more summer pies!

(to be exact: key lime with graham cracker macademia nut crust, blueberry pie, and not pictured: peach/nectarine galettes and another blueberry/lemon verbena pie) 

and a window cat 

and macademia nut chi chi drinks at forbidden island 

grateful

summer peaches

the best

dose of pinky leon

outside | inside

pancakes with pinky

last weekend

critters

my springtime sweethearts

ploughshares nursery

great wild edibles talk and tour of ploughshares, which is part of the awesome alameda point collaborative. marigold went along for the ride. 

alameda /|\ /|\ oakland ||&||

east bay exploring: alameda boats, and across the estuary, oakland streets

Witchy: Tie your arm to my arm / So we can / Make our plans for this slow, slow weekend 

blooming in alameda

 

rosemary from the back yard
magnolia
mystery fruit
oxalis

colors

rainy in alameda

back yard scenes

good eats

so much good food lately. lucky. 

plus a green corner.

cat meditation

nother view

happy new year!

 
some photos from new year's day with marilyn—a sweet start to 2016.

breakfast extravaganza, nyd selfie, a stroll around lake merritt (where we passed this refugees are welcome here poster), and a visit to luka's taproom. fun to walk with and by the other folks walking the lake. walking/hiking is my favorite way to start a new year.

i'm still pondering my word for 2016. last year was new. i did pretty well actually on that one! year before was yes. yes is really a word for every year. but considering some others too—risk, open, adventure, dream (all in the yes theme), let go, acceptance, patience, community, cultivate, tend, attention, appreciation, play, to name a smattering.  

winter light

happy holidays!

sweetness ❤ ❤ ❤

around the house

olivetti 
PL figurine amelie gave to me years ago 
hand/paw holding cuteness

cardboard times

when your sweetheart is somewhat cardboard obsessed and crazy imaginative/playful, this kind of thing happens—a board game that may be morphing into a puppet theater. 

the kinky stringy piece (aka louis) is by marilyn. the top pair are a bit roboty. more pieces. ++#==>>>///•••

november light

mexican marigold gnome 
pepper bright 
pinky light

november

 pinky leon and sötnos honey and salve (soon to be on etsy at Sotnoshoney)

honey harvest #2

  

that sketched plan above was cast aside when we got in the hive. there were so few bees in the hive that we removed both supers (20 frames!). this way the bees have an easier time keeping their hive warm in the winter. 

joan and i had the help of her son this time. mini beekeeper!

it looked like a beekeeper massacre on the kitchen floor. we left the scene of the honey robbery pretty quick-like as we all had angry bees buzzing by our heads. as soon as we were indoors, the suits came off in a flurry. those things are hot, especially after dealing with agitated bees.  

right now the honey is dripping through the first strainer; it'll strain through a finer mesh after that. 

dealing with 10-ish frames of honey turns out to be a lot messier than 3.5 frames.

 



 

honey's first egg

this is honey, the norwegian jeerhon. she's petite and bold. she strikes me as a no nonsense kind of chicken. she's the first of the younger chickens to approach looking for treats when i enter the chicken region of the yard. she was also the first of the young'uns to lay an egg (the little white egg); honey squawked for about three hours pre and post that first egg. loudly. i was wondering what was wrong with her that day. she was probably wondering that too.

i try to match my clothing to her speckles when possible. ;-)