Post-storm dampness!

It's Jill again! I'm happy to report that this latest series of storms has bequeathed about 11" of rain upon my garden. Even with the heavy clay, this means the roots of my native shrubs are happily hydrated. And let me tell you about my latest excitement - the Norcal outlet! lots of pots all very cheap - it's in San Leandro, go quickly, tarry not! I was able to get 3 huge clay pots and about 6 small to medium pots for $25! I even got a big Malaysian pot for my Western Azalea (Rhododendron occidentale). As for this plant if you're looking for seasonal excitement in a container give it a whirl. It has resided happily in a 7gallon grower's pot (the shallow type) for 6 years. I only gave it a new pot for aesthetic reasons. It displays bright Spring green new growth, fragrant and showy flowers in Summer, attractive Fall color, and pretty Winter bark. Just give it plenty of morning sun, dappled afternoon shade, and don't spray the leaves with water during Summer in the mistaken belief that you're recreating fog drip (I speak from bitter experience - powdery mildew). Let Western Bleeding Heart (Dicentra formosa) and Wild Ginger (Asarum caudatum) trail around and over the edge of the container and you've got Redwood Forest Excitement!
In other news - I just got an Ebb Tide rose. It's dormant right now, but I think we're in a for a thrill when this shrub stirs! I have several Tidytips (Layia platyglossa) in bloom right now, and still plenty of Nemophila! The Salvia involucrata and S. serpyllifolia are still bravely showing a smattering of flowers, as is the S. "California Sunset". My local hummingbird has been making regular visits, but the real hummingbird draw will be when the Ribes speciosum is going full force. There's a few little red flowers now, but this plant has amazing floriferous-ness potential. Soon there will pictures, just wait...

A Castle in Wales

As we were planning our trip Kiko mentioned that she had gone to high school in Wales and would like to visit the school. This sounded like a nice idea & we decided to take the train to Wales and visit her old school. What she didn't say was that she had gone to school in a CASTLE! An actual castle - incredibly cool! Her old high school, Atlantic College, is housed in St. Donats castle in Llantwit Major, South Wales. St. Donats is a 13th century castle that was owned at one point by William Randolph Hearst.



Due to the excellent reputation Kiko had at school, we were given a private tour of the castle (I really like being able to say that I had a private castle tour)! It was really incredible to see so much of the interior and how the school is using it. It is pretty neat to have 21st century computers in a 13th century castle. I also like the narrow, winding steps that had rooms off of them. You can imagine people hundreds of years ago living in these rooms.


We drove around some small towns in Wales and saw lots of funny signs. You'll notice I said drove. Instead of taking the train we ended up driving which was an interesting experience. Actually "we" did not drive. Stephen did. Bear in mind that in the UK they drive on the correct side of the road unlike in the US where we drive on the wrong side. I was a bit worried about how well Stephen would drive but I have to say he did very well, you'd think he'd been doing it all his life. Unfortunately since his return to the US, he is still driving on the correct side (the UK side) of the road.


This is my penultimate post on our trip. Tomorrow I tell you about Cambridge and then I'll have exhausted the only interesting parts of my life. This means somebody else better come up with something interesting to post!

Robin

Paris

I was wondering why Paris is called The City of Lights. According to Wikipedia, it is because it was a center of education & ideas and also early adoption of street-lights. I was hoping for a better explanation but thought I'd share that. That is pretty much all the education you're going to get out of this post. I don't know a lot about Paris or French history (I can hear everyone breathing a sigh of relief). Well actually I know about Marie Antoinette, the Revolution & France in the 16th century but I'm going to spare you all the lecture.

I never had a great desire to go to Paris but once we decided to go I started getting really excited about it. It sounded so, I don't know, French. So off we went, taking a Eurostar train from London to Paris. We went to Notre-Dame and Pere-Lachaise cemetery. We ate at a French cafe, I bought a coke that I later realized cost $5.15 and I spoke to French people who answered in English. Kiko spoke French in the cafe. She kept saying she didn't know much French but she was rattling something off. I was quite impressed until we ended up being asked to leave the cafe. Just kidding - I thought she did a great job even though I couldn't understand a word of it! We also went to a French department store which I forget the name of. It was pretty cool though. I bought some french bread there & a cookbook which is in French - I don't know why, it just seemed like the thing to do.

We walked around a LOT in the FREEZING cold and it was really amazing. Stephen got some great pictures and it really does look just like all the pictures. Weird but not surprising I guess. In London I didn't feel like I was in a foreign country but I definitely did in Paris.

This picture is of a French police station. It is funny because I took this picture of the front and then we walked around a bit & were at what I think was the back. There were a couple of policemen standing there & Stephen was going to take a picture. One of them shook his finger at him not to take the picture. He didn't do it but I think he should have gone ahead. So what if the guy had a gun. . .

I loved Paris. It felt magical. That is really the only word I can think of to describe it. And I want to go back someday!

Robin

Cute Pippin!

I was going to write about Paris today but I'm feeling lazy & these pictures are so cute I thought I'd share them instead. Pippin was quite comfortable here just admiring the fire. He looked up when I took the picture but you can see in the bottom shot how he was just staring at the fire.

Posted by Robin & Pippin

London Wrap-up

This post will be my final one about London but never fear, I still have Cambridge, Wales & Paris to write about!

I'd like to start by thanking Stephen for establishing the Bury My Sister at St. Paul's Fund. I'm sure you've all sent in this month's contribution. St. Paul's is an incredibily amazing place & if you've been there or ever go I think you'll understand why I'd want to be buried inside. I'm not even going to try & describe it. I spent a lot of the time we were there just sitting & staring (probably w/my mouth hanging open which explains why people looked at me funny). Prince Charles & Princess Diana were married in St. Paul's. Personally I think it takes a lot of nerve to be married in St. Paul's Cathedral and then get divorced. I guess some people just like living dangerously.

We did indeed spend some time at The British Library. My fingerprints are permanently embedded in the case where the letter written by Elizabeth I was displayed. Other highlights included the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Harrods, and Hampton Court Palace.

Hampton Court was completed in 1521 by Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey rose from humble origins (I like that phrase) to become Lord Chancellor and Cardinal under Henry VIII. For many years he enjoyed nearly unlimited power. Unfortunately for Wolsey, Henry began to rely on him to accomplish the impossible and when Henry decided to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and marry Anne Boleyn, he expected Wolsey to make the divorce happen. Not so easy. Wolsey was caught between an adamant and increasingly petulant king and a pope who was the prisoner of Catherine's nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. To make a long story short, Wolsey fell from power and was accused of treason. He died on his way to London to stand trial. In the play Henry VIII, Shakespeare has Wolsey say, Had I but serv’d my God with half the zeal I serv’d my king, He would not in mine age Have left me naked to mine enemies. That has always struck me as a fitting epitaph. Like many of those who served the Tudor rulers, he reaped a reward that was far less than he deserved.

As usual I got a bit off the subject of describing our visit to Hampton Court. It is really an amazing place. The kitchen area is vast and standing in it you can just imagine a 16th century meal being prepared. There is also a maze out in the garden which was fun to walk through (except that I was freezing). The other really neat thing about Hampton Court is that it contains a Landmark Trust apartment that can be rented for short-term visits. Guess where I want to stay next time!

I don't really know how to summarize my visit to London. I was afraid that after wanting to go for such a very long time that it wouldn't be everything I expected. I was right - it was far, far more than I ever envisioned. I find it difficult to imagine people living their everyday lives in the midst of so much history. They just walk along the street as if it is nothing that the Tower of London is a few blocks away! I feel like people should want to touch me reverently because I've been in London. Samuel Johnson said, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." I can't improve on that.

Robin

Cheers from our cousins across the pond

As you've already heard, we spent a bit of time in the Motherland last month. Apparently they don't call it Jolly Old England over there as much as I thought they did (a word to the wise), but we had a right smashing time nonetheless. As my ever so ever so better Anglicanly informed sister has already pointed out, one of the highlights of our trip was Westminster Abbey. What she failed to point out, however, was that we also spent a great deal of time (two separate visits) at St. Paul's Cathedral (a Baroque church designed by the great Christopher Wren at the end of the 17th century). By the end of our first visit there, Robin had decided that her primary aim in life would thenceforth be to be buried in St. Paul's. After some heated discussion, we decided that the best means of achieving that would be to make a very large donation around the time of her death. Toward that end, I am starting up the "Bury My Sister at St. Paul's Fund." I will be establishing this as a 501(c)3 later this month, but in the interim, all donations can be sent directly to me (obviously Robin can't be expected to make the donation after she's gone). We are shooting for a $1 million, so give till you can't give no more.

For me, the highlight of the trip was the British Library (no picture policy there as well, sorry). With more than 13 million books, almost a million journals and some of the most incredible manuscripts, diaries, letters and musical compositions, it is as close as I've ever come to sacred ground. To the right (I hope), is an image of the original manuscript of the poem Dulce et Decorum est, perhaps the great poem ever written about war by probably the greatest commentator on war in the English language (let's not try and compete with the Russians on this one). Written by a 23 or 24 year old young man while in the trenches in France, this poem profoundly altered (and still does) the way many in  Europe perceived the war. It is in many ways a living piece of history (the actual manuscript, of course, not this image over here to the right.

Robin didn't mention food all that much. For those of you who are not acquainted with British cuisine, my hats off to you. While they did give the world the "chip" (that would be a french fry to us here in the colonies) that may be the extent of their culinary contribution. Luckily, there are lots of Indian restaurants in London (to go along with the lots of Indians there).

Another thing we did while there was to zip on over the Channel to Paris for the day. Paris is a nice place, I highly recommend it. If you ever seen those beautiful postcards of typical Parisian streets, lined with cafes and trees, you know what Paris looks like. The whole city is like one never ending postcard. How droll. I guess that's all for now. I'm including a picture taken from the top of St. Paul's. This should help you find it when you go to visit Robin's tomb (much later, of course). 

Happy New Year!

I meant to post this last night but had such an exciting New Year's Eve that I didn't get to it for 24 hours. Actually what happened was that I was so tired last night I went to sleep before midnight. I think that is one of the signs of old age, being unable to stay awake on New Year's Eve.

Hopefully you all have an extensive list of New Year's resolutions that you've already begun work on (& that it includes posting to this blog!). Personally I've given up making them. Mine rarely lasted past the first day so it seems kind of pointless to make them.

I am however, resolved to keep this blog going! While I've been a bit dilatory in my posting I'll continue tomorrow with more tales from our trip. I should point out that there were 2 other people on this trip & I haven't seen a post from them. In their defense they've both been sick so I guess they are excused temporarily.

I hope everyone has a great 2008!!

Robin