Last Week's Highlights

Modus - Tuesday we decided to spiff up slightly for a random dinner out and settled on Modus. We hadn't been back since Mark's birthday mixology party and we were happy to catch some of the new menu items. They've got a grilled caprese dish that was pretty much like summer in my mouth. It's a good thing I got distracted when they came to clear the plate; it was about to be licked. It was also good to see the genius Ariana and her new bar creations. 'The Latina' is my new favorite and I don't think I'll be tiring of it any time soon because it's inspired by one of my great obsessions: Mexican candy. Mark had the 'Italian Stallion,' which is lush with orange bell peppers, and the 'Mango Djarum,' spiced fruity perfection.

Umi Sushi - Wednesday, after a slightly stressful Crate & Barrel trip, we decided to get some fresh air in Point Loma and took a lovely evening walk along the bay. We worked up an appetite and a hilarious round of decisions guided us towards Umi Sushi. Thank goodness. It's spendier than the sushi we're used to in PB, but also far more innovative. I had a tempura vegetable roll that was amazing and Mark was equally thrilled with his opener, a calamari roll. Our sushi chef was also very generous, gifting us with a lightly battered and flash-fried salmon with hot sauce and about half a pound of salmon sashimi. In the end, I think we got our money's worth.

The Chula Vista Nature Center - This is the home of our little seahorse friend and many other local creatures. We visited on Thursday and had such a good time. I love centers like this that focus on native regional habitats. I can't really express what a gem this place is. Just the fact that the site of a former gunpowder factory is now helping to protect sea turtles, hundreds of native birds, and so much more. And, you can play with bat rays, guitar fish and their friends without battling the crowds at Sea World. The admission is so reasonable, it's a no-brainer of a good family trip. They even have tours and educational seminars, and a regular installation on all different ways to compost. We plan on going back soon & exploring the walk to the bay.




Don Pedro's Taco Shop - We re-fueled here after the nature center and it was heaven. Heaven! I can't remember better Mexican food. If you're anywhere near 247 3rd Ave. in Chula Vista (3rd and Davidson), I highly recommend.

The Galaxy - A mid-week road trip to see David Beckham? Fantastic. I'll leave the storytelling to Mark, though. One small tip: If you're waiting for traffic to dissipate after a soccer game and you just need to kick something, a bundled up bag of Shakey's leftovers works. But take out the chicken bones first.

Romantic Beach Ice Cream - Mark and I had a lovely visit with my parents on Friday and found ourselves chasing the sunset on our way home. So we seized the moment, grabbed two cones, and found a bench on the coast. I wish I'd had my camera. It was amazing endless horizon. The only downside? Baskin Robbins has completely changed their formula, whipping it up with air to save a buck, it seems. Mark's sad, but I'm happy to stick to my old favorite, Haagen-Dazs.

Mike - Saturday had us up early and spending good time with our friends Sydney and Cynthia at CBI. After a little nap, we headed back to Chula Vista to catch my nephew Mike's baseball game. He's ten and he's fantastic.




The New Linkery - Family Sports Time had Mark and I down at the tennis court trying to work off a little of that eating out. The Wii at Scott & Justin's must have done enough because we finished the week at one of our favorite restaurants, and even had more ice cream. Hopefully we'll be eating at home a little more this week. Otherwise, we'll need new pants.

Officially Behind

Well I am so backed up with posts that I don't quite know where to start. Last week was an amazing week with Mark not at the hospital. I'll surely do a run down of the highlights in the days to come. Today I have quite a bit to do before seeing Dr. L to (hopefully) figure out a window into which we can expect to plan for my next surgery. So todays post will be a teaser of things to come that should also hold me accountable to posting them. Fun for all.

1. Last week's highlights
2. A guy walks into a flower shop
3. Saving local, why & how
4. Plant friend update
5. Project Couch


In the meantime, here's a seahorse for you, because they're cute, AND one little clue to our adventures last week.

Oh, and

This is my latest completed project (I think). Miss Lyla's parents finally got it and, thank great goodness, liked it, so here it is. My grandmother encouraged me to try this craft, called scherensnitte in it's German incarnation, and I used a book she gave me for this one. It's my first attempt and I really enjoyed it. Soon I'll be designing my own. I've got two in the works that are either modified by me or drawn from my own photos, so I'm getting there.

Summer

DSC_0056, originally uploaded by beckerjess.

I'm just up to being busy, but I thought I'd check in. I have a lot of projects in the works and the plant friends are great (though I'm not sure I'll be succumbing to any more spontaneous Henry's plant purchases.)

There is something that's been hard for me to figure out lately. Summer. It's always been my favorite season. But now that everything I'd normally be wearing right now accentuates my circus-freakishness, I'm having a hard time figuring out how to make the most of it. The last time I saw Dr. L, he asked me if I was ready for the season, citing "getting the kids into camp" as an example of readiness. Yeah. Even though I can't get kids into my womb, much less camp, I wasn't offended. He's still the one correcting my circus-freakishness. But I don't really know what it means to be ready for summer this year. I was a sweaty monster the last time I worked on the plant friends. And there will be fireworks on Friday. And I am in avocado heaven thanks to the local fruit stand. This just all feels weird without a dripping swimsuit hanging up somewhere.

Base!

We're home from Santa Rosa and Portland, the city with the most vegetation and coolness together that I've ever seen. I'm happy to be back at out little base camp, because sometimes it was definitely scary to be so far away from someplace I knew I could rest or heal. We didn't rent a car there and spent a lot of time on foot or having cabbed way across town. A strange thing about getting back in shape is that it's both frustrating and inspiring at exactly the same time. I'm trying not to choose frustration, and focus on the fact that my legs are tired because they're stonger than they were a week ago (as are my arms, back, shoulders, etc.).
I've got to tend to my plant friends, whom Jenny lovingly kept out of trouble while we were gone. But I do want to share some photos from the trip.

We visited Imwalle Gardens in Santa Rosa on Wednesday. This is a true farmers market in that the market is smack in the middle of the farm. They also have a great nursery that I was sad I couldn't buy from. Instead I got broccoli, basil, lettuce, and lavender seeds.

Our gorgeous niece loved it, especially the big tractors she kept spotting. She's a pretty old hat with plants, her parents having the garden of our dreams, so I think the swinging was her highlight.
This picture feels like home to me. I grew up eating buckets of apricots in the summer from the untended orchard next to our horse's stable. And some old pickup or another was always how we got there.
This is the view from our room at the Ace Hotel in Portland. We spent about 4 hours in Powell's Books on Thursday, and it called to us the whole time. Mark eventually went back.

We drank ridiculous amounts of delicious coffee. For more on that, visit Mark's blog.

Saturday, we visited Portland's Rose Test Garden. It was so beautiful and impressive and we were there on a magical weather day. I'm sure the couple getting married there appreciated it, too.
Right up the hill is the Japanese Garden. I'm not usually crazy about this style, but this garden truly embodies the ideal of the type. At every step was a different variety of delight for the eyes, nose, and ears. So peaceful and exciting at the same time.

Amazing.

Hey, Barb

I hear you have been having some problems leaving comments on the blog lately. That is simply not acceptable to me, so I'm changing the comment procedure.

Everyone else, you'll forgive me if I single this lady out for a second. I hardly know this person, but all I do know is fantastic. If you've read her comments on the blog, you'll get a taste of how warm and kind Barb is. After she works her butt off all day long in the service of others at Sharp, she still has the energy to pop over here to root like mad for a silly young lady she's come face-to face with a total of 3 times. Oddly, one of those times was in the elevator on the day of my surgery. What a serendipitous treat. And here's the other thing. Sometimes I get pretty down about the amount of uncaring, callous, and mean-spirited people we have to come in contact with. I take comfort in my family and friends, who I know for a fact have not an ounce of that badness. But the strangers and the people I don't know well . . . I can get pretty leery of them. And then I remember there are Barbs, too. People who will reach out to you with love and compassion even before they can tell what color your eyes are.

There are probably around a hundred people who I will have the chance to write my gratitude for in the future, just give me time. But today, I just really want to make sure nothing stops Barb's comments.

The Buzz

The other day, when I was twisting that floral wire into P's, O's, and C's, I had a visitor. I'd left the patio screen door open and was working just inside when I noticed the buzzing. I looked up to see a bee trying to get out through closed windows. Thinking about Colony Collapse Disorder usually just makes me feel sad and powerless. I didn't know if this was a honey bee or a yellow-jacket, but I knew it was one bee I could save! Except I couldn't.
I took the screen off the window and tried to gently shoo him in the right direction for probably 45 minutes as he just kept buzzing towards the same useless spot in the glass, taking longer and longer breaks as the minutes passed. Eventually I couldn't watch and got back to the garden, hoping that he'd do better without my prodding.
So I was very happy today to see this post today on Eating Liberally. It's and interesting and hopeful review of the documentary, Every Third Bite, which tells some uplifting stories about what's being done to stop CCD and save the buzzers.
Even better, I found out there's more I can do to help my local bees. Click here for some really easy ways to keep your garden and your pollinators happy.