Anders and I attended the Legend of the Stars program at Chabot Space Center last week.  It was fun, but the week passed too quickly!

Today Robert and I drove out to the Mosquito Abatement office and picked up some mosquito larvae-eating fish.  I hope they survive!  I  did see some wriggling larvae the other day, which motivated me.

Wednesday evening, Debbie Gilman, my yoga instructor announced that she will not be teaching this class in the Fall since her schedule is changing.  She is a wonderful teacher, and I had a very emotional reaction to the thought that I won't be able to experience her presence on Wed evenings--a class I don't often miss.  I told her I would miss her and we realized that she started teaching at the Y about the same time I joined--ten years ago.  It's hard when good things change! 

Yesterday I picked up some chicken feet and bones and made homemade chicken broth.  I was suddenly gripped recently by the urge to make chicken soup.

It's a lazy summer.  I feel like getting in the car and driving across country.

Anders and I attended Legends of the Stars at Chabot Space Center each afternoon last week.  We both had a good time, and the week passed so quickly!  

Today Robert and I drove out to the Mosquito Abatement office and got some mosquito eating fish for the two ponds.  Let's see if they survive.  I did see something that looked like wriggling larvae in my vase fountain...so

Yesterday we bought a bunch of chicken feet and bones and I made a big pot of homemade chicken broth.  I suddenly got the urge.  Why?

It's a lazy summer.

I feel like getting in the car and driving across the country. 

Trevor, seven, and Chloe, almost six, flew up alone from Studio City for their first visit to Nana on their own last week.  We called it "cousin camp."

Best time? The Saturday trip to Stinson Beach for Auggie's fourth birthday.  It was a great day in every way.  I stood (ankle-deep) in the surf for a total of five hours, watching four kids dart this way and that!  That sure keeps the old brain from sleeping. 

Before they arrived, Robert and I went to U-Haul and I bought two Grand Wardrobes and one small Wardrobe box.  We Gorilla-taped them together into a cardboard condo, and cut some windows. 

Wow, the four cousins played in this box contraption every day for hours.  It changed into various purposes from fort to submarine.  On Friday, I set up my long-planned painting project on top of the boxes. Not only was it just the right height for them to paint, they had lots of space, and I didn't have to put down newspaper for protection!

I highly recommend letting kids play in big boxes.  Cheap, safe, imagination-stimulating, fascinating.

I love children's art, so I bought four stretched canvases (10 X 14,) several big bottles of tempera paint, and as many small applicator bottles with pointed tips (in the plastic bottle section of the drugstore, the ones for applying hair color.)  First, I had them paint their canvases all black.  Once dry, I let them use the applicator bottles for brilliant patches of color and best of all, wonderful Jackson Pollock-y lines, lines, lines.

Now I have four fabulous paintings, which I plan to hang together in a rectangle on the wall.

Voila! Modern art made by real little moderns.

Am I the only person who still cuts out articles of interest from the newspaper?  I rip recipes and travel tips from magazines and then put them in a folder.  An old habit, that leads me to times like this summer when I long to weed out these old files!!

I wanted to pass along the article (yes, I cut it out and put it in a folder) on pollination. Here is the link from the San Francisco Chronicle.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/05/HOIU11ICE8.DTL

Why has pollination caught my attention this week?  

Well, we have to care about the bees and the other pollinators if we want to continue to eat.  That's pretty basic.  I handle anxiety by taking action (which, could be good, could be bad.)

Also, we are all going through a lot of anxiety right now,  what with all the increases in food and gas costs and diasters of wind, fire, and water.  Making changes and doing things that benefit life are helpful to re-balancing our internal ecology.  

Y esterday Robert and I sat outside and watched a hummingbird bathe in my new fountain.  Either she did it twice, or she and her mate did it once, but watching that tiny being flutter it's wings in my fountain was a joyful moment. 

Happily, I also kept seeing bees visiting my newly-planted lavender and the blossoms still left on the old grapefruit tree.  

A few days ago, I weeded out some possessions. I recycled my collection of dolls and paper dolls, and some colorful silk scarves which I had picked up in Thailand, and gave them to my friend Zenobia.  Her granddaughters are visiting this week. Z just emailed  me to say the girls LOVE the dolls and the scarves for dress-up.  I am very happy.

According to the authors of the Fourth Turning (and the book I love so much, and intend to re-read this summer--Generations:  The History of America's Future from  1584 to 2069) Strauss and Howe, our current time is much like the 1930's!  Hmmm, dust-bowls, unrest, and foreclosures?  Well, hey then, let's get those victory gardens from the 1940's going.  Even Wal-Mart just signed contracts to purchase food from local growers within each state to save millions of dollars on transportation costs.

What is coming to your attention? 

The last week was kind of eerie with the gray over-cast skies layering the Bay Area with a blanket of wildfire smoke.  I smelled smoke in the morning when I tip-toed outside.  We had a health advisory to stay indoors.  Lightning ignited fires all over Northern California, and the drought has increased the damage.

Block party. We were lucky on Saturday June 22 as that was the day of our block party and the weather was perfect.  This year we set up the table and chairs, on the street where I live, and my front bench was smack dab in the middle of the action.  It was fun. 

A Street of Trees. This Saturday was the big day for planting all the new trees we all ordered for the median strip in front of our houses.  Gunther (my son for those of you who don't already know!) who lives across the street with Eliza and Anders and Auggie, was the instigator of the idea.  Trees make a street, and our street only has two or three, so Gunther went around and talked to neighbors and people caught the spirit. 

He ordered a bunch of trees from a nursery up in Sonoma County, and they were delivered to my driveway space. Saturday everybody was out jack-hammering away old ugly cement and digging huge holes for the new maples.  I bought a Japanese maple for the side of my house. 

Last week, my friend Roy planed a Meyer Lemon  tree, an orange tree, and a small Japanese maple in my back garden.  That finishes the big planting, and now I have to get out there an do the succulents and salvia. 

Bee Friendly. I want to make my garden bee and bird friendly.  I am very worried about the plight of the bumble bee.  I was reading an article that says the bee population has decreased by about 30%.  If we lose bees and their pollination, it's scary how many fruits and nuts will disappear!

Maybe you can plan something this month in any kind of space available--even pots on a window sill with flowers will help.  Ask the people at a nursery what flowers bees like and help them out!