Desert Rose

Kitchen garden

Spinach, red pepper, tomato and 3 color string beans came through tonight for dinner. Deeply satisfying, though really a rather trifling offer, to bring a course to the dinner table from the garden.

If our stretch of ocean were not a marine sanctuary, perhaps we'd also bring this:

but I had to buy it at the local fish market, brought in from a ridiculous distance.

Come this Saturday, local salmon will be available.

Sceloporus occidentalis

The Western Fence Lizard, a.k.a. blue belly. This shy fellow was snoozing in the fern I wanted to clean up this morning. He finally wandered off into the undergrowth. These are thought to reduce the incidence of Lyme Disease because they eat deer ticks as well as other insects. I'm always happy to see them sunning themselves on the rocks. I encourage my cats to seek warm blooded prey.

June Bloom

Locals often to refer to the weather pattern this time of year as June gloom; foggy with a hint or tease of sunshine every other day or three.  It has been cool and overcast frequently, but we have half days of warmth and brightness so that they are much the more enjoyed and appreciated.

Recent days have been filled with much work and preparation for guests. Now, everything is in order:

Today there is an opportunity to post a few of June's blooms.

 Coastal fairy bells:

Sunny side up:

Columbine:

Cineraria, which are everywhere!:

Foxglove, fuschia, also especially abundant:

These are only a very few of June's ungloom.

Reflection is a marvelous thing.

In a fit of revelation I realized that the doors themselves provide a barrier to the dust of sanding the jambs, so after running masking tape over the gap b/w door and jamb on the interior side, I sanded and oiled the jambs of these doors to the terrace.

Afterwards, I removed each door and set it up on horses to sand and oil.

The sea wind seemed determined to catch the dust I had figured out how to keep out of the house and wisk it right into the opened doorway, so I hung a dropcloth over the opening.

Upon reflection, the doors DO look better, and ARE better, even than new.