The Gardeners Anonymous Blog

Greenthumb Sunday

This is part of the garden at the Seminario Ceramic Studio in Urubamba, Peru.

Me in Machu Picchu

I'm back.
But I was there. I was really, really there. I was in the Lost City of the Incas Machu Picchu.
It seems like a distant dream now, partially because I'm lying in bed with the flu. A present from some tourist on the plane ride home.
This was my first visit to Machu Picchu, one of the new seven wonders of the world.And my first long trip away from my family.
More later, when I can breathe through my nose again.

Greenthumb Sunday

Cabernet grapes from my neighbor's grape harvest and wine making party.
I'm still in Peru and will not be able to respond to your comments or visit your gardens until October 24.
Happy Green Thumb Sunday

Signs of Autumn

I am in Lima Peru today and I wont be able to visit your garden until October 24.
Enjoy

Greenthumb Sunday

"Fill my arms with heather Heathcliff."

This is the heather garden at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens.
Hopefully when you see this picture, I will be sleeping peacefully in my hotel room in Lima Peru.
I wont be able to visit any of your gardens until I return on October 24.
Happy Green Thumb Sunday

Adios. I'm Off to Peru

Here is a photo of a flower.

It is obligatory, because of my blog name. Other than that, this article has nothing to do with gardening.

It has to do with fear. Yes fear, Silly unreasonable nonsensical fear.At 4:00 Saturday morning I will leave for the airport with a group of my friends and fly to Peru. I will leave my husband and my children for ten days.
I will go to a Spanish immersion school. I just want to laugh when I say that out loud, Spanish immersion school. I have a lot of nerve going to a Spanish immersion school.

I have enough trouble with English.

I have never left my boys for more than one day.

When I was pregnant, several people told me that having kids would change everything. Some things do change in big ways. Like, you are no longer the center of the universe. Some little drooling, bald, round human—with no teeth and who can’t speak English—takes your place.

But there are subtle changes that happen, also.

Before I had kids, I wasn’t afraid of anything. I would get on a plane with fifty bucks in my pocket, no hotel reservation, and some distant relatives’ old address in my backpack and just go. I would travel to third-world countries with nothing but the smile on my face. I slept in train stations, on beaches, on buses, on benches, in hostels, in campgrounds, in cars, and in trenches.

O.K. Enough of that.

The Second Spring

I have been cooking up tomatoes like crazy.
My friend Stefanie stopped by my kitchen yesterday morning for some spices. She saw my tomatoes and said, “You still have tomatoes?” I asked her, “How long have you lived in California?”

Stefanie’s from Philadelphia and she’s relatively new here.

When tomato season is coming to an end in most other places in the country, ours is just starting to peak.

I’ve already frozen sauce from twenty pounds of tomatoes and there are still plenty on the vine.

Greenthumb Sunday

I know, I know, another picture of dahlias. These are actually from my garden this time. I just thought the difference in the lighting was interesting.
The top bouquet was shot in the shade and the bottom bouquet was shot in the sun.
They are two pictures of the same bouquet.

Brandy-Cracken-Wine: How to Stop Your Tomatoes From Cracking.

It seems I have a crack problem.

What?

I mean my tomatoes have a crack problem.

This is the first year that I have tried Brandywine tomatoes. This may be the last year that I grow Brandywine tomatoes. So far all of them have cracked and rotted before they were even close to ripe. What did I do wrong?

I went online and tried to figure it out.

Mermaids Just Want to Have Fun. The Mermaid Triathlon

There are some days that stand out as some of the best in your life. Sunday was one of those days for me. I ran the Santa Cruz Mermaid Triathlon as a team member of a relay team with two of my friends.


My team

The weather was stellar. It was a bit cold in the morning but as the sun rose, the air warmed up to the mid-seventies, the sky was blue and there was no wind.

Running the Mermaid Triathlon is like running with 500 of your closest friends. I passed a woman on the way to the finish line and she said. “You’re doing great.” If I had any air in my lungs I would have said, “Thanks, so are you.” As it was, I just sort of grunted and then splashed sweat on her as I passed. She was so gracious I almost slowed down and got behind her again. I said almost.

The swimmers swam a quarter mile around the sunken cement ship before running up the stairs to the transition area on top of the bluff above the ocean.

Swimmers coming up the steep stairs from the beach