I'm glued!

Woo hoo! The saga is now complete!

Beautiful Spring Week - I'm wondering if anyone got a chance to see the Worm Moon this past Friday night - wow!  Easter weekend was quite a pain for me though.  Early last week I was at work chewing gum when parts of a back molar broke off.  The week progressed into a painful episode for me and intensified come Saturday and Sunday.  I knew I had to have it yanked out as a former dentist of mine insisted I get it taken care of years and years ago.  It was finally time or else I would have done it myself with a pair of pliers.  I took off Tuesday and had it done!  Voila!  Absolutely no downtime and I'm happy I took care of it finally.  Anyhoo, after walking around West Portal looking like a chipmunk (and of course seeing aquaintances)  I hopped on the underground and headed to the plant store in the Castro for a little horticultural therapy.  Here's some garden (and indoor) pics for the week.

The king alfred daffs are at their peak this week.  I'll let them play out naturally so they can rebloom next year as I did with some paperwhites I had blooming during the end of last year.

After all the rains we had I had to tie the lavender to keep it from going rampant.  I love it - I wished I had a time lapse camera because the lavender flays the flowers around like the Whomping Willow from Harry Potter - it's just too slow for the human eye; I can keep an eye on it during afternoons of gardening and sure enough - it's flailing!

The clivia is in full bloom too!

This pic really doesn't give credit to the bright blooms.

We let the white cymbidium stretch out.  I think this is the last one to bloom this season.  The ones we thought were spikes on the others are new growth instead. The hair grass on the back right is growing like crazy.

The first yellow rose, "Midas Touch" smells great!

The first red rose, "Crimson Bouquet" is just as stunning!  

So I decided to try my hand at carnivorous plants (who I give credit to Samael7 for inspiration.) This octopus plant already has plenty of gnats on it to digest, courtesy of the plant store.  

This pitcher plant seems to be doing fine except it's a little top heavy - the pitchers are too cool - nature at its best!  Oh well - don't want to stretch this entry too long.  I'm looking forward to the weekend to relax and one birthday party Saturday night.  Ciao!

Happy Vernal Equinox to all wiccans, druids and pagans out there! - Spring is in the air as apparent to my allergies, but I like this time of year, a time of renewal and it's time to start planning some more getaways.  Las Vegas was a hoot - we certainly had our fun; eating, drinkees and gambling were the name of the game.  It was nice to meet Hal's brothers and sister-n-law; they certainly are a great example of the family that plays together.  The flights back and forth were easy, and the weather was great!  Here's are some fun pics:

The watershows at the Bellagio rocked!  We caught a few on the weekend. 

The Paris Hotel was fun to walk around in.  We must have covered miles of the strip both days and the weather couldn't be better.

Even the older sections of Vegas were not to be missed.  These screens stretched over the streets and the laser animation made the street crowds go crazy.  This was like a "Independence Day" storyline - aliens invade and the human race defeats 'em!

This was the last pic I took from our 24th story room at the Luxor.  All the pics taken from this weekend and Hal's open house can be found in my xangarichsf albums.  The next vacations will be a long weekend to Yosemite and a trip to see my mom in Bishop come mid-year and my first trip to EUROPE come September - yay!

Viva Las Vegas !!! - Here we come! -

I'm very excited to get away and have some fun, and maybe winning at slots or two!  I normally stick to the quarter slots, or video poker - but we'll see this time.  We're not planning to see any shows this time but will probably go later in the year as well. The weather is going to be fantastic and I'm looking forward to meeting two of Hal's brothers - they sound just as fun and crazy!  Tonite is Hal's official grand opening of his practice so Mike and I will meet up after work and attend.  Yesterday I went to Crossroads and picked up two Banana Republic shirts - OMG I think they were contraband - never been worn and only $16 bucks each.  Oh well - they're mine now!  mwahahha.  Well before this weekend's trip, I've been racing home to do some last minute gardening before the sun sets this past week.  I knew if I didn't take care of it then I would have to wait two weekends to getting around my projects.

I just love my new pineapple plant - sooo cute! The pineapple is the size of a tennis ball and it enjoys full sun. 

The king alfred's have opened and more to come! Wheee!

The jasmine is blossoming and adds to the collective fragrances especially at night.  I've transplants daisy buddies in some of the containers and the seedlings are soaking up the great weather we've been having.

I had to croutch low to get this shot of the narcissus since theflowers face downward as opposed to the larger daffs. The ixia in this mixed container won't bloom until summer.

I ordered a couple solar lights for the deck - I'm glad I had a chance to plant some daisies and poppies in with em.

This behemoth cymbidium has five spikes and somehow opened up like an umbrella - Hal and I were a little perplexed because it was scrunched up in a corner during it's growing phase and just loves stretching out all over.  A definite contender for dividing come summer.

Well, that's it for now.  Hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll definitely posts some Vegas pics when I get back!

A Cool Story -  Live as it Unfolds -

I've had a few chances over the years to see peregrines clip pigeons midflight here in the city - tasty morsels for these little falcons.  I see I'm not the only one who appreciates the wildlife here in our urban jungle.  Let's see if we can start a drive on installing webcams in the Canary Palms on Market St. to glimpse the lives of the Mexican Green and other Parrots who've migrated north and also made this city their home. 

Urban Garden Update - It looks like the weather will be nice on the weekend.  Time to do more work on the deck. Took a trip down to Home Depot in Colma and picked up a small sago and this cool hair grass.  I love the way it sways with the wind - kind of give a different dimension to container gardening. I have to look for some more ornamental grasses, something I'm not too familiar with other than knowing they are hardy and take full sun.  The king alfreds are almost ready to bloom.

One project I'm pretty happy with is making a spark arrester for the chimenea with a couple of items from Cliff's.  The CCR's from the condo association says that there can't be any open flames (which, alas, means no tiki torches) on the deck - so voila!  I plan to burn pine cones in this - I'm going to have to take a walk in GG Park and collect them myself, go see if they have any in the flower mart, or just get them online. That will satiate this pyrophile.

Meet Kerman - Hal and I named him after a mutual acquaintance who conincidently we both dated (it's a small town, folks!) in our pasts.  Kerman is a local tv reporter and the station always sends him to remote places in the Bay Area to give a live 2 minute weather report (usually a winterstorm on Donner's Pass or a rainstorm in Gilroy) No matter how harsh or desolate the weather conditions or locations -you can count on Kerman to get the job done.

I don't know what to do with the pointsettia from last Christmas, it's still doing well and I don't have the heart to toss it - I'll just keep it behind the chair for now.

We finally got a chance to pick up a couple of huge terra cotta pots & redwood trellis(es?) for the mandevillas, in a instant they picked up and new growth is emerging!  Since the flowers are pink I found a pink flower seed mix online to grow with.  I know - how gay! Somebody has to do it, so why not me! I'm certainly getting my exercise lifting big bags of soil and pots!

The staghorn is enjoying the rainy weather we've been having - I'll plant some epiphytes on it soon. This guy normally hangs on the wall, but the rain keeps it well watered.

The best thing about container gardening is that it is so easy to move things around until you find it's feng shui.

Even the succulents are happy with the rain and sending up flowers.

The rosemary plant is doing well - I'm started to use this in cooking.  Soon there will be light blue lobelia under it and... 

Here is the lavender plant starting to perk up - it looked a little spent at the plant store but will be great to use in cooking and of course my favorite - on top of vanilla ice cream!

The pink jasmine is starting to bloom - it's called pink because the flowers are pink before they open up.  There's lobelia (Cascade of Color) that just germinated in the pot, too.

It's true - I'm a shutterbug!  see ya!

>> hi muffin!  how your weekend?

got my phone back so back on line baby!  ~ Mike

>> Good morning Pup!
Had a real relaxing weekend - yay! Sinuses are out of control, but the Claritin I took this morning is finally kicking in. Gardened, went down to Homo Depot and Target, finally got my super soaker (I got the triple aggressor),I was practicing pelting pigeons as they flew past the deck like my own personal shooting range - yay, Hal let's me regress to the childhood I never had (sniff) Bought this GREAT hair color (mocha chip for me), it had two steps, base color and highlights you streak in like a big mascara brush - and if Beyonce approved it, it was good for me, cause she tells me I'm worth it! She was great on the Oscars last night. I stopped at the base color (came out great) and used the highlights on Hal - it was a streaking party and no more gray, I felt faded. Told Hal the hair color was called "Gently Aging" - had mimosas and I made coconut pancakes with bananas and then a beef roast with blue cheese sauce for din din - I tell ya it was relaxing. How was yours? ~ Rich

Happy Birthday Binky! - Well, actually tomorrow is Rick's birthday, but since he has plans, we'll celebrate after work today with a few buddies at Mecca, a fabulous high end restaurant with booths and tables wrapped around the uber-modern bar. I've celebrated and dined many times here with family and friends over the years and it's just a block up from work!

Mecca has been offering oysters for a buck a pop during the whole month of February, and Mike and I have been meaning to go.  I have to admit the prices here are upscale to match it's following, but it's worth it for a romantic dinner or when your friends arrive from out of town and you want to show your guests a fine example of what dining in SF is all about.  They often have local jazzy/bluesey singers to enjoy during your meal or when with a group of friends at the bar.  Let's see what surprises are in store for tonite. Here are some more pics I grabbed from their website.

This work week is flying by fast - too cool.  Hal and I are going to head south to a couple shopping centers for some kitchen necessities at Target and gardening supplies at Hom(o) Depot Saturday - I think the weather is supposed to be nice this weekend.  I've turned Hal onto Invader Zim and picked up the first episodes on dvd (thanks Jenn and Samael7 for turning me on to Zim last summer!)

Cool - less than an hour to go! Oysters! Gimme gimme gimme!

President's Day Weekend Update - Wow!  I had so much fun packed into one 3 day weekend!  Friday night's dinner was such a hit, it became a sleepover! Saturday was a great day to relax with mimosas and a cool brunch and pretty much did nothing productive.  Gardening has been on hold because of the weather, just shuffling plants around outside so they wouldn't tip over in the winds.  Sunday afternoon, Hal, Rex and I loaded the beemer and headed up to see Lis and Bill in Napa, exactly an hour north.  Low and behold we were greeted by the newest family member, Bailey!

Rex and Bailey got along pretty well, and Lis's two cats were pretty mellow with the two dogs around - a definite change since Rex's last visit. 

We had dinner at the Depot Sunday night, which I had lobster and shrimp ravioli - yum!, and I tried malfotti, a first for this epicuriean.   Bill is the managing editor for the Napa Register, so Hal and I got a tour yesterday afternoon and learned how a newspaper comes together, pretty interesting with the new and old technologies utilized.  Afterward we all shared laughs and local gossip at Gillwood's, before Bill had to head back to the office. Last, but not least, Lis, Hal and I went designer shopping!  I didn't go too much overboard and soon it was time to head back to the city.  Upon leaving the area, the sky started getting very dark and lightning was striking in the distance.  At first, we laughed because everywhere the birds that were perched on the telephone lines scattered all over the place and gently coalesced back in formation over and over again with each strike, but then the lightning felt as if it was about 20 feet above us - not so funny, at least for me!  Apparently we left before the emergency broadcast warned of what was happening!  Ayyyyy!  Hal was amused on the otherhand, having endured this kind of weather when he lived in Florida - this Californian wasn't used to it.  Well, after the pounding rain-turned-hail subsided, so did my anxiousness - it really was exciting after all.  Rex didn't even notice   It was good to get home, and relatively quick.  Hans and Glans were pretty happy too it seemed - egads, no food for a day!  Rexster conked.

Back to city living, back to work, it was a great get away.  I have to get in shape; I still am wearing residual holiday pounds I need to shed!  Hal and I are taking off to Las Vegas early March and will stay at the Luxor.  I think this will be the first time I get to wear swimwear this year and it's my turn to meet the family.  Laterz!!