An Autumn Field Report

My life feels like it's on fire right now—but my house looks like it thanks to the annual display put on by the Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia). 

While my life takes off, I'm too busy to even sit and consider what'll happen to me now if I swell up. It took me a long time, and it took a lot of searching and self-acceptance, but finally, I seem to have a professional life and a work schedule I not only can manage, but I've set myself up to succeed and it feels so much better. 

The garden is no longer neglected. In my mind, it's on hold. It's slowly starting up again (really coming to life for the first time) and I'm introducing John to it little by little.

His first unique seed experience was this 'Cruel' vine seed head (Araujia sericifera). It's the only one produced by this non-hardy vine that has survived a few too many winters here in Oregon. I grew if from seed. To see it set seed after several years is very exciting to me.

The vine is in front of the house and isn't really that special. It chokes out all that gets in its way and I was getting tired of its unneighborly behavior. Then it bloomed rows of small, pretty white fragrant flowers and my dislike (aka hatred) for the plant relented.

I am a proud mama now. I can't kill my baby. I've got to collect its seeds!

The small autumn-blooming Camellia 'Silver Dollar' is currently bursting with blooms. I appreciate and admire its restraint and grace. So many of the other garden plants are dressed up like painted ladies this time of year. I love the little touch of class this plant offers my eyes.

The Amsonia I grew from seed a few years ago is looking beautiful next to this Plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides)—speaking of painted ladies!

Life in the house and garden is changing though. Our family has changed and I'm working more and more outside of the house now.

Maurice the Cat is ever the trooper and despite his age, arthritic pain, and weight problem, he's soldiering on and has enjoyed every last bit of sunshine he can grasp in his polydactyl paws.

Cats do not like change and only now are they trusting that their lives are not being tossed hither and thither.

The leaves are changing and falling. The air is crisp and tonight we may have some frosty temps in the Portland metro area.

It's a beautiful time of the year and I'm preparing again to participate in NaNoWriMo.

I'm writing a novel again in November—but unlike last year—this story is fully cooked and ready to go. I am also preparing to write many other things. Actually, I'm already doing so. It's time. I am well enough now.

There is still some physical recovery to do. A decade of illness is not easy to repair. I need to lose more weight. My blood pressure and heart need a break. I've lost a lot of weight and have continued to regain and build muscle but my body needs to be leaner and meaner. I am caring for me now and it feels good too.

I will do all of these things that I've set out to do now. That's what I do. That's what I've always done. It's good to be me again.

I'm working as a caregiver now, and I work all kinds of odd shifts with the elderly and those in hospice.

Illness has prepared me for this and I'm comfortable and confident with what I'm doing.

It's not a forever job, but for now, I'm enjoying the pleasure of working hard and the opportunity of getting to know new and interesting people.

They've lived different lives than mine and we honor and respect one another as we work through basic daily tasks that have become increasingly more difficult for the clients. The adjustment has not been easy for me, but it's improving. I know what I'm doing and I know that I can help them.

It feels good.

There's also a new dog in the family. My mother-in-law picked up this little cutie recently and although I'm not a dog person, I like her a lot. She has made my mother-in-law very happy and I've enjoyed seeing that, but the whole adoption process led to John and I craving a kitten.

Between the two of us we have 5 cats. We do not need a kitten. (His two cats live with his mom and her new pup.) We just want one. Ugh.

This autumn we've talked a lot about eventually buying a place in the country near the ocean. I've thought about the garden it would have and what palate of plants I would pick. This is another project I'm working on right now.

I've never really designed a  project like this, but oddly, I'm ready and willing to accept the challenge.

This has led to me thinking a lot about my own design aesthetic. I never knew I had one but it runs through almost everything I do. It ties into the novel writing, so I'm a happily contained little mind now. Inside I am germinating.

There have been many meals and many recipes recently. John has been cooking new things, learning new techniques in the kitchen, and he's been shopping at farmer's markets. As for me, I'm in love with my Cauliflower (Brassica) 'Minaret'. Yes, I've been cooking too, but I've been enjoying all of John's food more. I'm proud of him. He's a great cook.

For me, food has become another job. This is a good thing—literally, a job! I'm still kind of in shock this even happened, but it did.

So, it's exciting to announce this publicly. Here goes: I've been hired to work as a ghost blogger for a food blogger. That is all I can say, since I am obviously a ghost blogger, but to say that the experience is thrilling is an understatement. I want to be a paid writer. I crave it. I need it. I would like to continue working as an editor too. With this opportunity, I will be able to do both of these things.

And from here it will only get better...

Lastly, I've returned to arranging flowers and that's been good for me during the times when I still feel chronic pain from either swelling or injuries I sustained years ago. I'm arranging plant material weekly in an effort to relieve stress and to be creative. It gets my juices flowing and it gives me a problem to solve. I relish that kind of thing.

The whole process brings a kind of value to my life that's irreplaceable.

It's still cleanup time in the garden—my garden: I'm still blogging, there are seeds to sow, I see a future garden to begin designing, and there are many words in the air. My mind has been swept and it is still a bit shady in there, but I see leaks of light and the words are in lines now that float and I can grasp their syntax.

Someday I will describe the mind of chronic pain to show how dull and slow it can become and how one can lose so many words. The feelings and thoughts were all inside of me but I couldn't get them out. I struggled. I was inarticulate for so many years.

It is difficult when the words come to me quickly now. I still feel as though I'm sitting behind the wheel of a fast car as the words pour out. I know that I am not yet as suave as I once was though, I'm rough, I repeat a lot. I could use better words—and I will.

But I will use them for my novel and it will have a garden and it will have plants and there will be so many other wonderful things. My many layers are peeling away now and as winter comes low over the horizon from the cold north I will let the chilling winds lay bare that which I want so badly to articulate but have yet been unable to do so. 

Wordless Wednesday: The End of a Season

Wordless Wednesday: Flower Arranging with Local Flowers

Old House Dahlias.

Cut flower farm in Milwaukie, OR.

Birthday ikebana.

Birthday arrangement.

Another birthday arrangement.

Returning to ikebana class using seasonally local plant materials. 

Weekend Parties and Their Gardens

This last weekend I attended two parties. One was a 60th birthday for my former employer, and as you can see, he has a thing for pink flamingos.

Both of the homeowners are colorful people so it's been fun helping them out in their garden during the past few years.

Then on Sunday I attended a "meat" party hosted by an old friend at his house in inner industrial SE Portland. Not too long ago I'd lived near this area and it was great to hear the trains going by all day. I also was able to see a few people I haven't seen in about 15 years.

There were other dishes too but this is Portland after all and I'd be acting deceptively if I didn't admit to there being bacon cupcakes and PBR.

Like my old rental house in the area, these two houses are also boxed in by warehouse walls. During the weekend the place is empty so band practice next door was not an issue. The two houses are occupied by friends so the garden is a bit of a shared area though I think Jerrod is the one who takes care of it.

I'd hoped these were edible old roses but they were scentless and that was rather disappointing.

Jerrod has planted vegetables here and there for his culinary needs.

It's been very rainy again so these probably don't look much like summertime in the city but here in Portland this is what it can be like sometimes.

After dinner several of us gorged ourselves on u-pick raspberries.

Oh, and if you're counting this post for cool Portland references, I should add that Jerrod's roommate John works at Renovo Bikes. Yes, that's wood you see there on that bike frame.

Welcome to my little slice of Portlandia.

Ok, Jerrod also made a fresh salad too with homemade Cesar dressing, so it wasn't all about meat... (He also made a horseradish sauce too with fresh horseradish. Yes, this guy is a foodie.)

Alcatraz: The Garden Tour, Part Two

Once you reach the top, you're at the cellhouse. If you'd continued following the garden tour, this is near where it ends, just beneath the Recreational Yard, where the fenced in prisoners' garden once was and where it has been restored. (Note the Lobularia maritima in the foreground.) 

In case you were wondering, this is the inside of the prison. To be honest, inside it is very small but it's so interesting. (We had an amazing time watching the European tourists and we both loved hearing Italians speaking Italian.)

Back on the trail, these were the plants I was able to see as the tour went from the top of the Rock down along the westside towards the north with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge that's amazing.

Perennial Statice, Limonium perezii.

Seed heads of Bear's Breeches, Acanthus mollis.

The refurbished prisoners' area greenhouse.

The prisoners' greenhouse back in 1993 or 1994 during my first visit to Alcatraz.

Aeonium arboreum and Acanthus mollis.

Crassula, Aeonium, and Acanthus. I am not sure what the silvery one is but I am sure someone else will know. 

This is another view of the same area.

And another view. I think there are some Aloe in there too.

This is about as close as you can get to the water on this side. There is a fence though so you cannot walk on the pavement. This area is protected. Birds nest there.

Kinda not sure about this one but it is a Mediterranean plant all right.

Fig Tree, Ficus in the prisoners' garden.

Notice the fence. You can also see the skyline of downtown San Francisco.

From that area you can walk up the steep stairs to the Recreational Yard.

We started to make our way back down to the ferry at this point and believe it or not there were still plants to see that I'd missed on our way up. 

Crocosmia.

Monstera deliciosa in a photo display in the Warden's Office of what it looked like during the Kennedy administration. 

If you were coming to visit someone on Alcatraz, you would have had to walk under this display. The cornucopias with their bountifulness is a bit odd. 

The planter box along the road down to the boat was full of Geraniums. 

Behind this row and down below are some of the areas we'd been granted access too earlier in the day. 

Alcatraz is full of Fuchsia after Fuchsia.

A lone Hydrangea with a few Western sword ferns, Polystichum munitum. 

Leathery Polypody Fern, Polypodium scouleri. This is a great native plant.

 Trailing Iceplant, Delosperma cooperi.

Where the Rock meets man.

This was a very tall red Geranium.

 Trailing Iceplant, Delosperma cooperi.

Nasturium have taken over and are growing wild on the island.

Unknown Geranium.

Unknown Geranium.

Back at the dock there is yet another Geranium.

An unknown Fuchsia tree.

Fuchia trying to get off the Rock.

A carpet of Aeonium. 

This is a view of the Aeonium carpet as seen from the ferry. 

If this did not whet your appetite for a trip to Alcatraz, I don't know what will! I can't wait to go back myself and I am so impressed with of all of the amazing work they've accomplished with the gardens.