It Must Be Summer

Because my kitchen is full of free fruit. One of my mom's book club ladies had an overactive apricot tree so she put the word out... After about an hour climbing around in the tree I came home with 32 lbs. of apricots. My mom gets jam for being an enabler. Jam in the style of my grandmother - mostly fruit, not too much sugar, like summer in a jar.

The next stop will be my mother-in-law's peach chutney. With apricots. We'll see how it translates. But I think it's worth trying just because you don't have to peel the apricots. I can't stand peeling peaches.

Interlude

Sometimes you just need a break from projects. Last Saturday it was Filoli, just because I haven't been there yet this spring (and it's almost summer)!

And yesterday it was the San Francisco Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, as well as the Botanical Garden. The Botanical Garden is more of a giant park where the plants happen to have labels, there were lots of people going for walks or picnicking. Matt liked the Botanical Garden more because they had the big exotic weird stuff from Australia and New Zealand. But the Tea Garden is much more my speed. 

They are both in Golden Gate Park and we met some friends for lunch afterwards (only had to wait 45 minutes, aah San Francisco I am so glad I don't live in you). All in all a lovely day.

Skipped A Few Steps

So the first of the plants are in. This is not the best picture but it is a very general start. The stuff in front is a creeper so it will get maybe three feet tall and should fill in that corner. The little tree is a navel orange. Because I couldn't move to California and not plant an orange tree. There will be much more, but plants are expensive so this is just the very first round. Also, the neighbors offered to rip out the yuccas (see: nasty spiky hedge, back left) so we will be recalculating what goes in on the left side of the path. 

 But there was a break in there between leveling the big pile of dirt in the last post and getting the first of the plants in.

 Yes those are new windows.

 When the landlord wants to get something done, it can pay to not argue.

 The kitchen corner is much brighter now. We still need to finish the interior trim but the house is SO MUCH QUIETER now that it is weird.

Gratuitous office picture. Yes that is my exciting view. I consider this the reward for making it through the fumigation bits. And leveling the giant pile of dirt (that killed a weekend).