January, February, March - Oh, My!

Busy Time vs Simplicity

Sorry that it has been some time since I've posted. Can't pin down exactly what has been standing in the way, but I'm sure it is some mix of Archil's travels and my own work situation. (The exhibit I've been working on since having moved here is set to open in May -oh, my!) Suffice it to say, we've been quite busy, and it is precisely that bustling that has me thinking about simplicity lately. With all the hustling we seem to do these days it is hard to find a few moments to just stop, breathe, and write.

During the past few months we've celebrated birthdays, and the strangely early arrival of "spring" here in CA. Happy Birthday! I say to all who've passed another year marker. As my old friend Carol used to say "a birthday is far preferable to the alternative!" Best wishes for a happy and healthy to Archil, Chris, Inna, Suz, Lynn, Frank, and many more. I've come to appreciate the bits of simple advice I've received over the years. Indeed it is preferable to celebrate all days, and certainly all birthdays, for they mean we have the joy of being able to be with family and friends. In these times where so many things around us that being present during each day can seem like a moving target - yet if there were a resolution to make it should be celebrating each day.

Patience

In that same vein I've been appreciating some small facets of our lives here in CA at the new house. Many of aspects of day to day living are, after all, small gifts. Most go unnoticed and uncelebrated, but that makes them no less miraculous.

I'm always "dogging" Nye to work on being "more patient." Yet any rational adult would realize that no child is going to "get it" and suddenly become patient at age nine. Being able to wait for a cherished object is just not in the cards for a child of Nye's age.

On the other hand it is amazing how adaptable Nye and the whole family has been to our current situation. Take for example something as basic as our hot water situation. The previous owners had installed the shower faucet upside down. Not a major problem in the summer (the water maxed out as "warm") which was plenty warm enough. We had solid warm showers, baths, etc and were mostly okay with it, knowing that a simple change to the fixture would help us in the future. (Sadly we couldn't affect this change ourselves.)

Once winter came and the cooler weather those warm showers started to feel less than satisfying. Finally, after a couple of weeks of frost (and I should point out that CA houses don't have much insulation, no basements, and lovely cool tile floors) we were ready to boil water for hot baths. So in came the plumber for a little handle switch out. What an amazing thing, once the handles was "returned to its upright position." We enjoy wonderfully scalding hot showers. And, we really truly appreciate them each and every single day. It's been weeks and the sense of deep gratitude for each shower or bath is still there, yeah it is kinda silly . . . and yet it is not in that having to be patient has made us really appreciate what we waited for in a sustained way.


Deep Winter

The "colder" weather of winter has not exactly stopped us from being outdoors. We still have fun beach days with friends. Nye and I planted winter vegetables and so are continuing to enjoy the harvest of our garden - fresh snow peas, rainbow chard, radishes, and herbs. We planted raspberries and blackberries in wine barrels near the shack and a few old world artichokes in the garden. Most days unless it rains it is great to be outside with only a sweat shirt or light fleece. I think this is the reason we are so focused on the yard. We spend a huge amount of our time there.

Sometimes it rains. . . .

Sometimes there is a frost . . . .

In the morning, on occasion, the snow comes down below 2000 feet which means that there is fine sugar powder coating of snow on the mountains nearby. Which by the way, is totally cool and still a bit surreal, especially when viewed through the flowers and lemons.

Do I miss the snow back East? Yes!
Do I miss the day after the snow? No! (no slush, no gray snow, no soggy wet layers to set aside till they dry.) Yeck!


New Neighbor

We do have some new neighbors. Some more welcome than others. The squirrel is back in the attic. Stronger hardware cloth is required to keep it out as I'm sure there is or will be a nest and a mess to deal with soon.

More lovely, is the hummingbird nesting just at the edge of our driveway. We watched her as she gathers bits of fine bark and spider silk to make the nest. It is a lovely little construction project and very hard to see in the nook of the eucalyptus tree. Today for the first time we've noticed that she has chicks. Two of them. Very tiny and almost fully hidden from view. Over and over we watch as the mother hummer darts around gathering tiny insects at the avocado tree. Given her mysterious hovering I had a feeling her chicks might have hatched and that insects were a part of their diet. The hummers are still so much fun to watch and we're thrilled to see two happy healthy looking chicks so close to our house.

Our last new neighbor isn't actually new it's just recently identified - maybe. It's been almost a year long project to figure out what trees and plants we have planted in the yard. (There are still mystery plants and will likely be for some time!) But the one remaining tree which was an unknown appears to be an almond tree. Still not 100% sure but I'm sure we'll find out. Looking forward to munching on some green almonds (a thinning process, since this is looking like a bumper crop already) and hopefully some regular almonds a bit later in the year.

It's nice to see the way things are unfolding for us out here. Even if we get really busy at times it is still much more low key that life was in the city and it's hard to argue with climate and environment.

Sending along our love,

Sara, Nye, and Archil
Press Productions

aka SNAP