery as ground cover,  so I have a lot of planning for my Moon garden and hope to have it fully in place by next summer  so we shall see.

Later Darklings.

Of Jury Duty, Dark Shadows and chilly weather~~~~

Hello Darklings,

I have not been posting as often as I like, the Jury Duty is taking up time and energy, bleh!!

We were let go early today, but back tomorow!

And Decades T.V. was running "Dark Shadows"!!!   last week.

The good thing is Brian was working from home so he had the timer set so that every 6 hours he'd change the discs to record the episodes I and Sis would  be missing while doing what we've got to do.

We'd watch it during the evenings and record our other shows, just when you think "Oh well, I'll just go and make myself a sandwich!"  Darn if it doesn't sucker you right back into it again.

Even Doyle got caught up, he missed it years ago when he was at the Academy and then working,  so we confessed to each other----we have GOT  to buy all 1225 episodes (well it's listed as 1245--but it was a numbering situation),  and they come out in volumes.  I missed the last year of it because of my job.

So that is on our shopping list

It was such fun!!

Unfortunately I cannot talk about the trial I'm on, I'm still constrained but I think this next picture will give you and idea of what at least I feel about it, Doyle did manage to come into the court room to listen in and his attitude is the same.

Like Really??!!

But we will do our best to be objective. 


And the weather!!  It has been so chilly, some an occasional shower but I understand snow is showing up in the mountains.   But I have not been able to get out of my winter clothes.  At least not yet, over cast and cold, over cast and cold.

And all the children have come down with Spring colds, we thought allergies but no, colds!  At least they were healthy for Mother's day.


And now I am going to go have have lunch, a friend of mine called me a few minutes ago and I pleaded with her to take me out into the normal world --- or what passes for normal so I can think of nicer things.

Later Darklings

Of Mother's Day~~~~

Happy Mother's Day My Darklings,

Although I'm not a Mother I am an auntie and auntie's count too.

We are going over to my brother's house of a bar-b-que dinner, and taking a few things as well that Sis and I whipped up yesterday. 

Such a nice difference from the Court Room, and yes I'm still stuck with Jury Duty.

But oh it has been cold, cool and breezy, with a splash of rain here briefly, snow in the mountains and I think hail down in Fremont.   The last time I can remember weather this cold was back in the 70's and Snow was still on the ground at Lake Tahoe on Memorial Weekend.

So sweaters are still called for my summer clothes is sharing the closet with my winter clothes,  until the weather can make up it's mind.   And I get an automatic robo call from the Water District saying we are in drought conditions and to only use 35 gallons of water per person per day???   I know what 35 gallons looks like and it looks like the water district is asking us to take sponge baths, while the oil companies do fracking!   IDIOTS!!!

O.K. it's Mother's Day it's best I calm down.

Sis and I went to church this morning, it was full, then later we went over to the cemetery to leave flowers on Mom's, our Aunt's and Grandma's graves.  We were concerned about the calcium scale on the stone left by the hard well water.   As well as the tarnish on our Uncle's head stone that has his military plaque on it. 

Fortunately we were told at the Cemetery Office that the best thing that works for the metal is this product called "Mother's" it's used on automobiles, so on the military plaques to use that and to remove the calcium scale from stone to do a mixture of 1/3 cup white vinegar to 2/3 cup water and a lot of elbow grease with a rough sponge, no metal, it seems that CLR does not do the trick and is harmful to the stone.  Or maybe for a larger amount 1 cup white vinegar to 2 cups water and a lot of elbow grease, so I think during the warmer month's we'll be doing that.

I'm feeling sort of quiet and mellow today, but I'm looking forward to seeing the children, we're going to take the books we bought at the book sale and surprise them with it.  I know Chris and Coralline will like their books, the twins are harder to gauge.

So now it's time to go.   I wish all of you a Happy Mother's Day.

Later Darklings

Of things slowly becoming Normal??? or Tornados in Boston???~~~~

Dear Darklings,

It has been ages since I've heard the weather being so bizarre here in the States.

Yesterday there were lighting strikes in Venice Beach, Ca. which killed one person and injured several others.   So unusual!!

And then this morning eastern time a Tornado in the Boston area, they never have tornados.  It tore apart homes, flooding and I believed someone got hurt.  Just so bizarre. (or was it Chicago---now I'm confused)

Of course we're dealing with wildfires in the Northwest and in California that is almost a given, but to have it start so early in the summer and one is especially close to Yosemite, threatening the community of El Portal.

Of course the weather man is describing how they get created and the drought and everything, but one of my friends came by today to see how I was doing and brought by a wonderful Lemon Blueberry bread or cake I don't know which but oh so scrumptious.  And she brought two of them,  and gave me a copy of the recipe.

My plumber was finishing up on getting my sink unclogged and working beautifully tried a slice and asked for a copy of the recipe as his wife bakes, so I made him a copy (thank you oh photocopy machine attached to my computer)

And YES Darklings my sink is finally unplugged, unclogged, unstagnated and running free, free, free!  Fortunately I had buckets for the plumber to use to catch the water, or sludge really, such gunk, I'd call it swamp water, it was horrible, so horrible I think even the swamps would not want it.. 

We took it to the farthest back part of the yard where it would not matter and dumped it there.  Then I ran some water on it to break it down. 

And it's cooling down here in the house finally, oh I'm keeping the fans on to circulate the air but at least we can sleep more comfortably now. 

My friend Lena said to me that the way the weather is going with lighting and tornados she was wondering if some evil sorcerer was doing something really awful.  Well she is very much into the occult and tarot and such, and loves exploring haunted houses and places, doing EVP recordings and such I've heard some of the recordings, and they disturb me a bit.

Anyway after my plumber left and I was happy, we had Lemonade and the Lemon Blueberry bread, the three of us, and discussed the whole situation, triple digits inland for us and 90's just south and north of us and we had reached a very high point in some parts where we live it did reach the 90's, and the drought does not make it any better.

Lena has friends in Arizona and they've been getting monsoon rains, and you have to be careful during that kind of weather because one minute your fine the next minute your car is floating down the street.  And lighting strikes all over, Lena told me that during this time the TV stations in Arizona compete for the best lighting photos. 

To each their own I say,  I remember some years ago, Mom and Dad wanted to sell off a bunch of stuff they didn't want nor needed anymore, so borrowing a neighbors van we loaded everything up the night before, and went to the old Flea Market that was held in an old Drive in Theatre, well lots of things sold even as we were unloading things, and Dad was glad all the large items sold quickly and we were putting out smaller stuff and it started to rain, in July a strange warm rain, I was feeling electricity dancing along my arms which frightened me.

Just then both Dad, Mom and I looked up towards these telephone poles that we just outside the fence of the drive-in and we saw lighting,  multiple lighting bolts dancing along the wires.

Dad said "That's it pack up!!" and we did and still selling things as we were packing up, we managed to get what was left into the van just and we were hit with a torrential down pour, just then we felt the prickling again and Dad said "Don't touch the doors or anything metal, keep your feet on the rubber pads"  we did and a good thing too.

I felt the hair on my head begin to stand up and a heavy pressure pressing down on me, suddenly everything went white in a blinding flash and a loud explosion, when I could see again I saw a ball of lighting moving quickly from metal stantion to stantion (those are those metal posts that held the speakers you mounted on your car window to hear the movie) and then it disappear under our van.

I heard Mom cry out "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!!!"   and then just as suddenly as the rains came it began to taper off.  People were moving quickly and other sellers were packing quickly as well. 

We knew there had been a lighting strike in the Drive-in but exactly where we didn't know, but we did see another strike further on in a large lot that was empty except for some old trees.

Then we heard sirens,  it was the fire department several people had been hurt by the strike fortunately we found out later not fatal.

It was a bit too much for all of us my Sister was saying "Can we go home??"  Dad said we would but we had to wait for it to clear out as much as possible because everyone was trying to leave at the same time, we did see a few fender benders between some old trucks, nothing that would stop them from working, even the truck owners acted like "It's o.k. let's get outta here".

It was good to get home after all that excitement, my brother who was staying with friends that day was mad having missed all the excitement---I thought he was nuts.  But that's younger brother's for you.

That old drive-in movie theatre is gone McMansions are sitting on that ground, but I'll never forget seeing the lighting dancing on the wires.

Later Darklings

Of Back to chilly weather and other things~~~~

Hello Darklings,

Well once again our natural air conditioning kicked in and we are experiencing chilly weather again, it's a good thing I have an all purpose sweater that I leave at the office to keep the chill off.  I simply wore my long black light weight wool trench coat for the commute.

And it looks like the temporary sick out on Muni has passed, if they tried to make a point it backfired on them from the public's reaction---mostly it was "Fire the S.O.B's!!!  There are people who need jobs hire new people who will appreciate what they've got!!!"

Well I don't mind fighting for what is right, but within reason, because it does cause costs to go up and then other people will start demanding increases it just dominos.  But I am all for better health and dental care benefits and retirement packages.

Right now I'm on a coffee break and my co-worker has brought me my 3rd Hazelnut coffee, I'm sorry Darklings but I do have a weakness for having Hazelnut creamer in my coffee. 

As I was taking the Ferry in to work, I could hear people complaining about the fluations in the weather---don't know what to wear??  Well for me it's a long sleeve lightweight blouse, a below the knee skirt, a wide brim hat, vintage cloth gloves (in black) good walking shoes, nylons, and my light weight wool Trench coat (also in black), now that does seem warm but since I travel early in the morning and frequently come back late in the evening, its always chilly at those times, but with the extreme hot weather, I leave the coat at home and wear a light weight sweater that works like a jacket.

If I leave the office at lunch time and it's hot I leave the sweater at the office.

But because I don't like to tan everything is always long sleeved, and cotton gloves and the hat, either in a good expensive straw or felt or wool---if it's raining then a scarf and rain hat.

It is always best to layer on because you can remove it as it gets warmer.  It's also how I pack as well.

Last night I had a lovely phone call from Coralline.  She and her family are leaving today in their R.V to travel for the next few weeks, going North then South, then to Tahoe and Nevada, camping in their RV.

She told me that her parents said no video games, no TV. no cell phones except for the parents for emergencies, the children are to read, play card or board games where the whole family is involved.

Coralline said that her English teacher wants her to keep a journal of her summer experiences, so I said that her folks better include a dictionary and a thesaurus as well, to help with spelling and expanding word usage.  Her Mom has done that.

Coralline is excited about the trip but her brother's wanted to go to Disneyland---I know what my brother said "I'd have to take a loan to go to Disneyland for 6 people!!!"   But I know they are saving up for it for next year---just don't tell the boys.

Well my time is up and I have to go back to work.

Later Darklings

Of Ice cicles and Jack Frost~~~

Yes Darklings!

Icecicles!!!  I thought that was something you'd find in the mountains in winter but there they were hanging from the back eaves of my back porch.

It seems there was some run off of sorts, and then we had a deep freeze and voila! Icecicles!  I had to wake Sis and Doyle to show them, and then I looked into the garden and there was deep frost over everything, like a frozen white blanket.

I have no idea if any of the plants, even the protected ones are damaged or killed by the frost, but there it was.

Poor Belladonna and Wiener Dog they did NOT want to go down to the patio and do their business,  we had to gently persuade them and then quickly warm up their paws, and we had their heavy coats on them too. 

But looking at the frost and everything I was reminded of that line from that song "...Jack Frost nipping at your nose..." 

So Sis and I were out in the back garden looking at things and then we looked up and saw a white frosting of frost on the roofs, almost like a very thin layer of snow that one would see in Christmas cards.  The front yard also had a coating of frost as well, in a strange way we were enjoying it, as cold as it is, it does feel like a Christmas should. 

Eventually the sun will melt it off and it's wetness will go (I hope) into the ground.  Doyle finally called us in to get warm with coffee and just as I was walking up the back stairs to the kitchen one of the ice ciles fell off with a serious sounding "thunk!"  Belladonna and Wiener Dog had to check it out, the looks on their faces..."What is this cold wet hard thing??  It smells strange.  Why are our humans so excited about it?"  Then Wiener Dog solved the matter by raising his back leg and marked it in his own male doggy way and Belladonna seemed to approve and they both trotted into the warm kitchen looking for their breakfast as far as they were concerned the situation was under control and food was on their collective mind.

Dogs and little children seem to know the situation best.

I have today off, which is good so I can make plans for the Christmas Party, we know what we are going to have, and the date is set, invites have been sent out with the suggestion of Victorian Dress. 

Mostly I'm just making sure everything that will be needed is in place and also to see if there is anything else that needs to be added.  I've made arrangements for my cleaning service to come in the day before for a quick brush up.

We are going to have Coralline again this weekend starting on Friday, my Brother and Sister-in-law are going to send the Boys over to my Sister-in-Laws mother's house so they can do the Christmas Shopping for the children's gifts.  Mine is already done, the advantage of being able to go to work and have good stores to shop in nearby, and mail order, although I had to hide them in the upstairs storage room with the door locked so they won't find it.

One thing I started years ago, but I also got permission from my Boss was to have packages delivered to where I work, that way it avoided the possible front porch theivery that has been happening especially lately.  It is something I do suggest to all you Darklings if you do mail order and to let the mail room know about it as well or whomever receives mail or materials from Fed Ex, UPS or DHL or other couriers.  It does save headaches and heartaches.

Christmas is both an exciting and quiet time of year, exciting if you are a child or a harrassed parent, and quiet if you live alone and family is far away.   It is what one makes of it, but it should never be a sad time.  I know a couple that are about my age, maybe just a little older.  They had no children, and each were only children themselves (that is their parents did not have other children),  they met, both sets of parents had passed away so they were alone, they both worked, have a nice modest house, but the Holidays when they were first married was hard on them until they resolved to not have the holidays be a lonely time for them.

They looked for seasonal events to enjoy which perked their spirits up, looked into things to do and eventually joined several organizations that were into historical and period events and preservation, they told me they had to look outside of themselves and their personal lives, to reach out, by doing that they found that the holidays did not have to be a lonely time.  But I asked them "What do you do on the actual Holiday?"  Meaning Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years.  

And they told me "We start the Day with the exception of 4th of July, with Church, we go to a service to help put us into the proper mood,  being Catholic we will do with Easter and Christmas several services,  There is a late night Easter vigil mass that we attend, and then the next day Easter Sunday we attend the daytime mass as well,  we know of several places that have breakfast, and we have already made reservations for Easter Dinner too, but the Missus also has desert waiting at home.  Depending upon the weather we go for a walk at one of the formal gardens and enjoy the blooms to revive our spirits.   And then in the evening with desert we'll watch a film that has religious meaning,  last time it was "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"  a fun film.

For 4th of July, that is picnic time, but we dash early to see a 4th of July parade, we have our chairs and such and coffee and donuts, and it can be chilly in the morning so a blanket,  then a picnic on the beach followed by a tour at one of the historic military sites or we may reverse that depending upon time.  Dinner is always out at one of the nicer places. 

Thanksgiving (he told me) well that is very speical, we decorate the house with little things for Fall and then we volunteer at one of the charitible Food Kitchens and help out,  as a matter of fact we do it on a regualr basis but on Thanksgiving we make sure we're there.  Then later we have our dinner and watch "Miracle on 34th Street".   The days following we go all out to decorate the outside for Christmas, our neighbors son helps us.

And during the Christmas season we'll over the the years we've come across various events to attend the organizations we're members of offer speical events, but on Christmas Eve we attend Midnight Mass and then the following Morning a morning Mass, and once again we volunteer at the Food Kitchen, we're never alone.  
There are little things we do, Toys for Tots, Dickens Faire, and then the October fests and Harvest Festivals, all kinds of little things. 

But New Years, we'll that is speical for us as well New Years Eve if there is a Dance on the USS Hornet we attend that in period attire, and welcome the new year in,  The following Day we go to morning Mass, we have breakfast out and we have made reservations for dinner, again depending upon the weather we see what might be open to see, sometimes its a speical event at a museum, or something.  But we alway keep ourselves busy and do things so we are always never alone, even helping out at charity events.  We're older now so we do have to pace ourselves but even though we don't have family or children, sometimes the world needs folks like us to just be there."

I was surprised by their sense of purpose but then I could see what it is that they are doing,  to never look inward but always outward.

Later Darklings 

Of Freezing Cold and maybe other things~~~~

Oh Darklings!!

It is so cold that the outdoor pond froze over, Doyle was out there this morning cracking the ice, so we've put up a plastic cover over it to prevent that from happening again for the next few days,  the pond in the green house with the Koi, is fine and some potted plants have been moved in there when we got the freeze warning. 

Even with the heat on there is still cold spots in the house,  we've been checking for draft spots and have found them,  all we can do is put up old moving blankets over the doors and along the bottom of the doors to keep the drafts out. 

Of course we are wearing our warmest clothing, sweaters, socks and in some cases fingerless gloves for indoors, even Belladonna and Weiner Dog are wearing two sweaters each and do not object to being covered with throw blankets.

Some of the suculents have been frost bitten, but we hope to save them, and other more delicate plants have been covered,  this is the coldest it has been in this area in over 104 years,  fortunately no problems with our water pipes, even the outside garden ones have been wrapped to prevent freezing.  There are birds in the area so I've put out food for them, but we found a squirrel this morning in the garden, we fear the cold may have killed it.  I was sad to see the poor little thing but Doyle said that this winter freeze will prove which one's are the healthiest and hardiest,  I will put out sunflower seeds and walnuts for them, at least give them a fighting chance. 

We've had Brian come over and stay with us, that way he doesn't have to contend with the heating system in Sis's house, which was going to be replaced anyway. 

Coralline's school closed early today and we have her and we'll be bundled up to go and do our tree selections, it will be a tree for the formal parlour, a smaller one for the family parlor and a tiny one for the entrance hall, plus yesterday evening I stopped at my favorite hardware store just across from Bed, Bath and Beyond, to pick up a few things like curtain rods and there I saw it.

Yes Darklings, you can find Black Christmas Trees.  There it was in all it's 7 foot glory, of course its artificial, but I was thinking that the Library is large enough for one, and this was perfect in its Gothicness, I was able to buy, are you ready for this?  Black ornaments and I offset it with red one's as well,  so with red and purple lights on it and a red velvet tree skirt it will be just perfect for its strangeness,   I had been wanting to get a artifical black tree anyway for Halloween and this will do just fine.

I have to laugh when I think of in the 1960's and 70's those aluminum christmas trees with the little pom-poms on the tips, and you had to use a rotating light to light it up.  Thank Goodness our parents didn't fall for that fashion, some of my friends parents did with a few of them having a problem of their tree's going up in flames, well some of my friends thought it was fine to put lights on those trees,  Opps!  Didn't know it could burn.  And there was some sad Christmases because of that. 

When I told Coralline about the Black Tree she was excited about the idea, so this weekend we will be busy, putting on lights and decorating.   But we are going to the Dickens Faire first, must get that in.

But tonight it will be a good hot beef stew, with crusty french bread, and hot spice tea to drink, and hot apple pie.  I think we'll be able to at least put the lights on the trees with all of us working together.

So we'll have a total of 4 trees, 3 fresh cut and one artificial.  And we'll spend the evenings putting up the decorations, nothing could be more fun and in a way relaxing.   We are going to have Coralline for the weekends for this month and for the week after Christmas.  She is looking forward to that, even though her brothers have been much nicer to her, no more tricks or anything like that.

Right now she is tugging my sleeve, yes time to go Doyle has his van ready with ropes and canvas and we have blankets in the van to keep us warm,  so Tree selections it is.

Later Darklings

Of JFK conspiracies, "strange guests" and Dark Wine~~~~

Hello Darklings,

Sometimes I have fun, quiet fun when mentally tugging at someone’s braids or shirt tails---I do mean mentally. But sometimes it can reveal things that one wishes they should not have explored.

Saturday evening Doyle, Sis and I were relaxing after having an early dinner, we had seen on the news Friday night about all the damage done by the horrible windstorm that occurred on Thursday night, of which we had our own adventures with it. And then we watched a special about ‘where were you when JFK died”.

I remembered that Day that JFK died so clearly, that it would take a special post just about that. So on Saturday evening we talked about the conspiracy theories, and in some way I do believe that Oswald was a part of it although I don’t think he pulled the actual trigger, I think that he helped get a rifle for another person to use, someone who would have been considered perfectly normal to be at the book depository building.

But Oswald ran when he realized he had been framed, made the fall guy, I think Jack Ruby was also involved to kill Oswald, and if Ruby didn’t succeed, there would have been another person or Oswald would have been found dead in his cell without ever revealing his part in it.

There were at least two shots that hit JFK and one was from the front because the back of his head was blown out, an autopsy photo that showed that was never revealed, the Nixon film and the Zapbrudder film clearly show two shots, and an audio recording recorded a total of 4 shots, there had to be at least 3 shooters.

But putting it upon one man?? No, it was far bigger than that. Much bigger.

But what legacy would JFK have left? What could he have done after his 2nd term? History would have been far different, we would not have been in Vietnam for one, and the others? Who knows?

Saturday evening Doyle, Sis and I were still kicking the conspiracy theories around, Doyle has books and books about it, Murder and true crime are his favorite subject having been a police officer for many years. We even have discussions about Victorian Murders like Jack the Ripper.

Doyle has so many books on this subject that he had to put them in storage, but I’m going to be kind to him, behind the garage but off to one side of the green house is a large space, so I’m going to have an extension added to the garage which will hold Doyle’s books. My contractor will look into the permits but since it will be on the side of my property next to Sis’s house there won’t be any problems from any neighbor complaining. We will make it so the books will be protected and make it into sort of an office for Doyle for his research.

But while we were talking the telephone rang, our “ghostly artist” friends were driving around the area taking pictures of the damage the winds had done for the last two days and wanted to know if it would be alright to drop by, Doyle and Sis didn’t have a problem but Svengoolie was going to show “Evil of Frankenstein” with Peter Cushing so Doyle set the recorder. I said “Come on over”, then thought what could we serve them?

I mean its not polite to not offer something, Sis and I looked through the pantry, there were some dessert cookies and we had in the freezer the Petridge Farm single serving pastries, we could offer apple, peach, raspberry, and strawberry, and earlier that day we purchased and had in the refrigerator a chocolate cream pie that we were thinking of having for dessert while watching the movie, and there was various teas, coffee, sparkling waters, and wines.

We were set, I was already burning vanilla scented candles in the fireplace instead of a regular fire because of concern regarding the winds, and I placed cinnamon spice candles as well, and lit those. Doyle went to the CD player and put in 5 cds playing old time Jazz music by the Royal Society Jazz orchestra, and set it to soft volume, what some people don’t know is that we can have the music come through the speaker of our old 1930’s radio, it’s a floor model, the radio and record changer works and plays the regular a.m. stations and the old 78 records, but with a flip of a switch it goes to a concealed CD player and it sounds like its playing a lot of old 78’s. We can get up to and over 5 hours of playing time. It helps give the illusion of being in another time.

I wanted to set up an atmosphere of cozy comfort, using scent and sound followed by good food.

Our guests did not come empty handed and brought 2 bottles of Apothic Dark wine, this was a limited pressing from 2012, I had bought a couple of bottles the other day but had not tried it yet so this was going to be a treat.

Our guest’s ooo’d and ahhh’d over the house and its comforts. I asked them the reason for their excursions and our lady artist said she had been inspired by how wild the winds were whipping that night, that she even went out into it to get the feel of it. She said it made her face and body tingle, in some cases with a sense of freezing pain, she and her “husband” drove into it going to the beach that is not far from us and then to several parks to see how the trees were reacting to the wind.  I mentally thought what a dangerous thing for them to do, and how foolish, but artists types sometimes are only into the moment and to capture it.

They both talked of how they saw things being blown all over the place, it was like watching a one act play or a form of performance art as they were describing it, I rather liked it, in a strange bizarre way. They had video’d it and then the following day drove all over to photograph everything that they saw was damage, even the venerable old Eucalyptus tree that fell over at Lake Merritt, she posed all over the tree and its roots while her husband took pictures, she gathered some of the leaves and bark which she intends to include into her next painting---she is still working on her other series, but this windstorm inspired her for a possible new series, “That’s why” she said “It is so important to take pictures, so I can be inspired further”. It seems that this series will not be ethereal but more physically violent.

We told her what we experienced in our own area and Lucretia I even told her about you finding someone’s pajama’s on your Basil plant, I can only imagine your reaction to finding that unusual bit item, we laughed about it and our guest could see the humor in that, she said she’d like to do that as a counter point.

But I decided to tweak her a bit and said “why not a whole series of something like this but use the four elements. You could localize it we had a horrible Firestorm in ’89 or ’91 it was horrible killing 25 people” I began to describe to her the fire and the deaths to her, I told her how she could look it up on the internet, but then I began to see something in her eyes, she was excited by this to the point of like having a high. She didn’t relax until her husband spoke to her in a more matter of fact way in which would be the best way to promote the series and make it so that people would want to invest in such a series of paintings or installations.

When he talked in a more mundane and business type way she became her ethereal self again, I was at first having a bit of fun with her but then I was glad when her husband stepped in, there was something in the back of her mind, in her subconscious that I felt was not good to explore in our home environment. And I was mentally glad that Coralline did not stay over this weekend, for her to meet someone like that I felt would not be good for my young niece whom I felt would not be ready for someone so “Out There”.

Then our talk shifted to food and wine and we offered the cookies and Sis mentioned the pastries but our guests said that the wine would go better with the cookies and the chocolate cream pie but that we should taste the wine first.

We were very pleasantly surprised by this dark wine by Apotlic, it’s a limited edition of a blended wine of Petit Sirah, Teroldego and Cabernet Sauvignon, with a taste of dark fruits like blueberry and blackberry and then underlying it a hint of coffee and dark chocolate, it was an excellent combination that I found it silky smooth and rich to my tongue. Sis felt it should be a wine to serve with dessert, but Doyle thought it would be good to follow after eating a meat dish, like steak or something like that.

I felt that it was a good Autumn wine for relaxing in front of a fire after a busy day, something to indulge in to meditate and relax with. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars myself.

We finished our wine and desserts with coffee, by this time it was nearly midnight and our guests had to leave and thanked us for allowing them to drop by.

After they were gone we looked at each other, Sis told me that she felt that something very dark had been revealed accidentally that evening, Doyle said that it appeared that the husband was aware of his “wife’s” form of pleasure of other people’s tragedies, but we all agreed that it was not like people drawn to a dramatic situation that ordinarily doesn’t occur in one’s life but something that goes to the edge of the abyss and only the husband’s careful monitoring of her prevents her from falling in. Perhaps that is why she is always in white or off-white to keep her calm.

I could only agree, I had noticed that both Belladonna and Wiener Dog did not want to go near her and instead hopped into Doyle's chair and hid down next to him, I was concerned that since the dogs were both wearing sweaters they would become too warm but that didn't seem to bother them and would only come out after our guests left, I knew Belladonna to be very sociable and Wiener always greeted everyone who came by, but the minute our guests arrived they instead went into Doyle's chair, and we didn't try to coax them out.
Sunday morning we all felt like we had awaken from a strange dream from the night before, but the dishes in the sink proved that we did have visitors. Sis and I decided to go to church since we were up early, Doyle was going to take the Dogs for a walk. We managed to catch an early service, and later had coffee and pastry at a Starbucks, I was enjoying the reality of the crowd, and then remarked that we should stop by the newly re-opened Merritt Bakery for an afternoon tea dessert for us for today.  Something told me we should do mundane regular things today to escape the strangeness of the other night.

We took the long route and drove by the fallen Monarch of a Tree, we felt a sadness there, as children we’d gone to Lake Merritt on warm Sundays to picnic and feed the ducks I remembered playing around the tree, and we felt that we had lost an old friend. So many changes, some by alleged progress, some by an Act of God.

I called Doyle to see how he was doing and he and Brian were having breakfast with the dogs in tow at a friends' house, he and Brian had been walking together and a friend of his invited him to stop by for eggs and Canadian Bacon and strong coffee.  They were fine.  I told him we were shopping and would be hope later.
Sis had brought the shopping list and we did our grocery shopping and by a happy situation found quite a few bottles of the Dark Apotlic wine so we loaded up to lay in to the cellar for future. It is a good Dark Wine for those Dark Autumn and Winter Nights, but hopefully not a night like in a Hammer Horror film.

Later Darklings

One never knows what is out there in the dark, in the night.

Of Pfeffernusse, Raging wind storms, power outages and BART confusion~~~

Hello Darklings,

Yes Trisha it is Pfeffernusse!!!  But one receipe calls for a hard sugar coating and another is with powdered sugar.  And I remember Mr. Manning's was powdered sugar, his daughter in law baked them following his late wife's receipe.  My mouth just salavates with remembering,  it is amazing that I didn't get fat.

Earlier last evening I mentioned this to my Sister and she said when she has a breather (many clients this time of year) she is going to try and make it.  For her baking is therapy, but then she shares her treats with us and neighbors.  She told me that there is something wonderful about the smell of something freshly baking in a kitchen.

And hopefully we'll be able to do it this weekend, the stove man is coming tomorrow to work on the stove and if all goes well, we can start cooking on it.  With two ovens and such we are going to have a very warm kitchen for the winter, but that should feel good.

Right now my body is aching all over,  last night we had a raging wind storm with 45 mile an hour guses,  it was enough to cause a fire in Napa, power outages around the area, it was terrible last night, I heard glass breaking, and we went through the house but all the windows were fine, this morning I discovered a pine cone had smashed one of the glass panes in the greenhouse, shot through it like a bullet, tree branches and leaves all over the garden front and back, had to clean out the leaves from the outside pond, the indoor one was fine but had to put a board up to block the cold,  I'll have my contractor work on it in a few days.

Then we heard a sound like thunder so Doyle and I went out to investigate, while Sis stayed in the house, it turned out to be  my neighbors canopy E-ZUp had flown over into my yard,  there it was it's broken metal legs in the air, the canopy acting like a kite and getting shredded at the same time. He came over and the three of us wrestled it into submission fighting it and the wind.  We saw other things fly over which I  found this morning such as a styrofoam cooler and a few other stray things that were not mine.  So this morning I was cleaning the worst of it, my contractor who is also my Sister's contractor came over with two men and put them to work to take care of any damaged done to Sis's house where it was being worked on, and he told me if I found any damage to my house to let him know and he'll have men come by and fix it, but I told him it might be a few days. 

Sis had to go and see her clients, Doyle had to go early this morning but came back this afternoon and is finishing up for me,  we lost power last night, Doyle had stayed up to work on a report after we tamed the wild E-ZUp,  and the lights went out, so he went into the basement and powered up the emergency generator to keep the refrigerators and freezer going, and had enough power to light a lamp so he could finish his report.  He set the old windeup Westclock so he'd wake up in time.  Imaging how startled I was this morning when I heard it go off instead of soothing music, nearly gave me a heart attack.

Our power came back on an hour ago,  thank goodness.  And Sis said she'd help me tomorrow with anything that needed work,  all the debrie on the front porch, just unbelieveable.

We saw that a tree had lost some large branches partly blocking the street, but people managed to get around them.  City clean up will get to it, the police had reported it and managed to move the branches so we'd have egress.

And now my back is aching, my leg muscels are aching, my hands are aching,  I think this evening I'm going to take a nice long hot soak with plenty of bubble bath and a touch of J'Adore in the water.

I called my Cousin Louise to see how she fared and she said things were fine, messy but fine and she was going out to dinner with a friend of hers and to not worry. 

Brian called me from the BART Station, Bart was not running because of computer problems so he's going to be late to work, he managed to grab a transbay Bus but of course the freeway traffic over the bridge is backed up because of BART's snaffu.  It was good thing I didn't have to go into work today, I'd never make it.

I managed to catch some of the news, and it is a mess, power lines down all over the place, power outtages, cars damaged by falling trees, and two people were killed in all of this.  Amazing when Mother Nature starts throwing her weight around.

And speaking of weight being thrown around, it seems that BART has another snafu on its contract because of that one clause on family leave.  Of course the Union knows that the people are not happy and will not tolerate even an idea of a strike,  but they do have other recourse, it even may go to court or arbritration. 
I do wish a law would be passed and settle this once and for all.

I thought we might have Coralline this weekend but her Mother asked if we could have her for the following weekend instead, frankly that would be better, I need to know from the little girl, who is growing so fast, what mischief has she been into lately.

And Bat Kid is still in the news, it seems someone has put together a "movie trailer" as if a movie about the adventures of Bat Kid is coming out, not really but the trailer is fun, highlighting all the high points of Bat Kid's adventures.  The little guy said that the Penguin was nice and apologized for being such a Bad person, but not the Riddler, now he's got to catch the Joker.  Still a feel good moment.

Now I'm going to relax and have a cup of hot chocolate,  You're right Trish, I do make every effort for my home to be a santuary to feel safe and even cocooned from all the "evils" of the outside world, it becomes a world unto itself.  It is colors, textures, scents, and warmth, an enviroment to banish the stresses of the world.  We know there are concerns out there, some we can do something about, other's we can support positive efforts, and in others we make our opinion known by writing letters to our politicians and make our presence known at the voting booth.   I know that I cannot singlehandedly save the world, but I can save a small piece of it.

Oh and that very cute police officer that I met a number of weeks ago called and asked if would be alright to take a tour of my house the Sunday after Thanksgiving with his wife and two little children, I said that would be perfect and we arranged a time for them to come by, he said that he and his wife managed to buy an old 1912 Craftsman, at a good interest rate, a fixer upper, and estate sale, the person had no family and the funds were to go to charity, but it needed serious work, so he wants to have his wife see my house to be inspired.  I think I can do that.

And now for that hot chocolate.

Later Darklings

Sometimes the simplest pleasures are the best.

Of a Sunset and a Stove~~~

Hello Darklings,

I just stepped out onto the back porch to let the "gang of two" out and saw the most beautiful evening sky that I have ever seen,  clouds in various shades of pink from bright cotton candy to soft baby's breath, and the blue of the sky, from deep rich Maxfield Parrish Blue to sweet baby bunting or a bride's promise.  It was a delight to see, and gave such pleasure that I had to call Sis and Louise to come and see it. 

Sometimes the best things are those that do not cost a dime.

Sis and I have been working on the stove, cleaning it a section at a time,  with the burner gas pipes off we can really get into it to clean, the stove tops were soaking in an old elongated wash tub with boiling hot water,  Sis and I in clothing we don't mind getting filthy, hair wrapped up in bandanna's, platex gloves on, we're doing it from the top down, but the ovens we were suprised to see was not that bad, nor the broilers, so we do a little then rest, do a little more then rest, tackle some more have coffee.

In the mean time the apartment stove is oven roasting chicken, Louise came over and offered to prepare dinner while we had our heads in the other stoves ovens and such.  Although we wore gloves, we are going for a manicure tomorrow evening after Sis is done with her last client.

And I am going to call the stove man to check the new/old stove out and see what it might still need, a couple of knobs are stiff, and he can check for any problems and calibrate the burners and the ovens.

Doyle has been gone for the day checking out something, but he's on his way home,  I feel tired but happy at the same time, amazing what a simple thing like a sunset and a stove can do for a person. 

Sis is now out of the shower, and it's my turn.  The hot water will feel good, and then lots of lotion on my hands.

Later Darklings

Of the Further adventures of an exhausting Halloween weekend~~~~

Dear Darklings,

Oh I so did not want to get up this morning, every bone in my body is aching with exhaustion and the cold, BUT it was a fun weekend!!

I certainly cannot deny that.  Haunted Houses (fund raisers), Halloween displays, spooky music, Harvest Festival goodies, a Day of the Dead Exhibit at the museum, face painting, ice cream, spooky movies, popcorn.

I think the quiet time was really when we were at the musical concert "Pipe Screams"  I wasn't sure the girls would enjoy it but they did, now they want to create their own compulation of scary music both classical, pop and rock,  I hope it goes beyond Screaming Jay Hawkins "I put a spell on you".

Afterwards we had Pizza at one of the girls favorite pizza places, and it had the works,  I had to take Tums to calm my stomach and later Alza Seltzer for the headache,  but even with a headache and a tumbling tummy, it was fun and none of us were going to stop them from having fun because we were enjoying it too.

I had a list of things to go and see for the girls to select and both girls wanted to go to the museum to see the day of the dead exhibit and the Harvest Fair as well, and we manage to cram both of it in.  We let them scamper along as we took our time to buy some homemade goodies for the pantry.  And somehow we managed to grab a bite to eat as well.

Saturday night after pizza fest, I had a selection of Horror movies for the girls to select and watch and they wanted to see "Night of the Demon"   I was surprised they wanted to see such an old (1950's) film, I thought they'd chose "Nightmare on Elm Street" or "Halloween"  but they said they want to be scared but not too much, so with popcorn in the new bowls we all watched it and I approved their choice.

Sunday was overcast and very cold so it was a good thing that indoor events were selected,  when we got home for dinner we fired up the fireplace to add a certain amount of added warmth, and while Sis and I finished up the crock pot stew, Doyle and the girls were playing Mexican train dominos, and were joined by Sis's tennant Brian whom we invited over for dinner.  He had been putting in long, long hours at his job and was greatful for a home cooked meal. 

After dinner in the family parlor the girls told Brian about their adventures and Doyle, Sis and I filled in some of the details.  We were waiting for the girls parents but both sets were delayed, the weather had taken a cold and extremely windy turn and there were some accidents on the roads that delayed their getting to us, but our concern was their safe arrival.

Brian turned out to be a very good story teller, it seems his hobby is collecting true ghostly tales and he told us (mostly the girls) about the local hauntings of Alcatraz, a book store in Oakland, poltergeist activity, and other haunted locations and he did a very good job, his memory of such things was surprizing, we even had a lively discussion about the Amytiville Hauntings and he had recorded the interview from Coast to Coast with Christopher Lutz the youngest son involved at that house and how much of the so called haunting was over exagerated and Brian talked about the Warren's and how they saw Demons in every thing.

Which of course took us into the realm of ghost hunting and such,  and while we talked the wind became wilder and wilder with bumps and thumps and a crash or two, which the men folk checked out, to add to the exciting spookyness of it all----it wasn't until midnight that their girls were gathered up and we bid a relucatant goodbye.

Now this morning it dawned extremely cold, and chilly,  I had a hard time having Belladonna go to the bath room even with her sweater on,  I put her sleeping cushion on the couch in the family parlor and covered her with a fleece throw and she is not complaining.  

Doyle and I assessed the damage that the wind did to the graveyard display, one of the skeletons was blown apart and scattered here and there, some tombstones were knocked down but old Grim Reaper was still standing, so when the sun is higher and a little warmer we will repair the displays.  The wind storm was bad, knocking out power to some area's, a tree crashed into a house, but there is snow on the mountains. 

But it will be clear and very cold come Halloween night, I'm only going to be working the mornings so I'll have the afternoons and evenings to prepare for my party Sis and Doyle will help when they get home and Louise is helping me as well, she was gone for the weekend to stay with a friend of hers who may have an apartment for Louise to rent, since her friend owns a 4 plex unit so things appear to be working out for her.

But it was a fun and spooky weekend, much better than I hoped, even if tiring.

Now I'm going to get some more coffee and get a bit warmer.

Later Darklings


We are such a Happy and Fun Family