More From The Garden...And Musings On Life During Covid 19

  Wow.

  I was just starting a new blog post about the garden, now in late May/early June, and I came across this post from some weeks ago that I never published to the blog...

  A lot has changed since I wrote this, but one thing has not. My garden is my retreat, my solace, my peace.

  Enjoy, and know that more posts are on the way, after a long 'down time'...

  I think this was written in late April....

Anyway, I sure am enjoying my time in the garden. 

  Every day I have something to do. Leave it to a pandemic to give me the freedom to spend days and days, weeks and weeks enjoying being home and working in my garden...it's a gift that just keeps on giving. 

  

  When I started planning and planting this garden, some twenty+ years ago, I had no idea that I'd be here 24/7 'sheltering in place' in 2020. I feel so lucky to have my garden to find solace in. I have something to look forward to every day during this time of stress and uncertainty. 

  I can honestly say that my garden is saving me right now...emotionally and physically. I work myself to the bone each day. Most nights I can sleep the whole night through. Almost. 

  Thank god I have something to look forward to doing every day. I honestly don't know what I would do right now if didn't have my garden.

 I am one of those people that depends on a daily routine, and I have readjusted pretty well over the last few weeks. I mean, really...what else can I do? I write this little blog, not knowing if anyone even reads it...which is fine, honestly...because I'd still write it... writing and sharing my photos gives me a lot of pleasure. It's my creative outlet, and thank god I have one. Two, including my garden.

  Ok...moving on.

  The garden is coming into spring, showing off like the winner of this season of RuPaul's Drag Race! All dressed up in her finest! She's such a queen, and I'm proud to be in her court!

Texture and little details...

It's a 'Cottage Garden', for sure...

This bench was a birthday present for Johnny many years ago...
The bowls are baths for the birds...

One of our favorite places to sit and read.

And now, we actually have time to sit and read!

Love my Cercis' Forest Pansy'...the leaves are like little hearts...

See? So sweet!

This Viburnum just knocks me out!

I think I have a crush on my garden...is that ok?

Our little 'compound'...it's not a bad place to shelter.

Rose 'Sombreuil' gets better every day.

David Austin Rose 'Tamara'...great fragrance, too.

Can't live without herbs...

Another rose gone wild.

  I'm going to keep posting garden stuff. It's my life right now, and I'm loving it, so there you go.
  Stay safe, Dear Readers. We don't know what tomorrow, or next week, next month...will bring. I hope you have something in your life that brings you peace and joy during these trying times...

Coastal Life

  Though today is cool and quite foggy here on the coast, we did have a heat wave last week. Wow....sunshine in June, and the days were H.O.T!

  We were able to enjoy our walks in the morning, anyway, and it was beautiful. We went out early, while it was still cool and crisp.

Monterey Bay is lovely.

   I was so happy to see the dune plantings thriving! After a very rainy winter and spring, they never looked better. It's been a long time since we've had so much wet weather, and everything looks lush...

Beautiful, thriving dunes!

  I'm no expert on the names of the native dune plants, but I am a fan, for sure. 

  It's just wonderful to see these plants blooming their heads off! I've gotten so used to seeing the dunes sort of in perpetual 'dog days', struggling to hang on....but not this year...!

Mother Nature really is the best Landscape Designer!

  We love our morning ritual of walking along the coast. We have a few walking buddies that are on the same schedule as us.

  It's pretty sweet....

Johnny and a walking pal discussing food, no doubt.

We will never take this for granted....

  When we get back to our little bit of heaven, I have to take a look around to see what's blooming. We've been working extra long hours, and sometimes I don't get out to check on the garden for a few days at a time...

  The clematis are certainly happy with the weather changes!

Why not hang crystals with your clematis?
Sparkly!

I have not seen this one so happy in years and years...

Looking forward to Fuji apples in the fall!

  I adore our time in Umbria. Italian life is incredibly sweet...But I do miss my garden and all her secret wonders. 

  I'll be doing my best to spend some quality time enjoying this magical place we've created. The tough part is the continual coming and going...We miss so much, so we need to appreciate it all, you know? Every moment.

  I love our Coastal Life. It's dreamy...
 

Florence In Bloom

  We needed to hop the train and head back to Florence for more art supplies.

  My husband, Johnny, has been on a tear painting here in Umbria, and he ran through the last batch of oil paint pretty fast. Good for him!

  Good for me, too...I had a feeling we'd see some good spring blossoms coming on, and we did!

  A perfect day of Art and Garden!

  Just walking the streets, I spotted these beauties...

  Of course, what's a day trip without a rest stop that includes a glass of wine...?

  It was my idea to walk over to the  Bardini Gardens, since I wanted to see if the wisteria were blooming...We were a little early, but it is perfect timing for the redbud (Cercis) trees! They are in their glory right now!

Here you can see the long tunnel of wisteria just starting to bloom...

See the wisteria on the top right?

Not in full color quite yet...I may have to go back in a week or so!

Still impressive from above, though!
A good shot, for sure.

Thanks, Firenze, for another fine day...

Olive Harvest At The Nut

  All around the area we stay in here in Umbria, you can see and hear the olive harvest going on. 

  For the last two weeks or so, it's gotten busy. We watch trailers full of olives go by, on the way to the mill...we watch folks picking by hand or machine...young and old. It's fascinating!

  Here at The Nut, we had a long, hard day of picking ourselves. Fifteen trees in about seven hours. Carlo our landlord, Johnny and I worked our fannies off! There were moments when I wanted to call it a day and quit, but we just pushed on until sunset. 

  First, you have to drag these massive nets and arrange them under the trees to catch all the olives...

Me on one end, Carlo on the other...

  Once the nets are laid, we started picking. Johnny and Carlo took turns with the electric 'shaking machine'....I just picked by hand or with  rastrello, the small stiff hand rake you comb through the branches. 

 It was a lot of hard work, with some frustrating moments, but tons of fun, too.

Carlo with the shaking machine.

Johnny with the rastrello. See all the olives in the net?

Johnny taking his turn with the shaking machine.
I tried, but quickly realized it would not be good for my neck or shoulders!

Go, Johnny, GO!

Watching the guys work from the terrace after lunch.
Then back to it for me, too.

In the end, we had ten or eleven crates full.

  

A couple of days later, we met Carlo at the local mill to watch the olives get mashed and turned into oil. I'm so glad we saw this part of the process!

  We were in line to have ours done at about eight o'clock at night. It's a busy time at the mill, and they run very late, trying to get everyone's oil done asap.

The mashing machine. It spins around, squishing the olives into a paste.
Then the paste is run through a machine that gets all the excess water out.
Centrifuge, I am told.

Next, we watched as our oil slowly came out!

Carlo was so happy to fill his beautiful container!

It smelled so good in there!

Pure 'Green Gold"!

It was a pretty good haul, I think.

2018 oil tucked away to be enjoyed for the next year.