Greenery and soup.

The title of this post really does belie exactly what you are about to read.
This time of year SPEAKS to me in our Bay Area. It's when GREEN comes out in full force. I think that in other parts of the country {where it's humid? where there are actual winters?} summer is when plant life really becomes verdant. Since we don't have snow and our summers are drier and hot, March through June is when this color of life abounds.
These are some of my grandmother's many {many} plants. 
Bee Tee Dubs, here's the gang at her birthday celebration last Saturday.

Everybody say "Thai food!"!
Her garden certainly does grow. I love the contrast of red brick, beautiful kelly-green and maroon leaves and the glorious white blooms.

There is even a bit of purple sneaking in there!
Side note : UGH...Photobucket recently changed their format and I can't, for the LIFE OF ME, figure out how to make a collage! Aye. I can start the collage and begin bringing in other layers but I can't figure out how to re-size the individual photos. Any ideas lurking out there?
Are you enjoying your local vernal flora? Fauna, perhaps? Ha ha...this is my year-round fauna.

On a completely unconnected note, we just finished a very European-Latino dinner; tortilla {Latino! Or at least Tex-Mex but I've certainly had tortilla soup IN México.} soup at 9:30 PM {Euro!}! Times have been busy {it's that time of year in a teacher's life} but I was dedicated to this meal so late soup it was.
I rarely have the forethought to actually prepare and set out my ingredients prior to beginning the cooking process but sometimes I do.
Tonight was one of those times.

Look at the pretty spices!
The finished product appearing not very appetizing but the avocado makes me so happy!

How's your Tuesday winding down? Last night I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that it.was.still.Monday but with Wednesday right around the corner I'm feeling a bit more optimistic.
xoxo, natty ♥

Fuligo Septica.

 Behold, Fuligo Septica, in all it's glory...at least I'm pretty sure it is.

We had noticed what looked like paper that had gotten wet on a patch of our neighbor's dirt. I literally thought it was just paper that had been left out in the rain two weeks ago and had gotten soggy and gross. Please don't ask why that wouldn't surprise me, but it totally doesn't. 
My grandmother, though, was concerned, so my old friend Google and I did some sleuthing. I really didn't know what to start searching for so I started with stuff like "white moldy thing on dirt"..."white dirt mold"..."white garden mold". After hopping through the various results I decided that this guy is the most likely culprit. You can read about it HERE. 
It's a slime mold; how gross is that? Super gross, that's what. What's even gnarlier is that the non scientific name is Dog Vomit Slime Mold...as the above article from 1999 explains. It doesn't seem to be too pervasive, though, so we're not worried or anything. I just don't like the way it creeps over the brick border...kind of like it's alive...which I guess it is. 

In other random news, have y'all noticed that Halloween seems to be taking over the home decorating market, encroaching upon the traditional yule-tide hold on said endeavor? I did an informal study yesterday. On my five mile run, at about mile 1.5 actually, I started counting houses that have spooky accoutrement. I then gave up after I reached 40-something. I hadn't even reached mile four. It's not that I don't enjoy the day of witches {as it translates to in Spanish}. I actually love it because it's fun and low commitment. But that's a lot of orange lights, yo!!! 
Granted, every house wasn't all-out decked out. I counted anything from a lone little plastic pumpkin in a window to those huge blow up contraptions draped in orange and purple lights. I'm just...interested; this seems like a fairly new phenomena and I'm curious...is this unique to suburban San Jose? Is this holiday growing in popularity? If so, why? Might it be because of the same reasons that I enjoy this day? 
No matter what...do you have plans for the big day? Where does your decorating style fall - carved pumpkins the week of, all out haunted hootenannies or nary a squash in sight?
This year, our main method of decorating has, unfortunately, been dog vomit slime mold and hopefully in the next week we'll get around to something more, ahem, traditional.
xoxo, natty ♥

Greek...and it's pouring out.

Last night: we ate.

We ate lamb with lemon.

We ate pastitsio...kind of like a Greek lasagne/shepards pie mix...SO.GOOD.

We topped it off with loukoumades...heaven. You'll have to look them up HERE to know more.

We also tried on a faux-fur scarf/wrap.

Today: it rains. It's June 4th. Thanks for nothing, June, after all I wrote about you? All of those nice things I said of you?

Pay no attention to the children toys.

I finally let the cat in.

I'm about to dig into some more grading but wanted to get this up. I had wanted to last night, actually, but I'm also trying to limit screen time right before/in bed and I got home kind of late.
Alsoooooo, at the end of my run yesterday, as I was walking the last half block or so as cool down, I enjoyed a neighbor's sidewalk planter box. She's a brave woman since her sidewalk is like a teenage wasteland a path for students to and from their learning at the close-by high school and middle school. The fruits, er, veggies of her labor are developing quite nicely. Enjoy these and happy weekend!

Squash blossoms are ever-so-yummy fried up...it sounds weird, but trust me.

Artichoke!

More blossoms...

xoxo, natty ♥


PS Mike comes home in a week ♥

Spring Fling

Traveling dog...

BEST FIRST DAY OF SPRING BREAK EVER! My day wasn’t as dramatic as I just implied, but I did have a lovely day. I slept in, got a latte, lazed around, did the crossword puzzles AND the jumble (“…on a dead end!”), finished save-the-dating,

Off you go little ones, do your job...

vacuumed (blech), watched “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” (shamelessly, mind you)(I’m on volume 3), ran, and took some backyard/garden pictures. I say the “Best first day ever…”so vehemently because with the advent of every vacation, except Christmas, there’s just too much going on there, I ponder how well suited I am to a life of leisure and not having to show up anywhere. I am totally content puttering around the house and straightening up our things or reclining on a beach or whatever it is that I do with my free time. The tricky thing, though, is that I can get quite crabby by the time my vacation time comes to an end. I really don’t think it’s because my happy time is coming to an end, I actually think it’s because I’m ready for the structure and community that work allows me. This happens to me at every vacation. It’s great, I guess, since it means that deep down I do like to be employed for reasons other than monetary ones; that I like what it is I do, even if it kicks my hiney all the dang time. However, being at the start of my break, I’m soaking up every second of it even if I’m just cleaning and taking care of life’s business…SPRING BREAK 2011 SAN JOSE WOO HOO YEA!!!! Minus the body shots…

I’ve been on a phone camera kick recently. As mentioned, my little computer is quite slow. Blogging and internet and such is fine, but loading up the camera takes a toll so this way I can just email the picture directly to myself. Hence the quality of the pictures isn’t as good as it could be, but ohhhhh well. I “snapped these shots”, though, because as much as I love summer, spring is just such a close second (something I have definitely mentioned before). It smells soooo good outside these days (depending where you are, I suppose, but you get it) because of the jasmine and other fine fragrances nature allows us (citrus blossoms! Etc.) and I LOVE how the day time lighting in the house has a tinge of green to it because of how many green leaves are outside the windows and just how concentrated that green is (not to mention the different shades of it: light-almost-yellow-green, deep-hydrangea-leaf-green, grass-green…). Today the sky was grey but the cloud cover was fairly thin, so the grey is very bright if you can picture it; this bright light reflects that green and I just can’t STAND how pretty and luminescent it all is and how it casts everything in this light. Plus the days are still getting longer…waxing, if you will, as in the opposite of waning, not the waxing that is painful…I digress. While summer woos me like no other, the green is not quite as fresh as it is now and once June hits us, the days technically shorten just a teensy bit every day, though one doesn’t really notice until later. So I would love the warmth and sunshine of summer with the beauteous coloring and promise of aforementioned summer; sprummer ifyoupleasethankyouverymuch.

Another thing about the gardens is that there's always a surprise. My decade old cousin and his neighborhood pal play in and around the yard/house/street/wherever. See if you can spot some of the evidence of their misadventures here.

I live by the kitchen door...

I do too!

Those green leaves I love!

Pretty and sweet-smelling trumpet flowers...these are a bit worse for the wear but they bloom often and smell soooo nicely!

How much is that doggy...

Hydrangea leaves and buds...soon to be flowers!

More hydrangea...

and more!

Backyard wisteria...

Backyard persimmon...

Backyard Japanese Maple...

Street sycamores...

Backyard view...

Anyway, this day has been quite nice. I’m sitting on top of clean laundry on a freshly made bed waiting to go to yoga (which hasn’t happened in quite a while, incidentally) and Mr. M and I are going to get a quick bite after so I’m excited for the night ahead. I have also mapped out a brief schedule for myself for the rest of the week so that I can pencil in grading. I find that I am really drawn to absolutely any other to-do when the grading piles up and that makes it necessary to make a list that includes the grading since I’m a slave to my lists…so...happy Monday (really!!)!  Post Script: I went to yoga and, as always, thought “Why don’t I do that every Monday?” 

Monday Monday...

Was yesterday. Oh well, here I go. Yesterday my aunt and I had some fun at the Wal-Mart (I know it's not the best choice, but no body's perfect, so there) and the tamale factory and then a thrift shop by Memaw's house = danger danger Will Robinson! I'll be posting about that later seeing as how I'm still striving in the great catch-up (grate catsup?). After struggling to stay awake all morning long and feeling like doing nothing but this:

(what is wrong with me?!), I've decided to post a bit, clean a bit, run a bit, eat a bit and then maybe lounge some more; it always helps to have a plan!

Last Monday my grandmother and I began a project to grow things not out of the ground but out of a straw bale instead! Have you heard of this type of gardening? The benefits are really mostly the novelty of it all, but it's also less bending down as well as no weeds since it's not the ground dirt that's full of pesty little volunteer plants. Also, if you have no ground in which to plant, this is an option. We traveled over to Sam's Feed and Pet Supply on West San Carlos in our fair burg to procure for no more than about $10 our very own straw bale which is then very kindly put into your vehicle at no extra charge. The strapping young man who completed said task for us was wearing a shirt that read: Real men wear kilts. He also used these Freddy Kruger-esque hooks that have  leather strap to go around his wrists to get the bale where he wanted it (the back of my car)...the things you learn!

Using my super girly strength I wrangled the bale, which is not too heavy, actually, from the car to the back yard using only this vintage hand truck we have. It was pretty fun, actually, and Memaw summed it all up by saying "farmette".

You begin with a straw bale which is apparently different from a hay bale due primarily to something having to do with the stalks and parts that are left on the strands, etc....just start with a straw bale dudes. You put it wherever you'd like it and drench it for about five minutes a day for a week. After the drenching you are ready for the planting. You place seedlings (any old type that you'd like, yo) directly into the straw or create a layer of dirt (fresh from a bag to avoid weeds if you're picky like that) in which to plant your seeds. There's a tutorial as well, courtesy of youtube-o:

So we've been drenching the heck out of this thing (read: my grandmother = we) and will probably put in some pumpkins and other odds and ends. We're aware that it's pretty late in the planting season so: fie, fie to all you naysayers, we live in a climate temperate enough to grow practically anything whenever! I have also included some shots of my grandmother's garden handiwork, similar to earlier shots I'm sure, but pretty nonetheless:

Also, I received my teaching schedule for the upcoming year, which is exciting, it looks to be good and I'm slowly coming to terms with the reality that my life isn't all summer time lounging and getting paid to do nothing (but wouldn't it be nice if it was???).

We grilled quite a bit last week so bear with the multitude of grilling shots to come, they are special to me! We've so far done burgers (inaugural) and chicken soaked in a couple of marinades...yum-yum! The propane tank sure gave us a heck of a time the first night that we used it. It took three men, a towel, a large wrench and myself just staring for the thing (blast if I know what to call it) to twist open and shut, but after that it's worked like a charm.

Don't mind the tackiness of the cardboard rug beneath our little grill, it's just how it happened and we haven't gotten around to removing it!

 

Our first feast and our little friend, just for kicks.

Our second feast and the marinades, that Annie's dressing being my all time favorite.

That broccoli has some Greek seasoning added in and those dark things are plain old flax seeds added in for pizazz. Here are some action shots (!):

Pretty night sky shot from the backyard.

Aforementioned finicky contraption and the end product.

He helped. 

Anyway, our (M's) grilling has been great fun and we look forward to much more! Last week also involved an adventure at Petroglyph, homemade chicken masala, some pretty nails and whatnot, to be posted about soon I'm sure. I'm now off to said cleaning, running, snacking, etc.. Have a great rest of your day!!