Blog Day 2006

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Paz, of The Cooking Adventures of Chef Paz, has tagged my garden blog and my cooking blog for Blog Day 2006. On this day, bloggers everywhere are to name and link to 5 other bloggers that are new to them, hopefully cross-culturally, and possibly with a blog that they wouldn't normally visit. Click here and here to read more about this "let's get to know more bloggers" event.
I'm very glad that Paz picked my garden blog, as it mostly sits quietly in a corner and doesn't get much traffic. I love taking photos, not only of my cooking, but of my garden, bugs, birds, and the beauty that surrounds me--namely the Pacific Ocean, the beautiful rivers that surround us and the coastal redwoods. So, thanks for the tag, Paz!

Here are my picks:
Pomelo Pleasures - Katy is "just your average grapefruit obsessed girl" who was raised in the Pacific North West and is now living in Argentina by the Rio Parana. I lived in Argentina for several months many years ago and to read her blog is to be transported back to that beautiful country where dear friends still reside.

Steven of Dirt, Sun, Rain has a link to my garden blog on his site!! This is so exciting! Steven gardens organically in his Pennsylvania 'burb and aspires to many other things in his semi-retired state. The photos on his blog are truly inspiring. I just found out he's taking a bit of a break from his blog but that he'll be back in the spring. Thanks for the link, Steven! I'll miss you.

Nico's blog, Nico's Food Adventures, is one that I happened upon just last night and I'm so glad to have found him. Nico is from Chile, another beautiful South American country where I had the great good fortune to live for almost a year many, many years ago. Nico gives us recipes from Chile that make my taste buds remember the tastes and smells of the food I ate while there: humitas, pastel de choclo, sopaipillas. Oh, be still my heart! Nico is a grad student in Vancouver, BC. specializing in food politics. He says his appetite is way too big for his wallet. Please give us more, Nico!

Anna Maria Stone’s weblog, Pia & Co, is "dedicated to the artist in all of us, and to the artists all around us. It is about family, and food, and Italy, and crafts, and dogs, and gardening, and.... Italian food blogs". Anna Maria has written stories about her parents that make me wish I had known them myself. Her desire is to compile a cookbook of her family's recipes.

Nabeela of Trial And Error, is another blogger who is new to me. Although she's a busy graduate student majoring in math, she also cooks in a wonderfully eclectic way, using foods that I haven't tried before.

So there you have it folks. Be sure to check out these blogs if you haven't already.

Here's more about what's happening today, BlogDay, from my friend Paz. It's not too late to join in. Read below to find out how.

In one long moment on August 31st, bloggers from all over the world will post a recommendation of 5 new Blogs, Preferably, Blogs different from their own culture, point of view and attitude. On this day, blog surfers will find themselves leaping and discovering new, unknown Blogs, celebrating the discovery of new people and new bloggers.
BlogDay posting instructions:
1. Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting
2. Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending on them on BlogDay 2005
3. Write a short description of the Blogs and place a link to the recommended Blogs
4. Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) and
5. Add the BlogDay tag using this link: http://technorati.com/tag/BlogDay2006 and a link to BlogDay web site at http://www.blogday.org/
Celebrate!

Fuzzy Wuzzy

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Amidst a flurry of garden cleanup, I was about to yank a weed out of a flower bed

when I spied this very fuzzy caterpilar among the plants.

I haven't a clue what moth or butterfly this will eventually turn into,

but I'm willing to find out.

All curled up on my glove.

Really needing to find a way off this leaf and back to safety. And it did.

My Front Yard

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Pewetoli Island

Looking southwest from the bluffs

Our house is situated on an east-west axis. It's no wonder then that we take such great delight in calling the local beaches to the west our front yard and the exquisite redwood forest to the east our backyard.

Humboldt Traffic Jam. . .

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When five or more cars are on the 101.

All going in the same direction.

At the same time.
And you wonder why I live here.

Crocosmia 'Solfatare'

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I said I would publish a photo of the yellow crocosmia when it bloomed and, finally, here it is.
This crocosmia, or Montbretia "Solfatare", as is its botanical name, is different from the orange and red crocosmias which bloom in my garden. The plant itself is smaller, growing to about 12 - 14 inches in height as opposed to the towering 36-inches the 'Lucifer' can reach. It sports bronze-y foliage, which is quite beautiful nestled among blue flowering shrubs such as Ceanothus. In fact, mine is growing quite nicely between a pale blue Ceanothus and a dwarf, green & red-leafed Japanese maple. The last major difference is that is blooms much, much later in my garden than the others.

Froggie

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The last two times Clay has taken the cover off of the grill, this little guy

has been inside. It sits, rather non-plussed by the sudden light, for a few minutes

before coming to its senses and hopping away into the mint that grows at the edge of the deck.

This time I had my camera close by. Isn't he/she cute?

Hummingbird Moth

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This guy (or gal) was in the office foyer last night, frantically

fluttering around the light fixture. The metal part of the fixture

is 2 1/2 inches tall, so you can see how long this creature is.
When I was a kid, we called these "Hummingbird moths",

but according to several sources, they are a type of Hawk or

Sphinx moth. The moth flew free after I took these photos.

Lonicera

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Commonly known as Honeysuckle. The white and yellow one is called Lonicera japonica, or Japanese Honeysuckle and the pink one is called Lonicera Dropmore Scarlet and has beautiful purple-green leaves and tendrils.

A Garden Intruder

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I've never seen a spider like this on our property.
It looks dark and menacing, all scrunched up with its legs
facing front over its head. *Shudder*!

Brown Moth

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This was on the door leading to my office this morning.
Looking a little tattered but very much alive, it allowed
me to get within 2 inches of its little body and never moved a wing.

Blue Hydrangea

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I know I've done this before, and this blog isn't even that old, but the blueness of this lovely flower head that grows on a plant outside my office is so beautiful that I took another photo today. And so I offer it to you.

Ashland Flora (and Fauna)

Pin It Walking around Ashland this past week offered an
opportunity to snap a few photos

of the local flora:

Chicory


a mystery flower

Moss Rose mutation

Clematis


Beautiful and mysterious seed pods

a sweetly scented, perfectly formed rose

And, if you look carefully, a doe guarding her young who
are sleeping, hidden away under the tree's branches.

(For a larger view, click on the photos.)

More Glads

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I'm racing around trying to get ready to leave for Ashland when I suddenly I'm brought to a halt as I see that the small yellow gladiolus with the beautiful red and purple throat has finally bloomed.

Pollen clings to the delicate, purple-edged stamens.

Oh, to be a bee!