In autumn and winter the birds arrive from the north to keep us company. This typically means a lot of White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows around the yard, but my flagship migrator is the Yellow-rumped Warbler. Or, as Simon and I call them, Yellow-butts. For their 2007 arrival, I first noticed them on the (easily remembered) […]
Category Archives: Places
Macworld Expo 2008
Thursday, 17 January 2008
It’s that time of the year for another Macworld convention in San Francisco. The Moscone South and West arrangement was confusing, though, with many visitors (such as ourselves) going between the two, trying to find registration and/or not realizing that both buildings contained exhibitors. Played with the MacBook Air. Oh, my, it felt thinner than […]
Back from the U.K.
Monday, 5 November 2007
Hiatus explanation: I’m back from vacation in the United Kingdom. We went to London, Cumbria (the Lakes District), Simon’s cousin’s wedding in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Edinburgh. Quite enjoyable, where the pluses greatly outweighed the minuses. Two-bit summaries below! Strange but pleasant observation upon returning home: I thought the 5.6M earthquake in San José would’ve at least […]
Tomato overload: Lazy tomato sauce
Tuesday, 28 August 2007
We planted three tomato plants back in early May. All of them are in one 6 foot by 9 foot bed —with the Sun Gold cherry tomato plant now taking over the entire bed. When I turn my back, another dozen orange globes fall to the ground. The poor Stupice and Early Girl are nearly […]
Ker-splat: ripe apricots
Saturday, 30 June 2007
For a while I thought this year’s apricots wouldn’t ripen, that we’d be stuck with a bunch of stunted, inedible fruits. A possible recovery from last year’s lack of fruit. Nope. I walked around the backyard two days ago, and saw how the paths were strewn with bruised, sweet-smelling apricots (as well as the soles […]
Chickadees in the garden
Sunday, 29 April 2007
While picking peas, I’ve been subject to vocal commentary by various avians. Anna’s Hummingbird: Scritchy scritchy complain scritchy… BzzzzzzPINGk! Black Phoebe: Pfee pfee. (Wag tail.) Pfee. Western Scrub-jay: (Insert loud, rasping squawk of choice.) …And: Chichichi chichi chichi hyeenhyeenh! Hyeenh hyeenh! (Repeat.) Chestnut-backed Chickadees have become our neighbors. Chestnut-backed chickadee during a bath: “Hey! I […]
Alternative Press Expo 2007
Sunday, 22 April 2007
I hopped onto the train, braved the spring training crowds, and met up with Kathleen, Zed, and K’s friends Scott and Liz at the Alternative Press Expo (APE) this year. An initial reconnaisance yielded a huge stack of business cards and brochures. I ended up purchasing from less than a quarter of those creators. While […]
Fresh pea soup with leeks & mint
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
It’s now the peak of the pea season in our backyard. For me it’s the sweet announcement that Spring has arrived. Peapod from Climbing Sugar Snap. I have bad memories of split-pea soup from childhood. Pasty, with chunks of nasty ham. Blech. But soup made from fresh peas? That is a completely different creature.
La conmemoración de la celebración
Monday, 9 April 2007
Today marks the anniversary of one the best parties I’ve attended: our wedding reception. I rarely post about personal things, but after the event happened I kept thinking of writing about our vendor experiences. So after a year of mulling it over, here it is. >:-) Most notably, I recommend the photographer and florist we […]