A Beautiful Rainy Saturday...

I love it when it rains on a day that I actually don't have to get out of bed and go anywhere.  It's perfect!  Hot tea, a couple of phone calls.  It's kind of gloomy and the sound of rain pattering on the roof is like music.  The garden looks so green and the air is fresh.  Had a nice soak in the tub and a bowl of oatmeal and am just hunkering down for the day.  Ahhhh....

 

View out the bedroom window.

 

Under the Grapefruit Tree.

 

The pond is going wild!

 

Have to ask Mary the name of this plant.  It's a cutting I got from her - a succulent - and the blooms are fantastic!

The Week After the Week Before...

Last Friday I was frantically scurrying around getting ready for the Home Tour.  This Friday, I went roller blading with Tracy with the added bonus of getting to watch her fall on her butt in what was, I must say, a classic, yet dignified manner:  Down the ramp, hairpin turn, a little gravel, Tracy out of control but pretending she's doing the Giant Slalom or something (she has been watching the Olympics), them, bam!  Right on her ass!  Oh, yeah, who's laughing at who's wrist guards now, girlfriend!?  Actually, she only bloodied one finger, although I've got a great idea for protective padded butt-wear (you heard about it here, first!)

Since I have no photos of Tracy falling on her butt, I'll show you the garden.  I know, I know, next time I WILL have the camera with me, I promise!

 

'Clem snoozing among the new tomato plants.

Playing with shadows.

 Broccoli!

Red Leaf Lettuce.

My New Garden Angel - A Gift from Mary Lynn.

The greens have bolted in the warmer weather.

Kitchen Herb Garden.

Lavender, Aloe, and Mother-in-Law's Tongue.

Green Onions.

You know, gardening is just good for the soul!

I am SO feelin' the Love!

What a great couple of days!  The weather was perfect - maybe even a little on the warm side - but sunny and bright.  My friends really came through - I mean I have the most awesome pals EVER!  My single biggest regret is that Steve wasn't here to share it all!  Nonetheless, it was a highlight for me!

The festivities started with the Pre-Party on Saturday.  Mary and I were allowed to bring two guests only, so we invited Tracy and Mary B.  We were greeted with wine and a fantastic assortment of cheeses and fresh fruit. So we mingled, imbibed and then headed out at 4 to start our tour of the ten homes that were to be on tour.  We walked to the first three then loaded into the trolleys.

 

Mary, Tracy and Mary

 

Our Transportation

I am amazed at the love and hard work that the homeowners pour into their abodes.  So much creativity.  I've picked a few photos of things that just struck a chord with me.

  

This is an outdoor shower.  Eventually, the bougainvillea will provide complete privacy (and a poke in one's backside, if they aren't careful!)

  

I love the ivy painted around the window and the Old World look of the wall.

  

The fireplace grate was stunning!

  

This guy was adorable!  Doesn't he look kind of sad?

  

I really like this painting on the stucco-covered fence.

 This is ceramic floor tile in a "basket weave" pattern.  I just love it.

 

This is a lamp with another fantastic pattern.

  

A great use for an old library card catalog.

 

Beautiful Artwork in Skip Redpath's Studio.

I love this!

Tracy and I enjoying some champagne at one of the homes.  Love the siding painted in "stripes" on the neighbor's garage.

Mary and a unique gate (love the fringe purse, Mar!)

Dinner and Desert and a T-shirt!

Fast Forward to the Next Day:

Now, I've been working towards this day, weather I was truly conscious of it or not, for twelve years.  Ironically, when Steve and I first moved here (twelve years ago), Tracy came by house as a representative of the Tour Committee at that time and said something to the effect of, "Maybe when you're done decorating!"  Ha!  (She swears she doesn't remember this, but girlfriend, you scarred me for life! Or at least lit a major fire under my butt!) 

So, Tracy was in charge of the front door, "Welcome to the North Side!"  Mary B was in the kitchen telling people to "Watch for elevation changes which can be shocking," and other stuff like, "they made all the furniture in the bedroom."  Which is actually true. Ha! 

Patrick escaped his new puppies for a couple of hours and stood by the back door to catch anyone that tripped walking out.  Mary J. was with her adorable teardrop trailer and answering graciously only about a zillion times, "No, I am not a 'Sister of the Fly.'"  

Julie and I hung out in the garden to answer questions about plants, wildlife, and I'd get the occasionally strange query such as, "Where did you get the puzzle-shaped magnets on your fridge?"

Jim and Jerri came by in the afternoon to relieve Tracy and Mary B.  (And Jerri made these fabulous cookies that use cake mix - I think she got some sort of cookbook with like 1,001 uses for cake mix.)  Anne, from across the street, popped in for a bit to relieve Mary J. for a quick pee break.

Matt and Denise were ROCK STARS!  Not only did they let us use their bathroom (Amen!) but they cooked up brats, and had a total spread with roasted peppers, buns, sauerkraut, the WORKS - so we'd slip next door and grab a bite and it was FANTASTIC!  OMG!

And the guests:  Wonderful. Everyone seems to see something different.  By the end of the day I was absolutely wiped out but it was so cool to see the different things that people zero in on.  Some loved the garden, some the trailer, some the magnets... got a lot of comments on how I'd painted "vines" along the cracks on the patio.  Lot of interest in the wildlife habitat.  Lot of folks asked why we paint citrus tree trunks white (protects them from the sun and insects).  Just a very very wonderful experience.  Everyone was very respectful and not a drop of anything was spilled anywhere (except for the mustard I managed to plop in my own lap when I was eating my brat and Pete was thinking HE wanted to have some of THAT! ha!)

Tracy - Greeter Extraordinaire!

  

This is just my favorite room.

  

The kitchen.

Mary (far right) and her Trailer.

People waiting in line!

Peeps in the Garden.  Julie is in the jeans, white shirt, far right.

Mary Lynn enjoying the garden.

The hat Matt put on the tree beside the fence! Ha!

Coming into the Home Stretch (Julie looks tired!)

I've got a LOT more pictures but I'll save those for another day!  After the last guest had departed, we regrouped and met up at Tracy's for potluck.  Grilled salmon (excellent).  I managed to pick up seven-layer dip at Safeway and brought a bottle of champagne (oh, yeah!).  

Hooray! Jerri, Julie, Mary B, Mary J., Me, Tracy

 At potluck: Tracy's sister - Kathy, Tracy, Mary J, Julie with Lola, Mary B, Jerri, and Jim.

I shoulda just put a nipple on the bottle!

BevMo! Shout Out! (A Brief Detour)

Okay, shopping on the internet is the coolest thing ever!  I just clicked over to BevMo!  Selected the 5 cent sale option, selected reds, and, voila! There they are!  Buy one at regular price, get the second bottle (same vintage) for a nickel!  Yeah, baby, Sweeeeet!

So, I ordered my case, paid for it, and then all I have to do is drive down to the BevMo! store and pick it up at the "will call."  I'ma lovin' it!

Well, today's case on top of the case I bought LAST week from Safeway, required some serious revision to my current wine storage strategy.  Frankly, I was running out of room.  This necessitated a visit to Cost Plus World Market, where my "Explorer" membership got me a 20% discount on some totally cute little table top wine racks that hold three bottles each.  I bought four of those, and again, voila! I've got a wine storage unit that actually looks half way decent.

That's pretty much my day.  Well, the non-Home-Tour-related part of it which even I am getting kind of sick of hearing about.  Cracked open the recently purchased "Irony Pinot Noir '07" just to make sure it was okay.

Now, since my eyelids pretty much are starting to feel like sandpaper scraping across my corneas, I just might have to call it a night - I always think that and then end up reading until about midnight (in the middle of a compelling book written by an archeologist who is infatuated with the Anasazi of the Southwest - which PC folks are trying to call "Ancestral Puebloans" but that is kind of going over like a turd in a punchbowl).

See, there I go rambling on.  Hard to get out a coherent sentence.  So, instead of more feeble attempts, I'll just show you a picture of my totally cool wine racks.

 

You know you want one.

Sleep Deprivation ... it's the Little Things

So, I just realized that the Home Tour postcard dealie is like two houses kissing.  WTF?!  Really?  Houses kissing?  That's just kind of weird.  Nonetheless, the whole deal will be done in, let's see, three sleeps.  Well, the house has to be ready before 3:00 Saturday afternoon, actually, so that's two sleeps, and the tour itself will be Sunday (like I haven't mentioned that a million times already).

So, what did I do today?  Well, Tracy called as she was on her way to BevMo! to pick up her wine and dang-it, I realized it is the 5 cent sale, so I had to get on-line tonight and place my order (just one case, this time), which I will go pick up tomorrow.  Like I've got time to do that!  But, apparently, some of us LIVE for the 5 cent sale!  Now, I and all my alcoholic friends should be set for at least a couple of weeks.

Before that, it was to Baker Nursery for veggies for the garden (it really is planting time, regardless of the coincidence of Home Tour).  Got artichokes, spinach, bib lettuce, Roma tomatoes, green onions, and chocolate mint.  I look forward to pesticide and herbicide-free produce.  Ooh, gotta remember to harvest some more of the broccoli.

So, back to the preparations.  It's not just the big stuff.  It's in the little details, too, that I hope to provide a smile or the feeling of discovery, maybe an "ah ha" kind of moment.

 

An antique cat made from crushed shells, and coasters made from woven pine needles on top of a vintage travel case.

In keeping with the Valentine's Day motif, "Cactus Heart." (Autographed, too!)

Heart-shaped Sugar Cookies.

Garlic in the herb garden.

An Ostrich Egg.  Just a Curiosity.

Stained Glass.

It's not just the house, is it?  People look at what is IN the house.  I don't know what they'll think.  I do know that the one thing a person sees when they walk into my home is books.  Every single room has books: from the bathroom to the garage; kitchen, dining, living, bedrooms - all are filled with books.  And the books are read, thumbed through, dog-eared, and shared.  Sometimes they never come back, and that's okay, too.  

Two more sleeps... I'm going to start working on one of those right now...

Three More Sleeps

... Then it's The Saturday of the Pre-Tour Party.  Cocktails at 3:00.  I'm gonna need 'em!

It's overcast today.  Forecast is for thunderstorms, scattered showers.  Probably a great day to clean out the pond.  Thin the plants.  Pull up the insidious Bermuda grass that encroaches on everything.

I'm at the point, now, where it's really hard to sleep because I have a million little details of things "to do" running through my head.  Yes, yes, I've got the notebook, I've got lists, but as soon as I cross off one thing, something else finds its way into the book!  And, there is a long list of things that simply can't be done until the very last minute - so I guestimate how long that will take so I can be sucking down that cocktail promptly at three!

Things to do:

• Clean toilet - Hell, clean the whole bathroom.
• Ditto kitchen
• Dust shelf in kitchen window
• Put cute heart cookies in cookie jar
• Get out ice chest for drinks for my helpers
• Get out bottle opener and aerator for drinks for my helpers
• Snacks for my helpers
• Change the sheets
• Vacuum
• Put away all the little weird things like 'Clem's food bowl (day of)
• Mow, edge, rake lawn in front
• Trim lantana - just a tad
• Betty and Jack are bringing roses on Friday
• Do something with that underwear drawer!
• Empty trash and recycling
• Touch up porch cracks
• Put away laundry
• Wash windows

And that's just a sample...

I think I'll spend all of next week sleeping.  Okay maybe only most of next week sleeping.  Okay, maybe just napping...

 

A little dove by the pond.  'Clem loves the little doves.  They taste just like chicken.

Five More Sleeps...

... and we'd better be ready because the pre-tour party crowd will be blasting through on Saturday afternoon (the rationale being that as we will all be tending our own homes on Tour Day, this will be our opportunity to see the rest of the homes on tour that we would otherwise be unable to view - nice, no?).  After the pre-tour, preceded by cocktails, we will imbibe food and more drink and then stagger home so we can look appropriately ghastly when we open our doors at 10:00 AM sharp the next morning.  Fabulous!

With the only major project left being the cleaning of the pond, I am down to the little details that will make it appear that real people don't actually live here.  (Just kidding.)  I need to clean the toilet and do some dusting, rake and mow the front lawn, plant a few more things in the garden.  Make sure the cat hasn't peed on anything important and prepare the super secret snack and beverage service for my volunteers (which will be in the garage and restricted to friends and family only).

It's all coming together and I'm hardly going insane at all.  At least not right at this minute.  So, it is now Sneak Peek Time:

 

Mary and Craig deliver Mary's trailer safely to the driveway beneath the rose-covered pergola.

Chaos reigns once again as I paint the front door.  It's not a real "red" but I think it is red enough to reap the benefits of feng shui.

See how nice it looks with the peep hole, plaque (National Register of Historic Places), and brass kick plate.  Verra nice!

Okay, Mom, c'mon, admit it: the utility boxes and wiring don't look half bad painted to match the trim.

 

Traffic will flow from the front door and then through the door next to the piano, into the hall to the bedrooms.  The change is the wall with the thermostat has been painted yellow.  It looked funny white.

Painstakingly scraped about a million layers of paint off the bathroom windows (yeah, I'd put the paint up there for "privacy."  Not really one of my better ideas.)  After tour I'll probably get some etching solution that will create a "frosted" appearance that will still allow light into the bathroom - or not.  I mean you pretty much have to stand in a really nasty bougainvillea with thorns over two inches long to get a good look in the bathroom.  If you're up to it and really, really want to see someone peeing, sitting on the can playing the hand-held Yahtzee, or naked in the shower and are willing to wrangle your way through the thorns, methinks you've earned a good look.  Of course, the sight might blind you but, well, it would save me some work.

Lookin' green and all wild-lifey.  I put out bird seed for my flock but they keep crapping on everything.  Normally, that's totally cool with me - I mean that's part of what puts the "wild" into "wildlife habitat."  But, dangit, right now I'm trying to keep the pillows and benches and stuff poop free for the pending tour.  And the pigeons (ahem, "rock doves"), leave some sizable nuggets behind. 

That's it, though.  No worries.  Like I said, five more sleeps and I've got two twelve-packs of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, so it's all good.