Friday

More work in the back yard this past weekend. Our yard, as most in the area, is surrounded by a block wall. Harkens back to Orange County, California where we first saw this privacy phenomenon. It’s a lot different than in the northeast, where people might have a big yard but they don’t put up fences. Growing up in New Jersey we all had four foot high chain link fences. But around Hartford, Connecticut, and in Rochester, older homes had a half acre lot and usually no fence, so the backyards all merged into kind of a park for the kids to play in. Out west everybody wants their little piece marked off and staked out.

Our yard is large enough to permit us to plant things in front of the walls, making them hidden rather than stand out. It’s best not to paint them, as with the heat and sunshine any paint tends to quickly break down, requiring reapplication every few years to keep looking good. The wall straight out back is seen under the peach tree, and is what we see when looking out of the back room or on the back patio. So we decided to put up a wooden trellis type thing to at least add some variety to the basic block. I finally finished it up:



It matches the pattern on our front gate. Hopefully this will last a little longer than plain paint, only time will tell.

On my lunchtime walks I go past a lot of office buildings. Again due to the heat and sun we are limited in the plants that survive here. Most office buildings use grounds maintenance companies, that come by every few weeks to pick up trash and keep things confined. They want plants that require little maintenance and last for a while. One building, across from the bus transit center, has a mix of trees and low shrubs. Rosemary is used a lot in plantings, we have a lot of them along our low wall, but this place also uses artichoke plants. I hadn’t seen them out here before, but they seem to be doing well. And one of the plants is now developing fruit (or is it flowers?)



I’ll wait and see how they do, and if the grounds crew cuts off the heads or just lets it grow. If they get big maybe I’ll cut one off and see if it’s edible, or just an ornamental variety.

Several months ago I found an amusing Lord of the Rings (with Buffy) parody, and for some reason it came to mind again. Still well done.

Of course, let’s continue with our E photos:



She seems to like strawberries and bananas.