Pacific Grove, CA

We drove down to Pacific Grove for the day. Walked along the coast line, and watched two birds on a rock.

Seriously, we watched these two birds for quite some time.

It made us happy.

June windowsill

This orchid hasn't bloomed in forever, and it has 4 big buds. I even forget what the flowers look like. Maybe purple? We'll see.

Next to it are my basil trees. They are fully recovered after being plucked to near-extinction. What can I say, I make a lot of tomato-basil sauce:)

City Hall Treats

We went to City Hall last week to get our marriage license. We filled out some paperwork, raised our right hand and swore to the truth, and were handed over the license for the minister (aka my brother) to fill out.

The highlight was receiving this 70's inspired, pastel-purple hued pamphlet.


Things get pretty darn romantic on page 2:



And then some helpful advice for when you are pregnant:



Ending on a happy note---full coverage of STD's. Everything you've wanted to know, and more.



We walked out of City Hall, feeling more ready than ever to do this thing called marriage.

Thanks City Hall!

pizza

Lucky us, we received a food processor and a pizza stone as wedding gifts, all in the same week.

I made pizza dough in the food processor, and then cooked it on the pizza stone.

Delicious.

Here's the stone, after use.

you know you live in the city when....

seeing a bird across the street causes this much excitement.

It's a crane!

In the park!

Across the street!

And he's BIG!

Here he is doing the funky chicken dance:


And walking like an Egyptian:


I need to get out more often.

Gopher War II

We have a new gopher in town.

Evidence A: a hole



Evidence B: another hole, with trap



There will be bloodshed. To cheer myself up, I bought this cute little worm decoration:

elephant meditating on amaryllis plant

Oh so Zen:

sidewalk graffiti

Oh, this is one of the better ones I've seen:

a little bit of orchid food...

goes a long way.

garlic

I planted these elephant cloves in the fall. They should be ready to pull at the end of this month. Can't wait to eat 'em.

June Garden

We planted some pea seedlings, and they are now growing around the stakes:



Same for the beans. Plants are smart. The long tendril is sticky, and started winding around the stake as soon as I put it in.



We're doing an experiment with tomatoes. We live in the Sunset, the foggiest part of San Francisco. According to my garden bible, Golden Gate Gardening, we can try to grow in June. We're trying 4 different types, including one that's called "California Fog". This one already started to flower, which is a good sign, according to my dad.



We've had good success with lettuce, so we planted some more:


And here is some nasturtium gone wild:

amaryllis

I got these bulbs for free at Paxton Gate. Gorgeous!