our blossomy time

The clouds have disappeared for now and the bulbs and flowering trees have burst--here are some favorite spring blooms in our front garden on this beautiful sunny morning.

painting trim

Can you see the trim around our windows? It is original--our house was built in the 1930s--and is one my favorite things about the house. So now I am working on repairing the cracks & chips and then priming and repainting. I keep pushing myself to do more sanding, a real chore, because these moldings deserve the best treatment!

assembling an emergency kit

After watching a lot of CNN's earthquake coverage and seeing many times the graphic of the Pacific "Ring of Fire" that California is part of I am beefing up the disaster kit I keep in my car. You see I have the usual: change of clothes and shoes, small first aid kit, a couple of plastic ponchos and realize it is incomplete (where's the flashlight/energy bars/extra cash...?) In the house we have an emergency kit but it too needs improving. So that's what I'm doing. Am also painting but more on that later.

lotus bleu

On San Francisco's Hayes Street, this sliver of a shop calls out a welcome from half a block away with brightly colored awnings, front door and delightful window displays. Once inside you will start thinking that it's time to chuck the cool white decor and go with guaranteed-to-make-happy yellow/orange/greens/reds: felt rugs from Nepal, wool and cotton rugs from Madeline Weinrib, handmade alpaca throws from South America, heavenly cotton bedding & napkins & dishtowels, fabulous ceramic lamps and as you see here vintage furniture reupholstered in delightful high-spirited fabrics. The store's design team is always ready to help with custom orders -- you want to re-cover your craigslist dining chairs in shocking pink, they can turn them into show stealers!

get to your library...

Do you realize public libraries are threatened with severe cuts? At least in California, which has an enormous budget deficit, library funding might be greatly cut--and with that comes a double whammy since federal matching funds would be lost as well. Think of everything you can get at a public library: free books, loads of newspapers and magazines to peruse, free loans of DVDs, ebook downloads, free computer time, computer tutoring, storytimes for tots, afterschool programs for school-age kids, author events, early-morning yoga classes and the list goes on. Libraries typically open early (sometimes at the crack of dawn for those yoga classes) and close as late as any big mall store (sometimes at 11 p.m. if it's during finals week, providing a safe quiet place for students to cram). Workhorses, public libraries are that!

Workers at our library passed around the recent story of an English community, facing a shutdown of their local library, enlisted their patrons to check out every single item in their library to show the budget slashers they'd better not mess with the library.

So I hope you will visit your local library this week and partake of what it has to offer. If you need a specific mission, look for this book, "At Home in Turkey" by Solvi Dos Santos. It is full of gorgeous pictures of city homes as well as retreats and palaces on the mythic waters that surround Turkey. Very interesting is to view and read about the study and library of Orhan Pamuk, Nobel Prize winning author, with their view onto the Borphorus.

The rich details of Ottoman empire architecture and furnishings are on full display in this beautiful book.

a new bakery opens!

In a tiny old cottage on a residential street, Ponsford's Place www.ponsfordsplace.com seems like the kind of neighborhood bakery where our mothers and grandmothers bought their daily bread. Whole grain breads are made of specially milled flours (today the bread choices were rye and millet; challah was due out of the oven soon). The still-warm pastry filled with ricotta was fantastic as was the perfect little dome of a spicy dried fruit and oatmeal cookie. You can see the gorgeous looking jars of preserves (haven't tried them yet). And the proprietor will sell his flour, how great is that?!

The bakery isn't open every day as the owner does other things too like teach at a culinary school. You know the bakery is open when the Bread Man sculpture, of course made out of bread, is standing out on the sidewalk. Today it was raining so he held an umbrella and wore a poncho.

I want everyone to know about this gem of a bakery!

shopping craigslist

We found this chair on craigslist. It cost $20, is in new condition and even has a little cushion. Still to find is something to set the printer on other than the recycled particle board cube, a stand for the tv, and a slipcover for the sofa.

We prowled the Alemany Flea Market in SF on Sunday and came home with a pretty wristwatch and a Cole Haan carryall bag. There's not much big stuff there, but lots of jewelry, tools, clothes and bric a brac. I thought the prices were good--the lady was asking $15 for the watch but took $10 "since you like it so much." Panorama Bakery was selling delicious big delicious cookies and a taco truck was there too.