Oak Tree Cabinet

A new tree cabinet.  This was a custom request and here's the final tree. 

This is going to be our new saw for our business very soon, going to purchase it today but it takes a week or so for it to arrive:

I will feel much better owning this.  Peace of mind.  Of course, safety rules must still be in place during operation, because my feeling is, you never know if the sensor mechanism could fail.     

New item for Honey's Treasures.

Here's a new shelf we made for the shop.  The corbels are Michael's own unique design.  Comes in any of our colors choices shown here.

Been busy around here.  My printer broke and had to buy a new one.  AT&T is installing U-verse, we bought a new television, I painted our bedroom in Buxton Blue and ordered new curtains (in red) and a tailored bed skirt (in black) for the room.  It's turning out lovely.  I'll share pictures when the curtains arrive and get hung up in a few weeks.  The bed skirt is backordered for two weeks.  It's hard to be patient when you want something now.  

New Color; Antique Whitewashed Gray

We have a beautiful new color added to our shop.  The shelf can be used anywhere in the home or office.  I decorated it as a home wet bar theme.  Because it's old wood, slight variations exist in colors and grain of the wood which give it it's character.

Antique Whitewashed Gray

Moonlight Magic

I did it.  Painted the fence a beautiful periwinkle color this morning.  I wanted to go bold and take a chance since this fence is coming out next year.  To live with it for awhile to see if we like it.   

We love it.

Beginning with the patio picture showing our new awning and fire pit sitting areas.

Meandering around the path with the Three Graces fountain flowerbed and towards our secret garden area redo.

Secret Garden Entrance.

Going over the bridge.  Can you see the new lamp post base that is going in to the left of the bridge?  It's replacing our old broken lamp that's been out of service for several years.  We're going to put the new one on a timer.

Looking back towards the bridge.

The sitting area.  I still haven't decided how I'm going to furnish this area but this will do until I figure that out.  Gotta go shopping!

Peeking through.  While I was painting the fence this morning, Michael was in the garage working on some orders and he kept coming out to take a peek at the progress.  He even sat and ate his lunch and admired the fence and yard.  He loves the color as much as I do.  When our new fence goes in next year, it'll surely be painted this color.  I really want to put in lattice on top, too.  I love that part of the fence.   

I know that a lot of people are intimidated by color and afraid to take chances painting color on walls.  Well, we only live once and why not try something new and...maybe a little...daring?  The worst thing that will happen is you won't like it.  Then you can simply paint over it. 

There was a woman in Home Depot yesterday at the same time as I was there getting my purple paint.  I like to strike up conversations with people and I did with her.  She was picking out a rich copper paint for one of her kitchen walls as an accent.  She had the same feeling as me, if she didn't like it, she'd simply paint over it.  I love that she had always dreamed of getting this color for her kitchen and now she was going for it with gusto.  Her husband was just sitting off to the side and sort of had a dazed look.  Sort of like my Michael.  It was funny, he didn't look so sure at the time.  I hope her husband loves their new copper wall as much as Michael loves my fence.

That's what I love about paint verses wallpaper.  With wallpaper, you're stuck if you don't like it.  Or stuck with the daunting task of removing it and dealing with a big freakin' mess.  Steaming, scraping, peeling.  Ugh.  I hate thinking about it.  I've removed lots of wallpaper in the past and it's just no fun.

I'd much rather deal with paint.

Garden Path

Our path is now installed.  The past two days we've been working on this.  Digging out tree roots and leveling the ground.  We put down the small rocks and the path stones yesterday. 

A long time ago Michael made this cute little bridge to go over the dry creek bed.

Our little sitting area, not quite finished yet.  We simply stuck these two green chairs here temporarily until I decide how I want to furnish it.  My Auntie Yvonne gave us the rusted animal screen seen behind the umbrella.  There's something about rusty old things in a garden setting that I love.  We need to fix the wall down below the window in the picture above.  Have a couple of different ideas floating around in my head as to how to address this issue.  Small animals and rodents can get in that space to nest and I want to prevent that from happening.

Once that is completed I would like to paint the fence length to the right of the chairs.  It needs to be replaced eventually, probably next year.  In the meantime, I'd like to try a fun color on the fence temporarily to see if I like it.  You're going to think I'm crazy but I want to try a bright yet cool color: periwinkle.  A former client of mine had done that, painted her entire fencing in their backyard periwinkle and it was gorgeous.  It had an almost Mediterranean feel to it.  

The lamp post seen above, is broken.  We are going to install a new one soon.

Looking outward from the chairs.  I'm not going to paint the fencing you see in the above picture.  Only the fence that is to the left side which is unseen in this picture.  You can see that I had some leftover stepping stones and incorporated them into the garden beds so I can get in there for weeding.  Once we put in the mulching I might take out most of them.  Not sure yet.

This is looking toward the shed, where that monstrosity of a tree used to be.  It grew up into the high voltage power lines and PG&E took it out for us.  Thank you, PG&E!

Our newest planter with Horsetail which we bought at Mid City Nursery.   My favorite place to buy plants and supplies.  They are so very knowledgeable.

Poetry

The Chabot Review has been published annually since it's inception in 1961.  My son, Amon, recently wrote a poem and he entered it into the contest and it was accepted for publishing in the 2013 Chabot Review.  His poem, Starry Night, is on page twenty six. 

Starry Night by

Amon Williams

How I remember the starry sky!  

It's infinite majesty blanketing me upon the earth.

Looming before me, the Great Bear, sharply

defined, dominating, imposing.

The night tyrant retired from her perch,

a brief repose until she returns to dull the night

once again.

Fires burn in the heavens, earnestly toiling, 

ever diminishing,

illuminating the 'verse for all to see.

Invariably one at last exhausts its patience

erupting, painting fleeting streaks of white

luminescence across the dark canvas.

As if a signal, the sky explodes with lights,

plunging storms, antecedents

to yielding before the blackness.

Firmament bright, but calm now, no sign

of the outburst remains.  Nothing left but 

lonely stars,

remnants of a once violent night.

Here.

Blazing Heat

Wow, Fourth of July is upon us and it's dang hot here all this week.  Ugh.  The blazing heat, currently 100 right now, is ---- zapping ---- me ---- of ---- all ---- my ---- e - n - e - r - g - y. 

We work on our orders in the cool (if you can call it that) of the morning and these days, anywhere between 1 and 3 pm is quitting time for us because we're simply exhausted from the heat.  Usually Mike takes a nap.  I can't nap or I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.  Nighttime.  That's another thing.  I have the ceiling fan on and our standing fan blowing directly on me all night with no covers.  It's the only way I can get any sleep and sometimes that doesn't work.  Sleep doesn't come easy for me. 

Our house doesn't have air conditioning and usually that's fine because we get the Delta Breeze blowing through Fairfield which really helps to cool things off for us.  Not lately though.  It's just plain miserable.  You can't work.  You don't feel like cleaning house.  You have no appetite.  You can't cook or bake.  It's too hot to be outside.  There's nothing to do but laze around in the house with the fans aimed and blowing full speed at your face.  That's us.  Panting and puffing at each other. 

Wish -- I -- was...

back at Dillon Beach.