Spring Garden - part 2

Jackie is very proud of her peony and iris border.

 

'Krinkled White' peony

In 2011 we attended the annual American Peony Society Convention in Wilsonville, Oregon. We saw many peony plants and photographed many blooms submitted by growers all over the country.

Spring Garden - part 1

Many of our peony plants have now been in the ground two years. Jackie the Bernese Mountain dog has been very careful not to trample them.

 

 

These photos were all taken in early April - when the tree peonies bloom first.

Bernese Mountain Dogs found in the garden

April 18 was the long awaited day that we received our new Bernese Mountain Dog puppy - Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis Robinson - known as "Jackie". Her breeder from Oregon was taking Jackie's sister to a family in Hollywood, so was able to bring Jackie to us and stay over night in Napa. Along for the ride were two of Jackie's half-siblings. They are puppies themselves, but the size difference is enormous.

We have been house training, crate training, getting up in the night like parents of a new infant, and struggling with sleep deprivation. There's a reason young people have children and grandparents get to go home at a reasonable hour.

Juliana and Jackie the Bernese puppy

John is so happy to have another dog "talking" in the family again.

John and Jackie the Bernese Mountain Dog

Along with the new puppy in the garden, we had a splendid but brief iris/peony/rose season. A heat wave in April taught us that even Bernese Mountain Dog puppies are very sensitive to the heat. Jackie enjoys "spritz baths" with a small sprayer to cool off on those 90+ degree days. Unfortunately, the flowers all bloomed out in record time.

Anna at the Fox Cottage

Anna came by to visit the puppy and see some of the roses. Spring was short, now summer is here!

Tales from the trail

I've been busy. Walking a lot of miles, knocking on about 3,500 doors, wearing out three pairs of shoes. All in the service of running for local office. There have been neighborhood meetings, debates, a direct mail campaign, and the task of raising money to send the mail that one hopes does not go into the recycle bin unread.

From walking in the wind and rain of January to the scorching heat of late May, there have been many lovely interludes on the campaign trail. I'm convinced that most people really put a lot of effort into making a lovely entrance to their homes. I'm posting some photos to show what I mean. We have vineyards in the City of Napa - and photos of vines before bud break.

Campaign events for other candidates such as for Congressman Mike Thompson:

Talking to a group of neighbors about the evils of urban sprawl:

 I found an old "head pruned" vine in north Napa, serving as a landscape feature:

A celebration of 100 years of Girl Scouts, complete with uniforms I remember from my own childhood:

Crabapple trees in bloom, in the rain:

A clever "Burma Shave" sign campaign against that same "Urban Sprawl" project:
 

Pink dogwoods in bloom, reminding me of the "old home place":

California poppies and bearded iris in a vibrant clash in a front dooryard:

 A front yard garden in a forgotten and often overlooked neighborhood:

 

And by the end of the campaign, the bare branches and dripping spring flowering trees have yielded their front yard bounty:

 

My backyard persimmon tree is loaded with tiny green fruits in little frilled and pleated cups. Our cherry trees have jays and mockingbirds yacking over who will eat the first fruits. They test the sweetness then complain that the cherries are not yet ripe. The weeds in our garden are knee high and the peonies are begging to be relieved of the strangling tentacles of blackberries that seem to think the deeply dug flower beds are their own. We missed the iris bloom in our own yard, and the artichokes will be sending out their blue flowers any day. Certainly they are past their tender and youthful stage.

The elections office calls the election "too close to call". So we wait patiently, realizing that we are 87 votes behind, and not likely to surpass the other challenger to the incumbent.

Calla Lily Alley

I've found a delightful little alley in Napa with over two hundred feet of Calla Lilies along the fence-line.  At this time of spring, just before Easter, a resident of the retirement community next to the alley spends many hours hand painting the lilies in delicate multicolored hues. Ginger Harness is the artist; and as the fame of this Calla Lily Alley has grown, she has trained volunteers to help paint the flowers.

Here is a link to my campaign website page with more lily photos and videos of how-to do your own lily painting project. In California, Calla Lilies spread easily to form great mass plantings of creamy white flowers. It is such a visual treat to see these improbable colors where a mass of white would usually exist.

Napa Porchfest 2011 - part 1

While it is still the day after, making this yesterday's news, I wanted to reflect on Napa's first Porchfest.  Porchfest is a music festival bringing home-grown music out of parlors and garages and onto the porch.  The idea was originally spawned in Ithaca, NY. in 2007.  Louisa Hufstader brought the idea of porchfest to Napa through the wonders of Social Media.  Those are capital letters because Social Media has become such an important internet gorilla that it carries extra special weight.  Google especially would like to be a Social Media gorilla.  But that is another story.

Social Media in this case was a Facebook link to an article in the Somerville Patch about Somerville considering having a porchfest.  Thea Witsil, friend, book lover, and even bigger music lover - chimed in immediately with the comment "Let's do it here in Napa!"  The discussion blossomed - online - then we expanded it to a real face-to-face meeting with all who expressed interest invited.  Our ad hoc committee was born under the auspices of Napa County Landmarks, whose board had the unanimous good sense to see a great community event in our historic neighborhoods as a good way to carry out our mission. 


Between January 10 and July 31, 2011, Napa Porchfest was born.  (My daughter Anna Pfeifer is on the left). 

It was not an easy birth, because none of us had done anything like this.  Thea wrangled music; I wrangled venues, permits, and logistics; Louisa wrangled media, press and Social Media outreach.  When we found ourselves stranded with a web address but no web master, John L. Poole, aka "JLPorchfest" stepped in and built a database and Napa Porchfest website that could serve up information on not just the musicians, but photos of all the houses and a map combining everything.  Then he proceeded to make promotional videos, one of which serves up the houses like Anette's chocolates.

We could not foresee all the logistical problems and possibilities - which was probably a good thing during the process.  Sunday morning it felt like Yazgur's farm before the rain.  Fortunately, we did not have hundreds of thousands of concert goers, and the genial Napa crowds ranged up to the hundreds.  They took seriously our request that everyone "pack it in and pack it out", ride bicycles, and bring chairs and sunscreen. 


"Blonde on a bike"


We pulled off a free music festival on 28 private porches in residential areas featuring over 40 musical groups and over 120 musicians.  I attribute the success of the event to strong personal ties and relationships, and also to Social Media (Facebook), which brought this idea to a little "marketplace of ideas" where it could bloom.

Paeonia 3

Here are a few more images of peonies from the American Peony Society convention held in Oregon May 27-29, 2011.  Can you pick out the "best in show"?